LiveMaps - Real-Time Player Tracking on In-Game Maps!

️ Dynamic, High-Performance Map Tracking

LiveMaps is a powerful and highly optimized Spigot/Paper plugin that transforms standard Minecraft maps into dynamic, real-time tracking screens. Perfect for large map walls, command centers, or strategic display areas on your server.

Forget static maps! Every player's position, direction, and automatically assigned color are rendered live, updating in fluid intervals without impacting server TPS (at least in my small scale testing).

✨ Key Features

• Real-Time Rendering: Player locations and orientations are updated directly on the map item, even when displayed in Item Frames.
  
  
• Intuitive GUI Generator: Use the /livemap grid command to easily select the size (e.g., 3x3, 5x5) and auto-generate a centered map wall spanning multiple chunks.

• Performance First: Built with optimization in mind, using smart caching and rendering cycles to keep the server running smoothly.
  
  
• Configuration Control: Toggle features like player name tags above cursors and Y-level tracking instantly with in-game commands.
  
  
• Persistent Tracking: Renderers are tied to the map IDs, ensuring that your tracking systems remains active after reloads or restarts.
  
  
• Invisibility: Players currently affected by the Invisibility effect will not be rendered on the map, regardless of permissions, to preserve the spirit of the effect.

Known Issues

• Border Clipping: Player names or icons may be cut off slightly when a player is positioned exactly on the map's boundary (e.g., at coordinates 64 or -64).
  
  
• Map Update Lag: Maps placed in item frames update significantly slower than a map held directly in a player's inventory, unless the player viewing the framed map also has a copy of that same map in their inventory. This is due to a limitation in how vanilla Minecraft updates item frames.

⚠️ Developer Notes & Disclaimer

This project was initially developed for personal use on my own server and is being shared because I believe others may find it useful for their servers. It was created by a non-seasoned developer with significant assistance from AI tools. A conscious effort was made to implement unique, useful features while carefully trying to avoid overlap with existing popular map plugins.

Performance Note: This plugin has been tested exclusively on a small, private server. While the rendering logic is optimized, the performance impact on very large, high-player-count production servers is not fully verified. Please test thoroughly before deployment!

Commands/Permissions
All commands use the base alias /lm or /livemap.


️ Installation

1. Download the LiveMaps.jar file.
   
   
2. Place the file into your server's plugins/ folder.
   
   
3. Start or reload your server.

Note: This plugin has only been tested on a Paper/Spigot server running Minecraft version 1.21.

Check out the GitHub repository for source code and development updates!