Minecraft Setup 1.20.4

The following instructions will assume that you have a licensed copy of Minecraft Java Edition on your Microsoft account. You can purchase it here if you haven’t already (It’s also included with the Game Pass!).

1. Download the Modrinth Launcher

In order to run the Potatoes.Party Minecraft server, we’re using Fabric, which is a lightweight mod loader for Minecraft. You will need to run Minecraft using Fabric instead of the regular Minecraft launcher.
One of the simplest ways to install a version of Minecraft with a mod loader is to use a third-party launcher like CurseForge or Modrinth. We’ll be using Modrinth here due to the ease of setup and use.

• Download the Modrinth App from the official website here.

  

• Open the installer and go through the steps to finish the installation. Once that’s done, run the app to begin using the Modrinth App.
  Here, you will need to sign in using your Microsoft/Minecraft account.

2. Creating a custom profile

Once you’ve opened the Modrinth App, you should see an option to create a new profile (The + icon in the bottom left). Click on that to create a new profile.

In the Create Instance window that pops up, do the following:

• Enter a name for your instance, we’re calling it “1.20.4 Potatoes.party Server” for this guide.

• Select the game loader version you want to run. In this case it will be Fabric.

• Select the game version of your instance. The Potatoes.Party server will run on version 1.20.4

• Click Create.

  

2.a Modifying profile settings

If you go back to your Instance’s information, and go to “Options”, you will be able to customise various options pertaining to the allowed memory usage, the screen resolution etc.
Here, I would recommend allocating 4-6GB memory to the game (4000-6000mb) especially if you are using shaders.

3. Installing Mods

We’re almost done. The only thing left is to download a few mods that will help performance, add shader support, and add proximity-based voice chat!

On the home menu of your Modrinth app, select the instance you just created. You will be taken to a page that looks something like this:

Click on “Add content” on the right side to be taken to the Browse tab where you can download various Mods, Data Packs, Shaders and Resource Packs.

Here, you need to download the following mods for the Potatoes.Party server:

• BetterF3 - A more colourful and readable F3 menu.
• Cloth Config API - An api for a config screen.
• Fabric API - Essential hooks for modding with Fabric.
• Indium - An addon for rendering optimisation with the Sodium mod.
• Iris Shaders - An open-source shaders mod compatible with OptiFine shaderpacks.
• Mod Menu - Adds a simple menu in-game to manage installed mods.
• Shulker Box Tooltip - Allows you to see a preview window of shulker box contents using shift.
• Simple Voice Chat - Proximity voice chat for Minecraft.
• Sodium - A powerful rendering engine and optimization mod.
• Recommended Shaders -> Complementary Shaders - Reimagined

The following instructions assume you don’t have a licensed copy of Minecraft and don’t currently own the Game Pass either. This isn’t much of an issue because you can still download certain third-party launchers that support playing the game in offline mode.

1. Download SKLauncher

In order to run the Potatoes.Party Minecraft server, we’re using Fabric, which is a lightweight mod loader for Minecraft. You will need to run Minecraft using Fabric instead of the regular Minecraft launcher.
One of the simplest ways to install a version of Minecraft with a mod loader is to use a third-party launcher like SKLauncher.

Note: We are avoiding TLauncher here because it is known to contain spyware.

• Download the SKLauncher App from the official website here.

  

• Once the app has been downloaded, drag and drop it your desktop/an easy-to-access folder since it doesn’t require further installation.

• Launch the app and select “offline mode” in the bottom left. After that you should be able to enter a username for your character and open the launcher.

  

2. Creating a custom profile (Skip to step 3 if using CurseForge)

Once you’ve opened SKLauncher, you should be able to create a new installation using the plus sign (+) in the left sidebar under your profile name.

In the Edit Installation window that opens, do the following:

• Enter a name for your installation. Here, we’ve called it 1.20.4 Server

• Select a game loader version you want to run. In this case it will be Fabric. The version will be 1.20.4 and leave the mod loader version at whatever the default value is.

• You can choose to customize the game directory if you wish to, I’ve kept it at the default location for this guide.

• Under the “More Options” section, you can change a lot of the settings for things like your screen resolution, whether you want to run the game fullscreen, and the Maximum RAM usage, I’d recommend setting this at around 4-6GB minimum to prevent lagging, especially when making use of shaders.

• Click Save.

  

3. Installing Required Mods

There’s two ways to install mods for SKLauncher. One is by using the Curseforge app, and the other is by copying the mods directly to the game instance folder in SKLauncher.

Mod list

Here is the list of the mods we’ll be using on the server:

• BetterF3 - A more colourful and readable F3 menu.
• Cloth Config API - An api for a config screen.
• Fabric API - Essential hooks for modding with Fabric.
• Indium - An addon for rendering optimisation with the Sodium mod.
• Iris Shaders - An open-source shaders mod compatible with OptiFine shaderpacks.
• Mod Menu - Adds a simple menu in-game to manage installed mods.
• Shulker Box Tooltip - Allows you to see a preview window of shulker box contents using shift.
• Simple Voice Chat - Proximity voice chat for Minecraft.
• Sodium - A powerful rendering engine and optimization mod.
• Recommended Shaders -> Complementary Shaders - Reimagined