DownRiver is changing, and we've got a lot to share with you.

Over the last several weeks, a lot of work has been poured into the community to set the stage for our plans for 2026. We've been watching and listening to the heartbeat of this community, and after the growth we have undergone this year, we think it's time for us to take some big steps. We'd love for you to join us.

👣Big Step #1: Upgrades, People, Upgrades

For several weeks now, we've felt the growing pains of Downriver on the hardware of our systems: drastic TPS fluctuations, ping spikes, and many other minor issues. These have all been symptoms of a greater truth - DownRiver has outgrown it's britches. After much deliberation, discussion, planning, and testing, we have something to announce: Downriver SMP has a new host!

What exactly does that mean? Take it from me, it means big things. With our current host, we were only able to support the survival SMP, and it cost us around $70 USD/monthly to do so. Now, with the new host, both our hardware and our cost has gone up significantly. We have upgraded to a bare-metal server, which basically means that we are the only data stored on that machine, whereas before we shared it. Now, DownRiver, with all it's upkeep, costs somewhere in the ballpark of $155 USD/monthly. This is a significant jump, but with our current monthly support, we crest just over that cost with a small margin of wiggle room.

However, these costs come with a lot of benefits! We now have a lot more room to do things that we couldn't support before. We also have the ability to localize all of our infrastructure, whether it be the website, the SMP, or any other media we host, and have more fine control over everything. With this new leg room and agency, it means...

👣Big Step #2: More DownRiver

We can do so much more than just the survival SMP! Over the last few weeks we have seen everyone wanting to hang out with each other even when we are playing other games or spending our time outside of minecraft. Now, with our new host, we have space to accomodate that, plus some other things we have wanted to implement for a long time.

DownRiver Vanilla+ Modpack

We now have an official DownRiver Vanilla+ Modpack. It contains all the "approved" mods that people in our community typically enjoy, in addition to some custom DownRiver assets packaged into the attached resource pack. If you are interested in downloading this, check out our website!

Creative Server

We now have a creative plotworld! When you connect to the survival server, you can type /server creative to join the creative server. Once you are in the creative plotworld, you can find an empty plot and type /claim or /claim help. Everyone can claim up to four plots, but Donators gain an additional 2 plots they can claim, as well as world edit. To return to the survival world, type /server smp. The game chats are synced, so you won't be spirited away from your friends once you swap. (There will be some issues for our users who use Xaeros or any other world/minimaps due to the new server swap funciotnality, but we are investigating potential fixes for this issue.)

Create+ Server

We will also be launching a Create+ Modded server in about a week. The modpack will be announced when it's live and hosted on our website for easy user downloads, but the modpack is currently in development. Our focus for this server is to have interconnected bases between players, and fostering more community builds and automation for the players involved. It will be a Donator exclusive world, for the time being, and may potentially become public to regular members in later iterations. (Both this pack and the Create+ pack will need to be loaded using the Modrinth Mod Launcher.)

Cobblemon Server

This is also very much a work in progress, with us doing a lot of testing/tweaking to find the right blend of playtstyle that we want for the community. This may be something we only do temporarily, or for a long period, depending on community interest. At the moment, it is scheduled to launch after the Create+ Modded Server in a week, but this timeline may change depending on other factors. Nonetheless, it is something big we have planned and wanted to share it with you! (Both this pack and the Create+ pack will need to be loaded using the Modrinth Mod Launcher.)

Other Media

With recent events like our Lethal Company Night, and the talks about playing other games together, we now have the space and opportunity to host other short-term gaming sessions that are outside of our usual minecraft sphere. Games like Peak, Lethal Company, Minecraft UHCs, and other multiplayer games can now be hosted locally by us, making it easier for you guys to play games together. We will also be setting up a seperate role on discord to make it easier to coordinate with other community members when playing other games outside of our SMPs.

👣Big Step #3: Community Incentives

Some of you have already noticed, but we have made a lot of changes to the Donator perks we offer! I'd encourage you to check them out yourself in the Discord Server Shop or our Ko-fi, but here are some of the biggest new additions:

• World Edit and additional plots for the Creative Server for Copper Donators and above.
• QOL commands for the Survival Server like /echest, /wb, and more for Iron Donators and above.
• New Downriver Plugin commands (/dr donator shulker, /dr donator claim) with functionality for tracking shulkers, spawning light blocks, and claiming donator collectibles across tiers Copper through Diamond.

Some of these are highly requested features, and we are happy to finally deliver on them! We never want any of you to feel like you have to donate to engage with the community, but do want to reward those of you who are willing to support us in this way. Our implementation philosophy behind these has always been "What can we give the players so that they 1.) engage the community more and 2) engage more with the games we platform?" We hope that you enjoy these benefits, and appreciate your commitment to supporting DownRiver, not with just your money, but your time and love.

👣Big Step #4: Bigger Shoes

All of these changes has meant (and will continue to mean) a lot of work. We have spent many late nights pouring over all of this, bringing this community to the place we think it deserves to be. This is only the beginning, and as we set out on these new horizons, we'd love to bring you along on the journey with us.

If you'd like to directly support us on this journey, you can do so on our new goal posted on our Ko-fi called "New Horizons". In addition to this, we also offer products and subscriptions on our Discord Server Shop. However, this is not the only way you can support us!

We are also looking for community minded, tehcnically savvy individuals who are willing to contribute their skills and time to the DownRiver community. With this new growth, there are many opportunities for people to step in and accomplish some cool things within our community, and we will need coverage, support, and presence across all of our new services. If this sounds interesting to you, please fill out the Downriver Staff Application. This form will remain up a week after this article is announced.

Thanks for being a part of DownRiver. ❤

Once this announcement has been made, all of these changes should be 🚨 LIVE 🚨. You can follow all of the links provided above to check out any of our new media. Thanks for choosing to come along on this journey with us, and we look forward to the things to come here in our community. You have helped make DownRiver a very special place.

Our main IP address will still be play.downriversmp.cc, but if you'd like to connect directly, the numerical IP is 178.63.205.249:25565. Access to the other servers will be made available as soon as they are ready.