Would like advice on which modpack for my server

[Infinitea_and_Biscuits]

Hi,

I am looking for advice on which Modpack to put on my server for myself and 3 friends. I have a server with 3GB of RAM, on which we had an FTB Infinity game going, however it got too complex and overwhelmed the server (mainly my fault for too many Mystcraft worlds and overly complex machinery in a small space I believe).

So I am looking for a modpack with a few things - nice exploration/biome variety (biomes o' plenty is probably a must), a mod to add variety to farming (Pam's harvestcraft and agricraft were both popular) and decorative/vanity options (chisel, decocraft, biblocraft, carpenter blocks and Hats were all popular) all for interesting builds we all enjoy doing.

We have no interest in PVP or hardcore/difficult combat focus and imbalanced (in our favour) mods are fine (on the previous world I had finished all the Draconic Evolution stuff and enjoyed having the powerful tools and armour). We all play on and off as a casual relaxation game and a creative outlet, not to challenge ourselves (although we do play survival to ensure there is some progress and achievement).

Hand holding/teaching of mods would be beneficial as I am the only one with experience of playing much modded so something with a quest book/path would be good. Some mods with some depth would be nice for myself to delve into, but no real preference - in the past I have used most/all of the options in AE2, EnderIO, BigReactors, IC2, Tinkers and some others and would be happy to try something different.

I am currently trying out Wanderlust Reloaded which seemed to be well suited, but having not actually done anything with it other than a little exploring the server is already running at 70% memory usage and that is with just one player and nothing built yet, so I am assuming this will go the way of the previous world when we get into it and will not be manageable.

Any advice or help anyone can offer finding a long term option for us to enjoy would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Reddis]

Galacticraft is my favorite mod. To me, it is sort of the ultimate climax to a long journey... but wait.... you just got to the moon, now mars! Then the asteroid field!

 

[Inaeo]

3GB should be enough RAM to make most packs work. If the physical drive space is limited, that's where Mystcraft will chew into, as the dimensions, unless each is chunkloaded, will not render/load with nobody inside them. This means I can have 100 Mystcraft ages with no affect on CPU performance, but it will eat a lot of disk space. Any of them which are loaded will affect the CPU, as it now has to load and render two (or more) dimensions side by side.

The general guidelines for longterm life of a server apply to any pack. Build out, not up/down. The more you cram into a chunk, the worse performance will be while that chunk is loaded. Having a headquarters with several outliers for different tasks is better for your world than one base that does everything in a 5x5 cube.

If your server still can't keep up, try dialing back the use of chunk loaders. Its convenient to have the whole world loaded, but its incredibly wasteful on resources most of the time. Using personal anchors or even spot loaders can make a huge difference.

Otherwise, maybe try one of the FTB lite packs. They were designed to be friendlier for weaker computers. You're server can have all the RAM in the world, but if the CPU is weaker you will still be limited in the end.

Good luck.