How To Add Mods to Your Minecraft Server | SimpleGameHosting Help Center

Adding mods to a Minecraft server is a great way to customize your server with new items, biomes, quality-of-life features, and more.

📝 This article will show you how how to add mods to your Minecraft server hosted on SimpleGameHosting using two methods: SFTP and the File Manager.

Preparing Your Server for Mods

Not all Minecraft servers can have mods added to them. Forge and Fabric and the most popular types of servers that will you use with mods. Here is how to install them on your SimpleGameHosting server in order add mods.

🌟 Installing Forge

Login to the SimpleGameHosting Control Panel.
Select the server you want to add Forge to.
Navigate to the “Versions” section in the menu bar.
Click the "Version selector" drop-down and select "Forge".
Locate the Minecraft version you want to install Forge for and click the "Install" button under it.
A box will appear warning you that some files will be deleted when you install Forge. Consider backing up your server before adding Forge if you don't want to lose data.
Click the "Install" button to install Forge on your Minecraft server. You will get a "Version changed successfully" message once it is complete.
Navigate back to the console and start or restart your server to activate Forge on your server and generate the files and folders needed to install mods.

Note: Formatting your server will delete all worlds, maps, and files on it.

🌟 Installing Fabric

Login to the SimpleGameHosting Control Panel.
Select the server you want to add Fabric to.
Navigate to the “Versions” section in the menu bar.
Click the "Version selector" drop-down and select "Fabric".
Locate the Minecraft version you want to install Fabric for and click the "Install" button under it.
A box will appear warning you that some files will be deleted when you install Fabric. Consider backing up your server before adding Fabric if you don't want to lose data.
Click the "Install" button to install Fabric on your Minecraft server. You will get a "Version changed successfully" message once it is complete.
Navigate back to the console and start or restart your server to activate Fabric on your server and generate the files and folders needed to install mods.

Note: Formatting your server will delete all worlds, maps, and files on it.

Downloading Your Mods

Once you have your server running Forge or Fabric, you will need to download your Minecraft mods. We recommend downloading mods from CurseForge or Modrinth. Both have a wide selection of mods, and they try as hard as possible to ensure they are all safe to download.

📜 Somethings to note when downloading mods:

All mods must be for the same Minecraft version as your server. 1.20 mods will only work on 1.20 servers. They will not work on any versions before or after 1.20.
The mods you downloaded need to be for Forge or Fabric. This depends on the server type you choose. Forge mods will only work on Forge servers, and Fabric mods will only work on Fabric servers.
Keep note of the mods you add to your server as anyone who joins the server will need to download and install them in their local mods folder as well.

Adding Mods via File Manager

The File Manager doesn’t require you to download anything except the mods you want to install making it the simplest way to add mods to your Minecraft server.

Step 1: Accessing The File Manager

To get started, you will need to login to the SimpleGameHosting Control Panel, and select the server you want to add mods to.

Then, navigate to the “File Manager” section.

Step 2: Locating the Mods Folder

In the File Manager, there will be a folder with the name “mods”. If not, you need to restart your server with the Forge or Fabric server software installed.

Open your mods folder once you have found it by clicking on it.

⚠️ If you don't have the mods folder, make sure you start your server after installing Forge or Fabric. Otherwise, the mods folder will not generate.

Step 3: Uploading Your Mods to The Server

To upload mods to the server, click the "Upload" button in the top right of the File Manager.

Select the mods you want to add. You can select multiple mods by clicking and dragging. Then, start uploading them by click the button in the bottom right of the dialogue box you selected the files in. The mods will start uploading.

Step 4: Restarting & Joining Your Server

Once all your mods are added via to the mods folder, you can go to the “Console” section of the Control Panel and start or restart your server. This will activate the mods.

�� You and anyone who joins your server will also need to add the mods you installed on your server to the mods folder in your local .minecraft folder and launch Minecraft with the same version of Forge or Fabric as well in order to join the server once the mods are installed.

Installing Mods via SFTP

SFTP requires you download an FTP client like FileZilla. From there, you can connect your server via SFTP and install mods that way.

Step 1: Connecting To Your Server via SFTP

To get started, you will need to login to the SimpleGameHosting Control Panel, and select the server you want to add mods to.

From there, navigate to the “SFTP” tab. Your SFTP login information will then appear.

Next, open up your FTP client, and add the details from the SFTP Details page to the FTP client to login. It is worth noting that you will need to change the protocol to SFTP, and that the password is your Control Panel password.

✏️ You can check out our complete guide for using SFTP on your Minecraft server if need help connecting.

With everything filled out, connect to the server.

Step 2: Finding Your Mods Folder

Once you have connected to the server, locate your mods folder within your server directory and click on it to open. This is going to be in the main directory.

If you don’t have a mods folder, you either don’t have a Forge or Fabric server, or you haven’t started your server with Forge or Fabric installed on it.

Step 3: Installing Mods on Your Server

In order to install the mods on your server, just drag and drop the mods you downloaded from your computer into the "mods" folder on your server. It’s that easy.

Step 4: Activating Mods & Access the Server

Now, you can navigate back to the SimpleGameHosting Control Panel and select "Console" in the menu bar.

Restart or start your server, and your mods will activate.

💎 In order to join your modded server, you and your players will need the mods you added to the server installed in your local mods folder, and you will need to launch Minecraft with the same version of Forge or Fabric that you are running on the server.

Playing on Your Server with Mods

In order to join the server, players will also need to install the mods locally in the "mods" folder within their .minecraft folder. Additionally, players must launch Minecraft using the same Forge or Fabric version as the server, depending on the modded server type. See our guide below on how to Download and Install Mods Locally.