How to upload a large Modpack via FTP

Want to play an extensive CurseForge modpack (Better MC, RLCraft) with friends and don't know how to install it? Installing a Modpack requires more work than merely copying to the mods folder, as a modpack defines different startup cores (Forge or Fabric).

Step 1: Downloading server files

Modpacks on the CurseForge portal contain files for installing a custom server too.

• Go to the page of your Modpack (CurseForge) and download the 'Server Pack'. Never download the classic Client modpack you have for yourself in MC.
• Extract the downloaded archive (e.g., BetterMC-Server.zip) on your computer into an empty folder.

Step 2: Installing and running Forge libraries

The extracted folder often contains a 'start.bat' or 'install.bat' script. First, open this folder on your computer and click on start. The process will generate Forge libraries and download the mod packs by itself. Once the process on your computer finishes, the folder is several tens of MB larger.

Step 3: Uploading to the server via SFTP

1. Make sure your server is completely Turned off and emptied of all old files (select and delete everything from the panel).
2. Open your SFTP client (WinSCP).
3. Select the complete contents of your prepared local folder with the mouse and upload/drag it into WinSCP via SFTP to the game server. This could easily take 15-30 minutes depending on your upload connection.
4. Once it's done running, ensure that in the main folder on the server side you now see all those files with forge.jar libraries etc.

Step 4: Setting the panel core

Now we must let the Pterodactyl panel know not to open the server via a Vanilla server, but to launch the Modpack.

• Go to the 'Startup' tab in the panel.
• Find the 'Server Jar File' field. It always contains text (for example, server.jar).
• Your task is to rename this value to the name of the main initialized file from your Modpack (usually forge-1.20.1.jar, minecraft-server.jar, etc.). You will find this information from the files.
• Then make sure the Java Version in the settings section on the left corresponds to the modpack. (Java 8 for versions 1.12, Java 17/21 for versions 1.19+).

Now you can try to Turn on (Start) the server and watch the console.