Minecraft: Here’s How To Create Separate Mod Profiles

Minecraft is a game with endless possibilities. What I mean by this is that you can experience the game from many different angles, and every time, it’ll feel like playing an entirely different game every time. This is all thanks to the large Minecraft modding community that has existed since Minecraft came out. So what would happen if you wanted to play one type of Minecraft one day and another the next? How can one create separate mod profiles in Minecraft?

Explaining mod profiles

People like to run numerous instances of Minecraft and have multiple interests, plans, and creations they want to work on. Sometimes it’s simply about wanting to play something like a pixelmon server while also playing a zombie survival server. It can get annoying having to constantly take mods out of the mods folder, switching them with new ones.

I’ve done this in the past, and apart from the fact that it can get super annoying real quick, it can also mess up your game. There’s no logical reason to explain why this would happen, but it does. Perhaps it won’t happen to you, but better to be safe than sorry.

So what do I mean by making separate mod profiles? You’ll essentially make numerous brand-new profiles to easily switch between to enter a different game. It just so happens that this game will always be Minecraft but with different mods and settings.

What the community has to say about it

The community has been asking for this feature in Minecraft ever since Minecraft was officially released, and modding became more popular and accessible to players who don’t know a thing about coding and mods.

It seems pretty easy to do. You switch your profile and get entirely separate files with separate mods in the mod folder, but in 2012, it wasn’t an option. Only later, around 2015, with a new client, did we get the option to create separate mod profiles, so let’s look at how you can do it.

Creating separate mod profiles: a step-by-step guide

Although I already gave you a partial guide on how to create separate mod profiles, I want to go into detail so you can more easily manage the creation process so follow these steps to create separate mod profiles:

1. Create a new folder on your PC; you can create it anywhere but do recommend making it on your desktop for easier management later on.
2. Next, go into your Minecraft launcher and head on over to the installations tab. It should be located somewhere in the upper regions of the launcher.
3. You want to make a new installation. You’ll then be prompted to choose where you want to save that new installation. Go into the game directory browse for the folder you made earlier and select it.
4. It’s time to choose the version you want to run. The version you choose will depend on what mods you’re running, so this is entirely up to you.
5. Once you choose the version, go ahead and run it. This version of Minecraft should be completely blank with no resource packs or anything else you might have in your other versions, like Forge, shaders, and mods.
6. Exit the game, and if you decide to open the folder you created and selected, everything that usually appears in the .minecraft folder should also appear in that folder. You should also see the mods folder.
7. In this folder, you’ll want to add in the other pair of mods you want to run, and that’s it.

You essentially created two directories that’ll run Minecraft through two separate instances. This is what you want because running different sets of mods through the same installation in the same world will break your world.

Forge, OptiFine, and corrupted world saves

Both of your directories can have Forge and OptiFine installed as well. Of course, you can also opt for Fabric if that’s your preferred mod loader. Don’t attempt to open any world you play with a different directory and different versions of the game because it will corrupt your world, and you might not be able to retrieve it. Don’t worry too much about it; the game should warn you about running worlds in different versions and what it can do.

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