Features
Match systems
Section titled “Match systems”Grid-based arenas
Section titled “Grid-based arenas”Solar uses FastAsyncWorldEdit (FAWE) to save arena schematics and paste a fresh copy into its arenas world when a match starts. It allocates grid slots for active matches and releases them afterward. This lets arena instances be placed on demand rather than keeping one prebuilt copy for every possible match.
Players can challenge another online player with a kit, choose a first-to round count, and request a specific allowed arena or a random one. Solar handles invitations, match countdowns, rounds, player-state restoration, and match results. See the player guide for commands.
Parties
Section titled “Parties”Players can create parties, invite and manage members, transfer ownership, and start either a shuffled two-team split match or a free-for-all. Split teams are formed by dividing the party, so odd-sized parties can produce uneven teams. Party FFA needs a center spawn configured for the arena.
Spectating
Section titled “Spectating”Players can spectate an active match with /spectate <player> and return to the lobby with /spectate leave <player>.
Matchmaking queues
Section titled “Matchmaking queues”Staff can create kit-based queues, set team size, enable or disable them, and choose ELO weighting for rated queue matches. Solar shows queue time and names in the action bar, starts a match when enough players are waiting, and updates queue ratings for weighted matches.
Queue settings for party support, minimum rating, permission, and party-size limits are saved and exposed through the API. The current queue join and matchmaking code does not enforce those settings.
Kits and player state
Section titled “Kits and player state”Kits include base inventory, armor, offhand items, potion effects, and match flags. The implemented match behavior includes max health, cooldowns for pearls, golden apples and wind charges, allowed arenas, block placement/breaking and item-drop restrictions, and a pre-start movement lock.
The kit model also stores natural regeneration, natural saturation, and hunger-loss flags, but these settings are not currently applied by the match implementation.
Players can edit and save a personal inventory layout for a kit. Solar restores their previous inventory when they leave the editor. During matches it saves player state and returns players to the configured lobby when the match ends.
Ratings and statistics
Section titled “Ratings and statistics”Solar stores wins and losses by kit, and queue ELO ratings for weighted queues. Ratings use a configurable starting value and K-factor. Data can be stored in SQLite or MySQL.
Configuration and messaging
Section titled “Configuration and messaging”config.ymlcontrols lobby and editor locations, arena layout, invite timeouts, ratings, sounds, command restrictions, and match/round result commands.language.ymlcontains configurable player-facing messages. Messages use MiniMessage formatting, including its supported color, gradient, and text-formatting tags.- Optional PlaceholderAPI support exposes player statistics, queue state, party information, and active-match details. See the PlaceholderAPI reference.
- Maintenance mode prevents new duels, queue joins, and party matches while staff work on the server.
Integrations and developer API
Section titled “Integrations and developer API”| Integration | Status | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| FastAsyncWorldEdit | Required | Saves and pastes arena schematics |
| PlaceholderAPI | Optional | Registers Solar’s placeholders |
| Intave | Optional | Terminates an active Solar match when Intave issues a punishment command event |
| ZMenu | External setup | Can open a configurable menu that runs Solar commands; see the ZMenu duel GUI guide |
| Skript | Not currently active | Skript-related source exists, but Solar does not register the addon at startup |
| Vault and DiscordSRV | Not included | No integration is currently implemented |
Other Paper plugins can use Solar’s registered Java service to look up matches, queues, kits, and player statistics, apply kits, and listen for match events. See the Java API reference.
Requirements and compatibility
Section titled “Requirements and compatibility”- Solar requires Paper APIs and is built against Paper 1.21.11. The plugin metadata declares API version 1.21. Use Java 21.
- FastAsyncWorldEdit is a required dependency.
- Spigot and other non-Paper server software are unsupported.
- Folia is not supported by the current implementation.
- GeyserMC and Floodgate have not been tested; Bedrock compatibility is not guaranteed.
- Compatibility with other plugins or server versions not listed above is not guaranteed.
Solar’s match world is named arenas. The current shutdown cleanup unloads and deletes that world’s folder, so reserve the name for Solar and do not keep unrelated builds or data in it.
Support
Section titled “Support”For support, visit the Solar Discord server. Support is for users with a valid Solar license; proof of purchase may be requested. Developers working for a server or network may be eligible if its owner holds a valid license.