Homestead server files: setting up a server

The download

File

Homestead-2.0-Server.zip, about 638 MB.

For

Homestead 2.0, client file 9290312. Players need that version.

Minecraft

1.20.1 on Fabric loader 0.19.5.

Start jar

fabric-server-mc.1.20.1-loader.0.19.5-launcher.1.1.2.jar

Java

17 or newer.

Memory

-Xms6G and -Xmx8G in user_jvm_args.txt.

The zip holds 306 mod jars, the config, defaultconfigs, kubejs, patchouli_books and scripts folders, both start scripts, user_jvm_args.txt and a README.txt. There is no eula.txt, no server.properties and no world: the script writes the first two and the server makes the world on its first start.

The Server Pack page on the official Homestead wiki mentions a HOW-TO-RUN.md and a variables.txt. The 2.0 zip has neither. README.txt is the guide, and the memory is in user_jvm_args.txt.

The eight missing mods

Balm

A library for BlayTheNinth's mods. TrashSlot needs it.balm-fabric-1.20.1-7.3.44.jar

CraftTweaker

Runs the 52 recipe scripts in the pack's scripts folder.CraftTweaker-fabric-1.20.1-14.0.60.jar

Library Ferret

Shared code from JTorLeon Studios.libraryferret-fabric-1.20.1-4.0.0.jar

Sophisticated Backpacks

The backpacks.sophisticatedbackpacks-1.20.1-3.23.4.5.110.jar

Sophisticated Core

The library both Sophisticated mods need.sophisticatedcore-1.20.1-1.2.7.15.166.jar

Sophisticated Storage

Chests, barrels and shulker boxes that take upgrades.sophisticatedstorage-1.20.1-1.3.5.11.142.jar

TrashSlot

A trash slot in the inventory screen.trashslot-fabric-1.20.1-15.1.5.jar

Wireless Redstone

Redstone signals sent without wires.wirelessredstone-fabric-1.20.1-1.1.2.jar

The README says CurseForge's licensing rules forbid the authors from putting these mods in the server pack, so the start script fetches them from CurseForge's own download server the first time it runs. A jar already in mods/ is skipped.

On Linux and Mac it uses curl or wget, on Windows PowerShell. If one download fails it prints a line starting with FAILED: and stops before the server starts. Run it again, or download that jar from its CurseForge page by hand and put it in mods/.

Setting up a server

1. Install Java 17 or newer. The README recommends Eclipse Temurin, and on Windows the script finds a Temurin JDK in its usual folder by itself. Anywhere else, set HOMESTEAD_JAVA to the full path of the java you want.
2. Unzip the server pack into an empty folder.
3. Run startserver.bat on Windows or ./startserver.sh on Linux and Mac. It downloads the eight jars, writes an eula.txt that says eula=false, and stops.
4. Read Minecraft's EULA, then change that line to eula=true.
5. Run the script again. It writes server.properties and starts the server, which makes the world on this first start. Wait for the line that says Done.
6. Type whitelist on in the console and whitelist add with each friend's name, so only they can join, and op with your own name.
7. Open TCP 25565 and UDP 24454 in your firewall, and forward both on your router if the server runs at home.

The script restarts the server ten seconds after it stops, until you press Ctrl+C during the countdown. Setting HOMESTEAD_RESTART=false turns that off, which you want when a panel or a service does the restarting.

On a rented host the eight jars don't appear unless you run the script yourself, so the README says to do it on your own PC first: unzip, accept the EULA, run the script, let the server finish loading, stop it, then upload config, mods, kubejs, scripts and patchouli_books. A server uploaded before the script ran boots without those jars, and the README warns it can fail to load the world and damage the save.

server.properties

motd=Homestead 2.0

The line under the name in the server list.

allow-flight=true

Stops the server kicking players it thinks are flying.

max-tick-time=180000

Three minutes before the watchdog stops a server that hangs. Minecraft's own default is one minute.

simulation-distance=6

Chunks around each player where crops grow and mobs move. Minecraft's default is 10.

view-distance=10

Chunks the server sends each player.

Everything else is Minecraft's default, the port included. Our server keeps the four gameplay values as the script writes them.

Ports and voice chat

The game uses TCP 25565. The pack includes Simple Voice Chat 2.6.22, and its config, config/voicechat/voicechat-server.properties, sends voice on UDP 24454. That port has to be open too, or players connect and can't hear each other.

The config can also put voice on the game's own port (port=-1), and warns against it: the server query uses UDP on that port too, and it can crash the server.

Two servers on one machine need two voice ports. When we set ours up, Homestead's voice chat tried a UDP port another of our servers already held, and the whole server stopped two seconds after it printed Done. We gave it a port of its own.

Requirements

Java 17 or newer, an internet connection the first time the script runs, and curl or wget on Linux and Mac or PowerShell on Windows. Windows 10 and 11 have PowerShell already.

For memory, the zip sets Java to start at 6 GB and grow to 8, the authors' wiki asks for 8 to 12 GB, and the machine needs more than either. The RAM page has what our server really used.

Hosting it

The server files are free. A free server means running them yourself, on a PC that stays on while your friends play and has the memory for the server on top of anything else it does. A rented host keeps it on for you for a monthly bill; the README names Aternos, MintServers and Shockbyte among the hosts it works on, as long as you run the script first. Playing Homestead with friends compares those ways side by side.

Or skip the setup: our Homestead world already runs 2.0 from this server pack, with the land generated ahead, claims and a whitelist.

On Crafty Controller

This one is specific to Crafty Controller, the panel we run our servers in. Crafty reads only the first line of eula.txt and wants exactly eula=true with no newline after it. Anything else and it won't start the server, with no error in the log, only a message box in its web panel.

Questions

Who makes Homestead

Homestead is made by Tokimi and Meleon of CozyStudios. Its home is the CurseForge page, the official Homestead wiki has the authors' own guides, and their Discord is where to ask them about the pack.