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The End is the most single-use dimension on a multiplayer server. The first player to reach an End Ship takes the elytra; everyone after them finds an empty frame and gutted chests.
The usual fix is to swap the ship's item frame for a vault block, then push a datapack and a key item onto every player. BetterEnd doesn't touch the item frame. The elytra stays exactly where Mojang put it, players punch it exactly like they always have — and every player gets their own.
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| First player takes the only elytra | Per-player claims straight from the vanilla item frame |
| Elytra vaults need a datapack + key item | Nothing extra — no datapack, no dependencies, no resource pack |
| First player also empties every chest | Per-player container loot, Lootr-style |
| Griefers strip the towers and ship | Bounds-based protection per structure piece |
| Cities never come back | Snapshots — restore blocks on demand or each loot refresh |
| Setup overhead per city | Auto-discovery — cities register themselves from the server's structure data |
There isn't any. Drop the jar in plugins/, restart, done — auto-discovery, per-player elytras, per-player loot and protection are all on by default.
1. Drop BetterEnd-x.y.z.jar into plugins/
2. Restart
3. There is no step 3
Cities register themselves as their chunks load, using the server's own structure data for exact bounds — ships included. Want to change something? /betterend opens a menu, or /betterend setup walks you through every setting in plain words in about two minutes. You never have to open a config file.
- Renewable elytra item frames — punching the ship's frame (vanilla pick-up) puts a fresh elytra in your inventory while the frame, and its elytra, stays for the next player. Frames are protected from breaking and non-player damage; player-placed frames are never touched.
- Claim modes — once per ship (default), re-claimable after each loot refresh, or once per player across the whole server.
- Optional claim cost — free by default, or charge any item, custom/NBT items from other plugins included. Pick it from your own inventory in-game; the amount slider clamps to that item's max stack size.
- Floating hint above the ship frame showing the cost, or "Punch to claim" when it's free.
- Auto-discovery — End Cities register themselves as chunks load, at their exact structure bounds. Active immediately, no approval step. A startup sweep catches cities already loaded when the plugin enables.
- Per-player container loot — every player who opens a city container gets their own private copy, on a lazy per-city refresh timer so cities never all refresh at once. Player-placed chests keep vanilla behaviour.
- Griefing protection — towers, bridges and the ship are protected from breaking, placing and explosions. The void between pieces stays fully buildable, so builders aren't fenced out of the island.
- Structure snapshots — captured automatically on discovery, restorable on demand (
/betterend reset) or automatically on each loot refresh (opt-in). - Dialog config menu —
/betterendopens native MC26 dialogs with sliders, toggles and choice buttons. Every change applies live and is written back toconfig.yml. - Guided setup tour —
/betterend setup, one setting per screen. Ops get a one-time reminder on join until it's completed or skipped.
How per-player loot actually works — the refresh window, explained
Each city runs its own refresh cycle, and it's lazy — nothing ticks in the background:
- The first player to loot a city with no active cycle starts a fresh window for that city.
- Every player who opens a container during the window sees their own private copy of its contents.
- When the window elapses, the next player to loot triggers the refresh — all copies are cleared and a new window opens.
The default window is 12 hours (loot.refresh-hours). Set it to 0 to never refresh, and per-player copies persist indefinitely.
Because the cycle is per-city and starts on first use, a hundred discovered cities don't all refresh at the same moment, and cities nobody visits cost nothing.
Protection details — why the void between towers stays buildable
Protection is bounds-based per structure piece, not one big region around the city. Any block inside a generated piece — tower, bridge, ship — is protected regardless of block type, and each piece is expanded by a small padding (default 3 blocks) to cover edge decoration and a thin shell.
The result: griefers can't strip the towers, but the empty space between pieces is still yours to build in. Ops with betterend.bypass.protection build freely, and a denied break or place shows an action-bar message rather than failing silently.
Explosion protection (creepers, TNT, others) is on by default and can be toggled independently of block-break protection.
Snapshots & resets — bringing a looted city back
A gzip block snapshot is captured automatically when a city is discovered, so a reset target always exists without a manual step. A hard cell cap (default ~3M, far above any real city) protects memory on pathological structures.
/betterend reset <id>restores the blocks and gives everyone fresh loot.snapshot.auto-reset-on-refreshdoes the same automatically on each loot refresh. It's off by default — a restore rewrites blocks and can be disruptive if players are standing inside./betterend resetloot <id> <player>re-rolls loot for one player without touching blocks./betterend clearclaims <id>makes the ship's elytra claimable again by everyone.
Technical — Folia, dual database, AntiDupe integration
- Folia support — scheduler calls are routed to the regional schedulers; also runs on Paper and Purpur.
- Dual database — SQLite (default, zero setup) or MySQL with connection pooling.
- Written in Kotlin with coroutines; discovery, snapshots and database work stay off the main thread.
- BetterAntiDupe integration — claimed elytras are pre-stamped with the claimer's ownership tag when BetterAntiDupe is installed, so renewable elytras don't trip duplicate detection. The cost picker also warns when you choose a tracked material.
- Excluded worlds —
discovery.excluded-worldsleaves a second End-type world completely vanilla.
| Requirement | Version |
|---|---|
| Minecraft | 26.1+ |
| Server | Paper, Folia, or Purpur |
| Java | 25+ |
Note: BetterEnd is 26.x only. It uses the native Dialog API and the server's structure data directly, neither of which exists on 1.21.x — there is no 1.21 build. If you're on 1.21, this plugin won't load.
Dependencies: none. No datapack, no library plugin, no resource pack.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/betterend |
Config menu (native dialogs) |
/betterend setup |
Guided first-time setup tour |
/betterend list |
List discovered End Cities |
/betterend info <id> |
City details |
/betterend tp <id> |
Teleport to a city |
/betterend snapshot <id> |
Capture the structure for restoration |
/betterend reset <id> |
Restore blocks + fresh loot for everyone |
/betterend resetloot <id> <player> |
Let one player loot the city fresh |
/betterend clearclaims <id> |
Make the ship's elytra claimable again by everyone |
/betterend delete <id> |
Unregister a city |
/betterend reload |
Reload config.yml |
Permissions
| Permission | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
betterend.admin |
Admin commands + config menu | OP |
betterend.bypass.protection |
Build/break inside protected structures | OP |
betterend.discovery.notify |
Notice when a city is discovered | OP |
Essential Configuration
Defaults work out of the box — and everything here is editable in-game via /betterend. The settings servers actually tweak:
elytra:
claim-mode: per-ship # per-ship | per-refresh | global
cost:
amount: 0 # 0 = free. Pick the item in-game.
loot:
enabled: true # per-player container loot
refresh-hours: 12 # 0 = never refresh
protection:
enabled: true
piece-padding: 3 # blocks to expand each structure piece by
snapshot:
auto-capture: true # snapshot on discovery
auto-reset-on-refresh: false # also restore blocks each refresh
discovery:
enabled: true
excluded-worlds: [] # leave a second End world fully vanilla- Discord — support, announcements, feature requests.
- GitHub Issues — bug reports.
- Source Code — source-available, non-commercial.
- Survival & SMP servers — the End stops being a race won once, on day three.
- Long-running worlds — cities that reset are cities worth revisiting.
- Anarchy-adjacent / open-build servers — protection that covers the structure without fencing off the island.
- Anyone tired of empty item frames.
Paper 26.1+ · Folia · Java 25+ · No dependencies
Made with Kotlin by darkstarworks
This plugin is free and actively maintained.
If you have questions or would like to just say Hi, come join the Discord.
Rather stay silent? (Anonymous) donations are also VERY welcome: https://ko-fi.com/darkstarworks
