Difference between revisions of "Skycow.US Minecraft"

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[[File:Mcscreenshot.png|thumb|right|"Flockwood" in Skycow.US Minecraft 1.11]]
 
[[File:Mcscreenshot.png|thumb|right|"Flockwood" in Skycow.US Minecraft 1.11]]
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Skycow.US Minecraft is a special version of Minecraft that uses different user accounts. This was originally set up to keep random trolls off of the /f/lockdraw MC server. It also lets folks who don't want to buy the whole game play on Skycow.US specific servers for free.
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[[File:Newlauncher.jpg|thumb|right|The Skycow.US Minecraft launcher]]
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Skycow.US Minecraft is a custom version of Minecraft that uses different user accounts. This was originally set up to keep random trolls off of the /f/lockdraw MC server. It also lets folks who don't want to buy the whole game play on Skycow.US specific servers for free.
  
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=Getting a Skycow.US Minecraft account=
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=Getting a Skycow.US Minecraft Account=
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To use Skycow.US Minecraft, you'll need an account. This is completely separate from your regular Minecraft username and password (if you have one) and has to be created through an invite. Right now, there's no way to get an invite besides asking Admin on /f/lockdraw or by email at admin at skycow dot us.
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To use Skycow.US Minecraft, you'll need an account. This is completely separate from the username and password you use if you own regular Minecraft, and has to be created through an invite. Right now, there's no way to get an invite besides asking Admin on /f/lockdraw or by email at admin at skycow dot us.
  
 
Once you have the invite link you can choose a username and password for Skycow.US Minecraft. For clarity it's probably best to use the same name you go by on /f/lockdraw, but it's up to you. Invite links can only be used once and you'll have to ask Admin if you need to change your username or password later.
 
Once you have the invite link you can choose a username and password for Skycow.US Minecraft. For clarity it's probably best to use the same name you go by on /f/lockdraw, but it's up to you. Invite links can only be used once and you'll have to ask Admin if you need to change your username or password later.
  
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Note that since the "mc.skycow.us" server uses a self-signed SSL certificate, you might have to click through a security warning in your browser when you visit an invite link or download the server. This just means Admin is too cheap to pay for a SSL certificate just to let /f/lockdraw users play Minecraft for free :)
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=Setting up the Launcher=
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[[File:Launcher-setup.png|thumb|right|The launcher setup screen]]
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After you've got your account set up, you can [https://mc.skycow.us/download download the laucher] to run Skycow.US Minecraft on your computer. Like regular Minecraft it requires Java to run, so make sure you have a recent version. The latest versions of Minecraft (1.21 and later) require Java 21 or later (1.18-1.20 require Java 17+). You can download Java 21 from Skycow.US [https://mc.skycow.us/download/jdk-21_windows-x64_bin.exe at this link] or from [https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/ Oracle's website].
  
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=Setting up the launcher=
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You can save the launcher ".zip" file anywhere. Open it and drag the "SkycowMC" folder somewhere you can get to it easily. Then run SkycowMC.exe to open the launcher. When you first start the launcher it shows a list of Java installations detected on your computer. If you don't see anything in the list, you may need to download Java (see above). Choose a Java version (preferably Java 17 or later) from the list. You can also set the minimum and maximum memory (RAM) that Minecraft is allowed to use. It's a good idea to increase this from the default 512MB-1GB to perhaps 2GB-4GB or even more if your computer has a lot of RAM (see the screenshot at right). Once this is done, click the Finish button.
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[[File:Mclauncher.png|thumb|right|The Skycow.US Minecraft launcher]]
 
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After you've got your account set up, you can download the launcher to run Skycow.US Minecraft on your computer. Versions for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux can be [https://mc.skycow.us/download downloaded here]. Like regular Minecraft it requires Java to run, so make sure you have a recent version from [https://www.java.com/en/download Sun's download page].
 
  
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You can save the launcher ".exe" or ".jar" file anywhere. Double-click it to run it, then use the username and password you chose on the invite page to log in. If you just want to play vanilla (un-modded) Minecraft that's all you need to do. Click the big "Play" button at the bottom of the window to launch the game. The first time you play it will have to download all the game files, so it might take a few minutes depending on your Internet connection.
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Now you'll see the launcher main window, which is empty right now because you haven't set up any versions of Minecraft to use. First, click Profiles in the upper right and then Manage Accounts. Click Add Skycow.US to log in. As mentioned above, this is different from your the regular Minecraft username and password you might have if you own the normal game. Once your account is added, click Close and you should see your account listed in the upper-right corner. Then, you can click Add Instance to add a version of Minecraft to play. You can add as many versions (or copies of the same version) as you want, and they will keep separate settings, world save files, and mods.
  
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=Playing Modded Minecraft=
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If you just want to play vanilla (un-modded) Minecraft that's all you need to do. Double-click on a Minecraft version you've added to the main window to launch the game. The first time you play a given version it will have to download all the game files (around 500MB-1GB) which might take a few minutes depending on your Internet connection.
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After getting a bit bored with normal "vanilla" Minecraft, you might want to play on servers with mods that add items and capabilities to the game. Skycow.US Minecraft currently hosts a modded server based on the FTB Beyond modpack, but connecting to it requires installing some files manually. Follow the steps below to get your launcher set up!
 
  
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==Download a .zip file of mods==
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=Multiplayer Servers=
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You'll need to add some files to your game directory to play on the modded server. The mods for the Skycow.US FTB server are available to [https://mc.skycow.us/skycow-mods-1.5.3.zip download here]. Make sure you save the .zip file somewhere you can find it for the next steps.
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Like regular Minecraft, Skycow.US Minecraft supports online multiplayer. Note however that you won't be able to play on normal Minecraft servers with your Skycow.US Minecraft account. For that you would need to buy the regular version of Minecraft and use Microsoft's launcher. Regular Minecraft users also can't play on Skycow.US Minecraft servers (which is largely the point of this modded launcher) so Skycow.US hosts some multiplayer servers. Below is a list of server addresses you can add in the "Multiplayer" option on Skycow.US Minecraft to play with other /f/lockdraw users:
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==Create a new profile in the launcher==
 
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[[File:Mc-profile-details.PNG|thumb|right|Your profile should look like this]]
 
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You could just install the mods into your default Minecraft folder, but then you wouldn't be able to play vanilla Minecraft reliably anymore. I recommend you make a new profile instead. To do this:
 
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#Click the "New Profile" button in the lower left corner of the launcher
 
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#Name the profile something descriptive like "FTB Beyond"
 
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#Click the "Open Game Dir" button in the lower right corner
 
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#This will open up a file explorer window. Make a new folder here (on Windows, right click on the empty space and click New->Folder) and name it something that makes sense like "ftbbeyond"
 
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#Now, open up this new folder and unzip the .zip file you downloaded earlier into it
 
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#*Usually you can open up the .zip in another window and drag all the files into the empty folder you created
 
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#Once you're done creating the new folder and unzipping the files you can close the file explorer window
 
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#Check the box next to "Game Directory" and add the name of the folder you created at the end of what's in the text box
 
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#*If it said "C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\.scminecraft" before, for example, you might change it to<br />"C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\.scminecraft\ftbbeyond"
 
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#Pull down the "Use Version" menu and choose the appropriate version for use with your mods. For the Skycow.US FTB server, use "release 1.10.2-forge"
 
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#Check the box next to "JVM Arguments" and change the bit that says "-Xmx1G" to use more memory. The FTB modpack does not work very well with less than 3GB of RAM
 
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#*For example, if you have 8GB of RAM in your computer, you might change "-Xmx1G" to "-Xmx8G"
 
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#Now you're all done! Your profile setup should look like the picture to the right. Click "Save Profile" and pull down the "Profile" menu in the lower left to choose it.
 
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==Launching modded Minecraft==
 
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Select your modded profile and click the "Play" button. The first time you launch modded Minecraft you may have to wait a few minutes for some files to download from the server. Be patient, there are a lot of mods and they can take a while to load.
 
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==Re-downloading the .zip file==
 
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The .zip file you downloaded in the instructions above might be updated now and then to add or upgrade mods, so if you're having trouble logging in due to rejected mod versions, try re-downloading it. You can click the "Edit Profile" button with your modded profile selected then click the "Open Game Dir" button to show the folder where you should unzip the .zip file again. To be extra safe, I suggest deleting the "mods" and "config" folders in this directory before unzipping, and make sure you replace everything that's already there with the same name. That way you won't end up with multiple different versions of the same mod trying to load at once, which would be bad times for everyone involved.
 
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=Multiplayer server addresses=
 
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Here's a list of server addresses you can add in the "Multiplayer" option to play with other /f/lockdraw users:
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|-
 
|-
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| <span style="color:gray">Just the authentication server, no maps hosted here anymore!</span>
 
| <span style="color:gray">Just the authentication server, no maps hosted here anymore!</span>
 
|-
 
|-
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! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc1.skycow.us</span>
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! scope="row"| <span>mc1.skycow.us</span>
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| <span>1.16.3</span>
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| 1.21
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| <span>Version 1.16.3 survival server</span>
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| <span>Survival Server</span>
 
|-
 
|-
 
! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc2.skycow.us</span>
 
! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc2.skycow.us</span>
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| <span>1.16.3</span>
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|  
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| <span>"Flockwood" creative server</span>
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| <span style="color:gray">Currently offline</span>
 
|-
 
|-
 
! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc3.skycow.us</span>
 
! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc3.skycow.us</span>
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|-
 
|-
 
! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc4.skycow.us</span>
 
! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc4.skycow.us</span>
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|
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| <span style="color:gray">Currently offline</span>
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|-
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! scope="row"| <span style="color:gray">mc5.skycow.us</span>
 
|  
 
|  
 
| <span style="color:gray">Currently offline</span>
 
| <span style="color:gray">Currently offline</span>
 
|}
 
|}
  
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=OptiFine=
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=Playing Modded Minecraft=
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Some Skycow.US Minecraft versions (including 1.12) support OptiFine, which increases performance and lets you use some neat shader packs for ULTRA graphics. To use it, click Edit Profile in the launcher and set your version to 1.12-OptiFine.
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After getting a bit bored with normal "vanilla" Minecraft, you might want to play on servers with mods that add items and capabilities to the game. Below is a list of modpacks you can use to play on Skycow.US servers. To add them to the launcher, click on "Add Instance" on the main screen then choose "Import from zip" on the left side, paste the appropriate link to the modpack in and click "Add". This will ensure you're using the exact same list of mods that each server uses.
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'''Note that many modpacks require you to use the older Java 8 to run correctly because Forge does not yet support Java 17+.''' You will need to right-click the instance for the modpack, click "Edit Instance", go to "Settings" on the left side and check "Java Installation" then click "Auto-detect..." and choose a Java 8 version for such packs to load correctly. While you're there, you can also check "Memory" and give the modpack a bit more RAM if your computer has any to spare. Modpacks can require 4+ GB of RAM.
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{| class="wikitable"
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|-
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! scope="col"| Modpack
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! scope="col"| Java Version
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! scope="col"| Link for "Import from zip" menu
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|-
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! scope="row"| <span>FTB OceanBlock</span>
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| <span>Java 1.8</span>
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| <span>https://mc.skycow.us/modpacks/sc-oceanblock.zip</span>
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|}
  
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Below are some shader and texture packs you might want to use. Shader .zip files go in the folder that opens when you click Options-Video Settings-Shaders-Shaders folder. Texture pack .zip files go in the folder that opens when you click Options-Resource Packs-Open Resource Pack Folder. You don't have to unzip them, just put the file in the right place.
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=Changing Your Player Skin=
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*Shader Packs:
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[[File:Skin-upload.png|thumb|right|The skin upload window in the launcher]]
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**[http://mc.skycow.us/kuda-shaders-v6556.zip Kuda Shaders]
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In newer versions of the Skycow.US Minecraft launcher you can change your own player skin, which determines what your character looks like to other players on multiplayer servers or if you look at yourself in third-person using F5 in game.
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**[http://mc.skycow.us/SEUS-v11.0.zip SEUS Shaders]
 
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*Texture Packs:
 
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**[http://mc.skycow.us/abamen.zip Default Improved Textures] (with bump-mapping!)
 
  
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You could also use other texture and shader packs that are compatible with the Minecraft version you're on. Just be careful not to get any Russian malware while trying to download them!
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Many Minecraft skins can be found on [https://www.minecraftskins.com/ MinecraftSkins.com] or other sites, and there are also tools available online to design and preview your own custom skin. Much more information can be found [https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Skin on the Minecraft wiki].
  
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=Skins?=
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Once you have the .png image of a skin you wish to use on Skycow.US Minecraft, go to the Accounts page in Settings and click on the username for which you want to change the skin. Then click Upload Skin on the right side. Choose the .png file of the skin you want by clicking the three dots button next to the blank box, then choose whether the skin should use the "Steve" or "Alex" model (Alex has thinner arms) and click OK. If you want to remove your custom skin and be the default "Steve" character again, click Delete Skin on the right side.
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There's currently no way to change your own player skin from the default "Steve" texture, but Admin can change it for you if you send a link to the one you want. Again, it's admin at skycow dot us.
 

Latest revision as of 17:59, 18 June 2024

"Flockwood" in Skycow.US Minecraft 1.11
The Skycow.US Minecraft launcher

Skycow.US Minecraft is a custom version of Minecraft that uses different user accounts. This was originally set up to keep random trolls off of the /f/lockdraw MC server. It also lets folks who don't want to buy the whole game play on Skycow.US specific servers for free.

Getting a Skycow.US Minecraft Account

To use Skycow.US Minecraft, you'll need an account. This is completely separate from the username and password you use if you own regular Minecraft, and has to be created through an invite. Right now, there's no way to get an invite besides asking Admin on /f/lockdraw or by email at admin at skycow dot us.

Once you have the invite link you can choose a username and password for Skycow.US Minecraft. For clarity it's probably best to use the same name you go by on /f/lockdraw, but it's up to you. Invite links can only be used once and you'll have to ask Admin if you need to change your username or password later.

Setting up the Launcher

The launcher setup screen

After you've got your account set up, you can download the laucher to run Skycow.US Minecraft on your computer. Like regular Minecraft it requires Java to run, so make sure you have a recent version. The latest versions of Minecraft (1.21 and later) require Java 21 or later (1.18-1.20 require Java 17+). You can download Java 21 from Skycow.US at this link or from Oracle's website.

You can save the launcher ".zip" file anywhere. Open it and drag the "SkycowMC" folder somewhere you can get to it easily. Then run SkycowMC.exe to open the launcher. When you first start the launcher it shows a list of Java installations detected on your computer. If you don't see anything in the list, you may need to download Java (see above). Choose a Java version (preferably Java 17 or later) from the list. You can also set the minimum and maximum memory (RAM) that Minecraft is allowed to use. It's a good idea to increase this from the default 512MB-1GB to perhaps 2GB-4GB or even more if your computer has a lot of RAM (see the screenshot at right). Once this is done, click the Finish button.

Now you'll see the launcher main window, which is empty right now because you haven't set up any versions of Minecraft to use. First, click Profiles in the upper right and then Manage Accounts. Click Add Skycow.US to log in. As mentioned above, this is different from your the regular Minecraft username and password you might have if you own the normal game. Once your account is added, click Close and you should see your account listed in the upper-right corner. Then, you can click Add Instance to add a version of Minecraft to play. You can add as many versions (or copies of the same version) as you want, and they will keep separate settings, world save files, and mods.

If you just want to play vanilla (un-modded) Minecraft that's all you need to do. Double-click on a Minecraft version you've added to the main window to launch the game. The first time you play a given version it will have to download all the game files (around 500MB-1GB) which might take a few minutes depending on your Internet connection.

Multiplayer Servers

Like regular Minecraft, Skycow.US Minecraft supports online multiplayer. Note however that you won't be able to play on normal Minecraft servers with your Skycow.US Minecraft account. For that you would need to buy the regular version of Minecraft and use Microsoft's launcher. Regular Minecraft users also can't play on Skycow.US Minecraft servers (which is largely the point of this modded launcher) so Skycow.US hosts some multiplayer servers. Below is a list of server addresses you can add in the "Multiplayer" option on Skycow.US Minecraft to play with other /f/lockdraw users:

Address MC Version Description
mc.skycow.us Just the authentication server, no maps hosted here anymore!
mc1.skycow.us 1.21 Survival Server
mc2.skycow.us Currently offline
mc3.skycow.us Currently offline
mc4.skycow.us Currently offline
mc5.skycow.us Currently offline

Playing Modded Minecraft

After getting a bit bored with normal "vanilla" Minecraft, you might want to play on servers with mods that add items and capabilities to the game. Below is a list of modpacks you can use to play on Skycow.US servers. To add them to the launcher, click on "Add Instance" on the main screen then choose "Import from zip" on the left side, paste the appropriate link to the modpack in and click "Add". This will ensure you're using the exact same list of mods that each server uses.

Note that many modpacks require you to use the older Java 8 to run correctly because Forge does not yet support Java 17+. You will need to right-click the instance for the modpack, click "Edit Instance", go to "Settings" on the left side and check "Java Installation" then click "Auto-detect..." and choose a Java 8 version for such packs to load correctly. While you're there, you can also check "Memory" and give the modpack a bit more RAM if your computer has any to spare. Modpacks can require 4+ GB of RAM.

Modpack Java Version Link for "Import from zip" menu
FTB OceanBlock Java 1.8 https://mc.skycow.us/modpacks/sc-oceanblock.zip

Changing Your Player Skin

The skin upload window in the launcher

In newer versions of the Skycow.US Minecraft launcher you can change your own player skin, which determines what your character looks like to other players on multiplayer servers or if you look at yourself in third-person using F5 in game.

Many Minecraft skins can be found on MinecraftSkins.com or other sites, and there are also tools available online to design and preview your own custom skin. Much more information can be found on the Minecraft wiki.

Once you have the .png image of a skin you wish to use on Skycow.US Minecraft, go to the Accounts page in Settings and click on the username for which you want to change the skin. Then click Upload Skin on the right side. Choose the .png file of the skin you want by clicking the three dots button next to the blank box, then choose whether the skin should use the "Steve" or "Alex" model (Alex has thinner arms) and click OK. If you want to remove your custom skin and be the default "Steve" character again, click Delete Skin on the right side.

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