Server: Minecraft

  This sub-project of my home server became the focus point of my winter break in 24-25. As tricky as it was to set up, I'm glad there is so much support for this in existing documents. I used the docker image you find if you search for Minecraft server setup.

  My pour little Pi isn't built for such heavy stuff as 8 players logging in from around the country. I leapt into solving this unforeseen problem, first by switching loaders from Vanilla to Fabric so I could use optimization mods.

  I got a bit tempted by my childhood dreams of crazy Minecraft modding (which I never did) and added plenty of non-essential mods to the server. I customized everything I could think to and set the settings nice and low for render distance to boost player count. I also overclocked the Pi to 3Ghz which was a pretty good move. It takes more to overload it now, which is awesome.

  Now I keep a website up for my amazing users (friends) to keep up with the status. It has lots of general information, and live map and player status. I try to keep everything on my websites loaded dynamically, so website info comes from a json file. I made a script that downloads mods from the list on that file, so now when updating versions, I can easily use my automation to get the newest mods that fit the new version, and see what might be outdated.

  This project taught me a lot about automation, security, resource management, and serving customers. Luckily and sadly, my friends are not at all picky. It's so much fun to maintain, and to play!