How to Create a Client Modpack (2024)

Prerequisites

In addition to the computer requirements listed below, you will need to have basic problem solving capabilities and the ability to google your issues.

Windows

• Notepad++
• Turn on show file extensions in windows explorer
• 7-Zip Archiving Utility

Mac OS X

• Keka Archiving Utility

Linux

Your distro should already come with a decent archiving tool & text editor.
If not:

• 7-zip: $ apt-get install p7zip-full
• Xed: $ apt-get install xed

Picking a Minecraft Version

Picking which version of Minecraft you want your modpack to run on is very important. If you choose an older version then you will usually have a large selection of mods to choose from; at the cost of not having new features and bug fixes introduced in the newer versions. Sometimes depending on the mods you want to have in your modpack, you won’t have much of a choice in choosing which version you want as you’ll have to settle for a version that all the mods support; which is usually an older version of Minecraft as the modding community has had time to create or update mods for that version. Notable is that since modding takes time, most modders don’t support all Minecraft versions from the start of their modding career to the end, but rather skip versions to select a select few. Modders in general want people to play their mods, so being able to play them with others’ mods allows for more people to play their mod, and as such many modders made mods for the same versions.

Versions with significantly more mods:

• 1.7.10
• 1.12.2

Keep this in mind when picking a Minecraft version for your modpack.

Setting up folder layout

1. Create a folder in an easily accessible location.
2. Name it the name of the modpack you want to create. Your modpack’s name cannot contain characters special characters like:
   

   ! ; / \

   
   Your operating system should already prevent you from adding most of these characters anyways.
3. Open up the folder
4. Create a new folder and name it bin. It must be lowercase.
5. Create a new folder and name it mods. It must be lowercase.
6. That’s it. Folder layout is done.

Installing a mod loader

After you’ve selected what mod loader your want, follow the instructions for your specific mod loader below.

Minecraft Forge

Minecraft 1.13+

Forge underwent a lot of changes when updating to Minecraft 1.13, one of these changes was the way Forge is installed. Unlike in previous versions where you would download the universal jar, you now use the forge installer jar.

1. Go to https://files.minecraftforge.net in your Web browser.
2. Select the desired Minecraft version you wish to run Forge on.
3. Select installer from either the latest or recommended section. It is suggested that you stick with the recommended download
4. Download the installer jar to your modpack’s bin folder
5. Rename the Forge installer jar to modpack.jar
6. Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Forge in your modpack. You will never touch the bin folder again.

Minecraft 1.12.2

The developers of Forge backported the changes they did to the install system in 1.13+ to 1.12.2. So depending on which version of Forge you’re using, the file you download will be different.

For 1.12.2 - 14.23.5.2851 and above, follow the Minecraft 1.13+ instructions.

For 1.12.2 - 14.23.5.2851 and below, follow the Minecraft 1.12.1 instructions.

Minecraft 1.12.1 and below

1. Go to https://files.minecraftforge.net in your Web browser.
2. Select the desired Minecraft version you wish to run Forge on.
3. Select universal from either the latest or recommended section. It is suggested that you stick with the recommended download
4. Download the universal jar to your modpack’s bin folder
5. Rename the Forge universal jar to modpack.jar
6. Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Forge in your modpack. You will never touch the bin folder again.

Fabric ( Minecraft 1.14+ )

1. Go to https://fabricmc.net/use/?page=technic in your Web browser.
2. Select the desired Minecraft version you wish to run Fabric on.
3. Select the desired version of Fabric you want(it is suggested you leave this alone unless there’s a specific reason to change it)
4. Download the version.json to your modpack’s bin folder
5. Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Fabric in your modpack. You will never touch the bin folder again.

Liteloader ( Minecraft 1.5.2 - 1.12.2 )

With Forge

1. Install Forge
2. Download Liteloader from http://www.liteloader.com/download
3. Run the installer
4. Select Extract Liteloader jar
5. Click on the ellipses and navigate to your modpack’s mods folder. Then click on Open.
6. Then click on OK to extract.
7. Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Liteloader in your modpack.

Without Forge

1. Download the version.json for Minecraft version into your modpack’s bin folder. You can find the version.json for your version by visiting https://launchermeta.mojang.com/mc/game/version_manifest.json and pressing ctrl + f on keyboard then typing in your Minecraft version. Then select the entire url from the url key and then right-click and select “save link as” and then navigate to your modpack’s bin folder and then click save.
2. Go to https://www.liteloader.com/download in your Web browser.
3. Select the desired Minecraft version you wish to run Liteloader on.
4. Download the version that has (JAR) at the end.
5. Open the Liteloader installer jar in your archiving utility.
6. Extract the install_profile.json file from inside the jar file.
7. Open the install_profile.json using your text editor.
8. Towards the bottom there’s a key called libraries. Copy everything inbetween the square brackets [] and paste it into the library section of your version.json
9. Change the mainClass with net.minecraft.launchwrapper.Launch
10. Add --tweakClass com.mumfrey.liteloader.launch.LiteLoaderTweaker to the end of minecraftArguments
11. Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Liteloader in your modpack. You will never touch the bin folder again.

Mods

When you’re downloading mods there are 4 things you need to do.

1. Make sure you’re downloading from one of these 5 locations:
   • Modrinth
   • Curseforge
   • Minecraft Forums
   • Mods.io
   • MCArchive
   • The mod author’s own website
2. Check the Minecraft versions the mod supports and that you’re downloading the correct one.
3. Check the license.
4. Read the description as that can contain: special instructions for installing, restrictions on distributing, answers to frequent questions, and other important information.
5. After downloading your mod place it in your modpack’s mods folder, unless instructed otherwise.

Testing & Configuring

1. Open the Technic launcher.
2. Left-click on the Modpacks tab at the top of the launcher window.
3. Left-click on the Vanilla modpack.
4. Left-click on the install button.
5. Left-click on the Modpack Options button in the top right.
6. Left-click on the button A Specific Version.
7. Left-click on the version that corresponds to the Minecraft version your mods are made for.
8. Left-click on the Reinstall button.
9. Exit the option menu.
10. Left-click on the install button again.
11. Left-click on the Modpack Options button in the top right.
12. Left-click on the Open button.
13. Copy your modpack’s mod and bin folders to the Vanilla folder
14. Accept any warnings about overwriting data.
15. Now your modpack is installed on the Vanilla modpack.
16. Go back to the launcher and start the Vanilla modpack.
17. If all your all mods are for the correct Minecraft version and they’re compatible with each other it should start up without issue.

Setting Modpack Requirements(Optional)

If you know the minimum amount of ram and Java version one needs to run your modpack, then you can set these requirements for your modpack like the official Technic modpacks do.

1. Open the root folder of your modpack
2. Open the bin folder
3. Create a new file called runData. Do NOT add any file extension.
4. Copy paste this into the file:

{"java": "", "memory": ""}

5. Set Java to one of these values:

6. The memory key is in megabytes. Common values for this are:

7. After setting the values save the file.
8. Your modpack’s requirements are now set.

Example:
To set the minimum Java version to Java 7 and the minimum amount of allocated ram to 3gb you would put:

{"java": "1.7", "memory": "3072"}

Creating a Zip

Windows

1. Open to the root folder of your modpack
2. Press ctrl + a on your keyboard to select all files and folders in your modpack
3. Right-Click on a selected folder
4. Select the category 7-Zip
5. Select the option Add to “modpack.zip” (DO NOT select the one that ends with .7z).
6. You’ve now successfully archived your modpack. It is ready to be distributed.

Mac OS X

1. Open Keka (From Prerequisites)
2. The advanced tab should open
3. Change Format to Zip
4. Check mark Exclude Mac resource forks. This will remove a hidden file the Mac operating system creates. Since not everyone uses Macs it creates unnecessary files for those on Windows and Linux. Enabling this option will not break anything.
5. Open to the root folder of your modpack
6. Press command + a on your keyboard to select all files and folders in your modpack
7. Left-Click and hold on a select file and drag it to the Keka icon in your dock. It will now create a zip archive.
8. You’ve now successfully archived your modpack. It is ready to be distributed.

Uploading Your Modpack

Technic does not provide hosting, but this gives you many options of where and how you want to host your modpack. The only requirement for hosting is that it must provide a direct link to your modpack. What this means is that a website cannot do any fancy “press this button to download” or hide a download behind an ad wall. A few websites with free hosting are covered below.

Dropbox

Website: https://www.dropbox.com/

The free tier is only good for small packs that are made for a small group of friends.

1. Create a share link
2. Click on Copy link
   Example link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/XXXXXXXX/a-tutorial-pack.zip?dl=0
3. Paste the link somewhere (preferably a text editor)
4. Change the www to dl
   https://dl.dropbox.com/s/XXXXXXXX/a-tutorial-pack.zip?dl=0
5. Change dropbox to dropboxusercontent
   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/XXXXXXXX/a-tutorial-pack.zip?dl=0
6. Remove the ?dl=0 from the end of the link
   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/XXXXXXXX/a-tutorial-pack.zip
7. You should end up with something like:
   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/XXXXXXXX/a-tutorial-pack.zip
8. Congratulations you’ve uploaded your modpack and formatted your direct download link. Keep the link in a safe spot, you’ll need it in the next section.

SpiderOak

Website: https://spideroak.com/

Solder

Have your own webserver and want to use a program Technic developed? Then it is highly suggested that you setup Solder which is a program written in PHP that allows for easy updating for modpacks as clients only need to download what has changed and not the entire modpack when compared to a regular monolithic modpack.

Check it out at https://docs.solder.io/.

Creating & Linking A Modpack On Technic

1. Login to your platform account (http://www.technicpack.net/login)
2. Click on Create a Modpack in the dropdown menu top-right next to your profile picture.
3. Type in the name of your modpack in the Modpack name field. YOU CANNOT CHANGE IT AFTER YOU REGISTER IT. So make sure it is the name you wish to use.
4. Select the version of Minecraft your modpack uses in the Minecraft Version field. It is sorted alphabetically so if you’re looking for 1.7.10 it will be below 1.7.2 not above 1.7.9.
5. If your modpack is a private one for you and your friends then check Hidden Pack. This will remove it from modpack search and trending list. It however doesn’t prevent search engines like google from indexing the page if you link it somewhere else on the internet. Also any one who has the link to the modpack’s page will be able to download it so don’t post it in a public area. If you want you modpack to be public then leave it unchecked.
6. In the Short Description give your modpack a quick and to the point description. You’ll be able to give a more lengthy description later on.
7. Now carefully read ALL of the modpack terms. It goes over all the things you need to understand and do before you can post your modpack on the Technic platform. After you’ve read it you can check the I agree to these Modpack Terms.
8. You can now create the modpack on the platform by clicking on the button at the bottom that says Create Modpack. You should be redirected to your new modpack’s page
9. Click on the blue button called Edit Modpack in the sidebar on the right.
10. In Modpack Settings, paste your modpack’s direct download link into the Modpack Location field.
11. Click the blue Update Modpack button at the bottom.

Updating Your Modpack

There’s 2 ways to update your modpack. If you’re using something like dropbox then you would update Modpack Location in Modpack Settings to your new download url. If you’re running your own file server then you can just update the file on your webserver without changes the url. Regardless of how you update the files, you still need to notify users that an update is available. To do so you need to publish a new modpack version.

1. Click on the blue button called Edit Modpack in the sidebar on the right.
2. Click on Versions in the sidebar on the left
3. In the New Version Number field type in a new version. It is suggested that you follow Semantic Versioning; however it is not required.
4. In the Changelog field list the changes in between your last version and current one.
5. Click on the blue Update Version button to push a new version of your modpack. Users will be notified of a new update next time they start the launcher.

Common Issues

1. I updated the modpack on the website, but the launcher doesn’t see it!
   Restart the launcher as it only checks for updates on startup.
   Increase the modpack version number. The launcher will only recognize the change if the version number increases.