How to install Minecraft Forge
The world of Minecraft mods is particularly intriguing, since it allows you to have completely different experiences compared to the base game. For this reason, you recently informed yourself a little about the subject and discovered the existence of an interesting tool: Minecraft Forge, which allows you to create game profiles thanks to which you can use the contents created by the community. You are dying to try it but, if you are now here and reading this tutorial, you obviously don’t know how to do it, do you? Then don’t worry: if you want I can give you a hand.
In this guide, in fact, I will explain how to install Minecraft Forge by guiding you not only in the download and installation of the program in question, but also in its use. We will see, in fact, how to make the most of it to take advantage of the experiences created by Minecraft fans from all over the world. In short, I’m going to analyze the topic as a whole.
What do you say? Are you ready to learn how to use Minecraft Forge and enter the magical world of mods dedicated to the Mojang title? Yup? Come on then, all you have to do is follow the quick instructions below and put them into practice. That said, there is nothing left for me to do, except wish you good reading and have fun!
Index
- Preliminary information
- How to install Minecraft Forge
- How to install Minecraft Forge mod
- How to install Minecraft mod without Forge
Preliminary information
Before going into the details of the procedure on how to install Minecraft Forge, I think it may interest you to know more about this tool.
Well, Forge is a tool that allows you to use content created by the Minecraft community, such as mods. More precisely, it is a sort of “profile” in which the mods available for the Java version of Minecraft for PC and Mac can be configured.
In short, it is the tool that allows you to open up to new possibilities within Minecraft, since it essentially allows you to enter the world of mods and explore myriads of content created by third parties compared to the official developers of the game.
Having said that, I would say that we can put the chatter aside and get down to business, seeing how to install this great software.
How to install Minecraft Forge
After explaining what Forge is for, I’d say you’re ready to take action and install this useful tool.
To proceed, then connect to the official Forge portal and select, through the menu on the left, the version of Minecraft you want to use. Once this is done, click on the Installer box and the download of the tool will start.
In some cases, an advertising page may appear. Don’t worry: just wait a few seconds, press the SKIP button at the top right and you will see that the Forge download will start. Once the latter is finished, you can safely close the advertising page, without pressing on anything else inside it. Another small note: sometimes you may be required to click the Keep button to finish downloading the Forge installer, as it is a .jar file (which some browsers rate as potentially harmful, such as .exe executables).
Great, you should now have the forge- [version] .jar file available. Then start the latter, check the Install Client box and click the OK button. Generally the path indicated by the Forge window is correct, but in case you have moved the game you may have to change it manually. The steps to take are the same on both Windows and macOS.
For the rest, I just want to make a clarification that could come in handy: you can install multiple Forge profiles at the same time, in order to use multiple versions of Minecraft on your PC.
However, if you install too many, some may not appear and you may need to remove others. In any case, if you are interested in this possibility, you can refer to my tutorial on how to change Minecraft version.
How to install Minecraft Forge mod
Now that you’ve set up your Forge profile correctly, it’s time to learn how to install mods for use within Minecraft.
To do this, you must first find the .jar file of the mod you want to install. If you don’t know where to find the mods, I suggest you take a look at the CurseForge portal, one of the most popular with lovers of content created by the Minecraft community.
To see the mods compatible with your version of Minecraft, just click on All versions, present at the top left and select the version of the game you are using (eg 1.15.2). In this way, a lot of content created by the community will appear on the screen.
Then, enter the page of the mod that seems most interesting to you (eg Oreos ) and press on the File item at the top. At this point, you just have to click on the Download button next to the indication linked to the version of Minecraft in your possession. So wait a few seconds and you will see that the mod .jar file will be downloaded to your computer. In some specific cases, you may also be required to go through the Twitch client.
Once you have the mod file, you need to move/copy it inside the mods folder which was created automatically during the Forge installation. On Windows, you can find it by following the path C:\Users\[nome utente]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\mods, while on macOS you have to go to ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/mods. To get to the Windows-related path, you may need to turn on the display of hidden folders.
At this point, you have already prepared everything for the use of the mod. To proceed, start the Minecraft Launcher, press on the box linked to the version present at the bottom left, select the Forge profile you have installed and press the PLAY button.
By doing so, the game will install the mod. Once you reach the main menu, I suggest you press the Mod button: if everything has been done correctly, you will see the mod you have decided to install (it may have a different name from the one originally reported, depending on the creator’s choices).
Perfect, now just start a game and you will see that you will find the elements added by the mod in Minecraft. Obviously, it would be impossible for me to explain how to use every single mod, as there are thousands of them.
However, usually, you just need to enter Creative mode, press the E button on your keyboard, click the right arrow icon and select the mod tile. By doing so, it is usually possible to access the various objects integrated in the mod and move them to the quick inventory.
If you can’t find the elements in this way, just press the compass icon at the top right, type the name of the element (eg “oreo”) and it will appear on the screen.
If you want more concrete examples, I suggest you consult my guide to the best mods for Minecraft, where you can find several ideas for your next game sessions.
How to install Minecraft mod without Forge
How do you say? Would you like to install Minecraft mods but don’t feel like using Forge? Don’t worry: I’ll explain immediately what the main alternatives are.
Well, among the most popular standalone mods, which therefore do not need Forge to work, we find Optifine. It is a tool that mainly allows you to make changes on a graphical level: for all the details of the case, I invite you to take a look at my guide on how to install Optfine shaders on Minecraft.
In any case, most of the mods for the Java version of Minecraft for PC are based on Forge, so it is an important tool from this point of view. In short, in general, my advice is to use Forge, as it is a tool on which most mod creators are now based.
Despite this, if you really don’t want to use Forge, you might want to take a look at Fabric, a particularly interesting tool that can be used without Forge. However, it is a solution that could be more difficult to configure than Forge and obviously, we are talking about a “new” project compared to the latter, with all the consequences of the case.
For the rest, since you are a fan of the Mojang title, I suggest you consult the page of my site dedicated to Minecraft, where you can find several tutorials that could be for you. Just to give you some examples, you might be interested in my guides on how to create a mod for Minecraft and how to create a plugin for Minecraft.