Simple setup instructions, server environment requirements, and crucial technical limitations for NBContest.

Installation Guide

Setting up NBContest on your Minecraft server is straightforward. The plugin runs completely standalone but can hook into external plugins to enhance displays.

Server Requirements

Before uploading the plugin, verify that your hosting environment meets the following baseline conditions:

Platform Compatibility :
- Paper or Purpur (highly recommended for performance and async features).
- Spigot (fully supported).
Minecraft Version : Supports 1.18.2 up to 1.21.x (and newer).
Java Version :
- Java 17 or higher is required.
- Note: If you are running Minecraft 1.20.5 or higher, Java 21 is required by the server software.
Dependencies :
- None! The plugin runs natively out-of-the-box.
- [Optional] PlaceholderAPI : Highly recommended if you want to display contest variables, scores, or top rankings in custom menus, tablists, or hologram configurations.

Steps to Install

Follow these steps to deploy the plugin on your server:

Download the latest compiled .jar file from one of our official pages:
- Modrinth Releases
- SpigotMC Page
Upload the downloaded .jar file into your server's plugins/ directory.
Restart your Minecraft server to load the plugin and generate the default configurations:
- This creates the plugins/NBContest/ directory containing config.yml and messages.yml.

Local Testing We strongly recommend setting up a local development server to test your scheduled hours, reward command triggers, and translation overrides before deploying them to your active production server.

Avoid Server Reloads (/reload) Do not use Spigot's native /reload or /rl command on production. Reloading the server can lead to severe memory leaks, corrupt active challenge scores, and break hooks with other plugins.

Safe Method: To update configurations or messages in real-time, execute /nbcontest reload (permission: nbcontest.admin). This safely restarts the scheduler and reloads files without impacting the server.

Native Technical Limitations

When designing custom scoreboards or action bar layouts inside your configuration files, keep these Minecraft-specific rendering constraints in mind:

1. Action Bar Color Codes

Due to internal Minecraft client limitations, action bar texts do not support modern MiniMessage components (such as <gradient:...> or <#HEX>).

Rule: You must use legacy color codes (e.g. &e, &f, &a) when editing actionbar.farming, actionbar.fishing, or actionbar.mobs in your messages.yml.

2. Scoreboard Line-Length Limits

The Minecraft sidebar scoreboard has a rigid limit of 40 characters per line on older client versions.

Rule: Keep your scoreboard.top-line and other scoreboard values relatively short.
Fallback: The plugin has a built-in safety mechanic that automatically truncates any scoreboard lines exceeding 40 characters to prevent server-side errors or client crashes, but manual planning is recommended to avoid words getting cut off.

Installation