Install Paper on Ubuntu 20.04

Introduction

Paper is a high-performance fork of Spigot that aims to fix gameplay and mechanics inconsistencies. Paper has many unique features and changes, including many performance improvements not found in Spigot. This guide explains how to set up Paper on an Ubuntu Server. It is recommended to run all commands as a non-root user with sudo privileges.

1. Install Prerequisites

• Deploy a Vultr Ubuntu 20.04 cloud server instance.
• Create a sudo user.
• Update the Ubuntu server.

Install the required utilities.

$ sudo apt-get install wget apt-transport-https gnupg

Import the AdoptOpenJDK GPG key.

$ wget -qO - https://adoptopenjdk.jfrog.io/adoptopenjdk/api/gpg/key/public | sudo apt-key add -

Configure AdoptOpenJDK's apt repository.

$ echo "deb https://adoptopenjdk.jfrog.io/adoptopenjdk/deb $(cat /etc/os-release | grep UBUNTU_CODENAME | cut -d = -f 2) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/adoptopenjdk.list

Refresh the package index.

$ sudo apt-get update

Install AdoptOpenJDK.

$ sudo apt-get install adoptopenjdk-11-hotspot -y
$ sudo apt-get install jq -y

2. Create a Swapfile

Create a swap file. The example allocates a 1 GB file, set this value according to your needs.

$ sudo fallocate -l 1G /swapfile

Set the permissions of the swap file.

$ sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

Allocate the swap space.

$ sudo mkswap /swapfile

Turn on swap.

$ sudo swapon /swapfile

Make your swap file permanent by modifying the fstab file.

$ sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add this line to the bottom of the file.

/swapfile   none    swap    sw    0   0

3. Install Paper

Ensure you are in the home directory of the user you plan to use for Paper.

$ cd ~

Create a folder for Paper and download the latest build. This example downloads Paper version 1.16.5. If you need a different version, replace 1.16.5 with the version you want to download.

$ mkdir paper
$ cd paper
$ LATEST_BUILD=$(curl -X GET "https://papermc.io/api/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.16.5" -H  "accept: application/json" | jq '.builds[-1]')
$ curl -o paperclip.jar -X GET "https://papermc.io/api/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.16.5/builds/${LATEST_BUILD}/downloads/paper-1.16.5-${LATEST_BUILD}.jar" -H  "accept: application/java-archive" -JO

Optional - Install an older version

If you want an older build, look up the available build numbers.

$ curl -X GET "https://papermc.io/api/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.16.5" -H  "accept: application/json"

Replace [BUILD_ID] in the following command with the desired build.

$ curl -o paperclip.jar -X GET "https://papermc.io/api/v2/projects/paper/versions/1.16.5/builds/[BUILD_ID]/downloads/paper-1.16.5-[BUILD_ID].jar" -H  "accept: application/java-archive" -JO

4. Start the Server

Create a startup script for your server.

$ nano start.sh

Paste the following into start.sh. The 4G parameters in -Xms4G -Xmx4G configure Java for 4 GB of RAM. Change this to the amount of RAM you want to allocate for Paper. The operating system requires available RAM as well, please don't assign all available RAM to Paper. For example, if the VPS has 8 GB RAM, you might consider setting -Xms7G -Xmx7G.

#!/bin/sh
while true
do
java -Xms4G -Xmx4G -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:G1NewSizePercent=30 -XX:G1MaxNewSizePercent=40 -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=8M -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 -XX:G1HeapWastePercent=5 -XX:G1MixedGCCountTarget=4 -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 -XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent=90 -XX:G1RSetUpdatingPauseTimePercent=5 -XX:SurvivorRatio=32 -XX:+PerfDisableSharedMem -XX:MaxTenuringThreshold=1 -Dusing.aikars.flags=https://mcflags.emc.gs -Daikars.new.flags=true -jar paperclip.jar nogui
echo "restarting in 10"
sleep 10
done

Make start.sh executable.

$ chmod +x start.sh

Start your server.

$ ./start.sh

Java downloads Paper. The first time it loads, it prompts you to accept the EULA and fails to load. The script then loops, and you need to type Ctrl + C to exit the script at this point.

Edit eula.txt.

$ nano eula.txt

Change eula= from false to true. Save and exit the file.

Start your server again.

$ ./start.sh

Optional: Run the server in the background

Install screen.

$ sudo apt-get install screen -y

Open an instance of screen.

$ screen -S "paper"

Start your server script.

$ cd ~/paper
$ ./start.sh

Configure your server's settings and install plugins.

Troubleshooting

If paperclip.jar doesn't run, you need more RAM on your server or a larger swap file.