Modrinth

Modrinth is a popular platform for Minecraft mods and modpacks, and as a modpack developer it’s important you have a good understanding of how it works and impacts your development.

You can find the platform specific moderation policies here.

One of the more important rules to be aware of is the third party mods guidelines. Typically when you create a client pack export, your .mrpack file will not actually contain mods if the export was done correctly. They will instead contain a manifest that allows the mods to download from Modrinth when a user imports the pack. Therefore, if you see a mods folder in your export, that means you have either done something wrong or you’ve used mods that are not on Modrinth.

All platforms have their own general rules for these mods which you can find on the above link. Paying attention the the licenses of third party mods will help your pack not be denied by Modrinth moderation.

Handling Non-Modrinth mods

Mod coverage can sometimes be spotty for certain mods on Modrinth as it is a newer platform. Some mods might not have every version on Modrinth as they do on Modrinth, and other mods might not even be uploaded at all!

One of the biggest example of these is the FTB suite of mods, none of which are uploaded to the platform. They also have an All Rights Reserved license, meaning you are not allowed to bundle them in your modpack that is uploaded to Modrinth. You can find the platform’s full guidelines here.

The main way to get around this restraint is by having users download the mods themselves.

FTB Checker

FTB Checker is a mod specifically made for the FTB suite of mods. It renders a screen with download links to mods if they are not installed.

On 1.21.1 and above, this mod also supports non-FTB mods

Missing Mods Checker

Missing Mods Checker does a similar thing as the above, but works on 1.20.1 and also contains a button to download mods at once.

There is no formal documentation on how to use this mod. To add mods to check, you’ll need to create a missing_mods_checker.json file in your config folder.

You can than add entries to the file like this:

[
    {
        "pattern": "tanukidecor-20.1.1.0.jar",
        "displayName": "Tanuki Decor",
        "url": "https://edge.forgecdn.net/files/5139/65/tanukidecor-20.1.1.0.jar"
    },
    {
        "pattern": "BalloonBox.*",
        "displayName": "BalloonBox",
        "url": "https://edge.forgecdn.net/files/4715/994/BalloonBox1.20.1(Forge)vs.1.0.3.jar"
    }
]

Note that the above supports Regular Expressions. The first entry requires a specific file name, while the second one BalloonBox.* will match any filename that starts with BalloonBox e.g: BallonBox-1.01.jar.

Client pack

The Modrinth Launcher has its own process for exporting modpacks outlined in their first party guide here.

Third party launchers or CLI tools such as Pakku can also be used to create a Modrinth applicable mrpack export, though the process may differ depending on the platform.