Setting up a Minecraft Multiplayer Server

[Leviatharan]

I've been watching How Tos and Walkthroughs for this all night and have gotten no closer, so I'm starting over.
Could someone walk me through how to set up a multiplayer server for my friend and I? I'm getting increasingly frustrated with this between his texting me his progress in-game on his first night in singleplayer, and the videos that expect me to actually know what I'm doing.

---------- Post added 2011-10-16 at 10:40 PM ----------

Okay... for reference, I used THIS VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSMZNRKZ2Vk
The curious thing though was the everything in server folder was already downloaded after I used CraftBukkit (top of the list on the CraftBukkit site if you follow along...), so I didn't need anything between starting java and ending server.bat to fill out the folder.
Trouble is I don't know what I would edit, and MOST IMPORTANTLY I don't know what I would do for the port so the two of us can ACCESS the server.

---------- Post added 2011-10-16 at 10:42 PM ----------

Oh, and it won't let me edit my server properties because it claims I don't have the program for it.

[Wozarib]

okay, go to http://bukkit.org/

click on:


on the next page you will see this just after the Windows heading:


1) download the file you see in the image "Download CraftBukkit's latest recommended build."
2) where it says "Put the .jar in the desired directory" just make a folder on your desktop called "server" or whatever you want it to be called (it isn't important)
3) as it says, open notepad (go to start, run, type in "notepad" hit enter, and paste the below into it.

@ECHO OFF
SET BINDIR=%~dp0
CD /D "%BINDIR%"
"%ProgramFiles%\Java\jre6\bin\java.exe" -Xincgc -Xmx1G -jar craftbukkit-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
PAUSE

make sure you are running java 6. if you have java 7, do as the page says and instead of the above, use:

@ECHO OFF
SET BINDIR=%~dp0
CD /D "%BINDIR%"
"%ProgramFiles%\Java\jre7\bin\java.exe" -Xincgc -Xmx1G -jar craftbukkit-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
PAUSE

4. Save the document as RUN.bat (not as a .txt) into the folder you previously called "server" with the download. see below:


5. Double Click RUN.bat and you're away!
6. When you're done toying, issue "stop" command in console.

okay, that's the easy bit. if you follow that, you should have a console window that after a moment or two, looks like:




the errors at the top of the window are fine: that's just it making the files it needs as they aren't already there.

next, type "stop" into that window, and it will close. to change some of the settings, you want to find in the "server" folder this file:


easiest way of opening it is to again open notepad. once there, goto file, then open, then...


change the little drop down that says "text documents (*txt) to...


once you've done that, you will see "server.properties" in the window of other files and folders, etc.


go ahead and open it, and you should see the default settings:

#Minecraft server properties
#Mon Oct 17 08:19:21 BST 2011
level-name=world
allow-nether=true
view-distance=10
spawn-monsters=true
online-mode=true
difficulty=1
gamemode=0
spawn-animals=true
max-players=20
server-ip=
pvp=true
level-seed=
server-port=25565
allow-flight=false
white-list=false
motd=A Minecraft Server

the only things you want to change here are "allow-flight=false" to "allow-flight=true" and the motd part at the end from "A Minecraft Server" to whatever you want it to say. also, "gamemode=0" - 0 is survival, 1 is creative, change this depending on what you want. the rest can be left. Make a note of the "server-port=25565" part, that's the port you will need to forward on your router.

the above info, if you follow it as i've done it, you should end up with a working minecraft server. i did each of these steps here as ive written it just to make ure it worked at the end! to test it, just double click "run.bat" again in the server folder and you'll see that window appear again similar to above (you closed it earlier, remember) open minecraft and go to multiplayer. click add new server, and in the IP field enter either "localhost" or "127.0.0.1" and hopefully that should be it!

also, if you don't know what version of java you have, go to control panel, find "Java" and open that icon. at the top of the window that appears it will say "about" click that and you should see:



once you've found this out, the bit where you're pasting code into note pad should be that much easier.

Right ... to forward the port. This is where it'd be useful to know what sort of internet connection you're using (is it a single modem that connects directly into your pc? does your pc plug into a router? whos your provider? etc. let us know these bits of info and the next steps are easy as well.

---------- Post added 2011-10-17 at 08:55 AM ----------

also, i thought it'd be useful to replicate all the steps above and just add the folder to a rar file.

http://wozarib.com/minecraft/index.p...ile=server.rar

extract that onto your desktop. it should create a folder called server. inside of that folder are 3 things:

craftbukkit-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar (latest version as of this post)
run[java6].bat
run[java7].bat

if you got lost somehow above, try running first run[java6].bat - if you don't have version 6, it will just error and do nothing. then try run[java7].bat and you'll see the console window above.

[Leviatharan]

Thank you so much! I'll run the server once class is over to be sure, but I think I've got it down now.

---------- Post added 2011-10-17 at 07:07 PM ----------

Alright, I guess it's that I haven't forwarded the port yet, it says it can't reach server... I'll work on getting that info, though I'd rather not post it on a forum for everyone to see. Paranoid like that, like hell if I know what people can do with that info. Ohnoes and all that.

[Wozarib]

Thank you so much! I'll run the server once class is over to be sure, but I think I've got it down now.

---------- Post added 2011-10-17 at 07:07 PM ----------

Alright, I guess it's that I haven't forwarded the port yet, it says it can't reach server... I'll work on getting that info, though I'd rather not post it on a forum for everyone to see. Paranoid like that, like hell if I know what people can do with that info. Ohnoes and all that.

what details are you putting in to the IP field before it says it cant reach it?

[Leviatharan]

Alright, SO, we forwarded the port to my computer (which is funnily enough the 4th in the line of IPs our router has assigned), completed AALLLL the steps above (even scrapped everything and started over to follow this to the letter), and when I tried to create the server just now... Bright red letters, "CAN'T REACH SERVER" still.
I tried localhost, I tried 127.0.0.1 and 127.0.0.4, I tried the router's IP, and nothing. It won't work. What am I missing?

---------- Post added 2011-10-19 at 10:50 PM ----------

WOAH, wait! Just got it working, just needed to use Run.bat again to activate it. Thank you so much Wozarib!

[Wozarib]

Alright, SO, we forwarded the port to my computer (which is funnily enough the 4th in the line of IPs our router has assigned), completed AALLLL the steps above (even scrapped everything and started over to follow this to the letter), and when I tried to create the server just now... Bright red letters, "CAN'T REACH SERVER" still.
I tried localhost, I tried 127.0.0.1 and 127.0.0.4, I tried the router's IP, and nothing. It won't work. What am I missing?

---------- Post added 2011-10-19 at 10:50 PM ----------

WOAH, wait! Just got it working, just needed to use Run.bat again to activate it. Thank you so much Wozarib!

no problem :P as long as the black window from the run.bat file is running, server is running. close that, server closes :P

enjoy!

[Deleted]

I hosted the inecraft server with 127.0.0.1, But how do i know the ip my friends will need to login with, Or is that the same?

[malkara]

Alternatively, you can use hamachi to create a virtual lan and just join through the IP hamachi gives you. I think it mostly bypasses portforwarding and such.

@ above: www.whatismyip.com

[Wozarib]

I hosted the inecraft server with 127.0.0.1, But how do i know the ip my friends will need to login with, Or is that the same?

as long as you have port forwarding set up, it will be whatever your ISP has given. to see that, use the link malkara posted.

127.0.0.1 is just a loopback address, in other words, you're connecting to yourself (assuming you're doing this all on the pc you are hosting the server on)

[Flextt]

http://www.whatismyip.com/

With that, you can post your (external) IP to your friends. Leave server-ip in server.properties empty, if you want to connect to your server on your PC use localhost or 127.0.0.1, if it is in your network, use the respective local IP.
What's more?
Connection timed out as an error means you probably failed to forward a port.
Furthermore, if you do not use 25565 as a server port in server.properties, the IP must also contain the port number, e.g. localhost:4444

[Deleted]

So i've tried my IP from the link in the post above me, But that doesn't work, Do I need to add something to the number and if i do, Where in between, Front - back? Please help

[EricNanni]

I want to thank you for the direction in setting up my daughters MineCraft Server...

The only issue I have is when I try to join it provides the message "invalid server key" ???

Not sure how to forward my router to 25565

Here are my server properties:

#Minecraft server properties
#Thu Jul 12 12:55:40 EDT 2012
level-name=world
allow-nether=true
view-distance=10
spawn-monsters=true
online-mode=true
difficulty=1
gamemode=0
spawn-animals=true
max-players=50
server-ip=
pvp=true
level-seed=
server-port=25565
allow-flight=true
white-list=false
motd=Lauren's Minecraft Server

If you help me out, point me in the right direction - My daughter would be thrilled !

cheers and thank you...

my best,

Eric N.