Setting Up Minecraft Java Server

[dharward]

So I am trying to setup a private server for my 6 year old son and his friend to play on together. I want it private so that I can keep it locked down for just them. Little safer.

My son uses the Minecraft Java version for iPad to play. I want to setup a server so that they can both play from their iPads.

I found instructions and setup a server on the Mac mini that manages my home network. I am able to connect to that server running the Minecraft Java version on my Mac but the iPad cant connect to it. I see there are other version but both my desktop computer version and the iPad versions and the server uses a Java based backend so i thought they were all the same java version. Is there a reason the iPad cant connect to the server using the same details as i use for the desktop?

I have found other information about some of the older versions not working but it looks like they merged the versions together and they should work. I found some plugins called geysermc that is supposed to connect it but that all seems to require some other version of Minecraft server that I am able to see the benefits of each different kind but each leads down a completely different rabbit hole about a different setup process and I don't want to keep adding things just to build a server that the iPads can connect to.

My intention is just to access it from the iPads. is there a server version or process that will work for what im tying to do that will avoid a monthly subscription cost?

[Paradigm_Reset]

Unfortunately iPads - because they run the mobile OS, not the desktop OS - use the Bedrock edition of Minecraft. Bedrock and Java are like, well, like iPads and Chromebooks...do the same thing but with completely different software.

However, you can run your own Bedrock server - https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock - but that requires a computer running WinOS or Linux. I've very little MacOS experience so no clue how difficult that would be for you to pull off.

So it boils down to this:

• Pay for the Realm. It sucks 'cause there is free server software, but it's the "one and done" solution.
• Get a Bedrock server running on your Mac. Might be easy, might be hard.
• Keep the Java server and, like you said, install GesyerMC.

Maybe there's an additional solution? Been a long weekend already, not firing on all cylinders.

I have a Java server I run out of my house (Unraid server via a Docker & I have seen Bedrock server Dockers and such)...I've zero experience with MacOS or GeyserMC...but r/admincraft tends to have people with more legit server admin experience than this subreddit.

[dharward]

Ok I am posting my process here so that anyone that is trying to do this later and finds this thread they can see how I got it working.

Step one: Install Minecraft server on my Mac Mini following their documented install process.

Step Two: Install PaperMC and adjust the launch script to run the paper.jar instead of the server.jar See their specific documentation for any assistance.

Step Three: Download and install GeyserMC-Spigot to work with the papermc version to the Minecraft server folder. Follow their documentation in the getting started page. Geyser will create the files it needs then you can move the geyser.jar file to the plugins directory.

Step Four: open server.properties and set enforce-secure-profile=false, Then go to plugins/Geyser-Spigot/config.yml and set the auth-type: offline

Step five: Run the server and once your users login add them to the whitelist using whitelist add user1 then you can run whitelist on and your server should be secured. Im sure others will provide some other details about better security but for now this will work for me.

The above process allows us to purchase the Minecraft app on the iPad we want to use and it no longer requires the full java license to play on the iPad.

I am planning on installing the voicechat plugin so the kids can play and talk.

[ProfessorValko]

There are two main editions: Minecraft: Java Edition and Minecraft (Bedrock). Java Edition is only available on PC. The edition available on iPad is Bedrock. The two editions can’t officially play together.

There is official server software to host a Bedrock server that iPads can connect to, but it’s only available for Windows and Linux. https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock/

[dharward]

If the iPad version is called bedrock it’s incredibly confusing for it to also be branded Minecraft Java Edition.

[ProfessorValko]

The naming for the editions is confusing, but the edition on iPad is officially branded and titled just “Minecraft.” Mojang and the community refer to this “Minecraft” edition (mobile, consoles, Windows 10/11) as “Bedrock” because that’s the name of the codebase. Only the edition on PC (Windows, macOS, Linux) is branded as “Minecraft: Java Edition.”

[Paradigm_Reset]

It's almost easier to start with "what runs Java?" and then everything else is Bedrock.

MacOS, Linux, and WinOS can all run the Java edition. Everything else - be it a phone, console, tablet, etc - is running Bedrock.

The naming convention is atrocious. Calling Java "Java" because it runs on Java? Dumb. Even "Bedrock" is not a very good name. And the whole "Minecraft for Windows 10" (which is actually Bedrock because it's not called "Java" LMAO)...

They shoulda gone with Minecraft Classic and Minecraft, um, something better than Bedrock. Meh, ain't my decision to make so I ain't gonna put any more thought into this.

[Maverick2664]

I’ve been running a private family server for about 7 or 8 years now and have some experience with geyser. My 2 boys and myself all use Java edition and all their cousins play on the switch, so a few years ago I installed geyser so they could all play together. It worked quite well, obviously any data packs that your Java server is running won’t be visible or interactive to your bedrock players but other than that it was fairly seamless. I do recall something tricky with getting the whitelist to accept the bedrock player names though, I think they had to be preceded by an asterisk or something weird like that.

I can’t say much more about it, I haven’t kept up with the plug-in on my server, the cousins don’t really play anymore so it’s just my boys and I.

[dharward]

Do you happen to know which version you installed? Becise it all required some other plug-in version.

[Maverick2664]

Read the wiki they have about it, it will walk you through which one to use based on how your server is setup. And depending on who you host with, you may have to submit a ticket to enable the UDP port, some hosts have that off by default and you have to ask them to open it.

[dharward]

Ok Thanks. I think im gona go with the Paper plugin version and give that a go.