Crates on Your Minecraft Server: Key Crates and Rewards

What you need

A Paper server (or Spigot, Purpur): crates are plugins. On NapNodes, Minecraft servers are delivered on Paper, on the latest version. Players don't have to install anything.

ExcellentCrates is free and almost everything is set up from an in-game editor, with menus instead of files. It needs another library by the same author, nightcore, and its current versions require Minecraft 1.21.8 or newer with Java 21. For the hologram above the crate, according to its documentation, you also need PacketEvents or ProtocolLib.

If you want opening a crate to cost in-game coins, you also need an economy plugin (EssentialsX, for example) and Vault. For crates that only open with a key, they aren't needed.

Installing ExcellentCrates

1. Make a backup

   In the panel, «Backups». If you're on the free server, which has no backups, first compress the world folder in «Files» and download it.

2. Find it in «Mods & plugins»

   Search for ExcellentCrates and install it: the panel only shows what works for your version and installs it with its dependencies. If nightcore doesn't show up afterwards in «Installed», search for it and install it too.

3. Restart

   With «Restart». On startup the plugins/ExcellentCrates folder appears, with a crates subfolder where each crate is saved in its own file.

Creating the crate, step by step

Everything is done in game, with an account that is op (in «Console», op YourName, without the slash). The editor opens with /crates editor; /excellentcrates is the same command with its long name.

1. Create the crate

   In the editor, «Crates» and the button to create a new one. It asks for the name in chat: only plain letters, numbers and underscores, for example vote or daily. That name is the one you'll use in commands.

2. Add the rewards

   Inside the crate, the rewards section. Each reward can be an item (the one in your hand, with its name and enchantments) or a command that runs when it's won, like giving coins or a temporary rank. Each one has its chance: a few good rewards with a low chance and lots of ordinary ones.

3. Create the key

   In the editor's key manager, a new key, and assign it to the crate. It can be physical (an item in the inventory, which can be dropped or traded between players) or virtual (stored on the player's account and can't be passed to anyone).

4. Place it at spawn

   Place the block that will be the crate (a chest, a barrel, an ender chest) and, in the crate editor, the linked block button: then click that block. If the hologram with particles appears, it's linked.

5. Test it

   Give yourself a key with /crates key give YourName daily 1 (the last name is your key's) and open it. /crates preview daily shows the preview: the rewards that can come out and their chances.

How to hand out keys

The key is what brings people back, so think first about how it's earned. What works best on small servers:

1. For voting

   If your server is on server lists, each vote can give a key. NuVotifier only receives the vote; the reward is given by a plugin like VotingPlugin, which runs the /crates key give command with the voter's name. How to set up votes is in the guide to getting players.

2. At events

   At the end of a build contest, a race or a game night, /crates key giveall daily 1 gives a key to every online player. It's the easiest way to get people to join in.

3. For playing

   With a playtime rewards plugin, a key every so many hours. Not too often: if everyone has twenty keys, they stop being worth anything.

4. For staff

   So a moderator can give keys without being op, with LuckPerms: lp user Name permission set excellentcrates.command.key.give true.

Which rewards to offer (and which not)

A crate that hands out stacks of diamonds sinks the server's economy in a week: if everyone has netherite armour, nothing is worth anything. The rewards that hold up best are the ones that feel good but don't break the game: decorative heads, named items, small amounts of coins, a title or a name colour, a key to another crate, food or ordinary materials.

Leave one or two rare, eye-catching rewards with a very low chance: those are the ones people show off in chat when they get them. And use the preview so everyone can see what can come out and how likely it is.

Selling keys for real money is another matter. Mojang's usage guidelines for servers don't allow selling in-game advantages, and paid random rewards are delicate ground. If you plan to charge for anything, read those guidelines on minecraft.net first; with keys earned by playing there's no problem.

If something doesn't work

If the plugin doesn't start, check the «Console» when restarting: it's almost always that nightcore is missing or the version isn't the one for your Minecraft. If the crate doesn't open when clicked, the block isn't linked (go back to the linked block button) or the player doesn't have that crate's key. If the hologram doesn't show, PacketEvents or ProtocolLib is missing.

Crates are saved in plugins/ExcellentCrates/crates, each in its own file. To take them to another server, download that folder from «Files» and upload it to the new one.

There are other crate plugins, like CrazyCrates, which you set up by writing files instead of with an editor. Only use one at a time.

How it's done on NapNodes

ExcellentCrates and its dependencies install from «Mods & plugins», console commands are typed in «Console» and files are edited in «Files», with no extra programs. Your plan's RAM is yours alone, with no overselling, so a spawn with crates, holograms and people opening them at once doesn't compete with other people's servers.

To try it, you can start with the free server and move it to a plan once you have regular players.

Frequently asked questions