Managing Game Server Mods and Plugins

Overview

Mods and plugins extend game server functionality, adding new features, gameplay changes, and quality-of-life improvements. This guide covers mod management for popular game servers.

Minecraft: Fabric and Paper

Paper (Bukkit/Spigot Plugins)

# Download Paper
cd /opt/minecraft/server
wget https://api.papermc.io/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.21.4/builds/LATEST/downloads/paper-1.21.4-LATEST.jar -O server.jar

# Install plugins
mkdir -p plugins
# Download .jar plugin files into the plugins/ directory
# Restart the server to load them

Fabric (Fabric Mods)

# Install Fabric Server
wget https://meta.fabricmc.net/v2/versions/loader/1.21.4/LATEST/1.0.1/server/jar -O fabric-server.jar

# Install mods
mkdir -p mods
# Download .jar mod files into the mods/ directory

Rust: Oxide/uMod

# Install Oxide
cd /opt/rust/server
wget https://umod.org/games/rust/download -O Oxide.Rust.zip
unzip -o Oxide.Rust.zip

# Install plugins
# Download .cs plugin files into oxide/plugins/
wget -P oxide/plugins/ https://umod.org/plugins/PLUGIN_NAME.cs

Garry's Mod: Workshop Collections

# In start script, add:
+host_workshop_collection YOUR_COLLECTION_ID
-authkey YOUR_STEAM_WEB_API_KEY

Valheim: BepInEx and Thunderstore

# Install BepInEx
cd /opt/valheim/server
wget https://thunderstore.io/package/download/denikson/BepInExPack_Valheim/LATEST/ -O BepInEx.zip
unzip -o BepInEx.zip

# Install mods into BepInEx/plugins/

General Mod Management Tips

• Back up first — always back up your world before adding or updating mods
• Test locally — test mods on a local instance before deploying
• Check compatibility — verify mod compatibility with your server version
• Keep logs — read server logs after adding mods to catch errors
• Update carefully — update one mod at a time to isolate issues
• Version lock — pin mod versions in production

Automated Mod Updates

#!/bin/bash
# Simple mod update script
cd /opt/gameserver/mods
for mod in mod1.jar mod2.jar; do
  wget -N "https://example.com/mods/$mod"
done
systemctl restart gameserver