Creating and Hosting Map Resource Packs

If you already have a pack and just need help with hosting it, skip to Setting up a GitHub Repository.

Understanding the Folder Structure

A Minecraft Resource Pack is essentially a folder which holds a lot of files with your custom textures and resources in them. The below file tree shows how this folder might be organised.

(This is adapted from the Minecraft wiki page on resource packs. I have simplified it to omit some paths which are more complex or less relevant for server resource packs.)

.├── pack.mcmeta├── pack.png└── assets    └── minecraft        ├── sounds        │   └── custom        │       ├── metronome.ogg        │       ├── white_noise.ogg        │       └── tones        │           ├── dial.ogg        │           └── square.ogg        ├── sounds.json        └── textures            ├── block            │   ├── black_wool.png            │   └── white_wool.png            └── entity                └── zombie                    └── zombie.png

Visually, this looks like:

We’ll go over each of these in more detail individually later on.

Creating Your Resource Pack

To create your resource pack, start by creating a new folder. This folder will serve as the root directory for your resource pack. Alternatively, you can download my example resource pack as a template:

If you’re not using my example pack, create the following files and folders inside the root folder:

• pack.mcmeta: This file contains some important metadata about your resource pack: we’ll get to it later.
• pack.png: This is the icon for your resource pack that displays in the Resource Pack Selection screen.
• assets folder: This folder will contain all the custom textures, sounds, and fonts for your resource pack.

Inside the assets folder, create a minecraft subfolder, and inside it create the subfolders:

• font: If you want a custom font in your pack, otherwise ignore this.
• textures: If you want to edit the visual appearance / texture of any block, entity, item, or anything else in the game.
• sounds: If you want to edit or add any sounds in the game. If you include this, make sure to also add a sounds.json file.

Structuring Pack Meta Files

The pack.mcmeta file is a JSON file that provides information about your resource pack. Inside it, paste the following text:

{  "pack": {    "pack_format": 42,    "description": "Your resource pack description goes here"  }}

Pack format 42 is valid for Minecraft version 1.21.3. To check the most recent version, you can see the Minecraft wiki page on pack formats.

In the description field, add the description you want to be visible in the Resource Pack Selection screen. Note that this is displayed over two lines, and cut off if it is too long.

The pack.png file is an optional PNG image that will be displayed as the icon for your resource pack in the selection screen. This should ideally be a small square image. If you don’t include this image, the icon for your resource pack will be greyed out.

Adding Textures

To add custom textures to your resource pack, navigate to assets/minecraft/textures. In here, you can create subfolders for the different texture categories, such as block, entity, item, and painting.

Place your custom texture files (which should be PNG images) inside the respective subfolders. For example, if you have a custom texture for spruce planks, place it inside the block folder and name it spruce_planks.png.

The example pack I provided has some examples:

• /textures/block/black_wool.png: retextures black wool to be pure black
• /textures/block/white_wool.png: retextures white wool to be pure white
• /textures/entity/zombie/zombie.png: retextures the Zombie to look ghostlike

Adding Fonts

To add custom fonts to your resource pack, create a font folder inside the assets/minecraft folder. Place your custom font file (in TTF or OTF format) inside the font subfolder. Suppose you want

Then, create a file named (for example) courier.json. Inside it, specify your font, in the format

{    "providers": [        {            "type": "ttf",            "file": "minecraft:courier.ttf"        }    ]}

Replace courier.ttf with your filename.

When you want to display text in this new font, you can use

@bypass /tellraw @s {"text": "This is a custom font!", "font": "courier"}

to control the display.

Adding Sounds

To add custom sounds to your resource pack, create a sounds folder inside the assets/minecraft folder to store all your .ogg files. You can organise sounds however you want in here, including in subfolders. In my example pack, the sounds directory is structured as:

assets/minecraft├── sounds.json└── sounds    └── custom        ├── metronome.ogg        ├── white_noise.ogg        └── tones            ├── dial.ogg            └── square.ogg

Then, in assets/minecraft/sounds.json, add the following text (for example):

{    "block.lever.click": {        "sounds": [            {                "name": "custom\/metronome",                "volume": 1.00            }        ],        "replace": true    },    "custom.tone": {        "sounds": [            {                "name": "custom\/tones\/dial",                "volume": 1.00            },            {                "name": "custom\/tones\/square",                "volume": 1.00            }        ],        "replace": true    }}

Edit this accordingly to match all of your files. This follows a simple pattern: For each sound, we have:

• "sound.resource.location": (this is the name of the sound path you use in a /playsound command)
• "sounds": (followed by a list of sound files)
• "name": "path\/to\/sound_file" (using backslashes before each slash)
• "replace": true (so the game uses these sound files)

Note that the in-game sound events, like block.lever.click, will trigger as usual with your new sound files (here, when you toggle a lever). However, you can also use new paths like custom.tone, which will only trigger when you use /playsound.

Setting up a GitHub Repository

We’ll be using GitHub to host our pack: if you don’t have an account, sign up here. Click here to create a new GitHub repository.

• Add your repository name in the Repository name field: this should be the name of your resource pack. For server resource packs, the name isn’t super important: I would recommend simply entering your map’s name.
• Make sure “Public” is selected, and click “Create repository”.
• Click on the blue “uploading an existing file” link.
• Navigate to a Finder (Mac) / File Explorer (Windows) window and open your resource pack folder. You should be able to see assets, pack.mcmeta, and pack.png, Drag and drop it into the main part of the GitHub browser window.
• Wait for everything to finish uploading, then scroll down and click the big green button which says “Commit changes”.

Your files are now stored online!

Setting up a Server Resource Pack

Now, it’s time to set up your command. Enter the details of your map and repository here:

GitHub username:

Repository name:

Map code: