Alternatives for ServerListPlus

[stephan-gh]

Realistically speaking, ServerListPlus has been semi-abandoned for a while. I try to reply to some issues here on GitHub occasionally, but it's unlikely I will ever get back to implementing any new feature requests. This is because my interests changed and I haven't played Minecraft for years now.

This issue exists to allow discussing possible alternatives that are more actively maintained. You can comment with possible alternatives that you found and share what you find good or bad about them.

[SlimeDog]

We are currently using ServerListMOTD which is a resurrection/continuation of this one. It has 300+ downloads (the original had 1800). It has full PAPI support. It's only 6 months old, but the developer seems committed. He supports only two plugins, both of which he resurrected. You can read about him at the bottom of the Overview page.

[Andre601]

Here are some other plugins I know of and their pros and cons (personal opinion):

• MiniMOTD (Source)
  • + Support for MiniMessage in the MOTD
  • + Supports Spigot/Paper, BungeeCord/Waterfall, Velocity and Fabric
  • + Multiple MOTDs
  • + Multiple (random) Favicons
  • + Playercount can be hidden (Set to ???)
  • + Pair MOTD and Icons together
  • + Enable/Disable Features
  • - No Hover for player count
  • - Uses HOCON configuration (More difficult configuration?)
• PistonMOTD (Source)
  • + Support for MiniMessage in the MOTD
  • + Separate RGB support through &#ffffff format
  • + Supports Spigot/Paper and BungeeCord/Waterfall
  • + Multiple MOTDs
  • + Multiple (random) Favicons
  • + Playercount can be hidden (Set to ???)
  • + Hover text support
  • + Custom "Out of date" message
  • + Enable/Disable features
  • - Uses %newline% placeholder for new lines... (Why?)
• ServerListPlus (Fork) (Source)
  • + Support for MiniMessage in the MOTD
  • + Exact same features as original SLP.
  • +/- Different RGB Color Code format &#ffffff& (Not as user friendly?)
• AdvancedServerList (Source)
  • + Support for MiniMessage in all the text options (Except favicon option) with MOTD also allowing Hex colours and gradients.
  • + Support for Spigot/Paper, BungeeCord/Waterfall and Velocity
  • + Supports all features SLP offers, meaning
    • MOTD
    • Favicon
    • Hiding player count (Setting it to ???)
    • Hover text on player count
    • Overriding the player count text itself
    • Setting the max player count
    • All options can be set multiple times using a profiles section, which goes through them randomly
  • + Allows to display max players as <online> + n with n being a configurable number.
  • + Multiple files can be used with conditions and priority to determine what to display under what conditions.
  • + Support to migrate existing SLP configuration over to the plugin.
  • + PlaceholderAPI support including proxy (Requires PAPIProxyBridge)
  • - No support for Sponge or Fabric
  • - No random combinations of the different options. Only randomized pairs work (or profiles entry + global entry of other options)

[stephan-gh]

@Andre601 @SlimeDog Mainly just curious, aside from having a rather inactive maintainer, what are the main features that ServerListPlus is missing? I could think of PlaceholderAPI support and hex colors, is there any other major feature that was introduced with some Minecraft update?

[SlimeDog]

You have arrived at the "missing features" list. I don't personally care about hex colors, but others may do. PAPI support is essential.

[Andre601]

@Andre601 @SlimeDog Mainly just curious, aside from having a rather inactive maintainer, what are the main features that ServerListPlus is missing? I could think of PlaceholderAPI support and hex colors, is there any other major feature that was introduced with some Minecraft update?

For me, something like "predicates" or "conditions" to display different MOTDs based on those is something that isn't just missing from SLP alone but many different MOTD plugins.
So many out there only offer randomized MOTDs and icons at most but not really any "if X show MOTD Y with Icon Z". Like displaying a specific MOTD if the player in question is banned to tell them where to appeal.

I btw added the SLP Fork from Minebench (https://github.com/Minebench/ServerListPlus) here as it also adds RGB support while keeping SLPs main features intact.

[SlimeDog]

Predicates would be nice. I would probably make use of them. Perhaps you should add that as a feature request on ServerListMOTD. :)

[stephan-gh]

For me, something like "predicates" or "conditions" to display different MOTDs based on those is something that isn't just missing from SLP alone but many different MOTD plugins.

Yeah agreed, this would have been exactly the "trigger" concept in ServerListPlus 4.0.

Basically, instead of having fixed Default, Personalized and Banned "profiles" you could have created an arbitrary number of profiles and enable them either permanently or based on a trigger. This would then have been similarly easy to extend as placeholders, which would have significantly simplified implementing feature requests for new kinds of triggers. This is why I started labeling issues with "trigger" long ago: https://github.com/Minecrell/ServerListPlus/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Atrigger

I was playing with some ideas here https://gist.github.com/Minecrell/8470683b0f710fbf5d46044a1a17607e although I never figured it out fully because it's kind of tricky to find a compromise between flexibility and complexity.

To be honest, I kind of regret never finishing up SLP 4.0, I had nice ideas for it. :)

[haha44444]

In fact, I think this MOTD plugin is also very good:
CleanMOTD(Source)

[notkirb]

I used to use PistonMOTD.

[Andre601]

A while ago I made a plugin that aims to provide what SLP does called AdvancedServerList.

Benefits are multiple profiles with priority and conditions.
Downside is no Sponge v8 support (yet).

[Andre601]

Kinda wondering if this is still relevant to the current state of SLP, or if things have changed...

[SlimeDog]

Irrelevant to me. I have been using ASL for some time now.

[stephan-gh]

The status of SLP has not really changed. I did make a release with the new features that have accumulated over the years but still don't plan to have major new functional changes. I think it's fine to continue using SLP for people who are fine with the current state, but if someone is looking for new features or actively handled feature requests switching to a different plugin is probably better.

[Andre601]

I am wondering if it would be worth it to pin this issue, so that people know about the plugins state as of currently and what possible alternatives there are...

[SlimeDog]

I recommend putting the information in places where people are likely to stumble across it: SpigotMC resource page, Github code README, and the like. Putting it here is fine too, but not as likely to be found by casual passers-by.