Plugin Lifecycle & Events

Loading Order

Plugins are loaded in a specific sequence to ensure dependencies are met:

1. Early Plugins: Loaded via EarlyPluginLoader (in earlyplugins/). Can perform class transformation.
2. Core Plugins: Built-in system plugins.
3. Builtin Directory: Plugins in builtin/.
4. Classpath Plugins: Discovered via manifest.json on the classpath.
5. Mod Directory: User-installed plugins in mods/.

Plugin States

public enum PluginState {
    NONE,      // Initial state
    SETUP,     // Being configured (registering systems)
    START,     // Active logic starts
    ENABLED,   // Running normally
    SHUTDOWN,  // Cleanup
    DISABLED   // Failed or turned off
}

Event System

The event bus supports both synchronous (IEvent) and asynchronous (IAsyncEvent) events.

Registration Example

public class ExamplePlugin extends JavaPlugin {
    @Override
    protected void setup() {
        getEventRegistry().register(
            PlayerConnectEvent.class,
            this::onPlayerConnect
        );
    }

    private void onPlayerConnect(PlayerConnectEvent event) {
        getLogger().info("Player connected: " + event.getPlayer().getName());
    }
}

Event Priority

Priorities determine the order in which handlers receive events: EARLIEST -> EARLY -> DEFAULT -> LATE -> LATEST

Plugin Manifest (manifest.json)

Every plugin requires a manifest.json file in its root.

{
    "Group": "MyCompany",
    "Name": "MyPlugin",
    "Version": "1.0.0",
    "Main": "com.example.MyPluginMain",
    "ServerVersion": "^1.0.0",
    "Dependencies": {
        "Hytale:Core": "^1.0.0"
    }
}