RLCraft does not need much RAM, but it can still be hard to host well because of how many entities and structures it generates. Picking the wrong plan means constant lag, tick warnings, and crashes even with "enough" memory on paper.
What actually matters for RLCraft hosting
- RAM for entity and chunk data (Lycanites Mobs spawns far more than vanilla)
- CPU clock speed, since RLCraft is single-thread heavy like most Forge 1.12.2 modpacks
- NVMe storage, because RLCraft's custom biome generation and Battle Towers write a lot of chunk data during pre-generation
A host with slow shared CPUs will struggle with RLCraft even at 8 to 10GB RAM, while a host with modern high-clock cores can run it smoothly on less.
Recommended plans by group size
RLCraft's author asks players to give the game 3 to 4GB of RAM. A server needs that plus memory for Java itself, which gives these sizes:
| Group size | Plan | RAM | Standard price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A few friends | MC Gold | 5GB | €4.50 a month | The smallest we would use: a 4GB heap with about 1GB left for Java |
| A regular group | MC Lapis | 6GB | €5.40 a month | Our suggestion, with 2GB left for Java next to the 4GB heap |
| Bigger group or public server | MC Diamond | 8GB | €7.20 a month | Pre-generate the world first if more than 10 players will play |
| Busy public server | MC Special 1 | 12GB | €10.80 a month | More room for the heap when many players spread out at once |
The prices are for our Standard plans in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Our RLCraft server hosting page has Premium and every other region, the Forge and Java versions the pack needs, and the server.properties lines it asks for.
Setup checklist before you buy
- Confirm the host supports Forge on Minecraft 1.12.2 with Java 8, not just modern versions
- Ask if the panel allows custom JVM arguments (RLCraft benefits from tuned garbage collection flags)
- Check that you can add a pre-generation mod such as Chunk Pregenerator, which RLCraft's own server notes use, because its world generation is expensive on first load
- Look for a host with DDoS protection if the server will be public, RLCraft communities attract dedicated long-term players who don't want downtime
Common mistake: overbuying RAM
A lot of players assume RLCraft needs 16GB+ because other modern modpacks do. In reality, RLCraft runs on an older, lighter Minecraft version, so the RAM ceiling is lower than ATM10 or similar 1.20+ packs. The bottleneck is usually CPU and entity load, not memory. Spending on a higher CPU tier plan gives more real-world performance than doubling RAM alone.
For the full technical setup, including difficulty configs and performance tuning, read the RLCraft server setup guide.