Setting up a Prominence II: Hasturian Era server with friends

Prominence II: Hasturian Era is an RPG modpack with a skill tree, class-like builds and a fully worked-out quest line, and it sits at 11.7+ million downloads (May 2026). That makes it the most polished RPG pack around right now. A server for it needs the right mod loader, plenty of RAM and fast storage, and every player has to run exactly the same pack version. The difference with DawnCraft is not the number of mods but the structure: Prominence II pushes you along a progression path, while DawnCraft drops you into an open world with souls-like combat.

What makes Prominence II different from DawnCraft?

The two packs get weighed against each other constantly. DawnCraft - Echoes of Legends (10.2+ million downloads) is an action RPG: it is about combat skill, bosses and the moment an attack pattern finally clicks. Prominence II is more of a progression game: a quest line telling you what makes sense next, a skill tree you invest points in, and builds that end up feeling like a class as a result.

You notice that difference most in a group. With a structured quest pack, everyone has a next goal at any given moment, including the player who missed three evenings. With a pack that leans on combat, the group drifts apart faster: the better fighters pull ahead and the rest get stuck. Neither is better, but when playing times vary the structured option is the calmer project.

Vault Hunters 3rd Edition is a third flavour: the core loop is running dungeons in Vaults, which is popular on competitive servers. If you want to work through one story together rather than compare each other's runs, look elsewhere.

How much RAM and what hardware do you need?

We deliberately avoid quoting a hard RAM figure for Prominence II, because it shifts with every pack version. The packs we do know precisely give you something to hold on to. All the Mods 10 with 400-500+ mods needs 10 GB minimum, 12 GB for a small group and 14-16 GB once you play with five or more people or automate heavily. Cobblemon packs, by contrast, often run fine on 4-8 GB. An RPG pack with a quest system and a skill tree sits somewhere in between: start in the middle and measure what actually happens.

Three things matter more than the exact amount of RAM. Storage: on a pack this size, an SSD is the difference between 10+ minutes of startup time on a hard disk and 2-3 minutes. The Java version: modern packs on the 1.21 line run on Java 21, and with All the Mods 10 Java 17 demonstrably does not work. So check which Minecraft version your pack version calls for. And the processor: modded Minecraft leans heavily on single-thread performance, so one fast core counts for more than many cores.

At Minecraft hosting from MC-Node the budget line runs on AMD EPYC 7443P and the premium line on AMD Ryzen 9 9950X. The budget line costs EUR 1.10 per GB of RAM per month and gets cheaper on larger plans: 8 GB comes to EUR 8.80, 15 GB to EUR 15.00. NVMe SSD storage, automatic backups and DDoS protection are included with every plan as standard.

How do you set up a Prominence II server?

1. Pick one pack version and write down the exact version number. Mods have to match between server and client, or half your group will hit an error when they try to join.
2. In the Pterodactyl panel, set the mod loader and the Minecraft version that belong to that pack version, and use the server pack download rather than the client version.
3. Set the Java version that matches the Minecraft version. For packs on the 1.21 line that is Java 21.
4. Assign the RAM and leave some headroom for the system itself; filling it to the brim produces crashes sooner than speed.
5. Accept the EULA and set a lower view-distance and simulation-distance in server.properties than the defaults. On heavy packs that is the cheapest win available.
6. Start the server and be patient: the first boot generates configs and registers all the content. Wait until you see "Done" in the console.
7. Share the IP and the exact version number, switch off automatic updates in the launcher and take a backup before the first player comes in.

If the server starts to feel heavier after a few weeks, the recipes in our article on optimising your Minecraft server apply here too. If your pack version runs on NeoForge, then FerriteCore (30-40% lower RAM use), Canary and ModernFix are the first mods to add, one at a time so you know what caused a crash.

Do you need separate worlds for an RPG pack?

No. All the extra dimensions a pack like this adds live in the same world folder as your overworld. So you need no second server, no second world slot and no world management plugin; a single server instance runs the lot, and you pay nothing extra for those dimensions.

What you do need to know: Bukkit plugins do not run on a modded server. EssentialsX, LuckPerms, WorldGuard and GriefPrevention belong to Paper or Purpur and work on otherwise vanilla mechanics; a Forge or NeoForge server will not load them. If you want claims, homes or permissions inside a modpack, find a mod that does the same job and install it on the server and the client. The distinction between modpacks and individual mods, and how you install them, is worth understanding here, because this is the mistake we see most often.

Plan your world properly as well, because a reset later hurts. In most quest systems the progress lives in the world folder: throw the world away and everyone's quest book usually goes with it. If someone wants to experiment freely, let them do it locally in singleplayer on the same pack version.

How does quest progress work in multiplayer?

This is where groups get stuck most often. In packs like this, quest progress is usually tracked per team, not per server. Form one team with everybody in it at the start and a completed quest counts for the whole group, so five people are not all collecting the same ten wolf tails. If everyone makes their own team, everyone walks the line separately. Choose deliberately and do it on night one, because switching afterwards is messy.

The skill tree works the other way round: points and specialisations are per player, and that is where the class feeling comes from. Agree in advance who goes which way, so the group covers melee, magic and support instead of four copies of the same build. Anyone joining later starts on zero talents while the rest are already well along. That is fine as long as you expect it: bring a newcomer along on fights the group can already handle, rather than leaving them to grind alone at the back.

What is the best way to start with a group?

Start with three to five people who begin together on the same evening; in a quest pack the first few hours set the tone for who takes which role. Then write down some ground rules: the pack version is fixed until you all decide to update, the main base stays central rather than in four corners of the map, and there is always a backup first. Pack updates in the middle of a run are the most common cause of broken quest progress.

When are you better off choosing something else?

If your group mainly wants to build and automate, a kitchen sink pack like All the Mods 10 is a better use of your RAM. If you are after the hard, punishing feel instead, you are closer to DawnCraft or RLCraft. If there are younger players in the group, Cobblemon (25.5+ million downloads, free and open source) is a pack that often runs on 4-8 GB and therefore works out cheaper.

One hard limitation: Bedrock players cannot join in. The usual solution, Geyser with Floodgate, is a plugin for Paper-style servers and does not work on a modded server. If part of your group is on phones or consoles, look at a Bedrock Edition server or a setup without mods. That is fairer than discovering afterwards that half your friends are locked out.

Frequently asked questions

How much RAM does a Prominence II server need? There is no single figure that holds true across every pack version, so use reference points: All the Mods 10 with 400-500+ mods needs 10 GB minimum, 12 GB for a small group and 14-16 GB with five or more players, while Cobblemon packs often run on 4-8 GB. An RPG pack sits in between: start in the middle and scale up. On the MC-Node budget line, 8 GB costs EUR 8.80 per month.

Can I use plugins such as EssentialsX and LuckPerms on a Prominence II server? No. Plugins run on Bukkit, Spigot, Paper or Purpur, and that server software works on otherwise vanilla mechanics. A modpack needs a mod loader such as Forge or NeoForge, and those do not load Bukkit plugins. For claims or homes, look for a mod that does the same thing.

Does every player need exactly the same pack version? Yes. Mods add real blocks, items, mobs and dimensions, so they have to be the same version on the server and on every client. Switch off automatic updates in the launcher and agree that the group updates together, with a backup beforehand.

Is Prominence II better than DawnCraft? They are different, not better or worse. Prominence II (11.7+ million downloads) leans on structured progression with a skill tree and quests; DawnCraft - Echoes of Legends (10.2+ million downloads) is an action RPG with souls-like combat. For a group with varying playing times, the structured option usually runs more smoothly.

Can Bedrock players join a Prominence II server? Not in the usual way. Geyser with Floodgate lets Bedrock players onto a Java server, but it is a plugin and does not run on a modded server. For a mixed group, a separate Bedrock server or a plugin server without mods is the realistic route.

Further reading

• Hosting a Vault Hunters 3rd Edition Server: RAM and Setup
• Cobblemon Server Setup: Pokemon in Minecraft on 4-8 GB
• How to Build Your Own Modpack and Run It on Your Server