Installing a Modrinth or CurseForge modpack on Minecraft

Install any Modrinth or CurseForge modpack at order time or onto an existing Minecraft server, with the right tier for the pack weight.

Installing a Modrinth or CurseForge modpack on a Hostd Minecraft Java server takes one click, either at order time or on an existing server. Match the tier to the pack weight before you start: light packs run happily on the 6 GB plan; All The Mods, FTB Skies, RLCraft and other heavy packs want the 10 GB plan at minimum; pick the 14 GB plan for big player counts on heavy packs.

If you are still picking a tier, How to create your first server covers the wider per-game minimums.

#At order time

On the Minecraft Java Configure page, toggle Modded and search our Modrinth or CurseForge browser. Pick a pack, finish checkout, and the modpack downloads and configures itself on first boot. Progress surfaces live in the dashboard, so you can watch it land.

#On an existing server

Server dashboard, open the Modpack tab, search, then Install. We stop the container, swap in the pack, and restart. Files you have not replaced (your world, your configs) stay where they are. Take a backup first regardless; Taking a manual backup is one click and saves a lot of grief if a pack misbehaves.

#Version pinning

Version pinning is supported. If you want to stay on a specific pack version (for compatibility with a server-side mod, or because you know "latest" is unstable), pick the exact version at install time instead of accepting "latest". You can move forward later from the same Modpack tab.

Pinning is the default behaviour rather than an opt-in safety net: the version you install is the version you keep until you change it. Pack updates do not arrive on their own. This matters more than it sounds, because pack authors ship breaking changes on their own schedule and a server that updates itself at 3am is a server that greets you broken.

#Everyone needs the same pack, and the same version

The single most common problem after installing a pack is players who cannot join because they are on a different version of it.

Modded Minecraft requires the client and server mod lists to match. "All The Mods 10" is not a version; 1.29 and 1.30 of it are, and they are not interchangeable. Tell people the exact version number, not just the pack name. Both CurseForge and Modrinth let players pick a specific version when they install a pack, and the version selector is right there in the launcher.

When someone cannot join and everyone else can, compare version numbers before anything else. It is the answer often enough to be worth checking first every time.

#First boot takes a while

A modpack's first start does considerably more than a vanilla server's: it downloads several hundred mods, builds registries, writes a config file for each one, and generates the world.

Ten minutes is normal for a large pack. Twenty is not alarming. The dashboard shows live install progress, so you can watch it rather than guess.

Do not join or restart during this. A restart part-way through leaves half-written configs, and the second boot is then slower and stranger than the first would have been.

#Updating a pack later

Same Modpack tab, pick the newer version. Two things to do first:

1. Take a backup. One click, and it is the only way back if the update goes badly.
2. Read the pack's changelog. Pack authors usually flag world-breaking changes, mod removals and required world resets. Removing a mod that placed blocks in your world leaves holes where those blocks were, and no update process can invent them back.

Then update, let first boot finish, and check your base loads before telling everyone it is safe.

#Picking a tier for the pack

The tier decides whether the pack runs or thrashes:

The mod count costs memory before a single player connects, which is why player count is the second question rather than the first. If you are unsure, size up: an under-allocated modded server fails in ways that are tedious to diagnose, and upgrading later is a restart rather than a migration.

Written and maintained by the Hostd engineering team. Last updated 2026-08-05. Notice a mistake? Tell us.