BetterVanilla SMP

BetterVanilla ✨ SMP All-in-One

A lightweight, drop-in plugin built for cozy SMP servers with friends. BetterVanilla adds modern quality-of-life upgrades to a vanilla Paper server—no client mods or loaders required.

👑 Core Feature: Configure every player and server toggle through the in-game `/settings` menu and jump straight to the full settings guide when you need the details.

GitHub release

MIT license

Tested on Paper 1.21.11 and newer.

Table of Contents

- Why BetterVanilla? - Highlights - Installation - Commands - Settings - Permissions - Contributing - License

Why BetterVanilla?

Your SMP deserves more than plain vanilla. BetterVanilla keeps the familiar Minecraft feel while adding carefully scoped tools that reduce admin busywork and smooth out day-to-day play. Everything ships in one polished plugin you can drop in and go.

Highlights

Player-Focused Features

- 🧭 Help - Add, share, and filter public or private waypoints with visibility cycling, GUI navigation, optional particle trails, plus auto-cancel and reach-radius controls. - 🎒 Help - Carry expandable storage with configurable rows and pages. - ⛏️ Help - Sneak-break to harvest entire ore veins or tree trunks instantly. - 💀 Help - Track every death, teleport back, and safely reclaim your belongings. - 🧠 Help - Browse decorative heads by category, search instantly, and preview icons in the GUI. - ✨ Help - Right-click outside inventories to auto-organize loot with selectable sort modes. - 🔁 Help - Automatically refill empty hotbar slots with matching items using global and per-player toggles. - 🏷️ Help - Set a custom name tag from the settings menu, including color selection. - 🧰 Help - Toggle personal QoL options in an in-game UI. - 🎨 Help - Use `&` color codes and ping friends with `@name`. - 📬 Help - Chat directly with `/msg` and reply quickly using `/r`. - 🪧 Help - Decorate signs with vibrant color codes. - 👀 Help - Peek inside another player’s inventory when permitted. - ⏱️ Help - Global stopwatch with resume, pause, reset, and set commands. - 🕒 Help - View detailed play history with AFK tracking for yourself or other players. - 📶 Help - Check personal or remote player latency. - 📍 Help - Share your current location with `/here` (alias `/coords`). - 📊 Help - Live header/footer shows day/time, moon phase, weather, online counts, personal playtime, ping, TPS, and MSPT, while nameplates add AFK tags, death totals, and respect vanish. - 📍 Help - Display live XYZ coordinates in your HUD. - 🧭 Help - Minimal directional overlay in the boss bar. - 🪑 Help - Sit on stairs with an empty hand. - 🪑 Help - Use `/sit` to plop down on any solid block and stand with Shift. - 🌧️ Help - Skip rain and fast-forward the day by sleeping. - 🧚 Help - Follow a beam and optional trail during waypoint navigation. - 🌾 Help - Prevent farmland trampling. - 🌱 Help - Harvest and replant crops with a single interaction. - 🚪 Help - Sync state across connected double doors. - 📖 Help - Built-in `/help` overview of every command.

Admin & Server Tools

- 🛠️ Remote Settings Access - Configure every feature live from the GUI. - 🗝️ Remote Settings Access - Manage groups and users with hot-reload via `/permissions`. - 💤 Remote Settings Access - Shield idle players from damage, movement, and collisions. - 🧭 Remote Settings Access - Review and edit public/private waypoints with dedicated staff tools. - 🫥 Remote Settings Access - Hide from players, tab lists, join/leave messages, the server list, and AFK timers with `/vanish`. - ⚰️ Remote Settings Access - Switch global deathchests on or off without leaving the GUI. - 🔨 Remote Settings Access - Kick, ban, mute, unmute, and unban directly in-game. - 🧩 Remote Settings Access - Manage predefined crafting recipes. - 🧠 Remote Settings Access - Enable/disable the explorer, set the API key, and refresh cached data. - 📣 Remote Settings Access - Edit the server list message from the admin menu. - 🧭 Remote Settings Access - Flip the `/gamerule locatorBar` setting across every world without leaving the GUI. - 🛌 Remote Settings Access - Set the `playersSleepingPercentage` gamerule from the admin menu. - 🚧 Remote Settings Access - Toggle server access with custom messaging and bypass support. - 🧾 Remote Settings Access - Control whether custom recipes are synced to players. - 🧰 Remote Settings Access - Admins can open player settings menus for other online players.

Custom Crafting Recipes

💡 Invisible Light Source

Craft an invisible light block that emits light at level 15.

##### 🧾 Default Recipe

| Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | | ------ | --------- | ------ | | empty | torch | empty | | torch | glowstone | torch | | empty | torch | empty |

🖼️ Invisible Item Frame

Craft an invisible item frame that becomes invisible once an item is placed inside.

##### 🧾 Default Recipe

| Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | | ------ | ---------- | ------ | | glass | glass | glass | | glass | item frame | glass | | glass | glass | glass |

Installation

``` 1. Download the latest BetterVanilla release jar. 2. Drop it into your server's plugins/ folder. 3. Restart the server and you are ready to go! ```

Commands

Core Command

- `/settings` - Open your personal settings dashboard. Admins can enter the full server control panel from here, making it the fastest way to tweak any BetterVanilla feature. See everything it unlocks.

Player Utilities

- `/settings` - Open the settings GUI for players. - `/waypoints` - Open the waypoint GUI. Use `player <name>` or `coords <x> <y> <z>` for direct navigation. - `/backpack` - Open your personal backpack storage. - `/deathpoints` - Manage recent death locations and teleport back via GUI. - `/heads` - Open the heads explorer GUI. - `/playtime [player]` - Show detailed playtime (AFK included) for you or another player. - `/ping [player]` - Check network latency for yourself or another player. - `/sit` - Sit on any solid block; sneak to stand up. - `/msg <player> <message>` - Send a private message. Alias: `/message`. - `/r <message>` - Reply to the last private message. - `/here` - Broadcast your current location. Aliases: `/coords`, `/h`. - `/help` - View all available commands pulled directly from `plugin.yml`.

Admin & Moderation

- `/adminhelp` - List key staff commands. - `/settings` - Open the settings GUI for players and admins. - `/invsee <player>` - Inspect another player’s inventory. - `/timer <resume|pause|reset|set>` - Control the global timer. - `/vanish` - Toggle vanish mode with movement safeguards. - `/kick`, `/ban`, `/unban`, `/mute`, `/unmute` - Moderation toolset with duration parsing (e.g. `1d2h30m`). - `/permissions` - Manage groups and assignments: - `group addperm <group> <permission>` - `group removeperm <group> <permission>` - `group delete <group>` - `user addperm <player> <permission>` - `user removeperm <player> <permission>` - `user setgroup <player> <group>` - `default <group>` - Sets the default group for all players - `assignments` - Show current group and user mapping - `list` - Display built-in permission nodes - `reload` - Reload configuration and refresh online players

Settings

Player Settings

- 📍 Action-bar location HUD - 🧭 Bossbar compass overlay - 🏷️ Player tag (name tag color + text) - ⏲️ Action-bar timer overlay toggle - ✨ Navigation particles - 🧭 Navigation auto-cancel - 📏 Navigation reach radius - 🧹 Chest sorting toggle - 🧺 Inventory sort mode - 👁️ Waypoint visibility filter - 🔁 Item restock automation toggle - 🚪 Double Door Sync - ⛏️ Vein miner toggle with per-player limits - 🪓 Vein chopper toggle with per-player limits

Admin Settings

- 🚧 Maintenance mode and custom message - 💣 Creeper explosion protection toggle (blocks + entities) - 🔭 End travel toggle - 🔥 Nether travel toggle - 🌧️ Sleeping rain skip - 🛌 Players sleeping percentage gamerule - 📣 Server MOTD editor - 🧭 Locator bar gamerule toggle - 💤 AFK protection toggle and AFK timeout - 🏷️ Player tags global toggle - ⚰️ Deathchest toggle - 🔁 Item restock automation defaults and global toggle - 🌾 Crop protection - 🌱 Right-click harvest - 🎒 Backpack availability, page count, and row count - ⛏️ Vein miner global options (limits, tools, blocks, sound) - 🪓 Vein chopper global options - 🧠 Heads explorer (enable, API key, refresh) - 🧾 Recipe sync toggle

Minecraft Heads Explorer

This plugin now features a built-in Minecraft Heads Explorer, powered by Minecraft-Heads.

Permissions

Built-in Groups

- `player` - default fallback that grants all player-facing QoL features such as `/settings`, waypoints, backpacks, and automation toggles. - `moderator` - inherits the player group and adds moderation, vanish, inventory viewing, and timer controls. - `admin` - includes every BetterVanilla permission, covering server maintenance, admin settings, and permission management. - Use `/permissions default <group>` (e.g. `/permissions default player`) to choose which group new players fall back to. Switching the default moves existing players that still belonged to the previous default.

| Permission | Included in | | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------ | | `bettervanilla.settings` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.playtime` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.waypoints` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.here` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.deathpoints` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.ping` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.sit` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.backpack` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.heads` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.msg` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.togglelocation` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.togglecompass` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.actionbartimer` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.chestsort` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.doubledoor` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.veinminer` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.veinchopper` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.itemrestock` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.tag` | player, moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.adminhelp` | moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.vanish` | moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.invsee` | moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.moderation` | moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.timer` | moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.waypoints.admin` | moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.tag.admin` | moderator, admin | | `bettervanilla.permissions` | admin | | `bettervanilla.maintenance.bypass` | admin | | `bettervanilla.adminsettings` | admin |

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! If you find a bug or have an idea, open an issue with reproduction steps, logs, or screenshots so we can help quickly.

License

Distributed under the MIT License.