Installing a modpack

The Game Panel ships with a built-in modpack browser — search CurseForge, click install, pick a version, done. No manual JAR hunts, no Forge installers, no server.properties guesswork. This guide walks you through every screen and every gotcha.

Opening the Modpacks tab

Sign in to the Game Panel, open your server, and click Minecraft Modpacks in the left sidebar.

You'll see a grid of cards — by default, the most popular CurseForge packs are loaded. The top of the page has three controls:

• Provider — currently CurseForge. Other sources may appear in the future.
• Page size — how many cards to load per page. 25 is a good default; bump it to 50 if your browser feels snappy.
• Search query — free text search. Try cobblemon, skyfactory, ATM, or any author/keyword.

Finding the right pack

Every card shows the pack's icon, name, a short tagline, and two action icons in the top-right:

• External link — opens the pack's CurseForge page in a new tab. Read the description, check screenshots and recommended RAM before installing.
• Install — opens the install modal for this pack.

Installing a pack

Click the install icon on a card and a modal slides in. Using All the Mods 10 as an example:

Install modpack
You requested the installation of the modpack
"All the Mods 10 - ATM10" from the curseforge provider.
Please select the desired modpack version below.

MODPACK VERSION
  [ All the Mods 10-7.0          v ]

[ ] DELETE FILES
    Delete all your server files before installing the modpack.
    This is irreversible!

                          [ Cancel ]  [ Install modpack ]

Picking a version

The dropdown lists every public release of the pack, newest first. Some rules of thumb:

• Fresh server, no players yet? Grab the latest release. You get all the bug fixes and content the modpack author has shipped.
• Already have a world? Stay on the version your world was generated with. Mid-world updates often break chunks, recipes or quest progress.
• Joining a friend's world? Match their version exactly. Even minor version mismatches can cause client/server desyncs.

The "Delete files" toggle

Flipping this on wipes everything in your server directory before the pack is laid down — worlds, configs, logs, the lot. Use it when:

• You're switching to a completely different modpack and don't care about the old files.
• A previous install left junk that's conflicting with the new pack.
• You want a guaranteed clean slate.

Leave it off when you're updating the same modpack and want to keep your world and player data.

Hitting Install

Press Install modpack. The modal closes and the server enters an installing state — the status pill in the top bar turns grey and power controls are disabled. Behind the scenes the panel:

1. Stops the server if it was running.
2. (If Delete files is on) wipes the server directory.
3. Downloads the modpack archive from CurseForge.
4. Unpacks mods, configs and scripts into the correct folders.
5. Installs the matching Forge / NeoForge / Fabric loader.
6. Writes a fresh start.sh with the loader's recommended JVM flags.

Smaller packs finish in 30–60 seconds. Heavyweights (ATM10, FTB packs, anything with 400+ mods) can take 3–5 minutes depending on CurseForge's CDN.

First start after install

Once the status pill goes green-but-stopped, hit Start. The first boot is always the slowest — mods unpack, configs generate, dimensions build. Watch the console:

[INFO] Loading 478 mods…
[INFO] Construction: minecraft@1.21.1, ATM-stuff@7.0
[INFO] Preparing spawn area: 0%
[INFO] Preparing spawn area: 78%
[INFO] Done (124.512s)! For help, type "help"

If you see Done (…)! For help, type "help", you're live — connect with the address shown on the dashboard.

Updating a modpack

Modpack authors push fixes and balance tweaks regularly. To pull a newer version of the same pack:

1. Open the Backups tab and click Create backup. Wait for it to finish.
2. Stop the server.
3. Go back to Minecraft Modpacks, find the same pack, hit install.
4. Pick the new version in the dropdown. Leave "Delete files" OFF — you want to keep your world.
5. Press Install modpack, wait for the status pill, then start.

Switching to a different modpack

Installing a different pack on top of an existing one is the most common cause of "my server won't start." The old mods, configs and world will clash with the new pack's expectations. The clean way:

1. Back up anything you want to keep — worlds especially. (Optional: download the backup to your PC.)
2. Open the new pack's install modal.
3. Turn Delete files ON.
4. Press Install modpack. You'll land on a clean install of the new pack.

Installing a pack manually

If the pack isn't on CurseForge — or you're running a custom one your friend exported — you can still install it via the file manager.

1. Grab the pack's server pack ZIP from wherever it's hosted. (Make sure it's the server pack, not the client one — client packs are missing the loader's server JAR.)
2. In the panel, open Files.
3. Optionally clean the directory first (select all → delete) if you're starting fresh.
4. Upload the ZIP. For files larger than a few hundred MB, use SFTP — see File manager & SFTP.
5. Right-click the uploaded ZIP → Unarchive.
6. Open the Startup tab and confirm the JAR file matches what the pack expects (e.g. forge-1.20.1-47.x.x.jar or fabric-server-launch.jar).
7. Start the server.

Common issues

• Install spins forever. CurseForge CDN can hiccup. Wait 5 minutes, then try again. If it still hangs, open a ticket and we'll kick the installer.
• Server starts then crashes with OutOfMemoryError. You need a bigger plan. See the RAM callout above.
• Mod conflict on boot. The console will name the offending mod. Search the pack's CurseForge comments — somebody else has almost always hit it. The usual fix is removing the duplicate mod from /mods.
• "This mod is for client only" log spam. Harmless — client mods (shaders, JEI plugins) ship in some server packs and just sit idle.
• Players see This server is running [X], you have [Y]. Their client modpack version doesn't match yours. Either they update or you re-install the version they have.

Still stuck? Open a ticket with the last 200 lines of your console and we'll dig in.