Getting Started

Getting Minetest

Windows

Download Minetest. If you have a 64-bit version of Windows, you should use a 64-bit download.
Extract the file. We suggest c://minetest, c://games/minetest or My Documents. It doesn't matter where, as long as you have read write access. Do not save to c://program files or similar, as it will cause problems.
To run Minetest, open the extracted folder and look for the bin folder. Open bin and run minetest.exe. Bin stands for binary, and contains the Minetest program.

Here is the folder structure you should have:

minetest/
├── bin/
├── builtin/
├── client/
│   ├── serverlist/
│   └── shaders/
│       ├── alpha_shader/
│       ├── leaves_shader/
│       ├── liquids_shader/
│       ├── plants_shader/
│       └── solids_shader/
├── doc/
├── fonts/
├── games/
│   ├── minetest_game/
│   └── minimal/
├── locale/ 
│   └── (lots of language folders)
├── mods/ 
└── textures/
    └── base/
        └── pack/

(As installed by the build for Windows minetest-0.4.9-65d1cb8 compiled by sfan5, 2014-03-30)

OS X

Download Minetest.
Extract the file. It doesn't matter where, as long as you have read write access.
Open the .app file in the extracted folder.

GNU/Linux Installation

If you can, download the version already compiled for your distribution of GNU/Linux. If you can't find one, you can compile it yourself from here. In this case, you should also install a so-called Minetest-Game.

If you are on a debian based system, you can also use

sudo apt-get install minetest

Playing

Now that you have it installed you can either; play singleplayer, play on a local server or play online by connecting to a server.

Some things you may need to know

Mods in Minetest are plugins written in Lua.
Mods in Minetest are on the server side. You do not need to install any mods when connecting to a server.
All the content in Minetest, such as blocks and tools, come from Lua Mods.
Minetest is formed of a game engine and a vanilla 'game'. A 'game' in Minetest is a collection of Lua Mods which provide base content. A 'game' can then be expanded by additional Lua Mods. The initial download of Minetest supplies the engine with a vanilla game called minetest_game

Play Singleplayer

To play singleplayer, simply create a world and click Play.

You can choose (or install) a Game.

Play Online

File:Password.PNG

Change password screen

After choosing a server and selecting it, you must enter a username and password. When a username first connects to a server an account for that player is created. Accounts in Minetest are not centralized. This means that accounts are stored on each server, rather than on a central server. You do not have to use the same username as on the forums, and you do not even need to have a forum account. Using a password is strongly recommended to stop others stealing your player and causing damage. You can change your password by clicking 'change password' on pause menu (ESC). Some server require you to request for build privileges on their forum topic, as an anti-griefing measure.

Basic Controls

Most of these can be changed in the “Change Keys” menu. For a more complete list of keyboard controls, see Controls.

The default and most important controls are:

W/A/S/D: move
Space: jump
Left mouse button: attack, mine blocks, move an item stack in an inventory
Right mouse button: use (e.g. open chest or furnace), place blocks, move one item or split items in an inventory
Shift+Right mouse button: place blocks
Middle mouse button: move 10 items in an inventory
Mouse wheel: select item in the hotbar
0-9: select item in the hotbar
Q: drop block, item or tool in hand
I: open or close the inventory menu
T: open the chat window
Shift: descend on ladders or sneak (walk slower, prevents falling off ledges)

Gameplay

See this video for the basics about Minetest. It is a bit out-dated, however.

Here is a little tutorial: How to build your first house.

The following wiki pages explain some basic Minetest concepts more or less in-depth:

If you want to play online, you should read the gameplay notes for multiplayer servers.

As soon as you grasped the basics, you may want to look up which blocks and items are available and get an overview about farming.

Just want to build? Try creative mode!

If you want more, consider trying new mods and games.

Advanced topics:

Groups