Forestry

Forestry is a mod about bees, trees, and farming. It looks peaceful, yet it can keep players busy for hundreds of hours: crossbreeding bees to obtain rare species, breeding trees, building large farms, and turning harvests into fuel.

The classic feature is beekeeping. The player catches bees in hives, studies their traits, and crossbreeds them with one another — similar to how plants are bred in other games. Gradually, they reach species that produce honey, but also ones that produce resources (such as metal droplets).

To this it adds the multifarm: a single structure that can be configured to grow and harvest anything. On technical servers it is used as an automatic farm, because it can hold everything from wood to crops.

On a modded server, Forestry is popular because it gives players a long-term goal that can be pursued in small steps. Once someone starts with bees, they usually stay with them.

Forestry belongs on both sides (on the server and with the players), and its classic line remained on older versions of the game. For newer versions, community continuations exist, but they cannot be mixed with the classic line — choose one path and stick with it.

1. Forestry belongs on the server and with players — the same version on both sides.
2. Find out the server loader (for the classic Forge line) and download Forestry from modrinth.com/mod/forestry for your game version.
3. Stop the server and back up the world — the mod adds trees and hives that generate into new areas.
4. Upload the .jar to the server's mods folder; players do the same on their side.
5. Start the server and check the console that the mod loaded without errors.
6. Join and find bee hives and new tree species in new areas — they won't be added to an already explored world.
7. Try beekeeping: catch a bee, put it in a hive, and wait for the first generation.
8. Try crossbreeding two species and verify that the result appears in the new generation.
9. Build a multifarm and set it to one crop — verify that it harvests and stores into a chest.
10. Tell players what the mod can do; starting with bees is the best part, but players often overlook it.
11. Watch the load when players build large apiaries — each bee is an extra entity.
12. When moving to a newer game version, decide between the classic line and the community continuation and stick with one.

Bees and butterflies are extra entities. If players spawn thousands of them, the server will notice — for large apiaries, set limits or agree on rules with the players.
They belong on both sides in the same version. Without the mod on the player's side, hives and trees appear as nonsensical blocks.
The mod adds new trees and hives to new areas. They won't be added to an already explored world — if players can't find a hive, look for the cause in this.
The classic series and the community continuation can't be mixed. Choose one and tell the players which one to use.
Beekeeping is the best part of the mod, and players often overlook it. Tell them about it — it's a reason to stay with the server.
If the world doesn't load after adding the mod, revert to the backup — with a mod that adds world generation, a backup before installation is mandatory.