How To - Minecraft Server

[L.E.D]

So to start this is going to be how to make a Minecraft server, I will focus on Bukkit but I will go over vanilla as it's extremely simple. I hope this guide is helpful to some as this is really just a way for me to kill some time.

 

So to start we will use the latest version of vanilla, You can obtain a copy of Vanilla from here: https://minecraft.net/download Once you have that downloaded, create a folder where you see fit, call it "Server" for the sake of simplicity here. Move the server file into that folder, then open it. You will be greeted with a Minecraft Server window, let it load. It may take a minute based on your computers speed. It is actually generating the server files, as well as the world for your server.

 

Next open the "Server" folder you created and inside you should see a file called "sever.properties" double click that and we can begin setting the server up. You can of course change the basic setting of the server here. You should see something similar to this.

 

#Minecraft server properties

#Tue Jun 17 16:50:35 EDT 2014

generator-settings=

op-permission-level=4

allow-nether=true

level-name=world

enable-query=false

allow-flight=false

announce-player-achievements=true

server-port=25565

level-type=DEFAULT

enable-rcon=false

force-gamemode=false

level-seed=

server-ip=

max-build-height=256

spawn-npcs=true

white-list=false

spawn-animals=true

snooper-enabled=true

hardcore=false

online-mode=true

resource-pack=

pvp=true

difficulty=1

enable-command-block=false

player-idle-timeout=0

gamemode=0

max-players=20

spawn-monsters=true

view-distance=10

generate-structures=true

motd=A Minecraft Server

 

The only things you need to worry about here are the "server-ip" and "server-port" fields to get you started, later you can change the others as you wish. To set the "server-ip" you should know your out going ip address, you can get this by typing "what is my ip address" in Google and Google will give you your ip address. For the sake of this guide we'll say my ip address is "123.321.123.321", that is what I would place in the "server-ip" field. As for the "server-port" field you can leave that as "25565".

 

You should now have:

 

server-ip=123.321.123.321

server-port=25565

 

As for the rest of the fields leave them as is. Now to get players to join your server you will need to port forward network traffic to your pc. Here is a tutorial on Youtube that should help you to do this if you did not already know, 

 

 

Once you have that done, players can connect to your out going or public ip address and play the game.

 

Now to move onto Bukkit, To download the Bukkit software go here: can follow the guide for Vanilla to get you started however, to start the server you need to create a batch file. The file will launch the server, here it is:

 

java -Xmx2048M -jar ServerVersion.jar

PAUSE

 

Place that code in a notepad file, Where "ServerVersion" is put the name of the server file in there. The version I am using is "craftbukkit-1.7.9-R0.2" So I would have that in place of "Server Version" then save it as start.bat in the "server" folder you created earlier. Now once that is done open your new start.bat file to launch the server. For this you may have to wait a minute for it to generate the files for the server. Make sure you set the ip address in the "server.properties" file, as well as port forward. Now here comes the fun part, with Bukkit you can load many custom plugins to enhance the game. For this guide I will be making a simple server that has a permissions plugin, a rank system, as well as showing how to configure "Bukkit Essentials".

 

Now to begin this, We need to download "Essentials" you can get that from here: http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/essentials/ When you download it you will get a zip file, you need to extract that, and inside are the actual plugins we are looking for. For the sake of this tutorial I will be running just "Essentials". How ever if you do wish to use them, there are "EssentialsAntiBuild" "EssentialsChat" "EssentialsProtect" and "EssentialsSpawn" but as I said we won't be using them in this guide. Once you have extracted the "Essentials.zip" file place "Essentials.jar" in your "Plugins" folder in the original "Server" folder, then start up your server. Now we can stop the server, this is where the config starts, to stop the server type "stop" in the command console, then press space to exit. Now go into your "Plugins" folder, then into the new "Essentials" folder and open up "config". Here is a good time to go ahead and download a text editor such as Notepad++ as it will help editing .yml files much easier, if you wish you can get that here: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v6.6.6.html 

 

Once you are inside the config file you will see a whole bunch of properties that can be changed, each should have a basic description above it briefly explaining what it does, and what you can change about it. In here is really a lot of personal preference. You can change the Ops color, the nickname prefix, I do suggest reading through this 100% and then double checking, You can change and setup kits in this config as well. If you wish to use signs for buy and sell operations you must enable them here first. I definitely recommend setting up your backup intervals. Also if you are changing lines of code in and .yml file, never press "Tab" as .yml syntax uses spaces only, if you need to tab something, just press space 4 times. For ranks and permissions we will use "Group Manager" you can download that here: http://wiki.ess3.net/wiki/Downloads There are other options such as PEX but we will stick with Group Manager. Download that and move it into your "plugins" folder, once done, start the server and stop it once it is loaded.

 

To configure groups you need to go into the "Group Manager" folder in your "Plugins" folder, then proceed to "worlds" then "world" and inside that there should be a groups.yml file, open that and lets get started. To set a permission for a group you need to add the node for that permission, lets say for the rank default we wanted to give it /sethome and /home we would need to add the nodes for those.

 

Here is the group, default as it sits:

 

groups:

  Default:

    default: true

    permissions:

    - -bukkit.command.kill

    inheritance:

    - g:groupmanager_default

    - g:bukkit_default

    - g:essentials_default

    - g:towny_default

    info:

      prefix: '&e'

      build: false

      suffix: ''

 

So under permissions we would need to add, "essentials.home" and "essentials.sethome". If you need help finding node you can use a command reference website, such as this: http://wiki.ess3.net/wiki/Command_Reference/Perm Once you have added the permissions is should look like this.

 

groups:

  Default:

    default: true

    permissions:

    - -bukkit.command.kill

    - essentials.home

    - essentials.sethome

    inheritance:

    - g:groupmanager_default

    - g:bukkit_default

    - g:essentials_default

    - g:towny_default

    info:

      prefix: '&e'

      build: false

      suffix: ''

 

To test if that is correct you can load up the server, be sure to safe the config file of course, then log on with a Minecraft client, add your self to the group and try the commands, I will tell you how to add players to groups shortly, but first I will explain the tree of code above. 

 

So "Default" is the name of the rank, This could be what ever you desire, "noob" "prisoner" anything based on what your server is going to be used for.

Where it has "default: true" this is saying that this rank is going to be what every new player spawns with.

Under "permissions" is of course where you add the permissions for the rank.

In "inheritance" is what the rank will inherit, an example would be having a higher rank, inherit the permissions from the lower rank so you didn't have to add the same permissions over and over for each rank. At the moment it inherits some default permissions.

Now for info, the prefix is what comes up before the players name. Right now it has '&e' in it, all this is doing is changing the color of the users name, a list of colors can be found here: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Formatting_codes As an example, for a player lets have it blue with white brackets, this is how you would do it: '[&1Defualt&f]' notice how I had &f in there, if I didn't everything after &1 would be blue as well, so adding &f makes everything after that white. Now for build, this simply is, can the player build or not, false = no and true = yes. Suffix is what is after the name, follow the same principal for prefix's.

 

Now to add players to groups, it is quite easy, and for this we will be doing it in game, make sure you have already given yourself op from the console by typing "op [playername]". To move a player the command syntax is, "/manuadd <player> <group>" so I was moving myself to the Owner group it would be "/manuadd myign Owner" and it's that simple to move players. If you wanted to add the ability to do this to another player the permission node would be, "groupmanager.manuadd".

 

Now with that knowledge add the commands to your hearts content, make groups based on what you would like. You will notice the inheritance of the defaults groups, the permissions for these are stored in your "Group Manager" folder in the "globalgroups.yml" file, open that up to see what players already can do, as well as edit it to what you see fit. Next we will add a land protection plugin "World Guard" you can get that here: http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/worldguard/ extract the "worldguard-5.9.zip" and move the "WorldGuard.jar" into your plugins folder. To run World Guard we need World Edit as well, you can get that here:http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/worldedit/ Do the same with this plugin as well. Now run the server, and once loaded, stop it. You will have to give yourself or others permissions to use this plugin. For the sake of this guide, give the owner rank the permission "worldguard.*" This will give the owner or who ever you give it to, access to every worldguard command. That is the basics for that.

 

If anyone would like me to go into specifics about a plugin let me know, if I should add detail tell me, I am open to constructive criticism. Feel free to ask questions!

 

 

Hope this guide helped someone, I really wrote because I have to much time on my hands... Any how...

 

Nathan (L.E.D) 

[PhantomChevron]

Good guide, will use it in the future for the Bukkit and the port fowarding stuff, but for now I will save me the hassle and stick with Vanllia on Hamachi

[L.E.D]

Good guide, will use it in the future for the Bukkit and the port fowarding stuff, but for now I will save me the hassle and stick with Vanllia on Hamachi

 

Haha, Works too I guess! Thanks for reading!