Installation
Requirements, the install steps, the plugin folder layout and the optional country database.
Requirements
| Server software | Paper, or a Paper fork |
| Minecraft | 1.21.4 and newer |
| Java | 21 or newer |
| Hard dependencies | None |
| Optional | PlaceholderAPI |
Paper only. NationCrest uses Paper's own methods for the tab list and for nametag prefixes, so it will not load on plain Spigot. There is deliberately no fallback path for it.
Install it
Stop the server
Shut it down fully before adding the jar.
Drop in the jar
Put the NationCrest jar into your plugins folder. If you do not have it yet, see Download.
Start the server once
That writes out the config, the country list and the language files.
Decide how countries get looked up
Out of the box the plugin asks a website for the country. That works with no setup but is slower and subject to whatever limits that website applies. Reading a local database is faster and has no limits. See the country database below.
Restart, and check it
Join and run /flag info. If it names your country, you are done.
If something looks wrong, /flag debug tells you which lookup method is in use and what address the plugin actually saw.
Updating
Stop the server, replace the old NationCrest jar with the new one, and start it again. Remove the old jar rather than keeping both.
Your config.yml, countries.yml, data.yml and language files carry over. New settings are added to them with their defaults, nothing you changed is reset. The Changelog says what each update brings.
The plugin folder
data.yml is written by the plugin and holds each player's country, their toggle state and any override you have set. You do not edit it by hand.
Every other file is version managed. Updating the plugin adds new keys to them without wiping what you have changed.
The country database
NationCrest does not ship a country database. MaxMind require an account and a licence key for GeoLite2 and restrict redistribution, so it cannot live inside the jar.
Sign up free at MaxMind, create a licence key, then put the key and your account ID into config.yml:
maxmind:
licence-key: 'your key here'
account-id: 123456
auto-download: true
refresh-days: 3The plugin downloads the database on the next start and refreshes it on that interval.
PlaceholderAPI
Optional, but this is the part most servers actually want. Install PlaceholderAPI and NationCrest registers its expansion automatically. Nothing to download inside PlaceholderAPI, the expansion comes with this plugin.
Without PlaceholderAPI the plugin runs normally, you just do not get the placeholders.
See Placeholders.
Metrics
NationCrest reports anonymous usage statistics through ArrowStats. Setting enabled: false in plugins/ArrowStats/config.yml opts your server out of every ArrowStats plugin at once.