Firstly of course, ensure that you have logged in with your Microsoft account to play Minecraft legally with Prism Launcher.
Creating a new instance is incredibly easy. A new instance is completely separate from other instances and data is not shared between instances. This means that you can have 2 billion mods in one instance which uses Fabric, and you could also have a different instance with only 3 mods using Forge. And they're separate and you dont have to go inside your mods folder every time you want to switch Minecraft versions!
A new window will appear where you can change your instance. What I personally love about Prism Launcher is that it is an all-in-one solution. You can either just play Minecraft as if it were the real Minecraft Launcher, or you could even play using mod packs from CurseForge, Modrinth, etc. All in one app!
I've named my Instance "I LOVE BEES" and given it a bee icon. The Minecraft version is 1.20.4 and I've selected the Fabric Mod Loader, version 0.15.11 which is recommended. The star symbol (⭐️) denotes a recommended / stable version.
Your new instance should have been created with your options. It will now appear in your instance list:
Adding mods to an instance is incredibly easy with Prism Launcher.
These three tabs are really the only ones you'll end up touching.
They simply let you control what goes into the mods resourcepacks and shaderpacks folders within the instance respectively. Obviously, if you dont have a mod loader installed, then the mods tab will be useless. Likewise, if you dont have shaders installed, then the shaders tab will be useless.
You can add mods by downloading them from Modrinth or CurseForge using Prism Launcher, or you can manually add mod files (.jar) into the instance.
Clicking "Download mods" will make another window pop up where you can search on mod repositories for mods, and Prism Launcher does the magic for you.
No need to individually go to mod sites, download mods, try find your mod folder and see if it works. Prism Launcher automatically does it for you.
You can search for mods, select them, and then download your selected mods. Clicking "Review and confirm" will bring up a new window where you can see all the mods you selected and then download them automatically. Their dependencies will also download automatically.
Clicking "OK" will close the review dialog and the download mod window, bringing you back to the instance information window.
You can search for mods, select them, and then download your selected mods. Clicking "Review and confirm" will bring up a new window where you can see all the mods you selected and then download them automatically. Their dependencies will also download automatically.