Modded server pack maintenance

[Alexiy]

I'm seeking for advice on modded server creation. I would like to know some opinions whether it is preferable to provide players a ready modpack or let them download mods themselves.
On one hand, ready pack is easier for players, but it requires the server owner to maintain the pack.
On the other hand, if a player can get mods himself, it means he is more "advanced" user and easier to deal with from technical side. Provided you list the mods and their versions.
If it matters, I plan to have no more than 30 mods on the server.

 

[LordPINE]

It's probably easiest to just go with the twitch export pack option. Easy enough to update for the server owner, and easy to install for the players. Would probably get quite annoying if you had to tell people to update mods manually all the time, especially when multiple mods have to be updated at once.

 

[Alexiy]

So it is twitch app that Windows users use nowadays, right? Asking because I'm on Linux, haven't booted Windows for a while.

 

[LordPINE]

Yeah, that's the one I was talking about. Forgot for a second not everyone can use the twitch app. Still, there are downloaders available to get the packs, and multimc (at least, the beta version) can also use the exported packs from twitch. Only problem would be creating the exported zip file, because that's generally not done without actually having twitch. You could alternatively just give people a zip with all the mods, configs, etc. in it to distribute it. A bit more work for the user, but nothing extreme, and still easily manageable.

 

[Henry Link]

So my couple of cents here. Use twitch to actually create the pack and publish it on curseforge. It is best for everyone and makes it easiest for the players. Any other way involves a lot of manual updating when there are changes to the mod list, updates to mods, script changes to fix issues, etc. Also, providing them a zip with mods in it really isn't ideal as that involves re-hosting the mod files. Which really is frowned upon. Best to do everything the right way so that the mod authors get the credit for the work and to make sure you have the correct permissions to use the mods in a pack.