So I created a forger server, all the mods work and I can play with them the only problem I have is I cannot craft any of the items, I know it's not a vanilla server because I installed the forge server client, did everything i need to do in the server files, port forwarded, etc. When I go into single player I can craft the items just fine.

through direct connect, im not sure how else to do it. It's only me and one other person on it

oh just like going into minecraft and pressing multiplayer and doing the direct connect instead of just adding a server, i tried to add the server but it didn't work. I used my IPV4 address and they used my IP address for the direct connect

 

oh well i used forge, installed the server profile, ran the server properties, changed the eula to true, ran it again, then i port forwarded, then whenever i go on the server i just double click on minecraft_server.1.12.2 and it starts it. then to stop it i 

type stop in the chat in the server window

im not sure if this helps at all but this is what i have running while we are playing