User Generated Content (UGC) like mods is one of the best ways to keep a game's creativity and community thriving. Minecraft: Java Edition is a prime example of this, where users combine many different kinds of mods to create modpacks they share with friends, family or the public, some of which regularly hit tens of millions of downloads.
There are so many kinds of modpacks, all designed for different playstyles, from Pokémon in Minecraft, to being left on a floating island in the sky and having to fend for resources, to crash-landing on an alien planet and scavenging for resources to survive. All of these are made possible due to the flexibility of Minecraft: Java Edition, and the creativity and commitment of its community.
We've recently improved our Minecraft server hosting offerings with some great new features, UX improvements, and more, especially around modpacks, but first, let's explore some of the history of these features.
The History of Minecraft Modpack Server Hosting
Modded Minecraft accounts for the majority of customers at Nodecraft who play Minecraft, and our customers love the easy ability to browse and install modpacks in our control panel.
Back in 2013, we introduced the first ever version of our One Click Installer, and while it was extremely limited, it supported all the popular modpacks at the time from Tekkit, Feed The Beast (FTB), ATLauncher, and others.
At the time, we were one of the few Minecraft server hosting providers to offer one-click modpack installation like this, and it set a precedent for lots of continued iteration as the modded Minecraft scene further developed, new launchers came and went, additional loaders become common place, and so much more.
Fast forward to 2015 where we introduced the first version of NodePanel, our custom in-house control panel, with a completely revamped Modpack installer. This new version included so many more modpacks, much easier version selection, simpler ways to update your server, and a fresh new design.
2013
2015
Around this time, we also launched our own modpack Bytesize, designed to run on much smaller resources than many other modpacks at the time and it was a big hit. It taught our team some more specifics about the Minecraft modded scene. We continued to iterate on this version of the installer for a long time, with many incremental updates and improvements, including a new darker theme with future releases of our control panel.
However, as the modded Minecraft scene continued to grow, and CurseForge began to take dominance in the space, it become clear that our One Click Installer wasn't the easiest to use for customers, nor the easiest to work with for teams internally.
The Future of Minecraft Modpack Server Hosting
Over the last few months, we have spent a lot of time researching, developing, gathering user feedback, and iterating, and are now very happy and excited to share the most recent updates and improvements to our One Click Installer for modpacks!
We have completely reimagined how you discover, interact with, and install modpacks on your Minecraft server with a new card view, similar to modpack launchers you may be familiar with, enhanced filtering and searching, if you already know what you're looking for, as well as countless more features and improvements we'll explore further below.
Improved Listing
Previous designs of our One Click Installer used image tiles as the main anchor for each modpack. While this worked when our number of modpacks was small, our catalog has grown by an order of magnitude since first introduced, making it harder to distinguish different packs from one another with solely an image.
Our new list view includes at-a-glance data to help you understand the modpack, such as its categories, download count, Minecraft version and more.
Improved Filtering
Sometimes you might have an itch for exploring strange new worlds in Minecraft, or perhaps with Halloween around the corner, you want to dive into a Horror modpack.
With improved filtering and searching, find exactly what you want to play, and jump in quicker than ever before!
Import from CurseForge
Public modpacks not your style, or you like deeply customising your own set of mods for a modpack? You can now import CurseForge modpacks using both their URL, as well as CurseForge Profile Codes!
Hit the "Import from CurseForge" button in your control panel and follow the on-screen prompts.
Within just a few moments, your custom modpack will be ready to run on your server, with no manual uploading required!
Updating Modpack Version
Minecraft Modpacks receive updates very frequently, as new mods are added, bugs are fixed, or new features to existing mods to add new game mechanics are released. These updates can be crucial to get onto your server as quickly as possible so that anyone playing on your server has the best experience.
Historically, this process has been quite tedious, requiring a deep technical understanding of how modpacks are structured, which files/folders are safe to touch, etc.
We've recently introduced a new mechanism within our control panel that enables you to quickly and easily update the modpack version on your server in just a few clicks, maintaining the important files like your world, allowlist, and more.
Check out our full guide on how to update your server's modpack version for more details.
Thanks to the Modded Minecraft Community
You're the people who continue to create and innovate with unique content experiences for us all to enjoy for free. The creativity of what you all build empowers Minecraft: Java Edition players to come back to Minecraft time and time again.
Nodecraft partners with so many amazing Minecraft creators, and we wanted to highlight some of their great work in the modded Minecraft ecosystem:
ATLauncher - ATLauncher set the benchmark for what a great modded Minecraft experience could be, well over a decade ago. Our partnership with them furthered this and continues to provide entirely free mod and modpack downloads to the Minecraft community.
Pixelmon - the original Pokémon mod for Minecraft, now supporting over 1000 unique Pokémon within Minecraft!
Darkosto - an incredible creator behind some of the most well-known Minecraft modpacks such as Sky Factory, SevTech, Journey to the Core, and more.
jaredlll08 - author of mods you'll find in almost every Minecraft modpack today, including Controlling, Clumps, CraftTweaker, and so many more.
Darkhax - author of many popular Minecraft mods including Botany Pots / Trees, Dark Utilities, Tool Stats, and lots more.
There's so many other creators building great things in Minecraft too that we could highlight here, and if you're building something and need support in any way, reach out to us and join our partnership program today!
And this is just the beginning...
We have so many more features and improvements coming to our Minecraft Server Hosting, including a Modrinth modpack importer, Modrinth mod manager, a re-imagined plugins manager, and so much more. We'd love to hear from you, and what features or improvements you'd like to see added!