My son wanted to play Minecraft with some of his friends last night. It's really easy if you're in the same house or on the same WiFi access point. He spent New Years Eve on the sofa with his friends, creating new worlds together using iPads.
They were all in the same home so they all connected to the same WiFi hotspot.
It can be a bit difficult if you live in different locations. It involves connecting with a server over the internet. If you want to make your own, you will need to either download a Windows executable (or a Java program) which can be run on Linux. You may have a Windows machine lying around your house. But do you really want it on constantly? It will only display this screen...
This will mean that you will need a computer (or a server on an internet server) to run the program. You'll also need to open the appropriate ports.
All of this can be done with an old Android phone. This PocketMine app is all you need. Before all that though, you'll need to know a bit about how your broadband router works. Most routers are fairly secure, so your broadband provider doesn’t want you playing around with the settings. But if you like to play "fiddle", here are the details.
Download the app and choose the version you like. The stable version worked for me.
I'll be back on the rest of the app setup in a moment, but it's pretty self-explanatory. You only need a name and not much else.
If you open Minecraft and click "Play", then "New", you will see a small symbol at its top that looks similar to this.
..not any people hit that. They just create a new world and go. However, you'll need to hit that in a minute and it'll ask you for the name of your world (you can put anything in), the IP address or name of your server and the port.
This is where your broadband router will need to be adjusted. First, find the external IP address for your broadband connection. Search for "my IP", or use turboluck.com/my_ip to locate the IP address. This information will be needed to share with your family and friends so they can use it to connect to your server from their phones or tablets. They'll only be able to connect on one port. This port can be almost any Minecraft-related thing, so choose one (or leave the default one) and then enter the advanced setting for your broadband router. You'll be looking for something called "NAT/PAT". Minecraft server list Your router will ask for the request to be sent to the appropriate internal port at your LAN's internal IP address.
Yes, it can be confusing. Let's get started with the PocketMine application. Run it, and it will ask you to set up a server name, a port, and what kind of game you would like to create (Creative or Survival, Adventure, Spectator). You can put the phone anywhere you like after you have started it. However, you will need the IP address of the phone. You can access your WiFi settings to see what IP address it has. It could be something like 192.168.0.7. Make a note.
Next, go to your router and edit your NAT/PAT rules so that requests for your magic port (say 22535), go to 192.168.0.7 (your smartphone) on port 22535. You are basically doing a little routing, which is why the thing exists.
It's then easy to get your friends to input your IP address and the port you have set. All you need is an Android phone with the app installed. You're done.
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