If you find that generic Minecraft doesn’t give you quite enough options to create exactly what you want, it might be time to turn to Minecraft plugins for your server! Learn more about these powerful tools that can vastly expand the scope of what you can do in Minecraft below.
What are Minecraft Plugins?
What exactly are Minecraft plugins? Minecraft plugins are essentially packs of Java code that add or remove features to Minecraft servers. In a sense, Minecraft plugins for servers are like extensions for browsers. These plugins are used to make the game more interactive. There are many plugins that exist, each doing different things. You can normally find said plugins by searching up the plugin name in google or looking on SpigotMC.
If you’re looking to create your own plugin, keep an eye out for a future blog from me!
Mods vs. Plugins
When it comes to customizing your Minecraft experience, you’ve got two main options: mods and plugins. Both have their pros and cons, so it’s important to understand the difference before you decide which route to go. The easiest way to think about these two types of customizations is that a mod will directly change the game adding completely new features, while a plugin will utilize existing game features to create new features.
Because mods edit the actual game of Minecraft, only players with the correct mods can join modded servers. On the other hand, plugin servers can be joined by anyone using the correct version of Minecraft.
Start using Plugins
The plugin folder for any server ever will be in your main server directory. Its name is “plugins”.
Installation into Your Server
The process of installing a plugin into your server might seem like an impossible task. In actuality, it isn’t hard at all. To start out, simply find a plugin you want to download. For the sake of this tutorial, I’ll be using the plugin EssentialsX as it’s one of the most popular free plugins on the market.
First, navigate to a place you can download the plugin. In the case of the EssentialsX plugin, there was a small download tab in the top right of my screen.
Once downloaded, your plugin should look something like this:
Then, open the folder in which your plugin was downloaded to. Along with this, open a your “plugins” folder. If you’re using a server host, this can be found by opening your servers file manager then finding the “plugins” folder. Simply drag your downloaded plugin jar into your plugins.
From there, just restart your server. If there weren’t any issues with your plugin or your server, then your plugin will be loaded and usable on your server.
You now should have a working plugin on your Minecraft server! You can rinse and repeat these steps to get any plugin that you want.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to comment below any topics that you’d like to see covered in this blog series!
Keep in touch with “How to make a Minecraft Server” by following! Many more useful guides are soon to come.
