Host the pack yourself

Not using the editor's automatic deploy? Then the pack has to live somewhere players can download it. Two ways.

Option A — let ResourcePackManager host it

If you already installed RSPM to merge packs, it can host too. In plugins/ResourcePackManager/config.yml:

selfHostEnabled: true
selfHostPort: -1
selfHostExternalHost: ""

Setting	What it means
`selfHostEnabled`	Turns the built-in web server on.
`selfHostPort`	`-1` means “work it out” — it uses your Minecraft port + 1, so 25565 becomes 25566.
`selfHostExternalHost`	Leave empty and it detects your public address. Only fill it in if that goes wrong.

Players are then sent to http://your-address:25566/rspm.zip.

Open the port. That HTTP port has to be reachable from the internet, exactly like your Minecraft port. If your host has a firewall or you're behind a router, open it or nobody can download the pack.

Option B — upload it anywhere and point Minecraft at it

Download the pack with Java resource pack on the Build & Export screen.
Upload it somewhere that gives you a direct download link.
Get the file's SHA-1 hash. Any “SHA-1 file hash” website will do it, or on your server run:
```
sha1sum resourcepack.zip
```

Open server.properties and set:

resource-pack=https://example.com/files/resourcepack.zip
resource-pack-sha1=0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567
require-resource-pack=true

Restart the server.

require-resource-pack=true kicks players who decline. Set it to false to let them play without the textures.

The mistake that catches almost everyone. A Google Drive or Dropbox share page is not a direct link — it's a web page with a download button on it. Minecraft downloads the web page, sees it isn't a resource pack, and every player gets “Failed to download resource pack”. Your link must end in .zip and start downloading the moment you paste it into a fresh browser tab.

Test your link before you trust it

Paste the URL into a private/incognito window. If a file starts downloading immediately, it's good. If you see any web page at all, it won't work.

Every time you rebuild

Upload the new zip over the old one, keeping the same file name.
Work out the new SHA-1.
Update resource-pack-sha1 in server.properties.
Restart.

A stale hash breaks everything. If the hash doesn't match the file, players get a failed download even though the link is fine. Update it every single time.

Testing on your own machine

To check a pack without hosting anything, drop the zip into your own .minecraft/resourcepacks folder and turn it on in Options → Resource Packs. Good for checking artwork; it does nothing for your players.