In the previous articles, we discussed various ways to customize the Minecraft experience. The center of interest of this post is another feature of Minecraft, and that is the use of commands in the game. Minecraft commands are quite useful to modify and manage the world you have created. There is a wide range of commands with many possibilities. Some commands are simple for basic interactions, and some are powerful commands to modify almost everything in the world.

How to Enter Minecraft commands:

Entering the Minecraft command is as simple as creating a new world from the menu. Once you are in the world, press the forward-slash “/” key to get the command bar, where you will type your command. Every command you enter must start with a forward slash (/) if you play it as a single player.

If you are getting the error “command not found,” then press the “Esc” key, then go to “Open to LAN” options and “Allow Cheats: ON” and click on “Start LAN World“:

How to select targets with Minecraft commands:

Before exploring Minecraft commands, let’s talk about how to select a target. For instance, if you want to give some items to a player, you have to select that player and target that player using “@<Selector Variable>“. Here is the list:

The above mentions target selectors greatly help to target players without specifying their names.

Let’s discuss some well-known commands and their usage in Minecraft:

1. How to use the help command in Minecraft:

To get help and usage about any command, use help with a forward slash:

To get help with the “gamemode” command, use:

2 How to change the game mode using the command:

Minecraft has 2 modes, the creative mode where you have unlimited resources, you can fly, and no mob attacks while in survival mode, your health keeps on dropping, and there are mob-attacks as well, but with the usage of the command, the mode of the game can be changed immediately. Press forward, slash “/” and type:

If you are in creative mode, use the same command to get into the survival mode:

You can also enable adventure and spectator mode.

3 How to change game difficulty using the command:

Another important command you must know is changing game difficulty. You got to set game difficulty before generating your world. But with the command, the difficulty level can be modified at any time. Press “/” and type:

To add more challenges to your game experience, replace easy with normal or hard. But if the game is getting more difficult, then use difficulty level “peaceful”.

4 How to get seed code of your world using the command:

If you are interested in generating the seed of your world so you can use it to load an identical world in the future, then used the command given below:

This command will generate a seed code.

5 How to teleport anywhere in Minecraft world using the command:

It would not be easy to move from place to place on feet if your world is gigantic. In this situation, teleport command can help you. With the use of this command, you can teleport anywhere in your world. Another benefit is that you can also teleport other players and items using this command. Teleport command is a big time-saver; to use it, press forward slash “/”:

Type “tp” select target as discussed above and input coordinates x, y, and z.

6 How to change the weather of Minecraft world using the command:

Another interesting command is changing the weather. To change the weather, type the following command:

For the <type> field, use “clean”, “rain,” or “thunder,” and in the time field, input the number of seconds you want to keep that weather.

The above command will change the weather to thunder for 30 seconds.

7 How to summon anything in Minecraft using the command:

Summon command is another handy Minecraft command you must know. Using this command, you can instantaneously get any object, item, or mob at your specified location. The syntax is

Just type the name of any Minecraft entity and then specify the position and NBT. Position and NBT is an option. For instance, if you want to summon a horse, use:

8 How to set daylight cycle using the command:

This command is simple but important to remember. In Minecraft, 50 seconds of real-time equals 1 hour Minecraft, and 20 minutes of real-time equals 1 day of Minecraft. With command, you can also set time:

The <Time> could be a letter “day”, “midnight”, “night”, “noon” or you can put a number as well, a list of time numbers is given below:

or

The above command will set the time to dusk. But there is a command as well to stop the time as well.

To stop the time ticking, use:

If you want to play under permanent sunlight or permanent moonlight, then use the above command. To resume the time use:

9 How to enable instant mine using the command:

Who wants to hit several times to mine when there is a quick way to do it. To enable one-click mine with any tool, use the command:

10 How to kill using the command:

To kill anyone in the game, use the “kill” command, you can target yourself or any other character in the game:

11 How to increase moving speed using the command:

For the most part, Minecraft is moving from place to place; how about changing the moving speed, yes! That’s is possible in Minecraft. You can change the speed using the command:

Every creature has its own default movement speed, but the maximum value is 1024.

12 How to disable fire and fall damage in Minecraft using the command:

Disabling the fire damage and fall damage could be quite helpful. To disable it fire damage use:

And to disable fall damage use:

Conclusion:

Commands can be cheats for some people, but they are used to save time and shape your gameplay according to your preference. In this post, we learned another technique to modify the Minecraft game experience. Being a sandbox game, there is a lot to explore in Minecraft. Still, sometimes exploration becomes tedious and monotonous, and to overcome it, they add an interesting layer of features. There are plenty of commands used for various purposes, but in this, we covered those commands that you must know if you are new to this feature.

Minecraft is the only game that allows you to build anything you want! Like many other players, you may also want to spice up your Minecraft world. As a sandbox game, Minecraft has no specific end, and you may become bored seeing the same things every day. Luckily, there are tons of add-ons that can magically transform your world into a catchy world.

Add-ons can change the appearance of Minecraft, as well as many other things, such as the rules of the game and game mechanics.

Since Minecraft is played on a range of devices, such as PC (Windows, Linux, macOS), consoles (PS, Xbox), and smartphones (Android, iOS). The mobile phone editions are known as Pocket Editions, or PEs. Add-ons are also designed for a particular set of devices; for example, some add-ons could be PC or console exclusives, and others are specifically created for pocket editions. There are hundreds of add-ons available for Minecraft, so it can be difficult and time-consuming to find the best ones. This article will make your search easy by listing some of the best Minecraft add-ons available today.

1. Castle Siege

The Castle Siege add-on is one of the add-ons that the Minecraft team highlighted to demonstrate the add-ons program for Minecraft. With this add-on, you need to defend your castle from a hostile army of mobs, and you can choose which side you fight for. You can either become a part of a mob army or a defending army. This add-on is older but is extremely well-liked. If you are just starting in the Minecraft mod world, then this is a must-have add-on.

https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-addons/castle-siege

2. Alien Invasion

Another action-filled add-on for new Minecraft users, this add-on was the first add-on demonstrated at the E3 event by the Minecraft team. With this add-on installed, you will enter a futuristic alien world. Your objective is to kill waves of aliens and explore and defend the high-tech city.

https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-addons/alien-invasion

3. Cave Update Add-On

The Cave add-on is regularly updated. This add-on completely changes the cave experience in Minecraft. The Cave Update add-on changes the appearance of the cave world. There are multiple biomes to be applied, such as Deep Desert, Underground Desert, Underground Jungle, or Underground Tundra. Each biome comes with a related set of mobs and distinctive loot boxes.

https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-addons/cave-update-add-on-for-minecraft-bedrock-1-14-1

4. Minecolonies Immersed

As its name indicates, this add-on is designed to allow you to craft colonies, large metropolitan cities, and other structures beyond your imagination. This add-on comes with town-building packs to enhance your building, crafting, and overall game experience. The pack included in the add-on allows you to create colonies with various crafting materials and even interactive NPCs, such as Farmers, Cooks, Carpenters, and Blacksmiths. Minecolonies is a free and open-source add-on that was developed and designed by the Let’s Dev Together (LDT) Community.

https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-addons/minecolonies-immersed

5. Dragons

Dragons is another popular add-on that adds dragons to your world. This add-on was developed for pocket edition (PE). The developer Gona has replaced the bats in Minecraft with Flying Lizards. Having Dragons in your world is cool, but the most significant feature of this add-on is the ability to tame and train these dragons. The dragons will then assist you to fight against mobs and other hostile elements, making for an extremely interactive feature.

http://mcpe-monster.com/mods/addon/132-dragons-addon.html

6. Mob Tower

This add-on creates eight distinct mob towers in your world. Your objective is to find these towers to conquer them. A Stone Tower, Cobble Tower, Dessert Tower, Mesa Tower, and Sea Tower are spawned in your world with different biomes. Find the towers, fight with the mob, and reach the top of the tower, where you will face a Golem. Once you defeat the boss, the tower will start falling, and you will get HP, diamonds, and fireballs.

https://mcpedl.com/mob-towers-addon/?cookie_check=1

7. Amazing Mobs

Amazing mobs is another PE add-on by Gona that allows you to add different types of mobs with interesting characteristics. This add-on comes with 11 different creatures, and many of these creatures can be treated as a pet.

Amazing Mobs replaces the default Minecraft creatures with new creatures. For instance, the Titanis, a hostile, prehistoric bird, replaces the boring default chicken. Other creatures include Scorpions, both neutral and poisonous, and Unicorns to replace the default horses. Zeus is neutral until you try to mess with him. Ants are neutral, as well, but are hostile against those who try to harm the environment.

https://mcpefl.com/50-amazing-mobs-minecraft-pe-addon.html

8. New Mutant Creatures

As its name indicates, this add-on is all about adding mutant creatures to the game. If you want to make your Minecraft experience a bit more challenging, then this add-on is for you. The add-on comes with 16 creatures with incredible powers added to the Minecraft bedrock. Ultra-powerful Zombies, Creepers, Stray Skeletons, Mutant Golems, and many more creatures are ready to challenge your presence in this world.

https://mcpedl.com/mutant-creatures-addon/

9. Mega Mech

This add-on adds a giant mechanical robot to the game that can be controlled by the player. The developer of this add-on took inspiration from Pacific Rim, a science fiction movie in which robots fight against aliens. The robot replaces the iron Golem in the game.
The robot is immune to fire and has 27 storage slots, 30 melee attacks, long-range fireball attacks, and 500 heart health.

https://mcpedl.com/mega-mech-addon/

10. Crafting Table +

The Crafting Table + add-on helps users to craft rare items, such as diamonds, Elytra, Redstone, nether star, and more. This add-on adds 10 recipes to your recipe book to make the crafting of rare elements easier. All you have to do is open the recipe book, find the recipe, and search for the required items to craft your favorite rare element. Turn on the experimental mode to let this add-on work.

https://mcpedl.com/crafting-table-plus-addon/

Conclusion

Minecraft with endless possibilities, which is what keeps players engaged. You can create anything you want in Minecraft, but for crafting, you will need the required materials. Sometimes, doing the same thing repeatedly can make the experience boring, and to spruce up the game, the Minecraft team has introduced an add-on feature that allows users to change the gameplay experience and overall appearance of the world. In this post, we discussed some of the more popular add-ons that can add different flavors to your normal Minecraft world. Add-ons like Alien Invasion and Castle Siege are good examples for developers working on add-ons. Meanwhile, Cave Update completely alters the Minecraft cave experience, and Mutant Creatures adds enemies to make the game experience a bit more difficult. Dragon is a PE add-on that comes with the interesting feature of taming dragons and using them against mobs. All in all, add-ons give players the ability to enhance gameplay functionality with a completely new set of rules.

Another feature that’s what makes Minecraft popular is customization because everything in this game can be personalized. Moreover, you can customize your own avatar with the help of tons of skins. The option of customization is pretty much limitless when it comes to Java Edition. Though Bedrock edition also has limited customizability.

As discussed above, thousands of texture packs for the worlds and characters skins in the Minecraft marketplace https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/catalog. But this post is particularly focusing on the rarest character skins. Various skins have been released, but they got pulled out because they were in the store for a short period to promote some movie or a TV show. Let’s check some of those rarest Minecraft skins:

1. Minecraft Super Mario Edition:

This pack is a pretty old pack but one of the rarest packs. It was a combination of Minecraft and Nintendo’s Super Mario. This edition came with many super Mario characters such as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and even Bowser. The world is filled with super Mario characters’ giant structures and gives a nostalgic feel with classic Mario’s background music. It is no more available on Minecraft Marketplace, but you can enjoy it if you are Nintendo’s Switch owner.

2. Minecraft The Simpsons Skin Pack:

Another skin pack that did not stay for long and exclusively came fox Xbox edition. This skin was only available in the Minecraft Market Place from 2015 to 2017. This pack was very impressive and available for few bucks in the store. You can play any character from this well-known sitcom series. You will definitely miss this skin pack in Minecraft if you are The Simpsons fan.

3. Minecraft’s first birthday skin pack – Ender Dragon (Xbox 360):

Another rare skin pack was released for Minecraft Xbox 360 edition. Many skins packs are released and inspired by superheroes, but this skin pack is inspired by Mojang’s own creation, the Ender Dragon, a hostile and one of the largest mobs of Minecraft. The pack was free and released to celebrate the birthday of Minecraft on the console. Ender Dragon skin was a part of many skin packs released with it, such as a zombie with birthday cake head, Steve with Creeper head, slime, and Mushrooms.

4. Minecon 2016 Skin Pack – Ice Pioneer:

Ice Pioneer was one of the skins released in 2016 by the developers to tease Minecraft’s new features. All of the skins were well made, but Ice Pioneer stood out because of the Iceberg biome. This skin pack was beautifully crafted and now very rare to find. This skin pack deserves to be in your skin pack collection because of being high quality and rare.

5. Halloween Skin Pack – Ghost – Evil Lemmy:

Another skin pack was released for a limited time on Halloween to promote the charity. It is a very rare skin and was first released in 2012. The Halloween pack was well crafted, especially the skin of ghosts with transparent pixels making them floating. Minecraft is one of those rare games that is apart from providing entertainment doing work for noble causes. To raise awareness about declining coral reefs, Minecraft released a skin pack for charity. This is one of the Halloween skin packs released for a limited time and is now hardly found anywhere. This skin pack came with various skins, but the creepiest one was Evil Lemmy.

6. Marvel’s Spiderman skin Pack:

Minecraft and without Marvel Superheroes? Sounds bizarre! Therefore, Marvel released a skin pack with all of its superheroes for the Bedrock edition. Unfortunately, it stayed in the Market place for a short period. The pack ran from 2014 to 2015 and disappeared after that and, therefore, one of the rarest packs of Minecraft. Apart from Spiderman, this pack also came with other unique skins, especially The Venom and The Carnage.

7. Marvel’s the Guardian of the Galaxy skin pack:

Marvel, along with Spiderman, released two more skin packs for the legacy edition. The second prominent pack was “The Guardian of the Galaxy” themed skin packs. Who doesn’t remember Marvel’s Blockbuster “The Guardian of the Galaxy”. Marvel also released skin packs of all the movie characters as this pack is no more available, therefore one of the rarest.

8. Marvel’s Avenger’s Themed skin pack:

How can Marvel forget Avengers? Yes! There was Avengers Themed Skin pack as well for Minecraft. Like other Marvel’s skin pack, this one is also no more available. But due to its popularity, fans have created similar packs. All of the skins are well crafted and beautifully made.

9. Minecon – Mojang Capes:

Capes were first announced at Minecon event 2011 and then released with other skin packs. Capes were highly desirable skin back in 2011 and now very hard to find. Every Minecraft fan would love to have one of them. Having these capes was considered a Minecraft award.

10. Summer of Arcade skin pack – Tony Hawk:

To promote Xbox live arcade XBLA game, an exclusive skin pack was released. The pack has a lot of skins of characters from classic games such as Tony Hawk and Paladin. This pack is for promotional purposes and stayed in the store for a short while.

Conclusion:

For a dedicated Minecraft player, personalization is very important. And when it comes to customization, every Minecraft fan would love to change the primary character’s appearance. Therefore, Minecraft allows changing the skins of the characters. There are tons of skin packs available on Minecraft Market Place, but many of the once really famous skins have not been vanished from Market Place and very hard to find. In this post, we tried to discuss some of those skin packs that are extremely rare to find. All of the skin packs discussed above were released for a limited time or repacked with other skins. Super Mario Edition is now exclusive for Nintendo’s console, while Marvel’s skin pack was released for a limited time. These rarest skins are hard to get anywhere now; however, many third-party similar skin packs can be found online.

Creating your own Minecraft server comes with some benefits:

• The Minecraft world data will be saved on your Raspberry Pi system.
• You can play Minecraft with your friends on the LAN.
• You can get a public IP address and let anyone from anywhere join your Minecraft server.
• You can run any Minecraft mods you want.
• You will be the administrator.
• You can control the users playing Minecraft on your server.
• You can grant access to whomever you want, deny access to whomever you want, and kick anyone out of your server, anytime.

In short, you will have complete control over your Minecraft server.

As Raspberry Pi 4 is a low-cost single-board computer, building a Minecraft server with a Raspberry Pi 4 system can be very cost-effective. Raspberry Pi 4 is also a low-power device. You will not have to worry about electricity bills. You can use any power bank to power a Raspberry Pi 4 system.

This article shows you how to install your own Minecraft server in Raspberry Pi 4.

What You Will Need

If you want to set up a Minecraft server on your Raspberry Pi 4 system, you will need the following:

1. A Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer (the 4 GB version is recommended, but the 2 GB version will also work).
2. A USB Type-C power adapter.
3. A 16 GB or 32 GB microSD card with Raspberry Pi OS flashed. I recommend the Raspberry Pi OS Lite (without the graphical desktop environment), though the desktop version of Raspberry Pi OS will also work.
4. Network connectivity on the Raspberry Pi 4 device.
5. A laptop or desktop computer for VNC remote desktop access or SSH access to the Raspberry Pi 4 device.

If you need assistance with flashing the Raspberry Pi OS image on the microSD card, check out the article How to Install and Use Raspberry Pi Imager.

If you are a beginner at working with Raspberry Pi and need assistance with installing Raspberry Pi OS on your Raspberry Pi 4 device, check out the article How to Install Raspberry Pi OS on Raspberry Pi 4.

Also, if you need any assistance with the headless setup of Raspberry Pi 4, check out the article How to Install and Configure Raspberry Pi OS on Raspberry Pi 4 Without External Monitor.

Upgrading Raspberry Pi OS

Before getting started with installing a Minecraft server in Raspberry Pi 4, it is a good idea to upgrade all the existing packages of your Raspberry Pi OS.

First, update the APT package repository cache with the following command:

To upgrade all the existing packages in your Raspberry Pi OS, run the following command:

To confirm the installation, press Y and then press <Enter>.

The APT package manager will download and install all the required packages from the Internet. This may take a while to complete.

At this point, all the updates should be installed.

For the changes to take effect, reboot your Raspberry Pi 4 system with the following command:

Installing the Java Development Kit

Minecraft servers are written in the Java programming language. So, you will need to have Java installed on your computer for the Minecraft server to work.

Luckily, Java Development Kit (JDK in short) is available in the official package repository of Raspberry Pi OS. So, it is easy to install Java Development Kit on the Raspberry Pi OS.

To install Java Development Kit onto your Raspberry Pi system, run the following command:

To confirm the installation, press Y and then press <Enter>.

All the required packages will be downloaded from the Internet. This may take a while to complete.

Once the required packages are downloaded from the Internet, they will be installed on the Raspberry Pi OS one by one. This may take a while to complete.

At this point, JDK should be installed.

Official vs. Papermc Minecraft Server

In this article, I have shown you how to install both the official and the Papermc Minecraft server.

The only difference between these two is that the official Minecraft server is closed-source, while the Papermc Minecraft server is maintained by the community and is open-source. In terms of performance, these two server types will have their differences.

You can install either the official Minecraft server or the Papermc Minecraft server. This choice depends on your personal preferences.

Installing an Official Minecraft Server

In this section, you will learn how to install an official Minecraft server on your Raspberry Pi OS.

First, create the new directory ~/minecraft-server with the following command:

Navigate to the newly created directory ~/minecraft-server with the following command:

Visit the official download page of the Minecraft server here.

Once the page loads, find the download link of the latest version of the Minecraft server, as you can see in the screenshot below.

Right-click (RMB) on the download link and click Copy link address to copy the download link of the Minecraft server.

Download the Minecraft server Java archive using the download link you have just copied, as follows:

The Minecraft server Java archive file is now being downloaded. This may take a few seconds to complete.

At this point, the file should be downloaded.

The new file server.jar should also be created in your current working directory.

Run the Minecraft server as follows:

Here, the -Xms and -Xmx options are used to set the amount of memory that the Minecraft server can use.

I have allocated 2048 MB or 2 GB of memory for the Minecraft server, as I have the 8 GB version of the Raspberry Pi 4. If you have the 2 GB version of the Raspberry Pi 4, then set it to 1024 MB.

You should see the following output the first time you run the Minecraft server. This is because you first have to accept the EULA (End-User License Agreement) of the Minecraft server to be able to run it.

The new file eula.txt should be created in your current working directory the first time you run the Minecraft server, as you can see in the screenshot below.

To accept the EULA, open the eula.txt file with the nano text editor as follows:

The eula variable should be set to false by default.

Change this value to TRUE, as shown in the screenshot below.

Once you are done, press <Ctrl> + X followed by Y and <Enter> to save the eula.txt file.

Once you have accepted the EULA, you can run the Minecraft server with the same command as before:

Now, the Minecraft server will start, as you can see in the screenshot below.

The Minecraft world is now being generated. This may take a while to complete.

Once the Minecraft server is ready, you should see the log message Done, as marked in the screenshot below.

Installing the PaperMC Minecraft Server

In this section, you will learn how to install the open-source PaperMC Minecraft server on your Raspberry Pi OS.

First, create the new directory ~/papermc-server with the following command:

Navigate to the newly created directory ~/papermc-server with the following command:

Visit the official download page of the PaperMC Minecraft server here.

Once the page loads, you should find the download link of the latest version of the PaperMC Minecraft server, as you can see in the screenshot below.

Right-click (RMB) on the download link and click Copy link address to copy the download link of the PaperMC Minecraft server.

Download the PaperMC Minecraft server Java archive using the download link you just copied, as follows:

The PaperMC Minecraft server Java archive file is now being downloaded. This may take a few seconds to complete.

At this point, the file should be downloaded.

The new file server.jar should also be created in your current working directory.

Run the PaperMC Minecraft server as follows:

Here, the -Xms and -Xmx options are used to set the amount of memory that the PaperMC Minecraft server can use.

I have allocated 2048 MB or 2 GB of memory for the Minecraft server, as I have the 8 GB version of the Raspberry Pi 4. If you have the 2 GB version of the Raspberry Pi 4, then set it to 1024 MB.

You should see the following output the first time you run the PaperMC Minecraft server. This is because you have the accept the EULA (End-User License Agreement) of the PaperMC Minecraft server to be able to run it.

The new file eula.txt should be created in your current working directory the first time you run the PaperMC Minecraft server, as you can see in the screenshot below:

To accept the EULA, open the eula.txt file with the nano text editor, as follows:

The eula variable should be set to false by default.

Change this value to TRUE, as shown in the screenshot below.

Once you are done, press <Ctrl> + X followed by Y and <Enter> to save the eula.txt file.

Once you have accepted the EULA, you can run the PaperMC Minecraft server with the same command as before:

The PaperMC Minecraft server is now being started and a new world is being generated, as you can see in the screenshot below. This will take a while to complete.

Once the PaperMC Minecraft server is ready, you should see the log Done, as marked in the screenshot below.

Playing Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi 4 Minecraft Server

To access the Minecraft server running on the Raspberry Pi device from other devices in your home network (LAN), you will need to know the IP address of your Raspberry Pi device.

You can find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi device from the web management interface of your home router. In my case, the IP address is 192.168.0.106. This will be different for you. So, be sure to replace my IP with yours from now on.

If you have access to the Raspberry Pi console, you can run the following command to find the IP address, as well.

To play Minecraft on the Minecraft server installed on your Raspberry Pi 4 device, run the Minecraft Java Edition and click on Multiplayer.

Check Do not show this screen again and click Proceed.

Click Direct Connection.

Type in the IP address of your Raspberry Pi 4 and click Join Server.

Minecraft should now start connecting to the Minecraft server running on the Raspberry Pi 4 device.

You should also be able to see that a new user has joined the game in the Minecraft server log.

Minecraft should start. You can now enjoy Minecraft on your own Minecraft server running on the Raspberry Pi 4.

You can press P to list the players connected to your Minecraft server. Right now, I am the only player on my Minecraft server, as you can see in the screenshot below:

Once you stop the Minecraft game, the Minecraft server log should also notify you of this action.

Starting the Minecraft Server on Startup

Manually starting the Minecraft server each time you boot your Raspberry Pi device is not very practical. So, we can create a systemd service that will automatically start the Minecraft server on boot.

First, create the minecraft-server.service file in the /etc/systemd/system/ directory, as follows:

Type the following lines in the minecraft-server.service file.

If you want to run the official Minecraft server, make sure that the WorkingDirectory is set to /home/pi/minecraft-server in the minecraft-server.service file.

If you want to run the PaperMC Minecraft server, make sure that the WorkingDirectory is set to /home/pi/papermc-server in the minecraft-server.service file.

Also, you can change the MC_MEMORY environment variable to set the amount of memory you want to allocate for your Minecraft server.

Once you are done, press <Ctrl> + X followed by Y and <Enter> to save the minecraft-server.service file.

Reload the systemd daemons for the changes to take effect, as follows:

As you can see, the minecraft-server systemd service is not running at the moment.

You can start the minecraft-server systemd service with the following command:

The minecraft-server service should be active/running, as you can see in the screenshot below. So, the minecraft-server systemd service is working.

You can also add the minecraft-server systemd service to the system startup of Raspberry Pi OS with the following command:

For the changes to take effect, reboot your Raspberry Pi system with the following command:

Once your Raspberry Pi system boots, the minecraft-server systemd service should be active/running, as you can see in the screenshot below.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned how to create your own Minecraft server using the Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer. You saw how to install both the official Minecraft server and the open-source PaperMC Minecraft server on your Raspberry Pi 4 device. You also learned how to play Minecraft on the Minecraft server running on the Raspberry Pi 4 system.

We have explained the procedure and commands on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa). Almost the same procedure can be followed for the previous versions of Ubuntu.

Note: Minecraft is not open-source and free software, but we can use its Demo version for free by signing up for the Mojang account.

Install Minecraft via .deb package

To install the Minecraft using the .deb package, here are the steps:

The first step will be to download the Minecraft .deb package on our system. To do so, launch the command line Terminal using the Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut and then issue the following command in Terminal:

The next step will be to install the Minecraft downloaded package. Issue the following command in the Terminal to do so:

After running the above command, you might encounter some errors regarding missing or broken dependencies. To solve these dependencies, issue the following command in the Terminal:

This command will handle all dependencies by installing the missing dependencies and fixing the broken ones.

After running the above command, the system might ask for confirmation that if you want to continue the installation or not. Press y to continue; after that, the required packages will be installed on your system.

Uninstall Minecraft

To uninstall Minecraft snap package, issue the following command in Terminal:

After running the above command, the system might ask for confirmation that if you want to continue the removal process or not. Press y to continue; after that, the Minecraft will be removed from your system.

Minecraft stores the application profile and some other information in the .minecraft directory under the user’s home directory. To remove all those files from your system, issue the following command in Terminal:

Install Minecraft via Snap Package

Minecraft is also available as a snap package bundled with all dependencies. To install the Minecraft using the snap package, here are the steps:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS already comes installed with the snapd, so you do not need to install it. Simply issue the following command in Terminal to install the Minecraft installer package.

Now run the Minecraft installer package using the following command in Terminal:

Uninstall Minecraft

To uninstall Minecraft snap package, issue the following command in Terminal:

Launch Minecraft

Once the installation of Minecraft is completed, you can launch it either via the command line or via the Ubuntu application launcher.

To launch Minecraft from the command line, issue the following command in Terminal:

To launch Minecraft from application launcher, hit the super key on your keyboard and type minecraft. When the search result appears, click on the Minecraft icon to launch it.

When you launch the Minecraft application for the first time in your system, you will see the following screen. Here you can either log in to your account if it has already been set up or create a new account by signing up.

After creating an account, sign in to your Minecraft account by providing the email and password in the above window. After that, you will see the following view:

If you want to enjoy the full version of Minecraft, you will need to purchase the game by clicking the Buy now! button, otherwise you can play its demo version by clicking on the PLAY DEMO button. I did not purchase the game, so I chose the demo version. When we click the PLAY DEMO button, the game starts downloading on the system.

Once downloaded, click the Play Demo World button to start playing the game.

In this article, we have explained the installation of the Minecraft game on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) system. We have covered the installation via both Minecraft .deb package and the snap package. I hope now you can easily install a Minecraft game on your system.

What Is Minecraft?

Most Minecraft players would agree that the secrete to the game’s success lies in its creativity-inspiring design. Players are free to explore a large, procedurally generated world made of blocks, each of which can be interacted with, moved, or transformed into resources for crafting.

This blocky world is occupied by AI-controlled monsters, friendly villagers, and, in multiplayer mode, other players. Minecraft can be played either as a survival game or sandbox, and players are free to modify its gameplay mechanics and create new assets for it.

Because Minecraft is written in the Java programming language, it runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS. Keep in mind that there are several versions of Minecraft, and this article is about Minecraft: Java Edition.

Install Minecraft on Ubuntu and its Derivatives

Thanks to the official .DEB package, installing Minecraft on Ubuntu and its derivatives is a breeze, and the whole process won’t take you more than a few minutes.

Step 1: Download the Installation Package

The first thing you need to do is download the Minecraft .DEB package from Minecraft’s official website. You can either open the alternative download page in your favorite web browser and download it from there, or you can use the following command and download the package to your home folder using wget:

https://launcher.mojang.com/download/Minecraft.deb

Step 2: Install Minecraft

We recommend you use a small tool called gdebi to install the Minecraft .DEB package because it automatically resolves all dependencies.

Install gdebi:

Use gdebi to install the Minecraft.deb package:

Step 3: Launch Minecraft

To launch Minecraft on Ubuntu and its derivatives, simply search for the Minecraft Launcher and run it. If everything goes right, the Minecraft Launcher should start right away, prompting you to enter your email address and password.

Once you’ve logged in, click the Play button and enjoy Minecraft—there’s really nothing more to it!

Install Minecraft on Other Distributions

Because Minecraft was programmed in Java, you can get it to run on just about any Linux distribution with the Java Runtime Environment installed and working 3D graphics drivers.

Step 1: Install Java Runtime

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) provides all the necessary components to run Java applications. Most Linux distributions offer multiple options when it comes to executing Java programs:

• Headless JRE: This minimal version of the Java Runtime Environment is intended for running Java applications that don’t have a graphical user interface. As such, it can’t be used to run Minecraft on Linux.
• Full JRE: This version of the Java Runtime Environment depends on the headless version, and it includes everything you need to execute Java applications with a graphical user interface, including Minecraft.
• Java Development Kit (JDK): Intended for Java developers, the JDK includes a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and other resources necessary to develop Java software applications.

The most popular open-source implementation of Java is called OpenJDK. There’s also Java SE, which is Oracle’s implementation of JRE and JDK. Starting from Minecraft 1.12, Java 8 is required to run Minecraft, but it doesn’t really matter if you choose OpenJDK or Java SE.

To check which version of Java is installed on your Linux distribution, enter the command “java -version” in the terminal.

Step 2: Install Graphics Drivers

To enjoy Minecraft on Linux, you need working 3D acceleration. You can test 3D acceleration using a popular OpenGL test called glxgears, which is part of the mesa-utils package.

First, install the mesa-utils package (it should be in your distribution’s repositories) and then enter “glxgears” in the terminal. A new window with three spinning gears will appear, and you’ll be able to see the number of rendered frames in the terminal. Because glxgears requires very little processing power, any decently powerful Linux computer with working 3D acceleration should be able to render hundreds of frames every second.

If the gears appear to be choppy, your 3D acceleration isn’t working, and you need to install the correct graphics driver for your graphics card.

Step 3: Install & Launch Minecraft

To launch Minecraft on a distribution that’s not based on Ubuntu, you need to download the Minecraft.tar.gz archive from the alternative download page.

Then, extract the archive and launch the executable file called minecraft-launcher using the following command:

If this seems like too much work, you can also install the Minecraft snap package on any Linux distribution that ships with Snap preinstalled (any recent Ubuntu release, most recognized Ubuntu flavors, Solus 3, and Zorin OS):

How to Uninstall Minecraft on Linux

Minecraft creates a hidden folder (.minecraft) in the home directory. The folder is used to store information about your Minecraft profile and progress in the game. To delete it:

1. Open the terminal.
2. Enter the following command: rm -vr ~/.minecraft/*

Conclusion

Even though the length of this article may make the installation of Minecraft feel somewhat intimidating, we can assure you that there’s nothing difficult about it at all, especially if you’re using Ubuntu or some distribution based on it.

In this guide, let’s have a look at how to play Minecraft on Linux Mint.

Minecraft on Linux Mint

If you didn’t know, Minecraft offers a Java version of the game. This allows enjoying the game in every single system that can run JVM (Java Virtual Machine). Here’s a quick refresh on how Java programs work. Java codes, when compiled, turns into universal bit codes. Those universal bit codes can be executed on a JVM running on any platform.

So, in order to enjoy Minecraft on Linux Mint, these are the steps you have to follow.

1. Buy Minecraft (skip if you already did)
2. Install appropriate drivers
3. Install a suitable JRE
4. Install and play Minecraft

So, let’s get started!

Step 1. Buying Minecraft

Developed by Mojang, they released Minecraft back in 2009. It’s now 2019 and Minecraft is still one of the all-time-hit games. I bet many of you still enjoy playing it. However, it’s not any free-to-play title. It costs about 30 USD. Get Minecraft.

If you already have purchased Minecraft, you don’t have to buy it again. However, if you’re planning on starting a new account, make sure that you’re truly interested in the game. Worry not; it’s a one-time purchase; everything else is free!

Step 2. Install appropriate driver

Minecraft is never a graphics-intensive title. Even the most “potato” system can run Minecraft, no problem. However, it’s a 3D game and it can greatly benefit from the dedicated hardware for 3D processing, right? There are currently 3 major GPU vendors in the market: Intel (integrated GPU), NVIDIA and AMD.

Graphics drivers are proprietary. However, AMD has open-source driver support. No matter what GPU you have, to get the appropriate driver set, follow the following steps.

From “Menu”, search for “driver”.

Click “Driver Manager”.

You’re about to perform something sensitive, so it’ll require the root password.

From the screen, you can choose the proprietary driver for your system.

If you’ve made any changes, click “Apply Changes”.

You’ll have the option to restart your system. Restart to take the changes into effect.

Step 3. Installing a suitable JRE

Here comes a bit tricky part. There are numerous JRE (Java Runtime Environment) available in the market. While the OpenJDK should work just fine, the official recommendation for Minecraft is using the Oracle one since that’s what devs used to create the game.

Here, I’ll be showcasing how to install both OpenJDK JRE and Oracle JRE. If you face any issue with OpenJDK, you have to switch to Oracle.

Installing OpenJDK JRE

Fire up a terminal and run the following command.

Installing Oracle JRE

Installing Oracle JRE is a difficult process. It requires some tricky operations of the system. Make sure that you’re following every single step carefully.

Thanks to the developers of Linux Uprising, there’s now a dedicated PPA that offers all the latest versions of Oracle Java. At the time of writing this article, Java 13 is the latest version of Oracle release.

Fire up a terminal and add the PPA.

Now, update the APT cache.

Install Oracle JDK 13.

The installer script will start. Accept the license agreement. Select “Ok”.

Here’s another license agreement. Select “Yes”.

The installation will continue. It’ll take some time, so be patient.

Once the installation is complete, it’s time to set Oracle JDK 13 as the default one. Run the following commands.

Step 4. Install and Play Minecraft

At first, make sure that JRE is installed properly on the system. Fire up a terminal and run the following command.

If the output seems something like this, you’re good to go. Otherwise, follow the instructions described in “Step 4”.

For this guide, I’ll be using the Minecraft demo. Download Minecraft. In this case, it’s the “Minecraft.deb” file.

Once the download is complete, fire up a terminal and install the package.

Now, launch the Minecraft Launcher from the menu.

Log into your Minecraft account.

Hit the “Play” icon to start playing!

From the “News” section, you can check out all the latest information related to Minecraft.

From the “Settings” section, you can tweak the behavior of the launcher.

Final thoughts

Minecraft is one of the simplest games to run for almost any computer. However, if you’re interested in some advanced graphics features like ray tracing (exclusive to NVIDIA GPUs), you need some powerful hardware resources to handle that amount of stress.

Time to pick the diamond pickaxe and grind your way to glory! Enjoy Minecraft!

Introduction to Minecraft

If you are into building mansions, huge skyscrapers, or just some unusual houses and structures, Minecraft is the game for you. It is a platform that allows you to run amuck with your creativity and rarely ever see a limit to what you can do. People have created mega structures after putting in hours of labor and sweat into it and the end results are always amazing to watch. Real world monuments and stadiums are just some of the wonders that people have managed to recreate in the world of Minecraft and with each passing day, its community grows and gets more creative with every new invention often putting the previous one in the shadows. You can even manage to create actual functioning computers in this world by using something called a redstone. The computers you make with redstones act completely like normal computers and are fully capable of doing basic arithmetic and perform operations that a typical arithmetic logic unit (the heart of the CPU) can accomplish. If you really put your brain into it, Minecraft really has no bounds with what you can do. In fact, a player managed to create a fully functioning hard drive with read and write capabilities that could store over 1 kilobyte of data.

Minecraft also comes with a survival mode, but its main form of attraction lies in its endless creative mode that we have discussed.

Setting up drivers, downloading, and installing

Minecraft was initially released on the Windows, Mac OS, and Linux platforms and due to its strong and diverse audience, it quickly made its way onto other platforms like the Xbox and PlayStation.

Typically, users do not game much on Linux and that makes downloading and installing games a tad more difficult than it actually seems, with less tutorials out there. But worry not, as we have got you covered in the entire process of getting Minecraft to run on your computer from the start till the end.

The first thing that you should take care of is to set your graphics options to the kind that you want. Linux will have installed some sort of drivers by default on the system and they should work with the game pretty normally but in some cases there can be abnormal behavior depending on the type of hardware you are running so it is best to use the provided drivers by the maker of your graphics card (Nvidia or AMD).

To set your options accordingly, you will need to open the Software & Updates window and make your way down to the Additional Drivers tab. Once you are there, choose the Nvidia drivers that you want to use and click on the Apply button for the settings to save. You might be prompted to restart the computer (depending on the version of the OS) for the changes to take effect but even if you do not get such a message, it will be better to perform a restart so that the changes take place normally.

Once that is taken care of, you will need to decide on what Java runtime you are planning to use. Discussion of what Java runtime is deserved an article of its own. Over here we will just help you choose what you need for your Minecraft needs. You get two options here: Java and OpenJDK.

To be brief, OpenJDK is more secure but isn’t designed specifically for Minecraft whereas Java is. If Minecraft performance is what you are looking for, go with Java. You can download Java from Google and its download instructions are clear, concise, and available on its website.

After finally getting done with all the prerequisites, the last thing to do is to download the game itself. To get the original Minecraft game from its true owners, head over to https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/ and proceed to make a Mojang account (an account for the website) on the website which will let you purchase the game. Once your account has been created and a mode of payment has been verified, you will be able to buy the game. Make sure you buy the Linux version since you do not want to waste your hard earned money on something that you cannot even use.

The file you download from the official website should be in a .jar extension. Once the file has been downloaded, you should navigate to the download folder and right-click on the downloaded file and choose the ‘Open with – Java Runtime’ option. Your game will then load and you will be able to play in no time.

Getting the most out of the creative mode

In the initial stages of the game, it might seem daunting and confusing. To get out of that phase, the best way to get accustomed to the world of Minecraft is to look at and observe the community-made content. The internet is filled with numerous forums and YouTube channels that are dedicated to showing off their Minecraft skills and they are an amazing place to learn new things from. All of these platforms also offer many beginner-friendly tutorials that will help you get on your feet in no time and start creating some personal gems straight away. With enough practice, you might soon end up on the community boards as a talented content creator yourself and from there, your growth is pretty much limitless.

If the creative mode is getting too much, try using the survival mode to let things cool down for a while and play Minecraft in a different way. It might click to you more and offer a way to switch between different settings of the game for maximum enjoyment.

Minecraft is now owned by Microsoft. it’s not free. Even though it’s not free, Minecraft is one of the most popular game in the world.

In this article, I am going to show you how to install Minecraft on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. First, I am going to show you how to install Minecraft from the official website. Then I will show you how to install   as a SNAP package. Then I will show you how to install Minecraft using the APT package manager. Let’s get started.

Downloading and Installing Minecraft from the Official Website:

Minecraft is written in Java programming language. So, to run Minecraft, you must have Java Development Kit (JDK) installed on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS machine.

JDK is available in the official package repository of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. So it can be installed easily.

First update the APT package repository cache of your Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with the following command:

The APT package repository cache should be updated.

Now install OpenJDK 8 with the following command:

Now press y and then press <Enter>.

OpenJDK should be installed.

Now check whether JDK is working with the following command:

As you can see, it is working.

Now go to the official website of Minecraft at, https://minecraft.net/en-us/download/?ref=bm

You should see the following page. Click on Download as marked in the screenshot below.

Now click on Save File and then click on OK.

Minecraft should be downloaded.

Now go to your ~/Downloads directory in your user’s HOME directory, Minecraft.jar should be there.

Now you have to make Minecraft.jar file executable. Right click on the Minecraft.jar file and click on Properties.

You should see the following window. Now click on the Permissions tab.

You should see the following window. Check Allow executing file as program checkbox as marked in the screenshot below.

Now click on Close.

Now right click on the Minecraft.jar file and click on Open With OpenJDK Java 8 Runtime.

You should see the following window. It’s downloading Minecraft launcher.

Once the launcher download is complete, you should see the Minecraft login window. If you already have a Minecraft account, type in your credentials here and click on Log In.

If you don’t have a Minecraft account, click on Register and your web browser should open the registration page as you can see in the screenshot below.  Type in your details and click on Create Account and follow along. Minecraft is not free. At the time of this writing, a copy of Minecraft will cost you 26.95$. If you just register and don’t buy Minecraft, at the time of this writing, you should be able to play 100 hours for free. The demo version is good enough for people who wish to try Minecraft before buying. You may also go for the demo version to check whether your computer can run Minecraft. If your computer can run Minecraft and you like it, then you can buy Minecraft anytime. No worries.

As you can see, I am logged in using a free account. Now click on Play Demo to play the demo version of Minecraft.

The demo version of the game should be downloading as you can see from the screenshot below.

Once the download is complete, click on Play Demo.

Minecraft should start as you can see from the screenshot below. Have fun playing Minecraft.

Installing Minecraft Snap Package:

Minecraft is available as a snap package on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. To install Minecraft snap package, run the following command:

Minecraft snap package should start downloading.

Once it’s done, you should be able to start Minecraft from the Application Menu. I am not going to show you in detail as it takes a lot of time to finish downloading. But it should work.

Installing Minecraft Using PPA:

Minecraft can be installed using the APT package manager. You just have to add the unofficial PPA of Minecraft.

To add the Minecraft unofficial PPA, run the following command:

Now press <Enter> to continue.

The unofficial Minecraft PPA should be added and the APT package repository cache should be updated.

Now run the following command to install Minecraft from the PPA:

Now press y and then press <Enter> to continue.

The APT package manager should start downloading Minecraft packages and its dependencies.

In a few minutes, Minecraft should be installed. Once it’s installed, you should be able to find it in the Application Menu of your Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

So that’s how you install Minecraft on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Thanks for reading this article.