Mod Installation Guide

[amnotbananaama]

Mod Installation Guide

Overview
 
This guide was written to help educate players about Minecraft modifications, usually shortened to "mods". This guide covers briefly what mods are, why they can be useful, how to install mods, and most importantly, how to follow the Sentinelcraft rules when doing so. It is important to me that this guide is accessible to everyone, regardless of what operating system or Minecraft launcher they use or how comfortable they are with computers. That being said, if anything is confusing or you get stuck, feel free to ask for help!


What are Mods?

Mods are files which alter the gameplay experience of Minecraft. You can think of mods as similar to texture packs, but instead of changing how the games textures look they change some of Minecraft's code. Minecraft mods are usually divided into two categories: client mods and server mods. Client mods are installed onto your computer. Because they are only installed on your computer, the server cannot share that information with other players. You can think of client mods as much like a texture pack. You can see the changes from the client mod, but other players cannot see them unless they install the same client mod. On the other hand, server mods are installed onto the server. Server mods affect all players that play on the server. You can compare server mods to plugins, because they are visible to all players. Most server mods require players to have the mod installed on their computer as well. This is because your (vanilla) client wouldn't understand the (modded) information from the server by itself.

This guide will discuss how to install client mods, because server mods are not compatible with the minecraft software used on Sentinel. This means that when you are looking to get a mod approved, if the mod does something that affects all players (such as adding a new block or item), that means it is a server mod. Remember that you should only install mods which have been approved. If you would like to submit a mod for approval, create a topic in this board. Make sure to follow the proper form, and ask a staff member if you have any questions or are unsure.


Installing Mods

Installing mods can seem like a daunting process at first, but once you give it a try it feels much more natural! The first step is to install a modloader. A modloader is a program that tells Minecraft that there are mods present. It also loads the mods into Minecraft. For modern versions of Minecraft, the two most popular modloaders are Minecraft Forge and Fabric. They have very different design philosophies from each other. In general, Forge is intended for server mods or large amounts of mods (called modpacks), and it includes significantly extra overhead and memory usage to accommodate that. Forge is much more well-known than Fabric, and has been around for far longer. Fabric is a newer modloader, and it has been used more for client mods so far, (although there are some server mods and modpacks for Fabric). Fabric is extremely lightweight and flexible, and it uses no more ram than the vanilla launcher.

People who make mods have different preferences for one or the other, but it is very likely that most mods are only compatible with one modloader. You will have to determine from the download page which modloader the mod is meant for, and plan accordingly. If Forge mods are more your playstyle, you should download Forge. If you prefer the Fabric mods, you should download Fabric. Note that you may be able to install both, but I strongly discourage this in the vanilla launcher, because it will cause a crash if you leave both enabled.

Installing Forge
Step 0. Determine if you are using a cracked (free Minecraft) or premium (paid for Minecraft) launcher. If you are using one of the more common cracked launchers, it is likely that Forge comes pre-installed. Check your version list to see if Forge is available. If it is, skip to step 3.

Step 1. Go to the Forge download page. Click on "Installer." under the Recommended version of Forge. Wait for the end of the ad (I strongly recommend that you install an ad blocker to avoid seeing obnoxious ads), and click the red "skip" button in the top right corner. Do not click anything else on the page, to prevent installing anything malicious from the ad. Alternatively, here is a direct download link to the current recommended release of Forge 34.1.0.

Step 2. Run the Forge installer by finding the file that you just downloaded, and running it. You want the client version, because you are installing this on your computer. The installer should automatically install Forge to your .minecraft folder.

Step 3. Download whatever Forge mods from the Approved Client Mod list that you want to use. Make sure you only download these mods from a reputable site, such as curseforge, or even better use the links provided in the list. Place the downloaded mods in your .minecraft/mods folder. The Minecraft wiki explains here how to find your .minecraft folder on all operating systems. Now in the "version" tab, select the version of Minecraft with the word "forge" in the name. This location can vary between cracked launchers, here is what it looks like on the vanilla launcher. Once that's done, click play and enjoy!

Installing Fabric

Step 1. Go to the Fabric download page. You can choose either the (Windows/.EXE) or the (Universal/.JAR) download, whichever one ends up working for you. 

Step 2. Run the Fabric installer by finding the file that you just downloaded, and running it. You want the client version, because you are installing this on your computer. The installer should automatically install Fabric to your .minecraft folder.

Step 3. Download whatever Fabric mods from the Approved Client Mod list that you want to use. Make sure you only download these mods from a reputable site, such as curseforge, or even better use the links provided in the list. Place the downloaded mods in your .minecraft/mods folder. The Minecraft wiki explains here how to find your .minecraft folder on all operating systems. Now in the "version" tab, select the version of Minecraft with the word "fabric" in the name. This location can vary between cracked launchers, here is what it looks like on the vanilla launcher. Once that's done, click play and enjoy!

[amnotbananaama]

Note: Now that 1.16 is released, make sure you check which version you are installing! The Fabric Installer defaults to the latest full release of Minecraft (currently 1.16.1). Make sure to change the dropdown to the version of Minecraft you want (currently 1.15.2).