BetterVanilla ✨ SMP All-in-One

A lightweight, drop-in plugin built for cozy SMP servers with friends. BetterVanilla layers modern quality-of-life upgrades onto 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.

Tested on Paper 1.21.10 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 make day-to-day play smoother. Everything ships in one polished plugin you can drop in and go.

Highlights

Player-Focused Features

• 🧭 Waypoints – Add, share, and filter public or private waypoints with GUI navigation and particle trails.
• 🎒 Backpacks – Carry expandable storage with configurable rows and pages.
• ⛏️ Vein Miner & Tree Chopper – Sneak-break to harvest entire ore veins or tree trunks instantly.
• 💀 Death Points & Chests – Track every death, teleport back, and safely reclaim your belongings.
• ✨ Chest Sorting – Right-click outside inventories to auto-organize loot.
• 🧰 Settings Menu – Toggle personal QoL options in an in-game UI.
• 🎨 Colored Chat & Mentions – Use & color codes and ping friends with @name.
• 📬 Private Messages – Chat directly with /msg and reply quickly using /r.
• 🪧 Sign Colors – Decorate signs with vibrant color codes.
• 👀 Inventory Viewer – Peek inside another player’s inventory when permitted.
• ⏱️ Timer – Global stopwatch with resume, pause, reset, and set commands.
• 🕒 Playtime – View detailed play history with AFK tracking for yourself or other players.
• 📶 Ping – Check personal or remote player latency.
• 📊 Dynamic Tab List – Live header/footer surfaces world day, weather, online counts, personal playtime, ping, TPS, and MSPT, while nameplates add AFK tags, death totals, and respect vanish.
• 📍 Action-Bar Location – Display live XYZ coordinates in your HUD.
• 🧭 Bossbar Compass – Minimal directional overlay in the boss bar.
• 🪑 Sittable Stairs – Sit on stairs with an empty hand.
• 🪑 Sit Anywhere – Use /sit to plop down on any solid block and stand with Shift.
• 🌧️ Sleep to Clear Weather – Skip rain and fast-forward the day by sleeping.
• 🧚 Navigation Particles – Follow a beam and optional trail during waypoint navigation.
• 🌾 Crop Protection – Prevent farmland trampling.
• 🌱 Right-Click Harvest – Harvest and replant crops with a single interaction.
• 📖 Help – Built-in /help overview of every command.

Admin & Server Tools

• 🛠️ Admin Settings Menu – Configure every feature live from the GUI.
• 🗝️ Permissions System – Manage groups and users with hot-reload via /permissions.
• 💤 AFK Protection – Shield idle players from damage, movement, and collisions.
• 🧭 Waypoint Management – Review and edit public/private waypoints with dedicated staff tools.
• 🫥 Vanish Mode – Hide from players and tab lists with /vanish.
• 🔨 Moderation Toolkit – Kick, ban, mute, unmute, and unban directly in-game.
• 📣 Server MOTD – Edit the server list message from the admin menu.
• 🧭 Locator Bar Gamerule - Flip the /gamerule locatorBar setting across every world without leaving the GUI.
• 🚧 Maintenance Mode – Toggle server access with custom messaging and bypass support.

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

• /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.
• /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.
• /help – View all available commands pulled directly from plugin.yml.

Admin & Moderation

• /adminhelp - List key staff commands (bettervanilla.adminhelp).
• /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>
  • 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
• ✨ Navigation particles
• 🧹 Chest sorting toggle
• ⛏️ Vein miner toggle with per-player limits
• 🪓 Vein chopper toggle with per-player limits

Admin Settings

• 🚧 Maintenance mode and custom message
• 💣 Creeper block damage toggle
• 🔭 End travel toggle
• 🔥 Nether travel toggle
• 🌧️ Sleeping rain skip
• 📣 Server MOTD editor
• 🧭 Locator bar gamerule toggle
• 💤 AFK protection toggle and AFK timeout
• 🌾 Crop protection
• 🌱 Right-click harvest
• 🎒 Backpack availability, page count, and row count
• ⛏️ Vein miner global options (limits, tools, blocks, sound)
• 🪓 Vein chopper global options

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.deathpoints	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.ping	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.sit	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.backpack	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.msg	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.togglelocation	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.togglecompass	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.chestsort	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.veinminer	player, moderator, admin
bettervanilla.veinchopper	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.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.