GroupEffort

GroupEffort is a server-side Fabric mod for Minecraft 1.20.1, designed to encourage cooperative play by making server activity contingent on a minimum number of online players. When the player count falls below a configurable threshold, the server enters a restricted "limbo" state until enough players join the effort!

Core Concept

GroupEffort aims to make your server truly come alive when a community gathers. Instead of a quiet server, it will wait for a quorum of players before fully unlocking its features. This can foster a sense of community, encourage players to join together, and can also help manage server resources during off-peak hours by restricting non-essential activities.

Features

• Minimum Player Quota: Configure the number of players required for the server to be fully active.
• Configurable Limbo States: Choose how players experience the server when the quota isn't met:
  • THE_VOID: Players are visually teleported very high up. The client renders The End skybox (if its installed on the client), creating a distinct visual void experience, regardless of the player's actual current dimension. The world below is hidden by server-side packet filtering.
  • LOCALIZED_FREEZE: Players remain visually where they are when limbo activates.
• Movement & Interaction Blocking: In either limbo state, all player movement, block interactions, and entity interactions are blocked.
• Grace Period: Set a configurable grace period after the player count drops, allowing time for others to join before restrictions apply.
• Customizable Chat Messages: Tailor all mod-related messages with color codes and placeholders.
• Configurable Chat Blocking: Optionally block chat messages for players who are in a limbo state.
• Operator Commands: Ops can adjust key settings on-the-fly without server restarts.
• Server-Side Core Logic: The primary logic operates on the server.

Limbo Types Explained

When the minimum player quota is not met (and the grace period, if enabled, has expired), online players will be placed into a "limbo" state.

• THE_VOID:

  • The player is visually teleported to a very high Y-coordinate by the server.
  • The client will render The End skybox, providing a distinct "void" atmosphere, as if they are in The End void.
  • The mod also hides the world below them by filtering outgoing server-to-client packets.
  • All player movement and interactions are blocked. Player abilities are modified via packets to prevent falling and restrict movement.

• LOCALIZED_FREEZE:

  • Players remain visually at their exact location when limbo activates. No visual teleportation occurs.
  • All player movement and interactions are blocked. Player abilities are modified via packets to prevent movement.
  • Players will see their surroundings. Whether these surroundings continue to update (e.g., other entities moving) depends on whether server ticks for their area are also paused by the mod's tick-stopping mechanisms.

Installation

1. Ensure you have the Fabric Loader (for Minecraft 1.20.1) installed on your server.
2. Download the GroupEffort mod .jar file from CurseForge.
3. Place the mod .jar file into your server's mods folder.
4. Dependencies: You MUST also install the following in the mods folder:
   • Fabric API (for Minecraft 1.20.1)
   • Cloth Config API (for configuration; specifically cloth-config-fabric)
5. For easy configuration, it's recommended that server admins (or clients connecting to a server that syncs configs) have ModMenu installed on their client.

Configuration

GroupEffort's settings can be configured via:

• ModMenu: If you have ModMenu installed on a client (and the server's config is accessible or synced), you can configure it through the in-game Mods menu.
• JSON File: Directly edit the configuration file located at config/groupeffort.json in your server's directory after running the server with the mod at least once.

Key Configuration Options (see GroupEffortConfig.java for details):

• General Settings:
  • minimumPlayers: The number of online players required for the server to be fully active (default 2, 0 to effectively disable quota).
  • blockChatMessages: If true, players in limbo cannot send chat messages (default false).
  • limboType: Choose between THE_VOID or LOCALIZED_FREEZE (default THE_VOID).
• Grace Period:
  • enabled: Set to true or false to enable/disable the grace period (default true).
  • durationSeconds: How long the grace period lasts in seconds (default 180).
• Chat Messages:
  • Customize all messages for events like player join below minimum, grace period start/end, limbo entry/exit, etc.
  • Supports standard Minecraft color codes (e.g., &c for red).
  • Placeholders (e.g., %player%, %needed%, %current%, %minimum%, %duration%) are available.

Operator Commands

Server operators (default permission level 2) can modify settings in-game. The base command is /groupeffort. (You might want to add an alias like /ge for convenience).

• /groupeffort set minimumPlayers <count>
  • Example: /groupeffort set minimumPlayers 3
• /groupeffort set limboType <THE_VOID | LOCALIZED_FREEZE>
  • Example: /groupeffort set limboType LOCALIZED_FREEZE
• /groupeffort set blockChatMessages <true | false>
  • Example: /groupeffort set blockChatMessages true
• /groupeffort set graceEnabled <true | false>
  • Example: /groupeffort set graceEnabled true
• /groupeffort set graceDuration <seconds>
  • Example: /groupeffort set graceDuration 120
• /groupeffort status: Displays the current key settings of the mod.

(Command arguments for counts/durations respect the bounds defined in the configuration annotations).

Dependencies

• Fabric API (Required)
• Cloth Config API (via AutoConfig) (Required for configuration)
• ModMenu (Client-side, Optional, for in-game config screen)

How It Works (Briefly)

GroupEffort is primarily a server-side mod that monitors the online player count.

• When the count is below minimumPlayers (after any grace period), it activates "limbo":
  • Player actions (movement, interaction, optionally chat) are blocked by cancelling their incoming Client-to-Server (C2S) packets.
  • Player abilities are modified via Server-to-Client (S2C) packets to restrict movement and, for THE_VOID, to enable flight to prevent falling from the visual high Y-coordinate.
  • For THE_VOID, the client is visually teleported high up in their current dimension, and S2C packets that would render the world (chunks, entities) are filtered out to achieve the "sky-only" view, which presents as The End skybox.
  • For LOCALIZED_FREEZE, the player's position is reinforced via packets, and abilities are set to prevent movement.
  • Server game ticks for worlds may also be restricted when the server is in a global limbo state to save resources.
• When the player quota is met, these restrictions are lifted, and players are restored from limbo.

Reporting Bugs & Issues

If you encounter any bugs or unexpected behavior, please report them on the GitHub Issues page. Please include:

• Minecraft version (1.20.1)
• Fabric Loader version
• GroupEffort mod version
• Fabric API version
• Cloth Config API version
• List of other mods (if any)
• A clear description of the issue and steps to reproduce it.
• Any relevant logs or crash reports (use a service like Pastebin).

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository, make your changes, and submit a Pull Request on GitHub.