Easy Minecraft Mod Installation Guide

Minecraft mods are similar to texture packs in that they are add-ons to the original game, but are different because instead of altering the appearance of the game, mods actually change how the game is played. This is done in various ways depending on the mod itself; some alter the user interface and make the inventory easy to use, while others add new enemies and new items to the game. No matter which mod that you want to play, you have to know how to properly install mods on your operating system or else you risk losing your save data. Keep in mind that if you install a mod incorrectly, you could 'break' your copy of Minecraft and have to re-download it.

How you install a mod will differ depending on what OS, or operating system, that you are using. This guide will walk you through how to install Minecraft mods on most widely available operating systems.

Windows ME, 95, 98, and XP

1. Click on the start menu.
2. Click Run...
3. Type in '%AppData' minus the quotation marks.
4. Open .minecraft
5. Open bin, and look for the minecraft.jar folder.
6. Open the minecraft.jar file using a decompressing program (Winrar is a free solution). You can do this by right clicking the file, and then selecting the 'Open With' option.
7. Copy the class files that you downloaded with the mod into this folder, and then close the folder.
8. (Optional) Some mods will require you to install files into the Resources and Config folders as well, which can also be found in the minecraft.jar file. Check the readme which should be attached to the mod.

Windows Vista and 7

1. Click the Start button.
2. Type in %AppData% and press enter.
3. Open Roaming.
4. Open .minecraft
5. Open bin, and you should see the minecraft.jar file (the .jar extension may be hidden, so look for just minecraft as well)
6. Open the .jar file (Again, check out WinRar above)
7. Copy the class files into the folder, and close the folder.
8. (Optional) Some mods will require you to install files into the Resources and Config folders as well, which can also be found in the minecraft.jar file. Check the readme which should be attached to the mod.

Mac OS X

1. Click on Finder.
2. From the menu, choose Go, Go to Folder.
3. Enter " ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/" minus the quotation marks.
4. Open the bin folder.
5. Decompress the minecraft.jar file (Mac should be able to do this by itself - Winrar won't work on Macintosh computers. You can always use Zipeg, which is a quick and free install)
6. Move the modded files into this file.
7. Exit the file, and add the .jar extension to the name by right clicking and selecting "Rename".
8. (Optional) Some mods will require you to install files into the Resources and Config folders as well, which can also be found in the minecraft.jar file. Check the readme which should be attached to the mod.

Linux

Go to ~/.minecraft/bin/ to find the minecraft.jar file. If you can't see the .minecraft file, press Ctrl+H to see hidden files, which should allow you to find the file. Simply drag and drop, and you're done! Easy, isn't it?