Vanilla Minecraft can be boring after a long, long, while playing with your friends, servers, or playing and surviving alone. Here are some tips to brighten and make your Minecraft more interesting.
Most mods add content to the game to alter gameplay, change the creative feel, or give the player more options in how they interact with the Minecraft world. Most people who create mods for Minecraft (known as modders) use Minecraft Coder Pack and either ModLoader or Minecraft Forge to do so. Some mods may be bigger expansions, others add more settings and options to optimize speed, graphics, or gameplay of the game. Server mods or plugins mainly give server admins more options and ease of use, and most mods for single-player have a server version that allows or optimizes the mod in multiplayer.
Client mods are modifications to your game files themselves. They are not custom clients, and they require modification of minecraft.jar.
As the Minecraft server software will ignore custom content from client side, most of the client mods which add new content to the game do not work in SMP unless a modification has also been installed on the server. Some authors of client mods have made server versions of their mods available, and others have not. A few of the Loader/API type client mods (e.g. ModLoader and AudioMod) and many of the functional client mods (e.g. Optifine, Rei's Minimap and TooManyItems) have effect in SMP straight away, without any modification on server side.
Server mods are modifications to the official Minecraft server software. They are commonly designed to make administration of servers easier by implementing tiered privileges for commands (such as kicking, banning etc.). They are frequently implemented as "wrappers" which do not actually modify the main server .jar file, instead monitoring its output and sending commands to it.
Mod packs are collections of mods that have been put together and configured so that they will all work together. Mod packs are often centered around a general theme like tech, quests, or magic. Mod packs often have either custom launchers or installers that make installing and running the mod pack easy. Some of the more popular mod packs are Feed The Beast, Tekkit and Hexxit. There are of course also smaller mod packs, such as Crafting Dead and Blocklaunch, most of which using the special Minecraft Technic Launcher from Technic Pack.
Most mod packs can be found on custom launchers, which make it easy to install and launch various mod packs.The most popular of these are the Technic, Feed the Beast, ATlauncher, and the new Curse.com client launchers. In addition to making it easy to install mod pack clients, certain launchers can also download mod pack servers.
If you install a mod, it may stop the game from working properly. If you encounter a problem while using mods and want to report it, first remove all of your mods and see if the problem still happens. If the problem continues to happen, it can be reported on the bug tracker. Otherwise, try to reproduce the problem with the fewest possible number of mods, and then report the problem to the author(s) of those mods.
If Minecraft crashes, a modified game is flagged in the crash report. The following link explains how to obtain a crash report. (Note: If your Minecraft has never crashed, following those instructions won't find anything.)
The code that checks for mods is fairly simple, and it's not always correct; it may say 'probably not' even with mods installed. However, it's very difficult to get the 'very likely' message if you haven't modified minecraft.jar somehow, so that's essentially a 'yes'. There's also a 'definitely' message, seen when a Bukkit server crashes and under other similar circumstances, like when the Minecraft Forge API is installed.
'Probably not' appears when the client/server brand appears to the in-game check to be unaltered (often termed 'vanilla') and the META-INF folder is still there. 'Very likely' appears when the META-INF folder is not present but the client/server brand seems to be vanilla. 'Definitely' plus the client name appears when the client is not vanilla. For example, you might see something like:
Is Modded: Definitely: Client brand changed to 'fml,forge'
/BreakBefore you decide to mod (modify) your copy of Minecraft, it is very important to understand what you are doing or you may end up messing up your copy. (If your copy of Minecraft is compromised, you can always backup your worlds and re-download Minecraft) Let me repeat that for you: If you mod Minecraft, you may break your copy of the game as well as any worlds that you play in. Because you are doing something that is wholly unsupported by Mojang, they won't be able to help you.
Due to how modding works, updating the Minecraft client will break your mods. That is, with each update of the Minecraft client, you will have to obtain updated mods and re-install them. However, the worlds you created will not be destroyed (although any mod items in your world will not be present).
Additionally, the authors of the mod make no guarantees as to whether or not the code works, much less any guarantees of support.
Nearly all mod packs have auto-installers that make adding mods to Minecraft extremely easy for the beginner Modder.
You might be able to get away without knowing how to do a few of these things, but if your copy of Minecraft breaks, then you should seek help from somebody in the modding community (preferably the mod author). If you view this as a great opportunity to learn something new, then you're on the right path!
note: You can use MCPatcher to do some or all of this work for you!
A file on your computer called "minecraft.jar" provides everything Minecraft needs to be able to run. For example: world generation, showing blocks, managing mobs, items, and recipes. When you add mods to Minecraft, you are taking Minecraft.jar and over-writing it with the changes needed. All of these files inside of minecraft.jar that make it run are run through a process called "obfuscation". Basically what that means is that it changes words like "recipe" to words like "bf" (for the technically minded, all class names, variable names and identifiers are turned into one to three letter nonsense names).
Further, each entity in the game (a Mob, Item, Block, etc.) has an ID so they can be described on the map. As new content is added to Minecraft, new IDs are used. This has a few very important implications:
(Minecraft.jar generally in the main application directory; not the 'minecraft.jar' described below. If the mod that you wish to install involves neither of these actions then you should feel quite secure. If not, a good measure of safety is to only install very popular mods. Risugami created the Modloader and other great, safe, and popular mods; and the new version made modding much more safe. Read comments on mod posts before downloading and installing)
The best place for a list to download mods is on the Wiki's mods page. It is a reliable place to find mods and it is updated frequently. Alternatively, mods can be found on the Minecraft Forum's Mods section. Note that this section has in excess of almost 600 pages so it can be tedious to find a mod that you're looking for or good mods.
If getting mods that are copies of big mods, such as a TooManyItems copy, they might have malware in them, so it is best to get the mod you want from the original topic. If any of the files you download are not class, png, or any audio files, or folders with those items, and are not an installer, DO NOT OPEN THEM. Make sure to run the zip file or folder through your computer's antivirus program before putting the mod into your jar. If any mods were downloaded from low quality sites scanning them with anti-virus programs will likely prevent any problems with your computer.
If you simply want to test a mod without any risk, simply backup .minecraft in its entirety. Restoring it will revert everything to a pre-modded state (including your worlds). If you are going to mod in a more persistent and complex fashion then you should keep the following recommendations in mind:
Backing up your worlds should be done every time you install a new mod.
There are many mods that absolutely require other mods to work, because they use some of the commands these other mods give. These are also known as utility mods. These mods include ModLoader (for adding mods in general), and Minecraft Forge, which is a more advanced version of modloader. These mods that are required by some mods will need to be installed with the mod before Minecraft is run. Without them, the mod will not work and can even lead to Minecraft crashing.
Mod authors may give a configuration file to change item ID's. Find the conflicting ID, and change it. Just remember that when an update for minecraft or for the mod comes out, you must use the same item ID's, or suffer the crashes. Here is a video tutorial showing you how to install Forge Mod Loader for Minecraft:
There are 3 ways to delete a mod.
To restore Minecraft, go to the AppData folder. Go into Roaming. Move your .minecraft folder onto the desktop. (or wherever you wish) Open the Minecraft Launcher, making sure your username and password are correct and log in. The Minecraft Launcher will then download a new, fresh .minecraft folder into the Roaming folder. Once it is done, open your modded .minecraft folder. Go into the Saves folder. Do the same for the fresh, no mods .minecraft folder. Take your worlds from the modded .minecraft folder and put them into the saves folder in the fresh .minecraft folder. Your worlds should be fine, but any mod items in your world will disappear.
To fix a crash, consult the following problem solving list:
- Did you delete the META-INF folder in minecraft.jar?
- Forgot ModLoader?
- Do your mods have conflicting item or block IDs? If so, most mods have a properties file to change the block and item IDs.
- Look in modloader.txt to see what block ID(s) are conflicted.
- Is the mod made for your current version of Minecraft?
- Did you install any/all dependencies for the mod? For example, TurboModelThingy is required for the Planes Mod to work, and ModLoaderMP is required with Modloader for SDK's Guns Mod.
- Do you have the right version of Modloader?
- Do you have the right version of the mod?
- Are you SURE you installed the mod correctly? (consult any README file in the mod)
There are also utilities to restore the game automatically such as BlackScreenFix http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62819837/BlackScreenFix.exe
- Resources folder (found in the main .minecraft directory)
- Config folder (found in main .minecraft directory)
- The .minecraft folder
Follow the instructions on your download for clarification on where to copy files to.
Method 1:
- Resources folder (found in the main .minecraft directory)
- Config folder (found in main .minecraft directory)
- The .minecraft folder
Follow the instructions on your download for clarification on where to copy files to.
You will find minecraft.jar located in ~/.minecraft/bin/. From Nautilus (or most other file browsers), press Ctrl+H to see hidden folders the navigate to .minecraft. If in the console, type, ls -a ~/ and you will find the .minecraft directory. Navigate to the bin folder. Open the minecraft jar using archive manager or similar. Extract the mods that you want to put in the jar from their zip or rar. Close the window for archive manager. Start playing!
This is a way to install mods using the terminal
cd ~
mkdir mctmp
cd mctmp
jar xf ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/bin/minecraft.jar
rm META-INF/MOJANG_C.*
jar uf ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/bin/minecraft.jar ./
cd ..
rm -rf mctmp
On most operating systems you can select the texture packs button on minecraft's main menu which will open the minecraft folder. Click 'up' from there and you will be in the .minecraft directory.
To install a mod for Minecraft 1.6.1+, you can do it 2 ways: with Minecraft Forge or manually. Both are detailed here.
(These steps may work with any version from 1.6.1+.)
First, find a mod you like and download it. It should be a .jar file. (In the rarest case, it may be a .zip.) Here is a good website for downloading mods. (Note: This website is also a good way to search for mods for a particular version of Minecraft that you're modding.) After downloading a mod, go to the Minecraft Forge homepage. Now select your version from the list. This tutorial uses 1.8.8 as an example. Download the .jar file of the version you want to mod and run it. Just click OK, you don't need to bother with anything else. After that, install it and then launch Minecraft. (Note: you must had run Minecraft at least once!) Now locate your .minecraft folder. There should be a new folder named 'mods'.
Now drag and drop your downloaded mod file into this folder and open up the Minecraft Launcher. Before clicking Play, click 'Edit Profile' to the left. On the 'Select Version' drop down menu, go to the bottom and you will find a '1.8.8Forge' version (or whatever version you are modding). Click that, then OK, and then click Play. It will take longer than usual to load up, especially if you are using multiple mods. Start a world and if whatever your mod does is there, you have successfully installed a mod using Minecraft Forge.
This method is a bit harder. First, go to your .minecraft folder and go into 'versions', and make a copy of the '1.8.9' folder, or whatever version you are modding. Rename the new copy to, for example, '1.8.9mod'. Next, inside the new '1.8.9mod' folder, rename the '1.8.9.jar' file to '1.8.9mod.jar' and rename '1.8.9.json' file to '1.8.9mod.json'. These should have the same name as the containing folder. Next, open the '1.8.9mod.json' file in Notepad, and replace ALL 1.8.9 text to 1.8.9mod. Save and close it. Next, using WinRAR or 7Zip, open the '1.8.9mod.jar' file. Delete the 'META-INF' folder. Again, using WinRAR or 7Zip, open your mod .jar file in a separate window. Copy everything from the mod jar to the 1.8.9mod version jar.
Now open the Minecraft launcher and head to the version drop down menu. You should see your '1.8.9mod' version. Use that and open up Minecraft. If the mod does what it does best, it worked.
