How to Add a Web Map to Your Minecraft Server with BlueMap (and Dynmap)
BlueMap renders your Minecraft world in 3D and shows it on a web page: anyone with the address can explore it from the browser, without joining the game, and see where every player is. It works on Paper, Purpur, Fabric, Forge and NeoForge. Two things go wrong most often: the port (the map doesn't use the game port) and one line in its config that you have to change by hand.
What you need
BlueMap as a plugin (Paper, Purpur) or as a mod (Fabric, Forge, NeoForge), for your server's Minecraft version. Players don't install anything: the map is viewed in the browser.
A separate port for the map page (8100 by default). At home you have to open it on your router; with a host, the host has to give it to you.
Disk space: the rendered map is stored on the server and grows with how much you've explored.
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Installing it on a NapNodes server
Install BlueMap
In the panel, inside your server, open “Mods & plugins”, search for “BlueMap” and install it. Only versions that work with your server's type and version show up.
Restart once
Click “Restart”. On startup, BlueMap creates its config in plugins/BlueMap/ (Paper and Purpur) or in config/bluemap/ (modded). The console will warn that it can't start until you accept the download: that's expected.
Accept the download
In “Files”, open core.conf and change accept-download: false to accept-download: true. That confirms you own Minecraft and lets BlueMap download the game's textures from Mojang, which it needs to draw the map.
Check your extra port
Every NapNodes Minecraft server comes with a second port, meant for a web map or a voice chat. It's under “Advanced settings” → “Ports”: the one that isn't the primary. Write down its number.
Put that port in webserver.conf
In the same folder, open webserver.conf and change port: 8100 to your extra port's number. Save.
Restart and wait for the first render
Click “Restart”. BlueMap starts rendering the world on its own; in the console, the bluemap command shows how far it's got. The first time takes a while (from minutes to hours, depending on how big the world is) and after that it only re-renders what changes.
Opening the map
In the browser, type http://, your server's address, a colon and the extra port. For example http://abcd1234.play.napnodes.com:25570 (with your address and your number). That's the address you give your players.
Type the http:// at the start: the map has no padlock (https), and if the browser tries https first it will say it can't connect.
If it looks empty or patchy at first, that's normal: what hasn't been rendered yet doesn't show. Check again once the first render has finished.
If the map won't load
The page doesn't open: check that webserver.conf has exactly the extra port from “Ports”. If you leave the default 8100, nobody can connect, because that port isn't your server's. Also check the console on startup: BlueMap says which port it opened the web page on.
The browser switches the address to https and fails: type http:// by hand. If it insists, visit napnodes.com once, go back to the map tab and reload.
The page opens but the map is black or has no textures: accept-download: true is missing from core.conf, or BlueMap couldn't download the textures. Change it, save and type bluemap reload in the console.
The console says the port is already in use: another plugin (Simple Voice Chat, for example) has taken it. Right now each server comes with a single extra port, so a web map and voice chat at the same time don't fit: pick one.
Modded servers: if a mod adds blocks, BlueMap tries to draw them with their textures; some may show up as an untextured cube. It doesn't affect the game.
Does it use a lot of RAM or CPU?
The first render uses CPU while it lasts; by default BlueMap uses a single thread so as not to take it away from the game, and it's best to leave it that way. If your world is huge, do it with the server empty or pregenerate it first with Chunky and render afterwards.
As for RAM, not much with a normal world. If the server is already tight, check the RAM guide before blaming the map.
Set a world border (/worldborder set) if you don't want the map and the backups to grow forever: everything explored gets rendered and stored.
What about Dynmap or squaremap?
Dynmap is the classic, in 2D, and it works too: it installs the same way from “Mods & plugins”, and you change its port in plugins/dynmap/configuration.txt, on the webserver-port line (8123 by default), to your extra port.
squaremap is a flat (2D) map designed to be light; on Paper, its port is in plugins/squaremap/config.yml. If you only want a top-down view of where everything is and the server is tight, it's a good option.
Pick one: running all three at once makes them fight over the port and triples the work.
Frequently asked questions
What port does BlueMap use?
8100 by default, separate from the game port. With a host you have to change it in webserver.conf to a port the host gives you; on NapNodes it's the extra port under “Advanced settings” → “Ports”.
Why isn't BlueMap rendering anything?
It's almost always that accept-download: true hasn't been set in core.conf. Without it BlueMap doesn't download the game's textures and can't draw. Change it and type bluemap reload in the console.
Do players have to install anything?
No. The map opens in the browser with the server address and the map port, for example http://yourserver.play.napnodes.com:25570.
BlueMap or Dynmap?
BlueMap if you want the map in 3D; Dynmap if you already know it or want its classic 2D view. They install the same way and both need their own separate port.
Can I have a web map and Simple Voice Chat at the same time?
Each one needs its own port. On NapNodes every Minecraft server comes with one extra port, so for now it's one or the other.
Shall we set it up for you?
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