Install Better Builder's Wands on a Minecraft server

Better Builder's Wands adds four wands that place several blocks with one click, which saves a lot of clicking on big builds in survival. It is a Forge mod for old Minecraft versions, and every player needs it on their own game too.

Checked against Better Builder's Wands 0.11.1 on Forge 1.12.2, October 2026.

Know the version first

The mod was written by Portablejim and only exists for Forge on Minecraft 1.12.2 and older. Modrinth lists 1.7.10, 1.10, 1.11 and 1.12.2, and CurseForge's newest game version is 1.12.2. Modrinth's page says the mod was originally all rights reserved and is uploaded there with permission, and it links the original CurseForge page. CurseForge also lists newer 0.12 and 0.13 beta files for 1.12.2, which use the same setting names as 0.11.1.

• Forge on Minecraft 1.12.2. Pick 1.12.2 in JAR Manager and the panel runs the server on Java 8 for you.
• No other mods. The jar lists no dependencies, and neither does Modrinth.
• Players. Modrinth marks the mod as required on both the client and the server, so everyone needs the same version.

Switch the server to Forge 1.12.2

1. Open JAR Manager, under More in the left rail.
2. Set Server software to Forge and Minecraft version to 1.12.2, then press Apply change.
3. Leave Take a backup first ticked, press and hold Confirm & reinstall, and wait for the console to finish.

Change your Minecraft version or mod loader covers the switch in full.

Install it

1. Open the Mods tab under Content and leave the Modrinth source chip selected.
2. Search for Better Builders Wands. Modrinth's name has no apostrophe. Press Install on the result.
3. Go to Console, press Start and accept the EULA prompt the first time. The server is ready when the console shows Done.

What the wands do

The project page lists four wands, and these are the block counts it gives:

• Stone places 5 blocks at a time, horizontally only, and wears out after about 130 blocks.
• Iron places 9 blocks at a time, either vertically or horizontally, and lasts about 250 blocks.
• Diamond places up to 1562 blocks at once and wears out after 1562 blocks.
• Unbreakable places an inventory full of blocks at once and never wears out.

Each wand has a build mode. Players change it with the Change Mode key, which defaults to M. The modes are North-South, North-South (+ Vertical), East-West, East-West (+ Vertical), Horizontal, Vertical and No Lock. If a player builds something wrong, /wandOops undoes what the wand last placed, and it only works while they hold a wand. The command asks for no operator level, so any player holding a wand can run it.

Change the settings

The first start writes betterbuilderswands.cfg into the config folder. Open it in the File Manager, press Save and restart the server. The settings that matter most:

• enable_stone_wand, enable_iron_wand and enable_diamond_wand, in the general section, default to true and turn the matching wand's crafting recipe on or off.
• diamond_wand_limit, in the balance section, sets how many blocks the diamond wand places at a time. The default -1 keeps the mod's own limit.
• blacklisted_blocks lists blocks the wands will not touch at all, written like minecraft:bedrock/0. It is empty by default.

Common problems

• The mod does not appear in the store. Check that Game version is 1.12.2 and Loader is Forge. There is no file for any other version.
• Players cannot join. They need the same Better Builder's Wands file on Forge 1.12.2. Press Export for players in the Installed view of the Mods tab, then read Join a modded server from your launcher.
• Something else breaks at start. Fix Minecraft mod and plugin load errors walks through reading the log.