RLCraft Server Hosting

The most downloaded modpack on CurseForge does not go easy on server hardware. Here is what you need to run it properly.

RLCraft is a hardcore survival modpack for Minecraft 1.12.2 created by Shivaxi. It ships with over 120 mods that overhaul nearly every survival mechanic in the game. Temperature, thirst, and realistic torches replace the relatively forgiving vanilla experience with something that punishes mistakes. You will die often, and most deaths come from things you did not see coming.

The two mods that define RLCraft are Lycanites Mobs and Ice and Fire. Lycanites adds dozens of hostile creatures that spawn in every biome, each with unique behaviors and attack patterns. Dragons from Ice and Fire roam the skies and can level structures in seconds. Together, these mods flood the server with entities that need constant AI processing, which is why RLCraft is notoriously hard on server performance.

Beyond combat, RLCraft includes Tough As Nails for temperature and thirst, Skillable for RPG-style skill gating, Baubles for accessory slots, and Spartan Weaponry for an expanded weapon roster. The result is a modpack that feels more like a roguelike survival game than standard Minecraft. It has been downloaded over 20 million times on CurseForge and remains one of the most popular multiplayer modpacks years after release.

The absolute minimum to run an RLCraft server is around 4 GB, but you should not expect smooth gameplay at that level with more than two or three players. Once Lycanites mobs start spawning in bulk and players spread across different chunks, memory usage climbs quickly.

For a stable experience, allocate 6 to 8 GB of RAM. That gives the JVM enough headroom for Forge's class loading, the entity data from Lycanites and Ice and Fire, and a reasonable view distance. If you are hosting 10 or more players who actively explore, you will want the upper end of that range.

Our Standard plan with 12 GB of RAM is the most popular choice for RLCraft groups. It leaves room for the operating system overhead, handles player counts up to about 15 comfortably, and keeps TPS stable during dragon fights and dungeon exploration. For groups under 5 players, the Starter plan with 8 GB is usually enough. Check the RAM guide for a detailed breakdown.

RLCraft uses Forge on Minecraft 1.12.2. Download the server pack from CurseForge, upload it to the panel's file manager, and extract it. The pack includes a Forge installer and a run script. Point the startup command to the Forge JAR and give it a first run. Initial startup takes several minutes while Forge patches and loads all 120+ mods.

Java flags matter for this pack. Aikar's recommended JVM flags are a good starting point. They tune garbage collection to avoid long GC pauses, which is critical when the server is managing thousands of entities. On our panel, you can paste the flags directly into the startup parameters field.

Lower the view distance to 8 or 10 chunks. RLCraft generates more data per chunk than vanilla because of custom structures and Lycanites spawn tables. A high view distance forces the server to load more chunks per player, which multiplies the CPU and RAM cost. If players report entity lag, consider adjusting Lycanites spawn rates in the mod's config files. These settings live in the config folder and are editable through the panel file manager.

The biggest performance bottleneck in RLCraft is entity count. Lycanites Mobs spawns creatures in every biome, often in groups. Each entity runs its own AI pathfinding logic on the server tick, and when you have 500 or more active entities, the tick loop slows down. This is a CPU-bound problem, not a RAM problem. Dedicated vCPU cores help because the server does not have to compete with other instances for processing time.

Chunk loading is the second concern. Players in RLCraft tend to explore aggressively because progression requires finding specific biomes and structures. Each new chunk needs to be generated and written to disk. NVMe storage handles this better than traditional SSDs because the random write performance is significantly higher. On spinning disks, heavy exploration can cause noticeable stutters.

Dragon fights are the stress test. When an Ice and Fire dragon aggros on a player, it generates fire or ice destruction across dozens of blocks per tick. That means rapid block updates, entity damage calculations, and visual effects. If your server handles a dragon fight without dropping below 18 TPS, your hardware is properly sized for the pack.