Quality of Life Plugins for a Minecraft Survival Server

Before installing anything: what Minecraft already does

Several things people look for as a plugin are game rules (gamerules). They're typed in the server console, without the slash, and apply instantly, without restarting. In today's versions (since 1.21.11) they're lowercase with underscores; in old guides you'll see them with other names.

If you like the challenge, don't touch anything: they all make sense as they come. Change them only if they bother your group.

1. One player sleeping makes it day

   gamerule players_sleeping_percentage 1. It's the percentage of online players who have to be in bed; it comes at 100 (everyone). With 1 one is enough; with 50, half. No “one player sleep” plugin needed.

2. No phantoms for not sleeping

   gamerule spawn_phantoms false. Phantoms appear when someone hasn't slept for several nights; with the rule set to false they stop appearing.

3. Keep your inventory on death

   gamerule keep_inventory true. It's all or nothing: you keep everything, experience too. If you'd rather dying cost something, look at graves, further down.

4. Creepers don't break blocks

   gamerule mob_griefing false. Careful: it also affects other things, like villagers collecting crops or sheep eating grass, and some farms stop working.

Graves: your stuff stays where you die

It's the middle ground between losing everything and keep_inventory: when you die a grave appears with your inventory and your experience, protected so only you can open it, and it expires after a while if you don't come back. GravesX is one of the most used and lets you configure how long it lasts, who can open it and whether it shows on the map.

It works well on servers with new players, who are the ones most likely to quit after losing a whole playthrough in lava.

Chopping trees in one go

You break the bottom log and the whole tree falls. There are several: Thizzy'z Tree Feller, TreeFalls or TreeCapitator, for example. Almost all let you choose whether it always works or only while sneaking, with which axes and how many blocks at most, so it doesn't take a log house down with it.

Mining the whole vein

The same idea with ores (vein mining): you mine one iron block and all the touching ones come out. Search for “vein miner” in the plugin list and pick one that's up to date with your version. It's best if it costs durability or hunger, or survival loses its point.

Right-click harvesting

Right-click on ripe wheat, you collect it and the seed replants itself. It saves a lot on big farms. Scythe does this and lets you break the plant as usual if you're sneaking.

Sitting, lying down and crawling

GSit lets you sit on stairs and slabs, lie down and crawl with a command or by clicking. It changes nothing in the game, but on a friends' server it gets used more than you'd think: photos, meetings, roleplay.

What EssentialsX already does

If you have EssentialsX, don't install separate plugins for /home, /back (going back to where you died), /tpa or /spawn: it already includes them. It's all in the EssentialsX guide.

Installing them without breaking anything

1. Check the version

   Each plugin says on its page which Minecraft versions it's for. If it doesn't list your server's, don't install it even if it's a well-known one.

2. Make a backup

   At NapNodes, in the panel's “Backups” (with a plan; the free server has no backups, so download the world from “Files” if you care about it).

3. Install them one at a time

   In the panel's “Mods & plugins” you search Modrinth and CurseForge for only what works for your version, and it installs with its dependencies. One, restart, test; then the next. If something fails, you'll know which one it was.

4. Watch the console on startup

   If a plugin isn't for your version or is missing another one, it says so in “Console” on startup. Whatever isn't on Modrinth or CurseForge is uploaded to the plugins folder from “Files”.

Are they heavy?

None of these keep the server working continuously: they act when someone chops, mines or dies. The only thing worth limiting is the maximum size for tree felling and veins, so nobody brings down a giant jungle tree with hundreds of blocks in one go. If the server feels slow, check the lag guide first before blaming a plugin.

Frequently asked questions