How to Set Up a Minecraft SMP with Friends

What you actually need

A server everyone can join whenever they like. “Open to LAN” only works if you're in the same house, and one person's world closes when they leave. For each person to play on their own schedule you need a dedicated server: on your PC (always on and with the router ports open) or with a host.

The rest is what this guide covers: the server type, who gets in, a few plugins and some rules.

1. Paper or Fabric: the server type

For a normal survival SMP, Paper: it performs better than the official server with the same game and supports plugins (protection, permissions, teleporting). It's what a Minecraft server on NapNodes comes with by default.

If your group lives on technical farms, watch out: Paper fixes some game bugs they rely on, like TNT duplication with pistons. You can allow it again in config/paper-global.yml (allow-piston-duplication, inside unsupported-settings) or use Fabric, which leaves the game as it is and supports performance mods like Lithium. If you're unsure, the Paper, Fabric, Forge and NeoForge guide compares them.

And if you want a modded SMP (Create, Cobblemon…), choose the modpack from the start: changing it once the world is under way usually breaks things. If fighting is your thing, an SMP where you steal hearts is a Lifesteal.

2. Who gets in: whitelist from day one

A friends' SMP is locked with the whitelist: only people on the list get in, even if someone shares the address. Turn it on before giving the address to anyone (whitelist on and whitelist add Name in the console). In the NapNodes panel, under “Settings”, you can also manage the whitelist by name.

If anyone plays on Bedrock (phone, console, Windows), they can join the same SMP with Geyser and Floodgate; on NapNodes it's the “Bedrock” tab in “Mods & plugins”. Those players are added with fwhitelist add Name, not whitelist add.

Only give op to whoever runs it with you. An op can wipe out half a base with one command; for moderators, tailored permissions with LuckPerms.

3. The plugins you need (and no more)

Every plugin is memory and something that can break when updating. For an SMP, this is enough:

1. CoreProtect

   Logs who broke or took what. If someone makes a mess, you undo just their changes without going back to a backup. It's the first one to install, because it only logs from the moment it's there.

2. GriefPrevention

   Each player claims their land with a golden shovel and nobody else can break blocks or open chests inside. It avoids arguments even when you all know each other.

3. EssentialsX (optional)

   /home, /tpa, /spawn and the like. Some groups prefer not to have them so travel matters: decide together before opening.

4. LuckPerms (if you have moderators)

   To give each person only the commands they need, instead of op.

How to install them on NapNodes

Inside the server, the “Mods & plugins” button: it searches Modrinth (and CurseForge) only for what works with your version and server type, installs it with its dependencies and restarts from there. Anything that isn't listed can be uploaded as a .jar to the plugins folder in “Files”.

And if you want it all in one go, a Paper server has “Turn into an SMP”, at the top of the plugins tab in “Mods & plugins”: it adds GriefPrevention, HuskHomes (/home and /tpa, for everyone without a permissions plugin) and a log to undo griefing (CoreProtect, or Prism if CoreProtect doesn't have a version for your Minecraft yet), turns on the whitelist with the names you give it (with yours, it makes you an admin) and tunes the server to run smoothly. Anything you already have that does the same stays. The free server can be requested this way from the start: “Create your free SMP”.

4. The world: before anyone joins

Difficulty and view distance are in server.properties (in the panel's “Settings”, or see the server.properties guide if you edit it by hand). PvP, since 1.21.9, is a game rule: gamerule pvp false in the console, or “Game rules” in “Settings”. Decide on PvP before you start: changing it midway is the most typical SMP argument.

If you're going to explore a lot, pregenerating the terrain with Chunky avoids stutter when several players each head off their own way. And if you'd like a name instead of a long address, on NapNodes you pick it in “Home”, “Address to play” card → “Change”: it would look something like name.play.napnodes.com.

5. A few short, written rules

Five lines are enough, in the group's Discord channel or on a sign at spawn: whether there's PvP and when; whether stealing or trolling is allowed (and how far); whether lag-heavy farms have a limit; what happens to abandoned bases; who decides when there's trouble. Whatever isn't written down ends in an argument.

6. Backups, before you need them

Make a backup before opening and another before each big change (new version, new plugin). With a NapNodes plan, a backup is also made automatically every night and you can keep two of your own; how to restore them is in the backups guide.

How much RAM an SMP needs

What weighs most isn't so much the number of players as how much terrain is loaded at once: ten friends each at a different end of the map use more than ten at the same base. As a guide, with Paper a small group runs fine on 3 GB, and with plugins or more than 8 players, 4 GB. With a modpack, more. The RAM calculator tells you for your case.

To try before paying, the NapNodes free server has the RAM of the smallest plan, with no card. But it stops after 20 minutes with nobody on and has to be started from the panel (sometimes with a queue), so it's for playing together at a set time, not for everyone dropping in whenever they like. For that, a plan, always on and with the same world.

Frequently asked questions