Minetest

Key points

Free and Open Source Software

Cross-platform multiplayer.

Good modding support and community.

Great performance even on low-end devices.

Minetest is a game engine/platform that allows you to play different games. The default game is pretty basic without any mods. You can install additional games, mods, and more using the official content downloader: Content > Browse Online Content. Also see the website.

General information

Official website

Official wiki

Source code

Bugs can be reported in official forums in Bug and Problem sub forum.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Developer website

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

You can edit all settings in Settings > All Settings without needing to use minetest.conf

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\minetest.conf^{[Note 1]}
macOS (OS X)
Linux	$HOME/.minetest/minetest.conf

A custom path to a configuration file can be specified in command line using the option --config /path/to/minetest.conf.^[1]

This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\worlds^{[Note 1]}
macOS (OS X)
Linux	$HOME/.minetest/worlds

Unknown if XDG is being followed (partially, completely, not at all)

Video

In-game settings menu

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Can be set in Settings > All Settings or `minetest.conf`^[1]
Windowed		Native fullscreen option is not available, only borderless fullscreen
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Settings > All Settings > search fullscreen
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Off by default, setting: anisotropic_filter
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Off by default, setting: fsaa
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Off by default, setting: vsync
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Locked to 60 FPS by default; Custom FPS can be set with fps_max in `minetest.conf`^[1]. NVIDIA forces Vsync to be on, so you'll also need to disable that: `vblank_mode=0 ./minetest`
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Keyboard and mouse, touch	State	Notes
Remapping		Settings > Change keys
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Settings > All Settings > Controls > Keyboard and Mouse > Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Settings > All Settings > Controls > Keyboard and Mouse > Invert mouse
Touchscreen optimised		Requires you to build it using -DENABLE_TOUCHSCREEN=1
Controller
Controller support		Use an external program, MT help page

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Pause menu > Change volume
Surround sound		HRTF is supported, and enabled when headphones are detected
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Belarusian
Simplified Chinese				Listed as Chinese (China)
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Estonian
French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Lithuanian
Malay
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian

Also available in Kyrgyz and Swahili. Translations for other languages exist, but may have translated less than 30% of the game interface. Translation progress can be checked at Minetest/Minetest @ Hosted Weblate page.

Network

Cross-platform multiplayer between Windows, OS X, Linux and Android is possible, even without varying game versions. Only host (server) is required to have the mods installed.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	30000 (default)
UDP	30000 (default)

This game does not support Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
OpenGL	1

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	ARM	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)						ARM requires fanmade nightly builds, building from source,^[2] or Homebrew.^[3]
Linux						^[4]

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP^[5]
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)	512 MB^[5]
Hard disk drive (HDD)

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)	512 MB?^[5]
Hard disk drive (HDD)

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)	512 MB?^[5]
Hard disk drive (HDD)

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 minetest.conf - Minetest Wiki
↑ \[macOS Big Sur\ Jordach's Universal Binaries + Homebrew Self Compilation Guide] - last accessed on 2021-05-30
↑ minetest — Homebrew Formulae - last accessed on 1 March 2022
↑ Debian -- Package Search Results -- minetest - last accessed on 2020-11-20
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 Minimum Minetest Hardware Requirements Thread - Minetest Forums

[gamedir-1] 1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[minetest-conf-2] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 minetest.conf - Minetest Wiki

[3] \[macOS Big Sur\ Jordach's Universal Binaries + Homebrew Self Compilation Guide] - last accessed on 2021-05-30

[4] test — Homebrew Formulae - last accessed on 1 March 2022

[5] Debian -- Package Search Results -- minetest - last accessed on 2020-11-20

[requirements-6] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 Minimum Minetest Hardware Requirements Thread - Minetest Forums

[Note 1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Developers

	Perttu "celeron55" Ahola and contributors
Engines
	Irrlicht Engine
Release dates
Windows	December 6, 2012
macOS (OS X)	December 6, 2012
Linux	December 6, 2012
Taxonomy
Monetization	Freeware