How to Make a Minecraft Server with Create to Play with Friends

First: version and loader

Create is a mod, not a plugin: it doesn't run on Paper or Spigot. It needs a server with a mod loader, and it lags behind Minecraft: the Create 6 releases are for Minecraft 1.21.1 with NeoForge and for 1.20.1 with Forge. Before anything else, check the mod's page (Modrinth or CurseForge) to see which version the latest release is for, and use that.

What about Fabric? Create Fabric is a separate project that's further behind: its latest official version is for 1.20.1. If you want Create with Fabric mods, set up 1.20.1 with Fabric; if not, NeoForge on 1.21.1 is the most up to date.

Addons (Steam 'n' Rails, Create Deco, Crafts & Additions…) must be for your Create version, not just your Minecraft version: when Create moves to a new version, some take weeks to catch up. If one isn't ready yet, wait before updating.

Create on its own or a modpack?

Create on its own, with two or three addons, is classic Minecraft with machines: it starts fast and uses little. A Create modpack (Create+, Create: Above and Beyond, All of Create and others) gives it to you ready-made, with recipes designed so everything revolves around Create, but it's a lot heavier.

If it's your first time, start with Create alone and add addons when you miss them. A modpack is better if you want a game with goals and progression already laid out.

How much RAM it needs

Create alone with a few addons, for a group of friends: 4 GB (Stone plan). With lots of addons or more than 10 players, 6 GB (Iron). The big Create modpacks, with more than 200 mods, 8 GB (Diamond): that's what we recommend for Create+.

In Create, what weighs most isn't memory but the processor: every spinning machine and every running train is calculated on the server, even when nobody is watching. A huge factory can stutter with RAM to spare; further down is how to avoid it.

Just want to try it? The free Minecraft server (3 GB, no card) is enough for Create with a few addons and a few friends. Its disk is 5 GB, so there's no room for big modpacks. It stops when nobody's on and, if you stick with it, it moves to a plan with the same world.

Running it on your PC, for free

You can: install the NeoForge server for 1.21.1 (or Forge for 1.20.1), put Create and its addons in the mods folder and start it. The problem is the usual one: your PC has to be on for the others to play, and Create's machines only work while the server is running. For people to join from outside you have to open ports on the router or use a VPN-style program (we cover it in the guide to playing with friends without port forwarding).

Installing it on NapNodes

1. Create the server

   The free one to try it, or a plan from “Buy”. It comes with Paper; the next step changes that.

2. Switch to NeoForge (or Forge)

   In “Mods & plugins” → “Server type” tab, choose NeoForge and version 1.21.1 (or Forge and 1.20.1) and press “Change”. Your world stays, and a backup is made first if there's room.

3. Install Create

   In the “Mods” tab, search for “Create”. Only the ones that work with your loader and version show up, and they're installed with their dependencies. Do the same with each addon. You can search Modrinth or CurseForge (the “Search on:” selector).

4. Or install a whole modpack

   Instead of the two previous steps: “Modpacks” tab, search for the Create one you want and press “Install”. The panel sets the loader and version it needs, downloads the mods with their config and starts it. If you already had a world, it moves it aside under another name: nothing is deleted.

5. Restart and check the console

   If a dependency is missing or an addon isn't for your Create version, the console names it. Under “Installed” you remove the one that's not needed.

Getting your friends in

1. The same mods in their launcher

   Create changes the game, so each player needs Create, the same addons and the same loader, in the same versions. With a modded server, the panel gives you a napnodes.com/jugar/… page with the modpack ready to download: they install it in the Modrinth app, Prism Launcher or the CurseForge app and join, without hunting mod by mod.

2. Add the server

   Multiplayer → Add Server, with the address shown in the panel.

3. No Bedrock

   You can't join from a console or phone: Geyser, which lets Bedrock players in, doesn't work with mods. Create is for Minecraft Java only.

Stopping the stutter: trains, farms and machines

Lag in Create almost always comes from the same things: lots of machines spinning at once, automatic farms dropping hundreds of items on the ground, huge moving contraptions (the ones you move with mechanical pistons, bearings or carts) and trains with many carriages crossing areas the server has to load.

What helps most: have each farm put what it produces into chests or storage instead of leaving it on the ground; stop machines you aren't using with a clutch; keep trains short; and lower the simulation distance (simulation-distance in server.properties), which is how far around each player things keep working.

Create has its server config in the create-server.toml file (inside the world folder, in serverconfig, or in config, depending on the version). There you can limit, for example, how many blocks a contraption moves (maxBlocksMoved) or the maximum rotation speed (maxRotationSpeed). Stop the server before editing it and start it afterwards.

To find out which machine is to blame, the spark profiler tells you by name and coordinates: we explain it in the spark guide. If the issue is that there are many of you with big factories, it's time for a bigger plan: in “My plan & invoices”, “More RAM”.

Before updating, a backup

Updating Create to a major version (from 5 to 6, for example) can change recipes and blocks, and an addon that hasn't caught up can stop the world from loading. Make a backup in “Backups” before updating anything in a world you're already playing in, and update the server and every player at the same time. The free server has no backups: download the world folder from “Files” first.

Frequently asked questions