AverageEssentials

AverageEssentials is a lightweight Java plugin for Hytale servers, built with Gradle, designed to enhance core server functionality with essential tools for player management, communication, and administration.

Features

Chat Management

• Chat Formatting: Automatically formats player chat messages with group-based prefixes. Displays the highest-weighted permission group prefix alongside the player's username and message for a clean, organized chat experience.
• Chat Filtering System: Advanced content moderation with three-tier filtering:
  • Bannable Terms: Automatically ban players who use specified prohibited terms. Players using bannable words are instantly disconnected and permanently banned from the server.
  • Censurable Terms: Automatically censor (replace with ****) specified words while allowing the message to be sent, providing a less disruptive moderation approach.
  • Removable Terms: Silently block messages containing restricted words and notify the player that the message was not allowed. Messages are not sent to other players.
  • Regex Pattern Matching: All filters use case-insensitive regex pattern matching with word boundary detection for accurate and flexible filtering.
• Color Code Support: Parses Minecraft-style color codes (&0-&f for colors, &l for bold) in messages and prefixes for rich text formatting. Optionally disable color codes in chat per configuration.
• Configurable Broadcasting: Scheduled broadcasts with customizable frequency and messages, cycling through a queue for variety.

Administration

• Plugin Management: Provides comprehensive commands to list, load, unload, reload, and manage plugins directly from the server console or in-game.
• Group Management: Allows administrators to set and manage prefixes for permission groups, stored in configurable JSON files.
• Informational Messages: Supports welcome messages for new players, periodic broadcasts to all online players, and dynamic commands for quick information dissemination (e.g., Discord links).

Requirements

• Hytale Server (compatible with core APIs for events, permissions, commands, and messaging)
• Java 8 or higher
• Gradle for building (included in the project)

Installation

1. Download the latest release JAR from the releases section.
2. Place the JAR file in your server's plugins directory.
3. Restart the server to load the plugin.
4. Configure groups, messages, and broadcasts via the generated JSON config files in mods/AverageEssentials/.

Configuration

Chat Filter Configuration (chat.json)

The chat filter is highly configurable and allows administrators to define three levels of content moderation:

{
  "config": {
    "bannableTerms": ["badword1", "badword2"],
    "termsToCensor": ["mildword1", "mildword2"],
    "termsToDisable": ["restrictedword1", "restrictedword2"],
    "allowUsersToUseChatColorCodes": true
  }
}

Configuration Options:

• bannableTerms (String[]): An array of terms that trigger an automatic permanent ban. Players using these words are instantly disconnected and banned. Use this for the most severe violations.

• termsToCensor (String[]): An array of terms that are automatically replaced with **** in chat messages. Messages are still delivered to players. Use this for mild language or spam prevention.

• termsToDisable (String[]): An array of restricted terms whose messages are silently blocked. The sender receives a notification but other players don't see the message. Use this for maintaining topic relevance or preventing specific discussions.

• allowUsersToUseChatColorCodes (Boolean): When true, players can use Minecraft-style color codes (&0-&f, &l, etc.) in their messages. When false, color codes are treated as plain text. Default: true

Filtering Behavior:

• All filters are case-insensitive to catch variations in capitalization
• Uses word boundary detection (word break regex) to match whole words only, preventing false positives (e.g., "test" won't match in "testing")
• Filters are processed in order: Bannable → Removable → Censurable
• If a message triggers a bannable term, it's immediately blocked and the player is banned
• If it triggers a removable term, the message is blocked and the player is notified
• Censurable terms are applied after other checks pass

Group Manager Configuration (group.json)

Configure permission group prefixes for chat formatting:

{
  "groups": {
    "admin": {
      "prefix": "&c[Admin]&r",
      "weight": 100
    },
    "moderator": {
      "prefix": "&6[Mod]&r",
      "weight": 50
    },
    "member": {
      "prefix": "&7[Member]&r",
      "weight": 1
    }
  }
}

• weight: Determines priority when a player has multiple groups. Higher weight = higher priority in chat display.
• prefix: The text displayed before the player's name in chat, supporting color codes.

Building from Source

Clone the repository and run ./gradlew build to compile the plugin.

For more details, visit the project repository or report issues on GitHub.