Set up a Big Dig server on Minecraft

Big Dig is a Technic Platform modpack that Technic describes as centred on a new kind of world generation, with large and frequent ore veins. Its server runs on Minecraft 1.5.2 with a 2013 build of Forge, and its server files are published on Technic. This guide installs it from the Modpacks tab and tells your players how to join.

Checked against the Big Dig server files 1.3.9 (Technic build 1.3.14, Minecraft 1.5.2), October 2026.

What you need

• The Technic source. In the Modpacks tab, Technic is one of the source buttons. Technic's packs are installable only when the pack has a server download, and Big Dig has one, BigDigServer-v1.3.9.zip, on Technic's own servers. If the Technic button is missing, it is not switched on for your server yet, and this guide cannot be followed until it is.
• Java 8. The panel picks Java from the Minecraft version, and every version below 1.17 gets Java 8, so there is nothing to set. When this guide was checked, the 2013 Forge for Minecraft 1.5.2 loaded on that Java 8, and the world generated.
• Enough RAM. The pack's own launch script asks for up to 3 GB. The panel keeps at least 512 MB of your plan's memory outside the heap, so a 4 GB plan gets a heap of about 3.5 GB and a 2 GB plan about 1.5 GB. A plan with 4 GB or more gives the server at least the 3 GB heap the pack asks for, and you can see the options on Minecraft hosting.
• The Technic Launcher for each player. The launcher finds, installs and updates Technic modpacks. The client pack is on Big Dig's Technic page. Its current build, 1.3.14, matches the server files except for one extra client mod, Lumy Skin Patch, which Technic's news describes as a fix for skins.

Install the pack

Installing a modpack reinstalls the whole server and replaces the current world, so use a new server or one you can wipe.

1. Open Modpacks in the Content group of the left rail and press the Technic source button.
2. Search for Big Dig. Technic lists many packs with that name, so pick the row named exactly Big Dig by sct. Rows marked No server download, such as Big Dig 2 : Electric Boogaloo, cannot be installed.
3. Press Install. In the window that opens, leave Take a backup first ticked and tick Start the server when it's ready. Tick I agree to the Minecraft EULA if it appears.
4. Press and hold the button that reads Hold to Install and reinstall, then watch the Console tab until the install finishes.

Technic serves only a pack's current server download, so there is no version to choose. The panel reads the pack's launch.sh to find BigDig.jar and starts the server from that jar.

First start

Old Forge for 1.5.2 downloads six library files on its first run, from an address built into BigDig.jar that no longer serves them. The install puts those six files into a lib folder for you, from Technic's mirror, so the first start needs nothing from you. If you ticked Start the server when it's ready, the server starts by itself; otherwise press Start on the Console tab. On our test server the console showed Forge Mod Loader loading 98 mods and ended with a Done line and For help, type.

The same launch.sh also passes -Djava.security.properties=legacy.security, which the panel does not. The server still started on the panel's Java 8 without it, and the console showed no signature or security error.

Join the server

Players install and start Big Dig from the Technic Launcher, then add your server address under Multiplayer and Add Server (Connect to your server for the first time).

If something does not work

• The pack does not appear, or Install is greyed out. Technic only lists a pack as installable when it has a server download. Search again and choose the plain Big Dig row.
• The install says "Couldn't start a backup. Free a backup slot, or untick the backup and try again." Delete a backup you no longer need under Backups (a protected backup has to be unprotected first), or untick Take a backup first, then try the install again.