WelcomeMessages v1.3.5

The Ultimate Welcome Plugin for Minecraft Servers

Clean, lightweight, and packed with features that actually work!

🎉 What's New in v1.3.5

🔧 Critical Bug Fixes & Formatting Improvements

WelcomeMessages v1.3.5 focuses on fixing critical issues and improving message formatting:

• 🔧 Title Display Fixes - Welcome titles now show consistently on player join with proper timing and online checks
• 🎨 Message Formatting - Resolved HTML entity corruption that was causing mp:8 instead of &8 color codes
• 🛡️ Division by Zero Protection - Added safety checks to prevent crashes when animation duration is set to 0
• 💾 Memory Leak Fixes - Proper cleanup of firework tasks and animation resources when plugin disables
• 🔍 HTML Entity Handling - Added automatic cleanup of HTML entities in messages
• ⚡ Resource Management - Better cleanup system for all plugin resources
• 🔧 Code Quality - Fixed deprecated method usage and improved error handling

🎆 Previous v1.3.4: Firework Safety & Theme System Improvements

WelcomeMessages v1.3.4 focused on making your server experience safer and more reliable:

• 🎆 Firework Safety - Fixed critical issue where welcome fireworks were causing damage to players
• 🎨 Theme System Enhancement - Completely overhauled theme conflict detection and resolution
• ⏰ Time Range Fixes - Resolved overlapping time-based theme conflicts for smoother transitions
• 📅 Date Logic Improvements - Better handling of seasonal themes that cross year boundaries
• 🔍 Automatic Validation - Plugin now detects and reports theme configuration conflicts on startup
• 🛡️ Enhanced Error Handling - Comprehensive validation for all date and time parsing
• ⚡ Memory Management - Improved cleanup system for firework effects to prevent memory leaks
• 🔧 Code Quality - Zero linter errors, improved documentation and code structure

🚀 Previous v1.3.1 Improvements

• Security Fixes - Fixed various security issues and improved code safety
• Rate Limiting - Built-in command cooldowns to prevent spam and abuse
• Input Sanitization - Protection against malicious input and injection attacks
• Thread Safety - All operations are now fully thread-safe
• Performance Optimization - ThreadLocalRandom usage and memory management improvements

🎉 Previous Features (v1.2.5)

✨ 12 Amazing Text Animations

WelcomeMessages now includes a complete animation system with 12 different effects:

• Typing - Character-by-character reveal with perfect color handling
• Typewriter - Classic typewriter effect with blinking cursor
• Fade - Smooth fade-in effect with opacity changes
• Slide - Text slides in from the side
• Wave - Text waves up and down like ocean waves
• Rainbow - Colors cycle through rainbow spectrum
• Glitch - Random characters appear and disappear
• Bounce - Text bounces up and down with varying heights
• Shake - Text shakes left and right randomly
• Pulse - Text pulses in brightness (bright → yellow → gray)
• Matrix - Matrix-style falling characters with green color
• Scramble - Text scrambles with random characters, then reveals correctly

🎯 Action Bar Display

• Animations are private to the target player (no chat spam!)
• Configurable duration for each animation
• Different animations for join, quit, and first-join messages
• Perfect color code preservation
• Smooth performance optimization

🛠️ Bug Fixes & Improvements

• FIXED: Tab completion for /welcome testanim command
• FIXED: Typing animations now work perfectly with color codes
• FIXED: Typewriter animation with proper blinking cursor
• FIXED: All linter errors and warnings (zero errors!)
• IMPROVED: Performance and compatibility across all server types

🚀 Key Features

🎨 Visual Excellence

• RGB & Gradient Support - Modern color codes and rainbow text
• 12 Text Animations - Make your messages truly special
• Custom Rank System - Unlimited custom ranks with any names
• Smart Effects - Particles, sounds, titles, fireworks (all optional)

🔧 Admin-Friendly

• Config Validation - Won't crash your server with bad settings
• PlaceholderAPI Support - 13+ placeholders for other plugins
• Full Spigot/Paper Compatibility - Works on both server types
• Async Performance - Your TPS will thank you
• Smart Caching - Optimized for server performance

👥 Player Experience

• Personal Toggle - Players can turn messages on/off
• Join Counter - Tracks player visits and saves data
• First Join Detection - Special messages for new players
• Rank-Based Messages - VIPs get VIP treatment
• Private Animations - No chat spam, just beautiful effects

📋 Commands

🎮 Animation Testing

Test all the amazing animations with these commands:

# Test all features including animations
/welcome testall

# Test specific animation types
/welcome testanim typing      # Character-by-character reveal
/welcome testanim typewriter  # Typewriter with blinking cursor
/welcome testanim bounce      # Bouncy text effect
/welcome testanim matrix      # Matrix-style falling characters
/welcome testanim scramble    # Scramble and reveal effect
# ... and 7 more animation types!

⚙️ Configuration

Animation Settings

animations:
  enabled: true
  default-duration: 60
  default-type: "typing"
  use-action-bar: true
  show-final-in-chat: true

  join:
    enabled: false  # Disabled by default to prevent chat spam
    type: "typing"
    duration: 60
  quit:
    enabled: false  # Disabled by default to prevent chat spam
    type: "fade"
    duration: 40
  first-join:
    enabled: true   # First join animations are special
    type: "rainbow"
    duration: 80

Custom Rank System

custom-ranks:
  enabled: true
  ranks:
    - "owner"      # Server owner
    - "admin"      # Administrator  
    - "moderator"  # Moderator
    - "mvp"        # MVP rank
    - "vip"        # VIP rank
    - "premium"    # Premium rank
    - "donator"    # Donator rank
    - "member"     # Member rank

🔗 PlaceholderAPI Support

If you have PlaceholderAPI installed, you can use these placeholders:

📊 Performance

• Async Everything - Your TPS will thank you
• Smart Caching - Not the dumb kind
• Optional Metrics - Off by default for privacy
• Works on Potato Servers - Optimized for all server sizes
• Zero Linter Errors - Perfect code quality

🛡️ Compatibility

• Minecraft: 1.21.x
• Java: 21 (required by Minecraft)
• Server Software: Spigot, Paper, Purpur, Pufferfish
• Permission Plugins: LuckPerms, PEX, GroupManager, etc.
• Other Plugins: PlaceholderAPI, bStats

📥 Installation

1. Download the WelcomeMessages-1.2.5.jar file
2. Place it in your server's /plugins folder
3. Restart your server
4. Edit the configuration files to your liking
5. Enjoy your new welcome system!

🎯 Why Choose WelcomeMessages?

• No Bloat - Does one thing and does it well
• No Premium Features - Everything is included
• Actually Works - No crashes, no broken updates
• Modern Features - RGB colors, animations, PlaceholderAPI
• Admin Friendly - Config validation, easy setup
• Player Friendly - Personal toggles, beautiful effects
• Performance Focused - Async, caching, optimization
• Community Driven - Open source, active development

🐛 Support & Feedback

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs and request features
• GitHub Repository: View source code and documentation
• Releases: Download latest version
• Updates: Regular updates with new features and fixes

Made with ❤️ by FiveDollaGobby

The welcome plugin that actually works!

🔗 Links

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/FiveDollaGobby/WelcomeMessages
• Latest Release: v1.2.5 Download
• Report Issues: GitHub Issues
• View Source Code: GitHub Code