How To - Run Your Own Minecraft Server On A Mobile
My son wanted to play Minecraft with some of his friends last night. It's really simple if you're in a similar house or on the exact 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 house, so after hooking into the same WiFi hotspot they all connected up easily thanks to the clever "Publish to LAN" feature and off they went.
However, if you're in different places it can become a bit tricky. 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 might have a Windows computer kicking around the house somewhere, but do you really want that left on all the time? It'll only be showing this screen...
This will require you to have a computer running (or on the internet), and you'll need the ports open.
This can be done on an old Android smartphone. This PocketMine app is all you need. Before you start, you should be familiar with the basics of how your broadband router operates. Most routers are very secure and your broadband provider won't allow you to mess with the settings. Here are the details if you want to "fiddle" with your router settings.
Download the app and choose the version you like. The "Stable" version worked well for me.
I'll come back to the rest of the app setup process in a minute but it's all pretty self-explanatory, needing a name and a not much else.
You'll see this little symbol at the top of Minecraft if you open it and click "Play" then “New".
Just Another Blog Or Something
..not any people hit that. They just create a world and then off they go. But, it will ask you to hit that in a second.
That last bit is where you'll need to tweak your broadband router. First, find the external IP address for your broadband connection. Just type "my IP" into Google or head to a free IP detection tool like turboluck.com/my-ip. You'll need this information to give to your friends and relatives so they can add it to their iPads or tablets to join you server. They'll need to connect on a particular 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're going to be looking for something called "NAT / PAT". Tell your router that you want to have requests for an external port sent through to your router's internal IP address.
Yes, this can be confusing. Let's start with the the PocketMine app. Run it and it'll ask you to create a server name, a port and what sort of game you want to create (Creative, Survival, Adventure, Spectator). Once you start it, you can stick that phone somewhere in the house and forget about it. However, you will need to know what the local IP address of that phone is - head into your WiFi settings and find out what IP address it has internally. It could be something like 192.168.0.7. Make a note.
Next, log into your router and change your NAT/PAT rules to make sure any requests for your magical port (say, 22535) go to 192.168.0.7. This will allow you to access your phone on port 22535. You are basically doing a little routing, which is why the thing exists.
It's easy to get your friends involved by simply entering your IP address and setting the port. You're good to go. Everyone can play together as long as the app is running on an Android phone. Done.