Help Centre
Minecraft guides
Minecraft: 543 server guides on plugins, mods, one-click modpacks, Bedrock crossplay and server setup, from Play Your Way, in plain English.
Each topic below shows its first six guides, and its full list has the rest. The biggest lists are modpack server guides (151), mod guides (141) and plugin and add-on guides (136).
Getting Started
Aternos alternative: a 24/7 Minecraft server
Why an Aternos server stops when it's empty, what Aternos gives you for free, and when a paid Minecraft server that stays online makes sense.
How to set up a Minecraft server, step by step
Pick the server software and a plan, start the server, invite your players and add plugins, mods or a modpack: every step of a new Minecraft server.
Join a modded Minecraft server from your launcher
Match the server's Minecraft version, loader and mods in the CurseForge app, Modrinth App or Prism Launcher, then connect and fix a failed join.
Join Minecraft from Xbox, PlayStation or Switch
Consoles cannot type a server address. Show your Minecraft server in the Friends list with MCXboxBroadcast, or reach it through BedrockConnect's server list.
Join your Minecraft server (and fix errors)
Copy your Minecraft server address, join from Multiplayer, and fix Connection refused, Connection timed out and Incompatible client errors.
Minecraft multiplayer safety for parents
How to keep a private Minecraft server safe for children: Mojang's account controls, the whitelist, who gets console access, rules and reporting.
Server Management
Advertise your Minecraft server
Set up the address, server list message and icon players see first, follow Mojang's rules for promoting a server and choose where to list it.
Build a Minecraft lobby or hub server
Set up a lobby Minecraft server with Adventure mode, game rules and a fixed spawn, then join it to your other servers on the Networks page.
Build a multi-server Minecraft network
How a Minecraft network with a lobby works, and how to link two or more of your servers behind one address from the Networks page.
Change your Minecraft server's world seed
Set a new Minecraft world seed in the Config Editor, then start a new world in a fresh folder or replace the old one, and check the result in the Console.
Change your Minecraft version or mod loader
Switch between Vanilla, Paper, Fabric, Forge and NeoForge in about a minute, keep your world, and avoid the downgrade trap we hit in testing.
Clear a Minecraft player's inventory or ender chest
Empty a Minecraft player's inventory from the Players tab, remove one item type with clear, and handle ender chests and offline players.
Settings & Admin
Change game rules on your Minecraft server
Run the Minecraft gamerule command in the Console, with a table of the old and new rule names after the 1.21.11 rename and the settings that moved into rules.
Change Minecraft mob spawn rates and limits
Edit the Minecraft spawn limits in bukkit.yml and spigot.yml on Paper, or switch natural spawning off with the right game rule for your version.
Change the Minecraft sleeping percentage
Set how many players must sleep to skip the night in Minecraft with the players_sleeping_percentage game rule, using the right name for your version.
Change your Minecraft server's spawn point
Move the world spawn with setworldspawn from the Console or in game, then set spawn protection and the respawn radius to suit your Minecraft server.
Create a flat or superflat Minecraft world
Make a Minecraft superflat world with the Config Editor, or set your own layers in server.properties, using a new world folder so the old one stays safe.
Disable chat reporting on a Minecraft server
Set enforce-secure-profile in server.properties and install FreedomChat on Minecraft Paper or No Chat Reports on Fabric, Forge or NeoForge.
Modpack servers
Abyssal Ascent modpack Minecraft server
Install Abyssal Ascent on a Minecraft 1.20.1 Forge server from the Modpacks tab, with its version choice, memory notes and the readme's settings.
After The Nukes Minecraft server setup
Install the Fallout style After The Nukes pack on Forge 1.20.1, which has no Minecraft server files, handle CurseForge only mods and use its bundled world.
Agrarian Skies 2 Minecraft server setup
Install Forge 1.7.10, add the Agrarian Skies 2 server pack over SFTP, pick a map, then start the Minecraft server. The pack ships no Forge files.
All in One modded One Block pack Minecraft server setup
Install the All in One modded One Block pack on Forge 1.16.5 from the Modpacks tab with its Minecraft server pack, then see what changes how it plays.
All The Horror modpack Minecraft server
Install the All The Horror 1.12.2 Forge modpack from the Modpacks tab using its CurseForge Minecraft server pack, with memory and Java 8 notes.
All the Mods 10 modpack Minecraft server
Install All the Mods 10 on a Minecraft 1.21.1 NeoForge server from the Modpacks tab, plus the server.properties values the pack's own script sets.
Add Farming for Blockheads to your Minecraft server
Install Farming for Blockheads 26.3.0.1 on a Fabric 26.3 Minecraft server with Balm and Fabric API, then set up the Market, Shipping Bin and trades.
Add Mowzie's Mobs to your Minecraft server
Add Mowzie's Mobs to a Forge 1.20.1 or NeoForge 1.21.1 Minecraft server from the Mods tab, with GeckoLib, then restart and find its mobs.
Add new mobs to your Minecraft server with mods
Add new Minecraft mobs with a mod, using Alex's Mobs as the example: switch to Forge 1.20.1, install it with Citadel, set spawn weights and get players ready.
Add Pam's HarvestCraft to your Minecraft server
Install Pam's HarvestCraft 2 on Minecraft NeoForge, or the original on Forge 1.12.2 from CurseForge, and check the license before you charge players.
Add Waystones to your Minecraft server
Install Waystones and Balm on Minecraft from the Mods tab, fix spawn protection for players, and change the waystones-common.toml settings.
Add YUNG's Better Ocean Monuments to Minecraft
Install YUNG's Better Ocean Monuments and YUNG's API on Minecraft from the Mods tab, find the new monuments, and set the vanilla monument option.
Plugins and other add-ons
Add a Minecraft web map with BlueMap
Install BlueMap, accept the Mojang download, give its web Minecraft server an extra port and open a live 3D map of your world in a browser.
Add Infinite Parkour to your Minecraft server
Add the Infinite Parkour plugin to a Paper or Purpur Minecraft server, learn its commands, and set the world, permissions and storage options in config.yml.
Add Minecraft chat prefixes with LuckPerms
Show rank prefixes in Minecraft chat: set them with LuckPerms, add Vault and EssentialsX Chat, format the chat line and fix prefixes that do not show.
Add WorldGuard ExtraFlags Plus to Minecraft
Add more than 45 region flags to WorldGuard on Minecraft with ExtraFlags Plus: install it, set flags, switch on the opt-in command flags and edit its messages.
Best Minecraft plugins for a Paper server
A starter set of Paper plugins for Minecraft, what each one does, how to install them from the Plugins tab, and how to judge any plugin you find yourself.
Format Minecraft chat with EssentialsX Chat
Install EssentialsX Chat, write a Minecraft chat format with prefixes and colors, give groups their own look and set a chat radius, with Vault and LuckPerms.
Files & Backups
Convert a Minecraft Bedrock world to Java
Convert a Bedrock world to Java Edition with Chunker on your computer, learn what it can't carry over and upload it to your Minecraft server with World Import.
Convert Minecraft Spigot and Vanilla world folders
How Spigot, Paper and Vanilla store the Nether and End, how to rearrange the folders in the File Manager and what Minecraft 26.1 changed.
Download your Aternos world and move it to a new server
Download your Minecraft world from Aternos, match its software and version on your new server, then import it with its Nether, End and plugins.
Download your Minecraft world from Minehut
Download your Minecraft world, plugins and player lists from Minehut, then bring them onto your server here with the same software and version.
How to manage your server files
Browse, edit and upload your server files in the File Manager, pack or unzip archives, and use SFTP for anything over the 100 MB browser upload limit.
How to upload a singleplayer world to a Minecraft server
Turn a Java Edition singleplayer save into your Minecraft server world: zip it the right way, import it from the panel and keep a way back.
Performance
Change how many Minecraft spawn chunks stay loaded
See whether spawn chunks can be changed on your Minecraft version, set the spawnChunkRadius game rule, or use forceload on 1.21.9 and newer.
How much RAM does my Minecraft server need?
How much RAM your Minecraft server needs, how many players fit per GB on each plan, what we measured, and why view distance moves it most.
How often to restart your Minecraft server
Which changes need a restart, how the TPS and RAM cards show whether your Minecraft server needs a scheduled one, and how to set it up in Schedules.
Install Lithium on your Minecraft server
Add the Lithium optimization mod to a Fabric or NeoForge Minecraft server from the Mods tab, measure TPS before and after and tweak its config if needed.
Minecraft TPS and the types of lag explained
What TPS and MSPT mean, how Minecraft server, network and client lag differ, how to read the Ticks per second card and which commands show TPS.
Optimize a modded Minecraft server
Cut lag on a Fabric, NeoForge, Forge or Quilt Minecraft server with lower distances, Lithium, FerriteCore, ModernFix, spark and pre-generation.
Troubleshooting
Failed to initialize server: players folder
Minecraft server stops with DETECTED OLD PLAYER DIRECTORY IN THE WORLD SAVE? Move the leftover players folder out of your world, then start it again.
Failed to load properties from file: fix server.properties
Minecraft server missing its server.properties file? Restart it once, then check the port and bring back any settings that went to defaults.
Find Minecraft server logs and crash reports
Where latest.log and crash-reports live on a Minecraft server, how to download them from the Console or File Manager, and how to read a crash report.
Fix "Failed to bind to port" on Minecraft
Why Minecraft says FAILED TO BIND TO PORT on our servers, and how to clear a stuck process or an add-on set to the same port.
Fix "Failed to verify username" on Minecraft
Why a Minecraft server says Failed to verify username, the fixes for the player, and what switching off online mode really costs you.
Fix "Internal Exception" on Minecraft
Read the Internal Exception screen, tell a server fault from a player's connection, and fix dropped connections on your Minecraft server.
Game guides
Armour trims and unique armour in Minecraft
Where every Minecraft armour trim template comes from, how to apply and copy trims at a smithing table, plus the netherite upgrade and turtle shell helmet.
Build a Minecraft iron golem farm
How villagers summon iron golems in Java Edition, a build checklist for a working farm and the Minecraft server settings that keep it from lagging.
How to get a sniffer in Minecraft
Brush a sniffer egg out of warm ocean ruin sand in Minecraft, hatch it on moss, raise the snifflet and breed more sniffers with torchflower seeds.
Minecraft animal breeding chart
Which food breeds each animal on a Java Minecraft server, plus love mode, breeding cooldown and baby growth times, and which animals need taming first.
Minecraft bamboo: light level, soils, farming and uses
Minecraft bamboo needs light level 9 or higher and grows on mud, sand and more. How to plant and farm it, what it crafts into, its fuel value and pandas.
Minecraft banner recipe: crafting and patterns
Minecraft banner recipe: craft banners and a loom, add up to six pattern layers, and find or craft the ten banner pattern items in Java Edition.
Get a Minecraft server
Your choice of location, online in minutes, and these guides are a click away from the panel.
Every Minecraft server here runs Java Edition. The JAR Manager switches between Vanilla, Paper, Purpur, Fabric, Forge and NeoForge, and between Minecraft versions, with no reinstall, and modpacks install in one click from Modrinth and CurseForge. Bedrock players on phones join through the panel's Crossplay tab, and a plan holds up to five players per GB on Vanilla or Paper.