673. "Better Minecraft [Forge]" server for version 1.16.5

In post 672 I showed how to set up a better minecraft server for version 1.18. As it turns out, if you want to play Better Minecraft you'll want version 1.16.5, since most of the mods aren't yet available for minecraft 1.18.

The instructions here are adopted and adapted from  https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Tutorials/Setting_up_a_Minecraft_Forge_server

1. Download the following files and put them in an appropriate folder:

https://files.minecraftforge.net/net/minecraftforge/forge/index_1.16.5.html

https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/modpacks/better-minecraft-modpack/files/3585404

2. Next, do the following

First install the server by running this in the terminal

java -jar forge-1.16.5-36.2.20-installer.jar --installServer

It should give output similar to this:

JVM info: Debian - 17-ea - 17-ea+19-Debian-1

java.net.preferIPv4Stack=true

Found java version 17-ea

Target Directory: .

Data kindly mirrored by CreeperHost at https://www.creeperhost.net/

Extracting main jar:

  Extracted successfully

Considering minecraft server jar

...

The server installed successfully

You can delete this installer file now if you wish

Next do this to unpack and generate the eula.txt file:

java -jar minecraft_server.1.16.5.jar

[07:39:16] [main/ERROR]: Failed to load properties from file: server.properties

[07:39:16] [main/WARN]: Failed to load eula.txt

[07:39:16] [main/INFO]: You need to agree to the EULA in order to run the server. Go to eula.txt for more info.

Edit eula.txt and change eula to true:

 eula=true

3. Launch the server

On debian 11.1 the server crashed with openjdk 11 and 17. However, it worked with openjdk 8.

Instead I launched the server with

/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/bin/java -Xmx10G -jar forge-1.16.5-36.2.20.jar

Note that I'm dedicating 10Gb of RAM to the server (I have 32 GB). You might want/need less.

Enjoy!

672. Modded minecraft server on linux (Better Minecraft [FABRIC])

My son is now of the age where he's interested in playing computer games, and minecraft is popular among his friends. But it can't just be minecraft, it has to be Better Minecraft.

Client

Since curseforge doesn't have a linux-installer, we're using GDLauncher (as an AppImage) to run the minecraft client. Once GDLauncher is running you can install an instance of Better Minecraft by clicking on the "+" in the lower left corner, and clicking onthe CurseForrge tab, and searching for Better. We're using the [FABRIC] version.

You might have to adjust the amount of RAM afforded to minecraft.

The Server:

This was a bit trickier, until I found this: https://fabricmc.net/wiki/install

Follow the instructions under 'Server (simple method)' i.e.

1. Download jar from https://fabricmc.net/use/server/ to a folder where you want your server to reside, e.g. ~/.minecraft_server

(or use
curl -OJ https://meta.fabricmc.net/v2/versions/loader/1.18.1/0.12.12/0.10.2/server/jar )

2. Run
java -Xmx2G -jar fabric-server-mc.1.18.1-loader.0.12.12-launcher.0.10.2.jar nogui

It'll fail, with a message about the EULA.

Edit eula.txt and change false to true.

3. Download Fabric API from https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/fabric-api and put it in the mods folder (e.g. ~/.minecraft_server/mods)

4. Download the Better Minecraft [FABRIC] Server Pack from https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/modpacks/better-minecraft-fabric/files/3574082

5. Move the files from the server pack to the server directory i.e. replace the mods folder, and add the config folder + the images. The instructions are otherwise in the README.txt

6. Launch the server 
java -Xmx2G -jar fabric-server-mc.1.18.1-loader.0.12.12-launcher.0.10.2.jar

7. Using GDLauncher to launch your client, then go to Multiplayer, add a server (e.g. localhost, 127.0.0.1), and hopefully it'll show up:

I think this server will be a 'normal' one with default settings i.e. NOT creative mode.

To change to creative mode follow this: 

a) in the server window, type /op YourName to make yourself an operator

b) then in the minecraft client, type /gamemode 1

-----------------------

The GDLauncher instance mod files are kept in ~/.local/share/gdlauncher_carbon/data/instances/Better Minecraft [FABRIC] v1/instance/mods

Sometimes you have to copy the mod files between the client and the server to make sure that all the versions are identical.

671. External tools to make up for shortcomings in Canvas LMS

Not a fan of Canvas LMS at all. There are too many things missing, too many things that don't work well, and ultimately I feel it does not work well for me as a teacher.

In contrast, I felt that on the whole Moodle offered the tools that I needed: a well-functioning quiz tool, a good forum, and  good tools for making exams.

The forum in canvas is confusing to the students, and is hard to organize. 

The quiz function is very limited in scope, and does not offered a good overview of responses. From what I understand you can de-anonymize reponses as well. It's not a good tool for course evaluations for these reasons. It also doesn't work well for getting responses from discussions as part of a flipped classroom.

Also, you can't attach more than one document to a question when answering. Even worse, attached documents that are uploaded by students end up in THEIR accounts, so that they can e.g. delete them after they've taken an exam. Anything to do with exams/quizzes should be immutable.

I don't have a solution to that last issue, but here's what I've done with the rest:

Course evaluation: 

mentimeter.com. We have a license. The course evaluations look great and are easy to interpret.

Otherwise I'd use google forms.

Feedback during flipped classroom discussions: 

Google Forms. It works well, and gives an easy overview of responses in real time. If we didn't have mentimeter.com I'd use this for the course eval as well.

Forum:

ProBoards. I also looked att making a Google Group, but that worked about the same as the Canvas forum. ProBoards looks and works like a real forum, and you can let students self-register. You can also create custom names/URLs for your forum(s) -- mychemforums.proboards.com.

[Examination: For now we use moodle for this, although we've been told to phase this out. Instead we're going to be using Inspera, which at a glance if anything seems less suitable for chemistry exams than moodle. Time, and testing, will tell.]