Operations5 min read
What to do when a mod update breaks everything
Auto-updating mods is convenient until the evening it is not. How to get back to a working server in ten minutes and stop it happening again.
The pattern is always the same: nothing changed, and the server stopped working. Something did change - a mod updated itself, or a dependency it relies on did - and the fix is to find which rather than to reinstall everything.
Ten minutes to working
- Read the crash report and find the first line naming something that is not the game.
- Check the modified timestamps in the mods folder. The newest file is your suspect.
- Put the previous version back. Keep the old jar; that is why you keep it.
- Start, confirm, and only then decide whether you want the update at all.
Stopping the repeat
Pin versions rather than tracking latest, and keep the last known-good copy of each mod in a folder next to the live one. Convenience that can end your evening is not convenience.