How To - Run Your Own Minecraft Server On A Mobile
My son wanted to play Minecraft last night with his friends. It's really easy if you're in the same house or on the same WiFi access point. During New Years Eve he spent an hour with his mates, iPads a-plenty, on the sofa creating new worlds together.
They were all in one house so they all connected to the same WiFi hotspot.
It can be difficult to connect if you are in different locations. It involves connecting to a server on the internet, but if you want to make one yourself you'll have to download a Windows executable or a Java file which you can run on Linux. You may have a Windows machine lying around your house. But do you really want it on constantly? It will only show this screen...
This will mean that you will need a computer (or a server on an internet server) to run the program. You'll also need to open the appropriate ports.
All of this can be done with an old Android phone. What you'll need is this PocketMine app and a phone you can leave on. Before you can do all that, however, you need to understand how your broadband router works. Most routers are very secure and your broadband provider won't allow you to mess with the settings. If you're looking for more information, here are the details.
Download the app to get the version that you want. The "Stable" version worked well for me.
I'll return to the rest in a minute, but it's all fairly self-explanatory. All you need is a name.
If you open Minecraft and click "Play", then "New", you will see a small symbol at its top that looks similar to this.
That is a feat that not many people can achieve. They just create a world and then off they go. But, it will ask you to hit that in a second.
This is where you will need to configure your broadband router. Find the IP address of your broadband connection. Simply type "my IP" in Google or use a free IP detection tool such as turboluck.com/my_ip. This information will be needed to share with your family and friends so they can use it to connect to your server from their phones or tablets. They'll need to connect on a particular port. This port can be almost any Minecraft-related thing, so choose one (or leave the default one) and then enter the advanced setting for your broadband router. You'll be looking for something called "NAT/PAT". Tell your router that you want to have requests for an external port sent through to your router's internal IP address.
Yes, it can be confusing. Let's get started with the PocketMine application. Run it, and it will ask you to set up a server name, a port, and what kind of game you would like to create (Creative or Survival, Adventure, Spectator). Once it's started, you can place the phone anywhere in your home and forget about it. You will need to know the local IP address for that phone. To find out, go into your WiFi settings. Minecraft-servers.Biz It could be something like 192.168.0.7. Take a note.
Next, head over to your router to edit your NAT/PAT rules. Make sure that any requests for your magic ports (say, 22535) go to 192.168.0.7. (your phone) on port 22535. You are basically doing a little routing, which is why the thing exists.
It's then easy to get your friends to input your IP address and the port you have set. Once the app is installed on an Android phone that you don't have, everyone can play together. You're done.