diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index d6631ec0..01a75d2a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ RUN easy-add --var os=${TARGETOS} --var arch=${TARGETARCH}${TARGETVARIANT} \
   --var version=${MC_SERVER_RUNNER_VERSION} --var app=mc-server-runner --file {{.app}} \
   --from ${GITHUB_BASEURL}/itzg/{{.app}}/releases/download/{{.version}}/{{.app}}_{{.version}}_{{.os}}_{{.arch}}.tar.gz
 
-ARG MC_HELPER_VERSION=1.53.4
+
+ARG MC_HELPER_VERSION=1.54.0
 ARG MC_HELPER_BASE_URL=${GITHUB_BASEURL}/itzg/mc-image-helper/releases/download/${MC_HELPER_VERSION}
 # used for cache busting local copy of mc-image-helper
 ARG MC_HELPER_REV=1
diff --git a/scripts/start-deployNeoForge b/scripts/start-deployNeoForge
index 61e96f07..b4fa1067 100644
--- a/scripts/start-deployNeoForge
+++ b/scripts/start-deployNeoForge
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 : "${NEOFORGE_VERSION:=latest}"
 : "${NEOFORGE_FORCE_REINSTALL:=false}}"
+: "${NEOFORGE_INSTALLER:=}"
 
 # shellcheck source=start-utils
 . "${SCRIPTS:-$(dirname "$0")}/start-utils"
@@ -9,14 +10,19 @@ isDebugging && set -x
 
 resultsFile=/data/.run-neoforge.env
 
-if ! mc-image-helper install-neoforge \
+if [[ ${NEOFORGE_INSTALLER} ]]; then
+  if ! mc-image-helper install-neoforge --neoforge-installer="${NEOFORGE_INSTALLER}" --output-directory=/data --results-file=${resultsFile} --minecraft-version="${VERSION}" --force-reinstall="${NEOFORGE_FORCE_REINSTALL}"; then
+    logError "Failed to installForge given installer ${NEOFORGE_INSTALLER}"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+elif ! mc-image-helper install-neoforge \
   --output-directory=/data \
   --results-file=${resultsFile} \
   --minecraft-version="${VERSION}" \
   --neoforge-version="${NEOFORGE_VERSION}" \
   --force-reinstall="${NEOFORGE_FORCE_REINSTALL}"; then
-    logError "Failed to install NeoForge"
-    exit 1
+  logError "Failed to install NeoForge"
+  exit 1
 fi
 
 applyResultsFile ${resultsFile}