If you’re reading this, I assume it’s because you love to play Minecraft. Minecraft offers a sense of adventure that most games can only hope to deliver. You can create anything you can imagine with the tools provided by the game and by installing Minecraft mods.
The beauty of modding with Minecraft is that you can customize your own gaming experience by adding mods that allow the use of new tools, blocks, and armor as well as other features such as textures, lighting differences, new creatures, and even game modes.
How to Download and Install Minecraft Mods
What are Minecraft Mods?
Minecraft mods alter your gameplay experience in various ways. These can be purely cosmetic or change how the game is played.
Different types of Minecraft mods include:
- Giving you more control over your graphical features allowing for a smoother gameplay experience
- Adding new items such as tools, weapons, armor, and blocks
- Adjusting your textures so your game looks different, such as more realistic or more cartoonish, depending on your liking
- Adding various gameplay options such as quests and dungeons you can adventure in
- Giving you more resources in a smaller amount of space
- And many more!
Where to Download Minecraft Mods?
While there are multiple ways to download Minecraft mods, one of the most convenient is something called Minecraft Forge. Minecraft Forge is a free server that allows anyone to easily download and install mods into their Minecraft game. Downloading mods directly from the creator can (but rarely does) end up in putting viruses on your computer. But Minecraft Forge is well known by the Minecraft community and is one of the most trusted places for mods.
We recommend downloading the latest version of Minecraft Forge, assuming you are using the latest version of Minecraft. If you are playing on an older version, ensure you do your research and download the matching version of Minecraft Forge.
Can You Make Your Own Minecraft Mods?
Yes! You absolutely can make your own mods. There are a handful of ways this is done such as using MCreator or Java Development Kit (JDK). While downloading mods that other people have created is a great experience, being able to make and deploy your own is rewarding in its own right.
Can You Uninstall Minecraft Mods?
What happens if you download a mod and you decide you don’t like it? Do you have to start your game over? No, definitely not! But depending on the mod itself it may alter your gameplay experience. If you uninstall a texture pack then the only difference you will see is how the game looks. However, if you install a mod that adds new blocks, build something with it, then uninstall the mod, you’ll notice that parts of your world are missing. We recommend uninstalling one mod at a time and seeing how it affects your game before moving onto the next.
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Steps for Adding Mods to Minecraft
1. Download Minecraft Forge
Minecraft Forge only works with Minecraft Java edition so ensure that is the edition of Minecraft you are using before proceeding. The first step is to download Minecraft Forge.
If you’re looking to get mods for Bedrock edition (consoles and Windows 10) then you can go directly to the Minecraft Marketplace and download them. However, most of them will need to be purchased.
Download the version of Forge that matches the Minecraft version you have installed. The latest version at the time of this article is 1.16.4, so that is the example we will be using. It’s okay if your version is different.
You may also notice two different options you can download, either the latest or recommended. We recommend downloading the installer from the recommended section otherwise, you may run into bugs from the newest version.
Be careful in this section. There are ads on the website if you are not using an ad blocker and it may trick you into downloading something you didn’t mean to. You may get an ad in the middle of the screen telling you that your download is ready. Do not click that one.
Click the large red button that says “Skip” at the top right when the ad finishes.
The file you are looking for is titled “forge-(version you are using).jar”.
So, in our example, it would be called “forge-1.16.4-35.1.0.jar”. If you download something else that does not look like this, delete it and install the correct section. Below is a gif to show you how to download the correct file.
2. Install Minecraft Forge
Once you finish downloading the correct .jar file, you need to run through the install process. You can start this by double-clicking on the file you downloaded. Ensure that you have “Install Client” selected then click “OK”. This could take a few minutes.
When it’s finished, you’ll see a message saying the install was successful.
3. Finding Your Mods Folder
If you have Minecraft open, please close it now. When you reopen it you should see a new profile towards the bottom left of the screen titled Forge. Make sure that is selected then click “Play”. Note: It may take a bit of time for your game to load everything.
Once you log on, you’ll see a new section you didn’t see before. Click on the “Mods” section, but you won’t see any mods yet. That’s because we haven’t downloaded any. However, you will find a button called “Open mods folder”. Click this button to open the folder.
Any mods that you want to find must be dropped inside of this folder in order for your game to access it. If you installed Minecraft in its default location then the directory path will be something like C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\mods, but if you chose a different location then your path may look different. That’s why it’s best to go into Minecraft and click the “open mods folder” button because it will find it no matter where it is.
4. Download Your Mods
You’ve downloaded Minecraft, installed Forge, and even found your mods folder. So, how do you actually get mods? There are multiple places you can download mods from, but we recommend Minecraftmods.com because it’s generally safe for all users.
When downloading mods it’s highly recommended you download and install one at a time because sometimes two different mods can interact with each other negatively.
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Download An Example Mod
1. Let’s download an example mod now. Go to https://www.minecraftmods.com/lucky-block-mod/ and scroll down until you see a “download button”. The Lucky Block Mod puts a new block inside the game that will randomly generate something when broken open. It can be something good or something bad!
2. Now, visit luckyblockmod.com. Scroll down on that webpage until you see another “download button” that takes you to a third webpage! I know this can get exhausting, but many mods work this way by taking you through a few different web pages, so it’s good to see it in action.
3. Finally, you’ll come to a section with a ton of download links for different versions of Minecraft. Once again, choose the correct version based on the version of Minecraft you are playing on hit download.
4. When you download the mod you have a couple of options. You can either download directly into the mods folder or you can drag and drop the download into your mods folder you opened earlier. I find the dragging and dropping easier, but it doesn’t matter which one you choose.
5. Close and Relaunch Minecraft
When installing new mods, you’ll have to restart your Minecraft game. Close it out completely and log back in. Go into your mods folder and you should see your shiny new mod installed.
In case you’re wondering what I got out of my lucky block, it was something good. A bunch of rainbow sheep! However, my second block I got TNT. Sorry, I couldn’t get a picture fast before it blew everything up!
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Enjoy Your Modded Minecraft Experience!
And there you have it! You have successfully added mods to your Minecraft game. If you thought the possibilities of Minecraft were endless before, mods give you an endless amount of endless possibilities. If that’s even possible. There are a ton of different mods you can choose from and it’s a game itself just trying them out.
Just remember to download mods only from highly recommended sources so you don’t accidentally download a virus. You also need to be aware that too many mods can cause a lot of stress on your computer and may require you to invest in better hardware as the amount of mods you have increases.
