Skins on Your Minecraft Server: Change Skins with SkinsRestorer

What SkinsRestorer does and who needs it

SkinsRestorer stores which skin each player wears on your server and shows it to everyone else. It's installed only on the server: players don't download anything, they get the skin from the server like any other.

On a normal server (premium, with “Official Minecraft accounts only” turned on) everyone already sees their own skin. The plugin is for changing it just there: costumes for an event, each player's role skin on a roleplay server, or the same skin for a whole team, without touching the one on their account.

On an offline-mode server it's almost a must. Without verified accounts the server doesn't know anyone's skin and everyone shows up with the default ones. What happens when you turn that check off, and why AuthMe is worth having, is in the offline-mode server guide.

Installing it

There's a plugin (for Paper, Spigot and Purpur) and two separate mods (Fabric and NeoForge); they don't mix: the plugin doesn't go in the mods folder. At NapNodes Minecraft servers are delivered on Paper, so it's the plugin.

1. Search for it in “Mods & plugins”

   Type SkinsRestorer and click “Install”. The panel only shows what works for your Minecraft version and your server type, so if it shows up, it's the right one (on Fabric or NeoForge it offers you the mod).

2. Restart the server

   On startup it creates plugins/SkinsRestorer with its config.yml. Check in “Console” that there's no SkinsRestorer error. Don't use /reload to install plugins: it leaves the server half-loaded.

3. Test it

   Join and type /skin set Notch (or the name of any Minecraft account). Ask another player to look at you: your own view sometimes takes longer. Leave and join again: the skin stays.

The commands you'll use most

/skin set Name gives you that Minecraft account's skin (/skin Name works too). It's the quickest way: if a friend or a creator has the skin you want, their name is enough.

/skin clear removes the one you picked and you go back to your account's (or the server's default). /skin undo goes back to the previous one and /skin history shows the last ones you've worn.

/skin update fetches the skin again from the account you copied it from, in case its owner has changed it since.

/skins (or /skin menu) opens a menu with the available skins to pick with the mouse. /skin favourite saves the one you're wearing to your favourites (British spelling, with a u) and /skin favourites shows them.

Between one change and the next you have to wait 30 seconds (that's the default: commands.skinChangeCooldown in config.yml). If the command tells you to wait, it's not an error.

Wearing your own skin from a PNG

If the skin doesn't belong to any account (you drew it or downloaded it), the server needs an address for that image already prepared by Mojang. SkinsRestorer handles it with its upload page.

1. Open the upload page

   On skinsrestorer.net/upload, “Browse files” and pick your PNG (the normal 64×64 skin template, not a screenshot; up to 5 MB).

2. Pick the model

   Classic (4-pixel arms, like Steve) or Slim (3-pixel, like Alex). If you get it wrong, stripes or gaps show up on the arms: generate it again with the other one.

3. Generate the command

   Click “Generate /skin url” and copy the whole command, quotes included: it looks like /skin url "…" classic.

4. Paste it in the game chat

   Wait for the message saying it's been changed. The page doesn't connect to your server: it only prepares the command, you apply it.

Skins on an offline-mode server

With “Official Minecraft accounts only” turned off (online-mode=false), SkinsRestorer checks on join whether there's a Minecraft account with the player's name and, if there is, gives them its skin. Anyone playing with a name that belongs to nobody gets the default one until they use /skin set or /skin url.

So nobody shows up as Steve, set default skins. Create one with a name from the console, without the slash: sr createcustom start Name (from an account) or with the address the upload page gives you, in quotes and with classic or slim after it. Then, in plugins/SkinsRestorer/config.yml, under storage → defaultSkins, set enabled: true and add it to list. If you add several, each player gets one at random. Save and type sr reload in “Console”.

If someone says everyone sees it fine except them, the culprit is usually their launcher: some unofficial launchers bring their own skin system and cover the one the server sends. Have them turn it off in their launcher (or try the official one). On join, SkinsRestorer warns about this once; it goes away with /skin notification ignore-cracked-client, but hiding the warning doesn't fix it.

Who can change skins

On Paper, by default, every player can use the normal /skin commands and only ops can use the admin ones (/sr and changing someone else's skin). For most servers, there's nothing to touch.

To take something away from everyone, with LuckPerms from the console: lp group default permission set skinsrestorer.command.set.url false blocks PNG skins (useful if someone wears offensive skins), and adding lp group default permission set skinsrestorer.command.set false too, nobody can pick a skin on their own, for example on a roleplay server where you hand out the skins. You deny the specific permission: that's how SkinsRestorer wants it, because the one everyone gets by default includes them.

So a moderator can change other players' skins without being op: lp group moderator permission set skinsrestorer.admin true. With that, /skin set Name Player changes that player's skin. How to create groups is in the LuckPerms guide.

If the skin doesn't change

1. Look from another player

   If others see you with the new skin, the server set it correctly: the problem is in your game (a mod or a launcher with its own skins). Try the official launcher without mods.

2. Read the command's reply

   “No permission”: check the permissions above. A message telling you to wait: that's the 30-second cooldown. “Skin not found”: the name doesn't belong to any account or you typed it wrong.

3. Check what it has stored

   In “Console”, sr info player Name tells you which skin that player has picked. If it's the right one and doesn't show, leave the server and join again.

4. Look for another plugin that touches names

   Disguise, nickname or NPC plugins also change how a player looks and can override the skin. Turn them off one by one to see which one clashes.

5. Bedrock players

   If they join through Geyser and Floodgate, their skin is their Bedrock account's and SkinsRestorer doesn't look up a Java one for them. What a Bedrock player sees is no good for checking Java skins either.

Frequently asked questions