Gradient Chat v2.6

What Is New in 2.6

Version 2.6 makes your gradient follow you everywhere. Your nickname can now show your gradient in chat, in the player list, and above your head. We also made the plugin much more reliable, so your settings are never lost on restart and the server never freezes when a player joins while the database is slow.

Upgrading from 2.5 keeps all gradients, permissions, player data, presents, and GUI settings. Nothing changes until you turn the new nickname options on.

Gradient on Your Nickname

This is the feature many of you asked for. The player's name can now be shown in their gradient color in three places, and each one is optional.

◆ In chat and prefixes

• New placeholder %gradientchat_nickname% (alias %gradientchat_displayname%) shows the player's name in their gradient color
• Works in LuckPermsChat chat format, LuckPerms prefixes, and any plugin that reads placeholders

◆ In the player list (TAB)

• New option chat.apply-gradient-to-tab-list colors the player's name in the TAB list

◆ Above the head

• New option chat.apply-gradient-to-name-tags colors the name tag above the player's head

All three are off by default. On newer Paper versions the player list and the name tag share the same name, so turning either option on colors both.

No More Freezes, No More Lost Settings

◆ Smooth join, even with a slow database

• The server no longer freezes while a player's settings load. Everything happens in the background

◆ Settings always saved

• Your gradients and styles are now always saved before the server stops. No more missing selections after a restart

◆ No crashes when the database is down

• If the database cannot be reached, the plugin automatically keeps working with local files instead of crashing

◆ Change cooldown

• A small delay between gradient changes can be set with chat.cooldown to stop accidental spam-clicking

◆ Secure database connection (optional)

• You can now enable an encrypted connection to your database with database.mysql.use-ssl

Presents Are Safer

• Presents are now recognized by a hidden marker, so a renamed or copied item can no longer be passed off as a real present
• If LuckPerms is missing or the reward could not be granted, the present is not used up and the player loses nothing

Custom Gradients

• Fixed custom gradients showing stale colors after you renamed or edited them
• Custom gradients now respect the main enable switch in the config
• Server owners can set limits for custom gradient names and colors, and choose how long the creation window stays open

Small Fixes and Cleanup

• Animated WAVE and SHIFT gradients no longer turn white in some setups
• The plugin now really checks for updates and tells you when a new version is available
• New placeholder %gradientchat_cooldown_remaining% shows how long until you can change your gradient again
• Placeholders can no longer be used to bypass gradient permissions
• Removed old config options that did nothing, so the config is easier to read

Upgrade Notes from 2.5

• Replace the JAR and restart, or run /gradientchat reload. No database changes needed
• All gradients, permissions, and player settings stay exactly as they were
• The nickname options are off by default, so your server looks exactly the same until you turn them on
• Using LuckPermsChat or LuckPerms prefixes? Add %gradientchat_nickname% to the format to show the gradient name

Requirements

What Is New in 2.5

Version 2.5 introduces the Shader Resource Pack Addon: an optional pack shipped inside the plugin download under resourcepack/. Together with the updated plugin core, it moves animated chat off the server CPU and onto the client GPU.

Upgrading from 2.4 keeps all gradients, permissions, player data, and GUI behavior. Animation for inline tags and scrolling chat gradients now expects the addon when you want motion. Without the pack, the plugin still applies correct static colors through the same ColorUtil path used in the GUI preview.

Shader Resource Pack Addon

The addon is not a separate plugin. It is a merge-ready resource pack with custom GLSL shaders for Minecraft text render types. Install it once per network, then every player with the pack sees smooth animation at display refresh rate with zero server tick loops for shader mode.

What the addon includes:

• rendertype_text and rendertype_text_see_through vertex and fragment shaders (chat uses see-through)
• rendertype_text_intensity hooks for glowing and intensity text paths
• gradientchat_effects.glsl shared decode logic for rainbow, gradient, pulse, and wave
• gradientchat_presets.glsl color stops for all configured chat gradients (auto-regenerated on plugin reload)
• pack_format 48 for Minecraft 1.21.4 and newer
• Integration stubs for Nexo, Oraxen, ItemsAdder, and vanilla ZIP hosting

How it connects to the plugin: the server encodes each character into trigger RGB values. The client shader detects those values, reads GameTime, and paints the final color every frame. No repeated chat packets. No AnimationEngine tick task for effect tags.

Encoding and Animation

Inline tags (permission per tag):

• text
• text
• text
• text

Plugin Core Changes

◆ Removed server-side effect animation engine

• AnimationEngine and legacy TextEffect classes removed
• New ShaderEffectEncoder pipeline: RainbowEncoder, GradientEncoder, PulseEncoder, WaveEncoder
• EffectRegistry dispatches encoders instead of recalculating colors every tick

◆ Shader preset generator

• On /gradientchat reload the plugin writes plugins/GradientChat/generated/gradientchat_presets.glsl
• Copy that file into your merged Nexo or Oraxen pack so shader colors always match config.yml
• All ~36 built-in gradients included automatically

◆ New config options under effects:

• shader_mode master GPU encoding switch
• shader_fallback_static use ColorUtil when the client has no pack (default true)
• shader_force_gpu_encoding always encode for Nexo-only pack delivery
• shader_slide_seconds full scroll cycle duration for animated presets
• shader_char_spacing gradient width across characters

◆ Chat formatter compatibility

• AsyncChatEvent listener priority raised to HIGHEST for LPC and similar formatters
• %gradientchat_message% still caches the last outgoing line

◆ Shader compile fixes

• ColorModulator import fix for Minecraft 1.21.8+ text shaders
• see_through fragment shader uses color *= vertexColor so Text Display backgrounds stay correct
• Do not ship custom fog.glsl in the addon (use vanilla moj_import)

Installing the Addon

Nexo (recommended for merged server packs)

• Copy the entire resourcepack/ folder to plugins/Nexo/pack/external_packs/GradientChat/
• Run /gradientchat reload, then copy generated/gradientchat_presets.glsl into the Nexo pack shaders include folder
• Reload Nexo and confirm the log shows Importing external-pack GradientChat
• Set effects.shader_force_gpu_encoding: true if Paper does not detect the Nexo pack on the player

Oraxen

• Merge resourcepack/assets/minecraft/shaders/ into plugins/Oraxen/pack/assets/

ItemsAdder

• Follow paths in resourcepack/integrations/itemsadder/

Vanilla

• Zip resourcepack/ and host via server.properties resource-pack URL

Upgrade Notes from 2.4

• Replace the JAR. Run /gradientchat reload. No database migration required.
• If you used server-ticked animated placeholders only, they still work. Inline chat tags now prefer the addon for motion.
• If chat turns solid pink or purple, the client failed to load shaders. Check F3 client log, verify the addon is inside your merged pack, and copy the latest generated presets file.
• For static-only servers: keep shader_fallback_static: true and leave shader_force_gpu_encoding: false. No addon required.
• Clear client resource pack cache after a pack hash change, then rejoin.

Requirements