Minecraft for Beginners

🚀 UltraServers Relaunch We're thrilled to announce the relaunch of our service with a brand-new, streamlined panel designed to enhance your gaming experience. Join our Discord for more information, lifetime discounts and to take part in our $175 raffle to win Steam gift cards.

Minecraft for Beginners

This guide will explain everything you need to know about Minecraft's basics. It will cover basic terminology, Minecraft versions/editions, servers, and other general information.

Minecraft Terminology

When talking about Minecraft, it's always helpful to know a couple of unique words used by the community, which will be used throughout this guide:

Client: The game itself is running on your device.
Server: The computer that your client connects to that allows for multiplayer.
Multiplayer: Multiple players play simultaneously on the same server, for example, when two players are building a house together in the same world.
A mod is a file (that ends with .jar) that can be installed on a client or server to enable custom features.
Entity: This is a dynamic moving object, in other words, something that cannot be “permanently” placed, such as flying arrows, chickens, zombies, lit TNT blocks, falling sand blocks, item drops, boats, and so on.
Mob: Mobs are living mobile entities. They are nicknamed mobs because each entity under this classification can move; in Minecraft, anything that voluntarily moves or is hurt is considered a mob, while an arrow is a moving entity. It isn't considered a mob.
Edition: There are two versions of Minecraft, Bedrock and Java.
Version: Minecraft versions have a notation like 1.19.2, 1.19.3, or 1.20.1 that defines the updated version. This is different from the edition. It is also important to note that the two editions of Minecraft sometimes have different version numbers. For example, Java might be on 1.20.1 while Bedrock is on 1.20.15.

Minecraft Editions

Minecraft has two different editions (basically a version): Java edition and Bedrock edition. These editions are essentially the same from a game perspective but are written in different programming languages:

Java edition was made in Java
Bedrock edition was made in C++

Differences between Java and Bedrock

Speed

The Bedrock edition is written in C++, an extremely efficient language. It brings many optimizations to the vanilla (normal Minecraft) experience, such as faster world generation, ray tracing support on newer RTX Nvidia graphics cards, and lower CPU usage.

Compatibility

Another big difference is that these versions are not cross-compatible, meaning that a Bedrock edition player can only play with a Java edition player on a server if a translation program is used to translate packets between Java and Bedrock. A popular software program, Geysermc, does this for Java servers, allowing Bedrock users to join.

Platform support

Java edition is primarily designed for PC, although Android users can use an app like PojavLauncher. Bedrock edition is available for a wide variety of devices, including game consoles and mobile devices, as can be seen in this platform compatibility chart:

	Java	Bedrock	Notes
Windows	✅	✅
MacOS	✅	❌
Linux	✅	❌	Linux users could use MCPE launcher
XBox	❌	✅
Playstation 4/5	❌	✅
Nintendo Switch	❌	✅
Fire OS/TV	❌	✅
Android	❌	✅	Android users can use Pojav Launcher to join Java servers
iOS	❌	✅
Windows Mobile	❌	✅
Samsung Gear VR	❌	✅

Source: Minecraft article

Mods

It is universally said that the Java edition is better than the Bedrock edition because the Bedrock client cannot be modified through mods.

What are Mods?

Mods are bits of code that can be added to Minecraft Java Edition, developed by the public community of Minecraft. This can do anything, such as: - Adding new weapons - Adding new monsters (often called mobs) - Creating entirely new dimensions - And optimizing some aspects of Minecraft to make it smoother. Modpacks are multiple mods confirmed to work together correctly and offer great gameplay using aspects of all its mods.

Why are mods necessary?

It is often argued that the community has kept the game thriving for so long through the custom modifications that allow for new, exciting gameplay, as official Mojang content updates are released infrequently. The usage of mods can enhance your experience.

How are mods installed?

Mods can be installed through special “launchers” that perform the installation automatically, but the most common way is through the “Fabric” loader. Once the loader is installed, all a player has to do is drag and drop the .jar mod files into Minecraft's mods/ folder.

Java remains the most popular version of Minecraft due to the mods and because content creators on YouTube make videos about the Java edition of the game.

Game modes in Minecraft

There are four different “game modes” that each have distinct characteristics:

Survival mode: Players must gather all their building materials to construct, mine, and craft. They also have to manage health and hunger bars, making survival a significant part of the experience.
Creative mode: In this mode, players have unlimited resources and can fly, leading to a focus on building and creating large projects. The player has no health bar or hunger, making them immortal (except when falling into the void).
Adventure mode: This is essentially survival mode. The only difference is that a player cannot place or mine blocks.
Spectator mode: A player in spectator mode is invisible to all non-spectator players and can fly or phase through blocks and teleport to players. Placing blocks, eating, mining, or anything considered “interacting with the world” is impossible.

In “vanilla” versions of Minecraft, the game mode of a player can be set using the following commands:

/gamemode survival [(optional)Username]
/gamemode creative [(optional)Username]
/gamemode adventure [(optional)Username]
/gamemode spectator [(optional)Username]

The username parameter is optional.

Difficulty

Minecraft can be set to 4 different difficulties:

Peaceful: In this mode, only non-hostile mobs can spawn (in other words, mobs that cannot naturally attack the player), such as chickens & cows, with few exceptions. Health regeneration is increased, and the hunger bar is never depleted.
Easy: Hostile mobs can spawn but deal about half the damage they would in normal mode. Hunger does deplete and will start dealing damage once fully depleted. The player can only lose up to 5 hearts from hunger.
Normal: Hostile mobs can spawn and deal average damage. The player can lose up to 9.5 hearts from a lack of hunger, meaning half a heart can remain.
Hard: Hostile mobs can spawn and deal 1.5x more damage than normal mode. The player can now die from a lack of hunger.

When a hunger level of 3 or below is reached, a player cannot run (sprint).

Some additional details can be found on the difficulty page wiki

The difficulty can be changed using the /difficulty [difficulty] command.

Another difficulty called “Hardcore” exists, which has the same traits as Hard mode and is only available in single-player. The only added “feature” is that the player has only one life and cannot respawn upon death (they instead respawn as spectators and can no longer interact with the world).

Dimensions & World Generation

The game has three dimensions, each with its biomes, mobs, and world generation.

A biome dictates the type of structures and world generation that an area uses, such as the “Jungle,” “Desert,” and “Forest” biomes.

The world itself is divided into “chunks” which means a 16x16 area of blocks:

The three different dimensions in the game are the

Overworld: The default dimension that players spawn in with trees, valleys, oceans, deserts, and so on.
Nether: This dimension can be accessed through a nether portal. It's the hell dimension where everything is on fire; water instantly evaporates, and rivers are made of lava. This dimension also features different biomes, such as the crimson forest & basalt delta, and it is recommended to wear some golden armor to prevent Piglins (the most common monster throughout the nether) from attacking you. This dimension does not have a sky and is blocked off by unbreakable Bedrock, meaning the player is “sandwiched” between a bedrock floor and ceiling.
End: This dimension can be accessed through an end portal from the Overworld. It contains the final boss of the game, the Ender Dragon. This dimension is in the void, meaning a player can die from falling into it. Once the final boss is defeated, it creates an additional “end gateway” that teleports the player to a different part of the end, the end islands, where end cities can spawn, which may contain the most popular item in the game that gives players the ability to glide; the elytra.

Texture / Resource packs

A “texture” basically means how something looks. If you want to have the game look like a cartoon or perhaps look more medieval, that can be achieved through a “texture pack” which can then be downloaded and applied to your game:

A texture pack only applies to your own device; in other words, it does not change someone else's experience. Bedrock texture packs are not compatible with Java texture packs.

A texture pack is also sometimes referred to as a resource pack. Check our Add a Resource Pack guide for instructions on how to add resource packs to Minecraft.

Datapacks

Datapacks can modify world generation with built-in biomes. A Datapack is similar to a texture pack but does not affect textures; instead, it allows its creators to modify aspects of the game, such as world generation, without needing a mod. Here are a few examples:

Terratonic has massive mountains
Nullscape modifies the entire end dimension to look and work much better than the original one offered by Mojang. Datapacks can add animations.
Vanilla Refresh has sitting animations and much more
Spawn Animations adds monster (mob) spawning animations

Datapacks can do much more than those two examples. Feel free to browse the datapacks section on Modrinth to see how they can improve your experience.

Servers & Multiplayer

When players want to play together, they need to connect to a server. A server is a computer somewhere in the world running a unique program created thanks to Mojang (the company behind Minecraft) partially releasing the code necessary to do so.

Java server software

Mojang's original software is known as Vanilla; it contains no modifications and works like the single-player mode. The most popular versions of this software are:

PaperMC: Server software with lots of bug fixes & optimizations for better performance.
PurpurMC: A fork of PaperMC that provides additional customization and performance improvements. Using patches other forks also have.
Spigot: PaperMC's predecessor still works well but is not generally recommended nowadays over PaperMC.
Fabric & Forge: These two are for players who want to play together with mods, as the previously mentioned ones do not support modding. They work the same.

Bedrock server software

The software has to be downloaded directly from Microsoft to host a bedrock server, as there are no forks due to the general lack of interest.

Java edition plugins

In Java Edition server software, programs called plugins can be used similarly to mods that modify how the server works. Plugins do not give as much freedom as mods and are generally used for features like particular server messages, server ranks, anti-cheat, moderation tools, etc. They have the advantage of not requiring the player to install anything which will work.

Some popular plugins include:

Essentials - Adds commands and tools for server management
WorldEdit - Allows building of large structures quickly
WorldGuard - Protect areas of your world from being edited
GriefPrevention - Prevent griefing and raiding of buildings

To install plugins, upload the .jar file on your server and restart it. You can configure plugins by editing config files. The installation guide is available here.

Cross compatibility

If Java and Bedrock players want to play together, the “Geyser proxy” is installed on a Java server like PaperMC, allowing Bedrock players to connect. Our documentation provides a guide here. Over the years, there have been some attempts to bridge the gap between the two platforms; for example, ViaFabricPlus on Java can join bedrock servers, and Pojav Launcher can be used on Android to join Java servers.

Java server customization & necessary settings

Installing Datapacks on the server itself is possible, and they will then automatically apply. Texture packs can also be installed on the server and configured as optional or “forced” to force players to use them. Some settings are also often configurable through the server settings and have a significant impact on performance:

Minecraft Servers run on a ticks per second (TPS) system, 20 ticks per second. For every tick, the server needs to process information such as player movement, chunk generation, entity movement like movement and behavior, player actions, etc. A server will begin to lag if it is impossible to complete a tick because too many actions must be processed between ticks, causing tick speeds below 20.

Simulation distance: This determines the chunk radius actively ticking around players, so a simulation distance of 5 would process five chunks around the player every single tick.
View-distance: This determines the radius of chunks a player can load & see.

If a player attempts to load a chunk that has not been generated, that chunk will be created.
Please note that this value is significant and has a massive impact on performance. Generating chunks is very heavy on the processor (which is why it is always recommended to pre-generate chunks before a server is released). It scales exponentially as it is a circular radius (a 10cm radius circle is not the same as 2x 5cm radius circles):

For view-distance=5, a player can load 225 chunks.
For view-distance=10 (Vanilla default), a player can load 625 chunks.
For view-distance=15, a player can load 1225 chunks.

If you require further assistance, you can open a support ticket here.

Feedback and suggestions can be submitted here, or further discussed on our Discord server.