If you want to play Minecraft with mods, it’s safer to separate your modded setup from your usual Minecraft environment. ⚠️

Create a dedicated Minecraft folder for MiniaTuria and keep your mods, resource packs, and worlds inside it. Then create an installation profile so you can launch Minecraft using that folder every time. We’ll go step by step.

First, manually create an empty folder with any name (e.g., on your desktop, inside drive C:). Use alphanumeric characters. In this guide, we’ll use MiniaTuria1.12.2.

Next, install the official Minecraft Launcher. If you already play Java Edition and have the launcher installed, skip to step 7.

MinecraftInstaller.exe will download. Open it and follow the instructions to install.

After installing the launcher (the creeper-face icon), open it.

Open the official Minecraft Launcher: MINECRAFT: Java Edition → click Installations.

Click New Installation.

In the “Create Installation” screen: set a name (e.g., MiniaTuria_1.12.2), then choose release 1.12.2 from Version.

For Game Directory, if you leave it blank, Minecraft uses your default folder. That’s not what we want, so enter the folder you created earlier.

Click Browse and select your MiniaTuria1.12.2 folder, or open the folder in Explorer and copy the path from the address bar.

Optional: set the Resolution now. You can type custom values. 1280 x 720 is recommended, but use what you like.

⚠️ Important: JVM Arguments

Click More Options to expand the advanced section. Then we’ll adjust JVM Arguments.

What you need to do: (1) Increase Minecraft’s memory limit (2) Prevent memory usage from growing too aggressively during play Without this, MiniaTuria can become very laggy.

Open Task Manager → Performance → Memory to check your RAM. (1) is total RAM (example: 16 GB). (2) is the available free memory. This is the important number.

Paste what you copied into the JVM Arguments box (replace the existing text). Then click Save.

You may see a warning about using an older version. This is related to online safety features. If you understand, check “Do not show again” and click Play.

Your new installation profile now appears. Click Play to start Minecraft.

Minecraft 1.12.2 will launch (you can confirm the version on the title screen).

If folders were automatically created inside your dedicated folder, the installation profile is set up correctly! Then close Minecraft for now.

Next, we’ll install Minecraft Forge, which is required to run mods.

Go to the Java download page and download Java for desktop apps. Then run the installer (a file like jre-...-x64.exe) and complete the setup.

Go to the Minecraft Forge 1.12.2 download page. On the right side, under “Download Recommended”, click Installer.

An ad page will appear. Wait for the countdown in the top-right. When you see SKIP, click it. Then forge-1.12.2-14.23.5.2859-installer.jar will download. You can close the ad page.

Double-click the downloaded .jar file to launch the installer.

The installer should already be set to Install client. Leave the install location as-is (you don’t use your MiniaTuria1.12.2 folder here). Click OK to start installing.

After a moment, you should see “Successfully …”. Click OK and close the installer. You can delete the installer .jar afterward.

Now we’ll update your MiniaTuria installation profile to use Forge. Go back to the Minecraft Launcher, find the installation you created, click the … menu, and choose Edit.

Open the Version dropdown and select release 1.12.2-forge-14.23.5.2859.

It’s okay if the launcher shows a warning near Game Directory. Click Save, then click Play to launch Minecraft.

A Forge loading screen appears (with the anvil animation). Wait a bit.

Minecraft with Forge will launch. Look at the bottom-left and confirm it says Powered by Forge 14.23.5.2859. Then close Minecraft again (we still need to install more).

At this point, your Minecraft setup is ready for mods. But before installing MiniaTuria, don’t forget OptiFine.

OptiFine is famous as a performance mod, but for MiniaTuria it’s also important for rendering higher-resolution textures and connected textures. Without it, MiniaTuria won’t work properly.

Go to the OptiFine downloads page. Click Show all versions to expand the list.

Scroll down and find Minecraft 1.12.2. Download OptiFine HD U G5.

An ad page appears. Wait for the countdown in the top-right. When you see Skip, click it.

Click the OptiFine download button. The OptiFine file will download. If another ad page opens afterward, you can close it.

Now you should have your MiniaTuria1.12.2 folder and the downloaded OptiFine .jar file.

Open the folder. Since you launched Forge earlier, there should be more files than before.

Put the OptiFine .jar file into the newly created mods folder.

That’s it for OptiFine setup. If you launch Minecraft now, it should load with both Forge and OptiFine enabled.

But don’t launch yet—we’ll install the main mod first: MiniaTuria!

If you haven’t downloaded the mod yet, go to the MiniaTuria Mod download page. Click Download near the top-right.

Read the Terms of Use. After scrolling to the end, press Accept the terms and download.

A MediaFire page will open. When the download becomes available, press the button to start downloading. If an ad page pops up, you can close it.

A .zip file will download. As the name says (for example, “_PLEASE_UNZIP”), the mod is inside—so unzip it. You can use “Extract all”, but for this guide we’ll simply double-click to open the zip.

Inside, you’ll see several files. The top one is the mod, and the next one is the resource pack. You need both.

Open your MiniaTuria1.12.2 folder (the dedicated folder for this profile), then open the mods folder. OptiFine should already be there.

Drag and drop the mod file (something like [Mod] MiniaTuria 1.12.2....jar) from the zip into the mods folder. Now the mod .jar sits next to OptiFine.

Go back one level, open the resourcepacks folder, then drag and drop the resource pack file (something like [RP] MiniaTuria 1.12.2....zip) into it.

If your dedicated folder now looks like this, you’re good. All files are ready—open the Minecraft Launcher.

If your MiniaTuria profile is already selected, just click Play. If another profile is selected, open the profile selector and choose MiniaTuria_1.12.2, then press Play.

The Forge loading screen appears again. This time it also loads resources and 3D models, so it can take a while. It may show “Not Responding” during the process—please wait a few minutes.

Once Minecraft finally launches, check the bottom-left to confirm you see both Forge and OptiFine. Then click the Mods button.

If you see MiniaTuria Mod listed (in addition to Minecraft Forge), the mod installation succeeded! 🎉

Installing the mod is not enough—you also need to enable the included resource pack. On the first screen, press Options.

Click Resource Packs.

Find the MiniaTuria pack on the left and click it. It will move to the right side (selected).

Make sure MiniaTuria is at the top, then click Done. It may take a while and can freeze—please wait.

The background should change. Next, click Video Settings.

Click Quality.

Find Connected Textures. If it’s already set to Fancy, you’re good. If not, click to change it to Fancy. Then press Done.

Now try entering a world: Singleplayer → Create New World → set a name if you want → set Game Mode: Creative → Create New World.

You’re in! 🎉 (If the square clouds bother you, we’ll fix that next.)

Press ESC to open the menu → Options → Video Settings → Details → set Clouds: Off → press Done three times → Back to Game.

Press E to open your inventory. You should see more pages than usual. Use the arrow at the top-right to switch pages.

Click the hammer tab and scroll—you should find the MiniaTuria Hammer!

Now you can take blocks from the tabs and build by clicking with the hammer. That was a long setup—nice work! ☕ Enjoy MiniaTuria!