Uploading custom server jar files (Tekkit 2.0 example!)

Hi All!

Since custom jar files are required regularly these days, I thought I’d add some notes about uploading your own custom jar files. Many of you are running this type of setup already on our servers already. However up until this point we’ve just been assisting, as opposed to having something you can actually go through. Thusly, may I present – Uploading custom Jar Files.

Why would I use this?

If you want to use mods that require modloader (or any mod that doesn’t use bukkit), then you’re going to need this functionality. Many of these types of mods require modifying your local files as well, which is why these are less popular overall. However the mod pack Tekkit does simplify this somewhat (we’ll get to that later).

Notes:

- Have you got a ‘/jar’ folder on your server?
Please contact us to make sure a custom jar folder is enabled on your server. This is not enabled for new users.
- The below assumes knowledge of transferring files via FTP. If you are not familiar with FTP, please see our post on uploading custom worlds here.

How to upload your custom jar file -

Step 1:

Create a ‘.conf’ file that corresponds to your custom jar file:
You can download the example .conf file here.

The way that this works, is that the filename of the conf file must reflect the jar file. If you’re jar filename is “blahblah.jar”, then the conf file MUST be named “blahblah.jar.conf”.

Using the file above, it’s really just easier to rename your custom server file to “server.jar”.

Step 2:

Upload the .conf and .jar file to the ‘/jar’ directory on the server.

Step 3:

On your main server panel page, you can now select your custom jar file using the option “Custom Server.Jar” in the “Jar selection” drop down menu.

Step 4:

Restart the server!

That’s it!

Take a look at the console to check for errors, but assuming that this worked locally, it should run without issue on our servers.

Tekkit 2.0

So the above is all well and good, but this does present a small issue when trying to load Tekkit 2.0. It’s possible that this issue will affect future mod packs, so the below is always worth keeping in mind when it comes to any type of custom jar file.

Now, I’m rather embarrassed to say this, but this actually took me a few days to work out. Before we get to the issue, lets go through loading Tekkit itself.

Step 1:

Download the Tekkit Server files. (Yes, I’m including it)

Step 2:

Extract all of the files and upload them to the /jar folder. You can do a direct drag’n'drop from your zip program if you have Filezilla open and connected already. (We run linux, so no need for the .bat file of course).

Step 3:

Now, WAIT a while. If you’re on ADSL2, this will still take a minute or two as your upload speed at home isn’t all that quick (tekkit.jar is 10mb alone).

Step 4:

Download the .conf file mentioned earlier.

Step 5:

Rename the file to “Tekkit.jar” (take note of the caps!), and then open the file for editing.

Step 6:

Within the file, there is the following text:

[config]

name=Custom Server.Jar

You can change this text to whatever you want, and this is what will show up in your server panel menu. The default is “Custom Server.Jar”, so just edit as required. You may have multiple custom jar files uploaded (say for an upgrade), and thus multiple .conf files may be uploaded. You just need a different .conf file for each individual jar.

Step 7:

Upload your .conf file to the /jar directory.

Step 8:

If you go to your main panel screen, you should now have a new option which is your customised jar file. Select the new option (Custom Server.Jar if you haven’t edited the file). Make sure to hit save at the bottom of the page.

Step 9:

Now usually this would be enough steps. However in this case, Tekkit actually has some files that need to be loaded to the root FTP directory of your server. The reason for this is that while the Tekkit jar is running in the ‘/jar’ folder, the actual server is running in the ‘/’ folder. So, the easiest way to cover all bases is:

Step 10:

Upload everything from the Tekkit zip file to the server FTP root directory. You don’t need to bother uploading the main jar file (Tekkit.jar), or the .bat file either. The rest of the files though, send them though. Obviously not ALL of these files are required in this particular location, but if you have all of the extra tekkit files in both ‘/’ and ‘/jar’, then you’re really covering all bases.

Step 11:

Start/Restart the server!