VolatileEntities

VolatileEntities is an ECS-based framework for Hytale that lets you create and manage non-persistent or time-controlled entities, without leaving “garbage” in the world.

It is designed to:

give you fine-grained control over entity lifetime (distance, timeout, owner disconnect, etc.),
automatically clean up entities on server restart,
and even ensure cleanup after your plugin is uninstalled.

Key Features

Automatic non-persistence on restart

Any entity with a VolatileComponent is automatically removed on the very first tick after a server restart, thanks to:

the expiredOnLoad flag handled by the component’s codec (VolatileComponent.CODEC),
and the VolatileTickSystem that kills “loaded-from-disk” volatile entities.

This guarantees that volatile entities never survive a reboot, even if they were saved to disk.

Flexible runtime TTL (while the plugin is running)

Using VolatileConfig and VolatilePolicy, you can precisely control how long an entity should live at runtime:

IDLE_TIMEOUT – despawn after X ticks or seconds of activity,
MAX_DISTANCE – despawn when too far from a linked entity,
LINKED_ENTITY_INVALID – despawn if the linked entity becomes invalid,
CUSTOM – fully custom despawn logic via a predicate on VolatileContext.

All of these are evaluated by VolatileTickSystem while your plugin is loaded.

Policy combination

Policies are not exclusive.

A single volatile entity can combine multiple policies at the same time. The entity will be removed as soon as any policy condition is met.

For example, an entity can:

despawn after 10 seconds of inactivity (IDLE_TIMEOUT),
OR despawn if it moves too far from a target (MAX_DISTANCE),
OR be removed when its owner disconnects (OWNER_DISCONNECT).

This allows you to express complex lifecycles without custom code.

VolatileEntities.builder()
    .withinDistance(targetRef, 30f)
    .idleTimeoutSeconds(10f)
    .ownedBy(playerUuid)
    .spawn(commandBuffer);

Combining Volatile Policies (Example)

This example demonstrates how multiple VolatilePolicy rules can be combined inside a single VolatileConfig.

Policies are not exclusive: an entity can have several lifecycle rules applied at the same time.

The entity will be removed as soon as any policy condition is met.

Example: Chunk-bound entity linked to another entity

VolatileConfig.VolatileConfigBuilder configBuilder = VolatileConfig.builder()
        // Automatically remove the entity when its chunk unloads
        .policy(VolatilePolicy.CHUNK_UNLOAD)

        // Remove immediately as soon as a policy condition becomes invalid
        .removeOnInvalid(true);

// Optionally link this volatile entity to another one (e.g. a mob or NPC)
if (linkedEntity != null) {
        configBuilder
        .policy(VolatilePolicy.LINKED_ENTITY_INVALID)
        .linkedEntity(linkedEntity);
}

VolatileConfig config = configBuilder.build();
return new VolatileComponent(config);

Absolute TTL using Hytale’s `DespawnComponent` (chunk unload/reload safe)

VolatileEntities integrates cleanly with vanilla Hytale systems:

DespawnComponent + DespawnSystem handle absolute, real-time TTL,
the USE_DESPAWN_TTL policy tells VolatileEntities to delegate TTL handling entirely to DespawnComponent.

This means:

TTL is based on real time (TimeResource), not ticks,
chunk unloads / reloads are safe,
if the despawn time is already in the past when the chunk reloads, the entity is removed immediately.

You can therefore choose between:

runtime, online-only TTL (IDLE_TIMEOUT), or
absolute TTL that continues counting even while unloaded (USE_DESPAWN_TTL + DespawnComponent).

Cleanup after plugin uninstall

To solve the classic “entities left behind after removing a mod” problem, VolatileEntities uses a keep-alive pattern:

VolatileDespawnKeepAliveSystem continuously refreshes a vanilla DespawnComponent on volatile entities (except those using USE_DESPAWN_TTL),
while your plugin is installed, the despawn deadline is constantly pushed forward,
once your plugin is removed, the last despawn deadline is eventually reached.

At that point, Hytale’s core DespawnSystem automatically cleans up all remaining volatile entities, even though your plugin is no longer present.

No manual world scans. No orphaned entities.

Advanced policies

In addition to core TTL policies, the framework supports:

CHUNK_UNLOAD – automatically remove volatile entities when their chunk unloads (handled by VolatileChunkUnloadSystem, an EntityEventSystem<ChunkUnloadEvent>).
OWNER_DISCONNECT – mark or remove volatile entities owned by a player when they disconnect (handled by VolatileOwnerDisconnectListener, listening to PlayerDisconnectEvent).

Combined together, these policies form a robust lifecycle toolkit for temporary entities.

Typical Use Cases

Use VolatileEntities to mark:

holograms,
projectiles,
visual effects,
temporary NPCs,
helper or marker entities

as volatile, so that they:

despawn on restart,
optionally follow runtime rules (timeout, distance, ownership, custom logic),
and are still guaranteed to be cleaned up after plugin uninstall.

Usage Examples

1) Marking an existing entity as volatile (restart-only)

If you already spawn an entity manually (for example a hologram), you can simply attach a VolatileComponent to make it non-persistent.

holder.addComponent(
    VolatileComponent.getComponentType(),
    VolatileComponent.restartOnly()
);

Result:

the entity lives as long as the server runs,
it is removed on the first tick after a restart,
uninstall safety cleanup still applies.

2) Absolute TTL (10 seconds real-time)

To despawn an entity after a fixed amount of real time, even across chunk unloads, combine DespawnComponent with USE_DESPAWN_TTL:

holder.addComponent(
    DespawnComponent.getComponentType(),
    DespawnComponent.despawnInSeconds(time, 10f)
);

VolatileConfig cfg = VolatileConfig.builder()
    .policy(VolatilePolicy.USE_DESPAWN_TTL)
    .build();

holder.addComponent(
    VolatileComponent.getComponentType(),
    new VolatileComponent(cfg)
);

Here:

Hytale handles the TTL itself,
VolatileEntities does not refresh despawn time,
restart and uninstall cleanup are still guaranteed.

3) Mark an already existing entity as volatile

You can mark an entity as volatile after it already exists:

store.putComponent(
    ref,
    VolatileComponent.getComponentType(),
    VolatileComponent.restartOnly()
);

No respawn or manual despawn logic required.

API Reference (Quick Overview)

`VolatileComponent` – factory methods

restartOnly() – runtime-only, removed on restart
withTimeout(int ticks) / withTimeoutSeconds(float seconds, int tickRate)
withinDistance(Ref<EntityStore> target, float distance)
linkedTo(Ref<EntityStore> target)
ownedBy(UUID playerUuid)
useDespawnTtl()

`VolatileConfig`

Presets and builders for advanced control:

chunkBound()
linkedTo(ref)
withinDistance(ref, distance)
ownedBy(playerUuid)
withTimeout(ticks)
useDespawnTtl()
custom(ctx -> { ... })