Getting Help the Right Way

If you have a question or a bug to report, this page guides you on how to report them and get the quickest and most efficient response.

Reading Stack Traces

Stack traces are essential to allow you to see where exactly the problem lies. Make sure you always check your startup log and console for any errors when having issues. Paste the entire error log to pastebin.com.

When having that annoying error popping in your console, something went unexpected. To protect your data, the plugin rather shuts itself down than corrupting configuration files.

The key to understanding stack traces is to read them. For some people, this is a matter of course, but sometimes (oftentimes) I receive issues that could easily be solved by just reading the error itself.

Many times it will tell what you need to do. Here, for example, settings contain a value that cannot be set (in this very case you need to specify a number, not a boolean (yes or no)). I recommend checking the file content on this website. Other times it might be something else; take a bit of time to read and try to understand the error stack before posting issues. Also, make sure your Java version and server version meet minimum requirements.

Before You Report

1. Give it ten minutes and experiment. Either you do it, or I do it. We have limited time on this planet, and I would rather spend it on actual development.

2. Use common sense. Think for yourself.

Bad: Plugin doesn't work at all. The chat format is wrong!

Good: I would like the chat format to be different in hardcore and creative world, however only the one format is shown everywhere. I've set 'Groups' to true in settings.yml and configured my permission plugin, restarted the server, and ensured players have the proper permission, but it hasn't worked. I am using ChatControl X.Y.Z, PermissionsEx X, and Spigot vX. Is there anything I could have done wrong there?

3. Ensure no similar issue already exists. Use Search or 'CTRL + F'.

4. Ensure the issue is caused by this plugin.

What You Should NEVER Do

• Reloading (/reload, PlugMan, ..) may cause issues. Do a clean server restart first.
• Never edit configuration files on a running server.
• Shut down the server before installing or updating plugins. Do not reload.
• Run the latest official version of ChatControl on all of your servers. DO NOT RUN DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE PLUGIN IF YOU HAVE BUNGEE NETWORK, THIS WILL BREAK.
• Run the newest Spigot for your server version (last 1.9, or last 1.8.8 build, etc.) and BuildTools.
• Run the correct (usually latest) versions of dependencies (pay special attention to ProtocolLib, PowerNBT, Essentials or EssentialsX, and others)

What We Need to Know

1. Your server version (if unsure, paste the content of /version command).
2. How to reproduce. When does the bug occur?
3. Any error logs or stack traces (this is critical).
4. Are there any other plugins whose functions can interfere? PerWorldInventory/CreativeControl etc.?
5. Include sections from your settings files that you have changed and believe might cause the issue.

Upload (the effective part of the) affected file(s) on pastebin.net