Connect to your server

Use the play address at the top of every server page. If a launcher cannot find the server with it, use the direct host and port in Settings, then Network.

Where to find the address

The play address is at the top of every page of your server. In Settings, then Network, the Connect card shows two values:

• Java Edition: the play address, with a Copy button. Share this one.
• Direct connect, under Not connecting yet?: the machine and port your server runs on today. Use it to get in when the play address does not work. Do not share it: it changes when we move your server.

Join from Minecraft Java Edition

1. Start Minecraft Java Edition with the same Minecraft version as the server.
2. Choose Multiplayer.
3. Choose Add Server, or Direct Connection for a one-time join.
4. Paste the Java Edition address from loothost.
5. If that fails, paste the direct host:port address instead.

Join from Minecraft Bedrock (crossplay)

If the server owner turns on crossplay (a one-click toggle in Settings, then Network, on Paper, Purpur, Fabric and NeoForge (Java 26.3)), players on Minecraft Bedrock can join the same Java world. It covers phones and Windows 10/11. Consoles are not supported, because the platform makers restrict adding custom servers; there is a section on them below.

1. Ask the server owner for the Bedrock address: the host and port shown in the server's Settings, then Network, once crossplay is on.
2. Open Minecraft Bedrock, choose Play, then Servers, then Add Server.
3. Enter the Server Address and the Port from Settings, then Network, in their own fields. Bedrock needs the port typed in; it can't look it up the way Java does.
4. Save and join. A Bedrock player's name shows with a dot in front, for example .Steve.

Bedrock players need Minecraft Bedrock 26.40 or newer. An older app cannot join: update it first.

Saved this server in Bedrock before? Once your Bedrock app updates to 26.60, it joins on a new port, and an entry saved with the old one stops working. Ask the server owner for the port shown now in Settings, then Network, and add the server again.

We add crossplay by installing Geyser and Floodgate. It is available on Paper, Purpur, Fabric and NeoForge (Java 26.3). Heavily modded servers aren't covered: a Bedrock client can't load Java mods.

Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch

Consoles block adding a custom server, so there is no supported way in. That is the platform makers' restriction, and it is not something loothost or the crossplay plugins can change. The answer that always works is to join from the Bedrock app on a phone or a Windows 10/11 PC with the same Microsoft account. Your friends still see you in-game.

Two community workarounds exist. Both are unofficial, neither is supported by us, and both stop working whenever a platform update decides they should.

BedrockConnect replaces the Featured Servers row with a list you can type an address into.

1. In the console's network settings, switch DNS from automatic to manual.
2. Enter a BedrockConnect DNS address. Take the current one from the project's own page rather than from a video, because they change.
3. Restart the console, open Minecraft, and pick any server in the Featured Servers row.
4. You get a server list instead of that server. Choose Connect to a Server and enter the host and port from Settings, then Network.

Know what a manual DNS means before you set one: whoever runs that DNS can see the addresses the console looks up. Use one you are willing to trust, and set it back to automatic when you are done. The BedrockConnect project

A phone relay is the other option: an app on a phone on the same network advertises your server as though it were a LAN game, and the console joins it from the Friends tab. Nothing on the console changes, but the phone has to stay on that network with the app running.

Joining a modpack or modded server

A modpack server runs a specific set of mods, so your game needs the same pack to get in. Ours include Cobblemon, COBBLEVERSE, and Aged. If you try to join with the normal "vanilla" launcher you will see a message like "This server requires Fabric Loader and Fabric API installed on your client" and get sent back to the server list. That is not a bug: it just means your game does not have the modpack yet. Here is how to fix it.

Which app you need depends on where your server's pack comes from: Modrinth or CurseForge. Each pack's page on loothost names the app for that pack.

Pick the launcher that matches your server

Our modpacks

Open your pack's page, then install it with the Modrinth App. Pick the pack version that matches your loothost server. A CurseForge pack installs with the CurseForge app instead (see above).

• Cobblemon and COBBLEVERSE (Pokemon adventures)
• Aged and Slimes Adventure
• Vanilla Perfected and Re-Console

Want to add or swap mods on the server itself? See Mods and plugins.

If the server uses a whitelist

Add the Minecraft username from the Players tab before the player tries to join. Whitelist, op, deop, kick, ban, and pardon only work while your server is running.

A Bedrock player is different. The normal whitelist command looks their name up with Mojang and will not find it, so use Floodgate's own command from the console instead: fwhitelist add Gamertag. Type the gamertag on its own, with no dot in front, even though the dot appears once they are in game.

Common connection messages