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How to install a Minecraft datapack
A datapack is a folder the game reads from a world. Blocksmith writes one so a build can be placed with a function.
Blocksmith’s builds, adventure worlds, pixel art and note block machines all install as a datapack on Minecraft: Java Edition. The app can copy that folder into a world you pick. These steps are the same job done by hand, which is what you want on a server, or when the world lives on another computer.
You need cheats, or operator permission, to run the function. In a single-player world, turn on Allow Cheats when you create it. Opening to LAN with cheats is the usual fix for an old world. The game will load the pack either way. It will refuse the command if you are not allowed to run commands.
Steps
- Export from Blocksmith, or take a pack you already have. In the app, choose the world and let it copy the datapack in. If you are moving the files yourself, you want the folder that contains pack.mcmeta and a data folder.
- Put it in the world’s datapacks folder. That folder is inside the world save, next to the region folder. The pack can be a folder or a zip. Do not leave pack.mcmeta loose in datapacks, outside its own folder.
- Reload, then run the function. In the world, run /reload. Then /function blocksmith:build places the build, and /function blocksmith:watch plays it in order. On a server, the same folder and the same commands apply, and the player needs permission to run functions.
- If the game complains about the pack format. Blocksmith writes pack.mcmeta for the export it just made. If Minecraft says the format does not match, you are on a different version than that export. Update the game or export again. Don’t guess a format number.
Hosts such as a rented server use the same world’s datapacks folder, or their own datapack screen. Blocksmith does not ship a one-click installer for those panels. After the files are in place, reload.
The counted example worth trying first is Stone castle with four towers, 9,746 blocks, from “a big stone castle with four towers”. Install steps are the same for a house. Bedrock builds are a behaviour pack instead, which the app writes when you ask for Bedrock. Note block songs stay on Java.
Questions
The function is unknown after /reload. What now?
Check you reloaded the world that contains the pack, that pack.mcmeta is one folder down, and that the namespace is blocksmith. A second datapacks folder in .minecraft itself is not the one the world reads.
Does this work on Bedrock?
Builds can. The app writes a behaviour pack for Bedrock. Songs cannot. This guide’s /reload path is Java.
Do I need a mod loader?
No. A datapack is not a mod. Forge, Fabric and the rest are a different install.
Mac and Windows. On a Mac, Blocksmith is notarised by Apple and opens normally. On Windows, the installer isn’t code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may say “Windows protected your PC”: choose More info, then Run anyway.