Minecraft 1.6.4 - Different mods on different profiles on the same version [Linux]

As it is right now, my brother has version 1.6.4 with Feed The Beast, I used to play vanilla 1.7.4, but after seeing the Vein Miner mod, I decided to switch over to 1.6.4 just for that.

However, a problem arises when I went to actually set that up: I can't seem to separate the mods.

When I start the launcher, it has both of our profiles (his with 1.6.4 with mods and mine with vanilla 1.7.4). What I'd like to get to happen is have my profile also using 1.6.4, but with different mods, but I'm unsure how to break up MCForge's mod folder into different profiles.

I tried setting my profile to a different game directory (.minecraft2 for simple tests), but I noticed that it didn't re-download the 1.6.4 game, but actually kept using it from the original .minecraft folder. All it did differently was store the world save data and texture packs in the .minecraft2 folder.

Is it possible to just copy over the .minecraft/versions/1.6.4 folder to the new game directory for my profile and begin adding mods that way? If not, how does one achieve what I'm looking for: Two profiles using the same version of Minecraft with different mods?

Edit: Copying over the /versions/1.6.4 folder to the new game directory doesn't work, as when you try to install MCForge, it gives an error about a launcher file (or the lack of one). I understand the problem with this, but I'm unsure of what to do about it.

I have my setup like this:

I run minecraft from a terminal alias:

alias minecraft="java -jar $HOME/Games/Minecraft.jar"

This works just fine, but this isn't the ACTUAL launcher, I believe, as there's

$HOME/.minecraft/launcher.jar

If I were to copy over the 3 launcher files (launcher.jar, launcher.pack.lzma, launcher_profiles.json), would that suffice? But that raises another issue: How would I get the alias to point to either game directory? Are you able to just launch the launcher file in the .minecraft folder itself?

i.e. alias minecraft="java -jar $HOME/.minecraft/launcher.jar"

Would this create any security conflicts, or is this perfectly okay?

If you need any more information, feel free to ask.

Solution 1:

If you are using the latest vanilla launcher:

1. Create or edit a profile
2. Check the box labeled "Game Directory" and fill in a location to put it. It will automatically create the directory if it doesn't exist on next launch of the profile. (Note that I doubt it will expand shell variables, but it works just fine with symbolic links if you use those)
3. Click Save Profile

What I have done for this is I have created a directory under my $HOME called .minecraftProfiles and I put each separate profile in its own subdirectory. For example, vanilla 1.7.4 I have put at homedir/.minecraftProfiles/1.7.4-vanilla.

Sharing data between profiles:

• If and when I want to share a file and keep it shared (for better or for worse) I would symlink to it from one profile in the other(s).
• If I want to use some data (saves and such) as a basis for a new profile, I first copy the directory to a new one, create the new profile in the launcher (click "New Profile" when the one I'm copying is the selected profile), and after starting up that profile, (if necessary) do manual editing of the $HOME/.minecraft/versions/profilename/profilename.json when it is needed to have it actually keep some necessary data (if same version of Minecraft and wanting to keep Forge, for example)

Tips to avoid issues with losing valuable data:

• Keep multiple profiles in separate directories to avoid conflicting mods or mod configurations.
• Each profile should have a specific version set for the "Use version" under "Version Selection" in the Profile Editor to prevent it automatically updating and preventing you from playing on servers that haven't updated.
• Backup, backup, backup - before adding/removing mods, changing the version of a profile, and especially regular backups just in case your computer (or just Minecraft) crashes.

If you are not using the vanilla launcher (read: FTB / Technic launchers), all I can say with 100% reliability is you would have to either use a separate user account (for Linux, which you should be for different people anyways according to many Linux security specialists) or deal with moving the storage location of those launchers manually each time before starting.

(partially off topic) I choose to use a naming scheme of version-info for the naming of my profiles' directories, but you can opt for adding the user's name at the beginning of it.