LEGACY MINECRAFTThe Golden Age

Guides

How to host your own Beta 1.7.3 server, and how to install the game to play on one.

Run a Beta 1.7.3 server in 5 steps

This uses Project Poseidon, the most widely used Beta 1.7.3 server. Prefer containers? Jump to the Docker option.

  1. Install Java

    Poseidon 1.x is built against Java 8, and Java 17 and 21 are reported to work. Poseidon V2 needs a much newer Java (25, according to the PoseidonCompat project). Any OpenJDK build is fine, for example from Azul. Check what you have:

    java -version

  2. Download the server jar

    Open the Poseidon releases and download poseidon-craftbukkit-<version>.jar. Each release also has an original-… jar, which is the small unshaded build: do not use that one. The hub shows the current version on its front page.

  3. Boot it once

    Put the jar in an empty folder and start it. The server creates server.properties, a plugins folder and the world, then you can stop it by typing stop.

    java -Xmx1G -jar poseidon-craftbukkit-<version>.jar nogui

    nogui skips the old Swing console window, which is what you want on a headless machine. Replace <version> with the file name you downloaded.

  4. Edit server.properties

    The settings most people change:

    server-port=25565
max-players=20
online-mode=false
spawn-monsters=true

    About online-mode: Beta's original login check no longer works against Mojang's servers, so most servers run online-mode=false and add a login plugin such as Authme-Expanded. Without one, anyone can join under any username, including yours. Some servers use online-mode=true together with launchers or proxies that emulate the old check (Betacraft's server list labels these "Online Mode").

  5. Add plugins, open the port, connect

    Drop plugin .jar files into plugins/ and restart. Browse the plugin list, and test each jar locally first. Forward TCP port 25565 on your router or firewall, then connect from Beta Evolutions (or the Betacraft launcher) with localhost or your public address.

Docker option

The itzg/docker-minecraft-server image can run Poseidon. Only VERSION: b1.7.3 is supported, and the health check has to be disabled because that version predates it. Setting EULA to true means you accept Mojang's EULA.

services:
  beta:
    image: itzg/minecraft-server
    ports:
      - "25565:25565"
    environment:
      EULA: "TRUE"
      TYPE: POSEIDON
      VERSION: b1.7.3
      DISABLE_HEALTHCHECK: "true"
      MEMORY: 1G
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data

Heads-up: at the time of writing, the image's docs page shows TYPE=CANYON under its Poseidon heading, but the image's start script handles TYPE=POSEIDON. Set POSEIDON_TYPE=uberbukkit if you want Uberbukkit instead.

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