How to set up a server resource pack

A resource pack changes how the game looks and sounds — textures, models, sounds, fonts. Usually each player installs packs themselves. A server resource pack is offered automatically to everyone who joins, so all players see the same thing: custom item textures for a minigame, a server-wide visual style, or textures that go with a data pack.

Step 1: host the pack

The server does not send the pack itself. It sends players a link, and their game downloads it from there. That link must be a direct download: opening it in a browser must download the .zip immediately, with no page in between.

• mc-packs.net — a free host made for exactly this; it gives you a direct link and the hash.
• Dropbox — share the file and change the end of the link from dl=0 to dl=1.
• GitHub releases — attach the zip to a release and use the asset’s download link.
• Google Drive links are a common source of trouble: they open a preview or a virus-scan page for larger files, and the game cannot get past it.

Recent versions accept packs up to 250 MB, but players download it every time it changes, so smaller is kinder.

Step 2: get the SHA-1 hash

The hash is a 40-character fingerprint of the file. It lets each player’s game check the download, keep a copy, and know when you have changed the pack. Calculate it from the exact file you uploaded:

• Windows — open a terminal in the folder and run certutil -hashfile pack.zip SHA1.
• macOS — shasum -a 1 pack.zip in Terminal.
• Linux — sha1sum pack.zip.

Copy the long string of letters and numbers, without spaces.

Step 3: set it in server.properties

• resource-pack — the direct link.
• resource-pack-sha1 — the hash, in lower case.
• require-resource-pack — true disconnects players who decline the pack. Use it only if your server genuinely does not work without it.
• resource-pack-prompt — an optional message shown with the offer, such as why the pack is needed.

On Cobbly these are in the Properties tab. If you edit the raw file, the server may rewrite the link with a backslash before the colon (https\://…) when it saves — that is how the file format stores a colon, and it works.

Restart the server, join, and you should be asked whether to download the pack.

Updating the pack

Every time you change the pack: upload the new file, calculate the new hash, update resource-pack-sha1, and restart. If you keep the same link but forget the hash, players who already have the old pack keep using it — or get an error that the download did not match.

When players do not get it

• No prompt at all. The player has turned server packs off. In the multiplayer list, they select the server, press Edit, and set Server Resource Packs to Prompt or Enabled.
• “Failed to download resource pack.” The link is not a direct download, or the host is blocking it. Paste the link into a browser — it must start a download immediately.
• The pack loads but looks wrong. It was made for a different Minecraft version. Resource pack formats change between versions; the pack’s pack.mcmeta says which it was made for.
• Hash mismatch. The hash is from a different file than the one at the link. Recalculate it from a fresh download of the link itself.

Resource packs and data packs together

Data packs change what the game does on the server; resource packs change how it looks on each player’s screen. Packs that add “new” items with custom models usually come as a pair — the data pack on the server (see How to add data packs) and the resource pack offered through this setting.