Server
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Minetest servers allow players to play online with other people. They can be run from a dedicated server, a Virtual Private Server or a home computer.
This is not a list of servers, please see the Minetest Server List or Minetest Forum servers section instead.
Playing on a server
Finding a server
In order to play on a server at all, you need to know the address and a port number of a server first. There are many ways to find those addresses:
- Server list in Minetest: The easiest way to obtain a list of servers found within Minetest itself. You find it in the main menu under the tab “Client”
- Server list in the Web: http://www.minetest.net/servers/ has the same server list as above, but you can read in your Web browser
- Minetest Forums: There is a subforum called “Servers” entirely devoted to servers
- Friends: If you know a friend who hosts a Minetest server, ask for the address and port number
Connecting to a server
If you have obtained address and the port number of a server, you just have to enter those values into the respective fields in the “Client” tab in the main menu and click on “connect”, or press Enter. In case you used the in-game server list, Minetest automatically enters those values for you.
You also need to choose a player name. Player names need to be unique on a per-sever basis. You can choose a password but this can be empty on some servers.
Account registration
The account registration in Minetest is never explicitly mentioned as such and happens in the background. In a player account all information about your player character, such as health, items, name, etc. are stored on the server. A player account is only valid for one server, so you can have different player names on different servers.
IMPORTANT: An account is registered as soon as you connect to the server successfully for the first time. There will be no notification.
The first step is to pick a player name (which is valid for one server only):
- Allowed characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, the hyphen (“-”) and the underscore (“_”)
- The name must not be “singleplayer”
Then you can pick a password for the player name on this server. This password can be empty, but some servers don't allow an empty password, so be prepared to think of one. Be aware that with an empty password, anyone could connect with this player name to the server.
IMPORTANT: Remember and triple-check the password before you connect on a server for the first time. Minetest will not ask you to enter the password again. If you messed it up in the first time and don't realize it, you will logically fail in later logins because you probably won't remember how you mis-typed your password. Countless player names have been burned because of this.
Warning: There is also no automatic mechanism to recover a lost password. If you lost your password, it's tough luck for you. You could try to contact one of the server operators, but there is no guarantee they'll help you.
If you picked both name and password, hit “Connect”.
Logging in
To log in to the server again, just use the same credentials on this server as before.
In the server
The gameplay in a multiplayer server is basicly the same as in a singleplayer game.
The same rules apply.
See Getting Started for gameplay-related concepts.
However, in multiplayer servers, some concepts not very important in singleplayer are important in multiplayer:
- Privileges: learn what you can and can’t do on a server
- Chat: learn how to communicate with other players
- Server commands: learn how to use server commands.
Server commands are not just useful for server operators but for players as well;
for example, you can pulverize an item, teleport, find out about your privileges and more. - The mods installed on the server, and the settings may affect gameplay.
- Take note of mobs, PvP (fighting “player-vs-player”), and server rules
- Find out with commands like “/mods”, “/privs”, “/status”.
Managing a server
Server Setup
- Setting up a server in such a way so that others may connect to it via the Internet takes some time, and a little technical know-how.
- Netbooks and Notebooks generally don't make for good server machines due to the fact that they typically have lower-end hardware.
- Do not attempt to host a sizeable (over a few people) server on a wireless network, use a wired network instead.
For more information see setting up a server page, or a discussion in the forum for an explanation on setting up your own server.
Server Configuration
For a detailed explanation of the server configuration file, see the minetest.conf page.
You may also want to consider to use a different database backend for your world.
Server Commands
See the Server commands page for a list of useful commands.
Also see Itemstrings for the itemstrings for use with the /give and /giveme commands.
Privilege System
See the privileges page for detailed information on the privilege system.