After hundreds of hours building castles and killing Creepers, the vanilla Minecraft experience can get dull. Friends can spice things up, but mods sometimes don’t play nice with multiplayer in Mojang‘s world. With the right foundational mod, however, you can set up your own modded server to share with your friends. Paying for a hosted server is another option, but if your PC can handle it, why not play for free? Setting it all up may feel more intimidating than the Ender Dragon, but it’s not as bad as it looks. Here’s how to play modded Minecraft with friends in 2024.
Modded Minecraft With Friends Guide
Mods can add fire-breathing axolotls or brand-new worlds, but getting that far can be a challenge. There are a few ways to play modded Minecraft with friends, but some require way more effort than others. This method simplifies things. The Essential Mod will form the bedrock (pun intended) of your experience. It allows your friends to join your world despite the presence of mods. If you can’t access the Essential Mod for some reason, you can use Aternos (a free host) instead. Here’s what you need to do:
- Start your launcher (whether Fabric, Forge, ATLauncher, or another)
- Find and install the mod you want to use on your server
- Search for Essential Mod
- Install whichever version shares the correct Game Version with your chosen mod
- Select a profile and click “install”
- Click “Play” to launch the game
For this method to work, your friends need to use Essential Mod as well as any other mods you’re playing with. After launching the game, click “Host” to start a multiplayer server. Now pause the game, click “social,” and click the “+” sign to add your friends. Finally, click “invite.” If you’re getting invited to someone else’s modded server, you can join by selecting their world under “Play Multiplayer” or click the invite link when it appears. Running a server on your computer this way is free, but if you’re playing from the same computer that’s running the server, you may experience lag or other issues. It still beats getting devoured by The Wither.
