Setting up a server

Setting up a Server

1. Start your server on your desired port
   • Note: It is recommended to leave the port at the default (30000)
2. Find out your internal IP of the computer you are running the server on
   • Linux: open a terminal and type ifconfig and hit enter
   • Windows: Start → Run … → cmd.exe → ipconfig
3. Check the port forwarding settings on your router
   • forward your chosen port for UDP (30000 if you left it default) to the internal IP
   • In addition, alter any firewalls you may have to pass the traffic at that port
4. To see how to run a server, please read the section below
5. Let your friends know your external IP
6. Add server_announce = 1 to your minetest.config to announce it to a public server list.

Running a Server

Linux

1. Open a terminal.
2. Type in YOUR/MINETEST/DIRECTORY/bin/minetestserver or just drop the minetestserver executable (located in /Minetest/bin/) into the terminal (PLEASE READ THE NOTES BELOW!)
   • If you want to specify a specific game ID, the game ID choices are located in /Minetest/games/. Add in --gameid thegameid to the end of the command.
   • If you get the error “Multiple worlds are available.”, the world choices are located in /Minetest/worlds/. Add in --worldname theWorld to the end of the command.
3. If your server crashes, then look at the debug.txt in /Minetest/bin/
4. Enjoy running a Minetest server!

For easy use you can create an file named minetestserver.sh, add the lines below and put it in your /Minetest/bin/ folder. To run the server, just run the file in a terminal.

#!/bin/bash -x

./minetestserver --gameid minetest --worldname world

Windows

1. Open command prompt by going in the Minetest installation folder, then in the “bin” folder, hold Shift, do a right click on a empty file (not on minetest.exe), click “Open command window here”.
2. Type this: minetest.exe --server.
   • If you get the error “Multiple worlds are available.”, use minetest.exe --server --worldname world_name instead, where world_name is the name of the world.
3. If your server crashes, then look at the debug.txt in /Minetest/bin/
4. Enjoy running a Minetest server!

If you don't like to start the crashed server, simply start the server out of a batch file which contains the following code:

@echo off
:crash
minetest.exe --server --worldname world_name
goto crash

See also

• For more possible commands study the Command line page.
• See the Setting up a server/Debian page for more Debian related informatian.
• This forum thread "Illustrated Server Creation Guide" may be of general interest.
• See this forum thread for more information about "How to create and maintain a server - Windows"