Understanding MultiInv: Separate Inventories Across Minecraft Worlds
Running a Minecraft server with multiple worlds often leads to one frustrating problem: players carry their overpowered gear, experience, and health from a survival dimension straight into a creative or minigame area. MultiInv solves this by giving each world its own isolated inventory, making every dimension feel like a completely separate experience. Whether you are building a hub server, a network of distinct game modes, or simply want to keep your creative world free from survival items, this plugin offers the granular control you need.
What Exactly Does MultiInv Do?
MultiInv is a server plugin that assigns a unique inventory, ender chest, health, hunger, experience, and even active potion effects to each world or group of worlds. Instead of players dragging their entire survival setup into a creative flatland, the moment they switch worlds, their inventory swaps automatically. You can group multiple worlds together so they share the same set of items—perfect for linking a nether and an overworld while keeping a separate skyblock island entirely independent. The plugin also allows you to exempt certain players from inventory switching via permissions, giving staff or VIPs a consistent loadout everywhere.
Key Features at a Glance
- World-specific inventories, ender chests, and player data.
- Group worlds to share inventories seamlessly (e.g., survival and survival_nether).
- Separate health, food, XP, and potion effects per world or group.
- Permission-based exemption for ignoring the inventory switch.
- MySQL support for storing data across multiple servers.
- Import tools for migrating from Multiverse-Inventories, WorldInventories, or vanilla player files.
Setting Up MultiInv Correctly
Before diving in, you need to ensure the plugin’s dependency, TuxTwoLib, is installed and matches your server version. Many issues with inventories not changing stem from using the wrong TuxTwoLib build or forgetting to deny the multiinv.exempt permission to yourself. If you are an operator, the plugin will not separate your inventory unless that permission is explicitly denied. Start by dropping both JARs into your plugins folder, restart the server, and then edit the generated configuration files to define your world groups.
When configuring groups, you will work with the groups.yml file. Each group name can contain one or multiple worlds. For example, a group called “survival” might list “world” and “world_nether”, while a separate “creative” group holds “creative_flat”. Players moving between worlds within the same group keep their items; crossing into a different group triggers a complete inventory swap. The config.yml also lets you toggle options like separating health, saving inventory on quit, and choosing between flat-file or MySQL storage.
If you manage a network of servers behind BungeeCord, MultiInv can even share inventories across different server instances, though this feature remains in beta. You must enable ip_forward in BungeeCord’s config and set bungeecord: true in spigot.yml so UUIDs are correctly forwarded. Without this, offline-mode servers may fail to identify players reliably.
Commands and Permissions Overview
MultiInv provides a handful of administrative commands, all prefixed with /multiinv. These help you reload configs, import data from other plugins, or export player files back to vanilla format. Below are the essential ones:
- /multiinv reload – Reloads configuration files without restarting the server.
- /multiinv import – Transfers existing flat-file data into a MySQL database.
- /multiinv mvimport – Imports inventories from Multiverse-Inventories (keep that plugin installed during import, then remove it).
- /multiinv miimport – Imports from WorldInventories.
- /multiinv mcimport – Pulls vanilla player data into MultiInv, useful when enabling SaveInventoryOnQuit for the first time.
- /multiinv mcexport – Exports MultiInv’s default world data back into Minecraft’s native player files.
Permissions mirror these commands: multiinv.reload, multiinv.import, multiinv.mvimport, multiinv.mcimport, and multiinv.mcexport. The most critical one is multiinv.exempt – granting this permission prevents inventory switching for that player. If you find your inventory is not changing despite correct configuration, double-check that you have denied yourself this permission in your permissions manager.
Migrating from Older Versions
If you are upgrading from MultiInv 2.x to 3.x, the process requires manual file adjustments. Delete the old config.yml, start the server to generate a fresh one, then rename the Worlds folder to Groups inside the plugin directory. Next, rename shares.yml to groups.yml. You will also need to cut the creativeGroups section from groups.yml and paste it into config.yml. After editing preferences, run /multiinv reload and, if using MySQL, /multiinv import. Always back up your data before performing these steps.
Managing plugins like MultiInv becomes much smoother when you use a dedicated launcher that handles mod and plugin downloads for you. For instance, the foxygame.net launcher offers a convenient, flexible, and modern interface where you can download and install server tools right from its menu, cutting down the time spent hunting for compatible versions. This is especially handy when you need to keep dependencies like TuxTwoLib in sync across updates.
Compatibility and Known Issues
MultiInv does not play nicely with MobArena if players can join an arena from a different world group. To avoid inventory conflicts, make sure all MobArena sessions are restricted to a single world group. The plugin also requires Minecraft 1.7.9 or higher; earlier versions are not supported due to game-breaking bugs. UUID support is now fully integrated, so always verify that your server setup correctly forwards UUIDs when using BungeeCord.
For troubleshooting, the official forums are the best place to seek help. When reporting a bug, always include your MultiInv version, TuxTwoLib version, and the contents of both config.yml and groups.yml. Without this information, your report may be ignored. Development builds are available via a continuous integration server, but those come with no guarantees and should be tested in a staging environment first.
Why MultiInv Stands Out
Unlike simpler inventory plugins, MultiInv separates nearly every aspect of a player’s state: health, hunger, experience, ender chest contents, and even active potion effects. The ability to group worlds together while keeping others isolated gives server owners immense flexibility. The import commands also make migration painless, whether you are switching from another inventory plugin or converting vanilla player files. With proper configuration, you can run a sprawling multi-world server where each dimension feels like its own self-contained game mode.
Final Thoughts
MultiInv is a powerful tool for any server administrator who wants to maintain strict separation between worlds without forcing players to manage multiple accounts or log out and back in. The plugin’s learning curve comes mainly from understanding permissions and group definitions, but once configured, it runs reliably in the background. Remember to deny the exempt permission to yourself, keep TuxTwoLib updated, and test new setups on a private server before going live. With these practices in place, MultiInv will keep your inventories clean, organized, and perfectly segregated across every corner of your Minecraft universe.