Confirm Forge is running
The title screen should identify Forge and expose its Mods menu. If normal vanilla Minecraft opened, return to the launcher and select the intended Forge installation.
Confirm the exact folder
Inspect the Forge profile's Game Directory and open its mods folder. Moving the file into another .minecraft installation will have no effect on this profile.
Check file and version
- The file should remain a .jar.
- The file metadata must identify its target Minecraft version.
- Forge must target the same Minecraft version.
- Remove duplicate or obviously unrelated builds during testing.
Read the log before reinstalling
Open logs/latest.log after a failed launch and search for the mod filename, dependency errors, unsupported class versions or version rejection. Preserve the first clear error before changing the setup.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Minecraft launch but the mod is absent?+
Forge may be reading a different game directory, or it rejected an incompatible file during loading.
Should I reinstall Minecraft?+
Not first. Profile, folder, version and log checks are faster and preserve your current installation.