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Setting up a test server

Why do I need a local server?!🔗

You might think that a local test server is useless because you already have a remote server. There are multiple reasons why you really need one:

  • Working on a live server could lead to crashes and bugs that your players will have to deal with.
  • Making quests can, especially for new questers, lead to unexpected behavior. This can be anything from spawning hundreds of mobs to endlessly giving out items to a player. Exactly the stuff you don't want to happen.
  • Working with a test server is usually faster and therefore more productive. You can restart it all the time, change plugin configurations as you wish etc.

Setup of your local server🔗

  • Step 1
    You have probably heard of Spigot, the biggest server software for Minecraft. We are going to install Paper (an improved version of Spigot) on your computer. Head over to Papers download page and click on the button you see in the image below (the versions will not match up, ignore that). PaperMCDownload

  • Step 2
    Create a new folder for the server in a place you can easily access. Making a new folder is important because the server will create a lot of files that would mess up your Desktop etc. Move the downloaded file in the newly created folder.

  • Step 3
    Rename the file to just "paper". If the file name contains a ".jar" ending make sure to keep it.

  • Step 4
    You need a start script to start your server. Open your text editor and create a file named "start.bat" (for Linux and Mac: "start.sh"). Place it next to the "paper.jar". Open it and copy this into it: 

    java -Xms1G -Xmx1G -jar paper.jar --nogui
pause
    Make sure to save it as a ".bat" file (for Linux and Mac: ".sh")! If you save it as a ".txt" file it will not work.

    What does this do?

    This script tells Java to search for a file named "paper.jar". The 1G setting in both the -Xms and -Xmx options is how much RAM you want to give to the server (1G = 1 GigaByte RAM, 2G = 2 GigaByte RAM, 700M for 700 MegaBytes, etc.). You should not need more then 1GB in most cases.

  • Step 5
    Start the server by double-clicking on the start file. Please wait until the console window has closed itself. Now check the server's folder. You will find a bunch of new folders and files that have been generated. You need to accept the EULA (Minecraft's End-User-License-Agreement) to be able to run a Minecraft server. Open up the "eula.txt" file, read the terms and agree by setting eula=false to eula=true.

From now on the start file can be used to start the server.
You can stop your server by selecting the console and pressing Ctrl+C (for Mac: Cmd+C) or just type in stop.
To join your server you can now connect to the address localhost in your Minecraft.

Next Step: Install Dependencies