ImprovedHoppers — Smart, claim-aware item routing

Dependencies
ImprovedHoppers requires Vault for economy integration. Without Vault, features like smelter unlock costs and upgrades will not function.

Soft Dependencies
DecentHolograms – enables hologram HUDs above hoppers.
LuckPerms – supports dynamic permission-based limits.
SuperiorSkyblock2 or BentoBox – provides per-island hopper limits and trust handling.

Ditch laggy hopper snakes. Turn a single special hopper into a remote item router that teleports items to linked containers using filters, priorities, distribution rules, power modes, and a slick in-game GUI. Works great on survival, SMP, and Skyblock servers.

Why admins love it
Replaces long hopper chains with one “smart” hopper per system — far fewer ticking blocks, far less server load.
Batches transfers, skips empty inputs/blocked targets, and avoids unloaded chunks.
Built-in claim system (or hooks your region plugin), with trust lists and admin bypass.

Core Features
Remote Item Routing — Link one Improved Hopper to many containers across a configurable distance (same world). Per-target priority, whitelist/blacklist filters, and round-robin/fill-first distribution.
Full In-Game GUI — Right-click to manage links, filters, power, trust, stats, simulation, and more. No commands required for normal use.
Chat Search for Filters — Click the compass, type to search, or cancel.
Optional Power System — Three modes:
None (free)
Redstone-controlled (requireRedstonePower / pauseWhenPowered)
Fuel-powered via linked Fuel Chest converting fuel items → Power Units (distance & amount cost)
Trust & Claims — Hoppers must be claimed to function; owners can trust players, admins can bypass. Craft-claimed by default.
Lag-Aware Batching — Per-tick caps, skips unloaded targets, optional bounded retry queue.
Visual Tools — Particle lines from hopper to linked chests; toggle transfer trails and filter-focus viz.
Built-in Smelter — Optional virtual smelting with unlock/upgrade costs via Vault.
Hologram HUD (optional) — Status line over hoppers via DecentHolograms (ACTIVE/IDLE with last transfer info & power).
Craftable — Recipes for both Improved Hopper and Fuel Chest are configurable.




Quick Start
Craft an Improved Hopper (and optional Fuel Chest if using Fuel mode).
Place & Claim it (recipe-crafted ones auto-claim).
Open GUI → add Targets, then click containers to link (use /improvedhoppers wand to multi-link quickly).
Set filters, priorities, distribution.
Pick your Power Mode. For Fuel, link Fuel Chest and insert fuel.
(Optional) Add redstone depending on your redstone settings.

Commands
/improvedhoppers – Shows subcommands
/improvedhoppers wand – Get link wand for multi-linking
/improvedhoppers settings – Open settings (node or admin view)
/improvedhoppers remote – Get remote controller (view/manage from anywhere)
/improvedhoppers reload – Reload config (admin)
/improvedhoppers power apply – Re-apply power settings (admin)

Permissions
User
improvedhoppers.user.wand – get/use link wand (default: true)
improvedhoppers.user.settings – open node settings (default: true)
improvedhoppers.user.remote – use remote controller (default: true)
improvedhoppers.user.* – all user perms (default: true)

Admin
improvedhoppers.admin – moderation bypass (default: op)
improvedhoppers.admin.reload – reload config (default: op)
improvedhoppers.admin.settings – open admin settings GUI (default: op)
improvedhoppers.admin.* – all admin+user (default: op)

Limits (override config)
improvedhoppers.limit.player.<n> – per-player hopper limit override
improvedhoppers.limit.island.<n> – per-island hopper limit (Skyblock)
improvedhoppers.limit.links.<n> – links per material override
improvedhoppers.limit.trusted.<n> – trusted players per hopper override
improvedhoppers.limit.filter.<n> – filter count override
improvedhoppers.hopper.power.<n> – hopper power capacity (PU) override

Crafting
Improved Hopper — shaped recipe (I C I / R H R / I C I), items & names configurable.
Fuel Chest — configurable recipe (coal + chest).



Config Highlights
Link Distance — default/max distance, owner-online requirement, and node cleanup tick interval.
Transfer & Suction — interval, per-tick item caps, suction radius & costs, chunk-load queueing.
Smelter — enable, cook times, queue size, unlock/upgrade costs (Vault).
Fuel/Power — capacity, regen, auto-refuel, link limits & distances, fuel values. (Power is off by default; enable under general.hopper.fuelchest.enabled.)
Limits — per-player/island totals, filters per hopper, links per material, trusted slots.
Particles & Holograms — GUI colors, orbit/trail, hologram toggles & update ticks.
Storage Backend — YAML (default) or SQLite.

Performance Notes
Batches and caps items per tick, skips empty or blocked targets, and avoids unloaded chunks.
Visualizer can be toggled per-player; optional filter-focused trails reduce spam.
Optional distance-scaled power discourages extreme cross-map links.

Compatibility & Hooks
Server: Paper/Spigot 1.20+ (API 1.21 targeted).
Hard deps: Vault (economy).
Soft deps: DecentHolograms (HUD), LuckPerms (dynamic limits), SuperiorSkyblock2, BentoBox.
Regions: Works with GriefPrevention/WorldGuard; ships lightweight internal claims if absent.

Admin Tools
Open /improvedhoppers settings while looking at a node (or the admin settings panel with permission) to tweak everything in-game: link distance, suction/transfer, fuel values, smelter, limits, particles/holograms, worlds, recipes, and more.

API & Events (for developers)
Exposes events such as HopperSorterTransferEvent, HopperSorterFuelConsumeEvent, HopperSorterClaimEvent, overflow and alert hooks; simple API sketches for fuel/virtual targets.

Storage & Persistence
Choose YAML or SQLite. YAML loader persists node power, names, particle colors, links, and smelter state safely.

FAQ
Q: Can I disable the power system?
A: Yes — it’s off by default; flip general.hopper.fuelchest.enabled to true to use fuel.

Q: Can players manage hoppers remotely?
A: Yes — /improvedhoppers remote opens a network overview or node GUI depending on click.

Q: Do vanilla hopper pulls still happen on claimed nodes?
A: No — vanilla InventoryMoveItemEvent/InventoryPickupItemEvent are cancelled for claimed hoppers to avoid conflicts.