How to Host a Crucial 2 - The Refresh Update Server

Start with 7 GB of RAM as your floor, not a guess — that's the pack's own recommended allocation for Forge 1.16.5 with Mekanism, Thermal, Botania, Occultism, and Biomes O' Plenty all loaded together. Going lower is the single most common reason a Crucial 2 server stalls or crashes during world generation.

Import the modpack directly from its official release file instead of zipping up a client install. Crucial 2 ships a maintained server-side mod list for 1.16.5, and uploading a client export instead tends to drag in client-only rendering mods that have no business running on a dedicated server.

Watch the console through the full first boot. With this many mod categories — tech, magic, and exploration — stacked on Forge 1.16.5, you want to see every mod finish its registry and world-gen setup with no repeated errors before you consider the server ready, not just a console that looks idle.

Only open the server to players once that first boot has completed cleanly from a cold start. A server that looks fine mid-boot can still be mid-registration, and players connecting too early is a common trigger for corrupted player data on 1.16.5 Forge packs.

Take a backup before importing an existing world, updating the Forge loader, or changing any tech-mod config. Mekanism factory lines and Botania garden setups take real hours to rebuild, and a bad config change on this pack can brick a save in ways that aren't obvious until much later.