SideBar Plugin: Advanced Scoreboard Customization for Minecraft

Taking Control of Your Minecraft Scoreboard with the SideBar Plugin

Every server owner knows that the humble scoreboard can be so much more than a simple list of player deaths or online friends. With the right tools, it becomes a dynamic information panel that can display anything from in-game currency and rank to custom variables you define yourself. The SideBar plugin is exactly that tool, offering complete control over the sidebar with over 100 built‑in variables, per‑world configurations, and a powerful scripting engine. If you have ever wanted to tailor the scoreboard to your server’s unique identity, this plugin makes it effortless.

What Makes SideBar Stand Out?

Unlike basic scoreboard plugins that only show static text or a handful of placeholders, SideBar gives you deep customization. It supports color codes, UTF‑8 symbols (like ❤ after proper conversion), and dynamically updating fields so your sidebar never feels stale. You can create multiple scoreboard files and assign them to different worlds, permission groups, or even let players choose their own. The plugin’s scripting system allows you to go beyond the included variables and craft entirely new placeholders using simple YAML or JavaScript files.

Key Features at a Glance

• More than 100 ready‑to‑use variables covering player stats, economy, and server data
• Full color and Unicode support for visually appealing sidebars
• Dynamically updating scoreboards with configurable refresh intervals
• Per‑world sidebars so each dimension can have its own unique display
• Group‑specific sidebars tied to Vault permissions
• Optional player‑chosen sidebars via commands
• Built‑in scripting to create custom variables or modify sidebar content on the fly
• No database required – everything runs from lightweight YAML configuration files

Installation and Dependencies

Getting SideBar running on your server is straightforward. The plugin itself requires only one dependency: Vault. Vault is the standard abstraction layer for permissions, chat, and economy plugins, and it must be present for SideBar to manage group‑based sidebars and certain variables. You can obtain Vault from the official BukkitDev page or any reputable plugin repository. Once you have both JAR files, simply drop them into your server’s plugins folder and restart. On first launch, SideBar will generate all necessary configuration files and folders inside plugins/SideBar.

For those who prefer a streamlined setup, the SideBar plugin can be easily installed via the foxygame.net launcher — a convenient, flexible, and modern Minecraft launcher where you can download mods and plugins right from the menu, saving you the trouble of manual file transfers.

Configuring Your Scoreboard

All the magic happens inside the scoreboards folder. Each YAML file there represents one sidebar layout. The plugin ships with an example.yml that you can copy and modify. A basic scoreboard file needs four essential elements:

• title – The header text shown at the top of the sidebar. You can use color codes like &6 and even Unicode symbols after converting them to ASCII escape sequences.
• permission – The permission node required for a player to see this sidebar. Use this to create exclusive sidebars for staff or donors.
• description – A short explanation of what the sidebar does, useful when players browse available sidebars via commands.
• keys and values – The actual lines of the scoreboard. Keys are the left‑side labels (max 15 characters after variable resolution), and values are the right‑side numbers. The scoreboard automatically sorts entries in descending order based on the integer value, so the highest number sits at the top.

For example, a simple economy sidebar might have a key &aBalance: ${money} with a value of {money}. Since the value is a number, it will sort correctly. You can also use mathematical expressions like 15*6+4 as long as the result is a whole number.

Creating Your First Custom Sidebar

Let’s walk through the process step by step:

1. Navigate to plugins/SideBar/scoreboards and create a new .yml file, for instance survival.yml.
2. Set the title to something descriptive, such as "&eSurvival Stats".
3. Assign a permission like sidebar.use.survival so only players with that node see it.
4. Add a short description.
5. Define your keys and values. You might display player health, kills, or custom placeholders like {player_kills}.
6. Open the main config.yml and under multiworld, set the sidebar for your world to the filename without extension: sidebar: survival.

Reload the plugin with /sidebar reload and your new sidebar will appear for all players in that world who have the correct permission.

Commands and Permissions

SideBar includes a handful of commands that make administration simple:

• /sidebar help – Displays all available commands.
• /sidebar set <sidebar> – Changes your own active sidebar (requires sidebar.set plus the specific sidebar’s permission).
• /sidebar set <sidebar> <player> – Sets another player’s sidebar (requires sidebar.set.other).
• /sidebar list – Lists all available sidebars the player can use.
• /sidebar reload – Reloads configuration files without restarting the server.

Group‑specific sidebars work seamlessly with Vault. Simply give a permission group the node for a particular sidebar, and all members will automatically see it, overriding the world default if configured. The plugin also supports a priority system so you can fine‑tune which sidebar wins when multiple conditions match.

Dynamic Variables and Scripting

The real power of SideBar comes from its ability to update on the fly and to let you inject custom logic. The scripts folder is where you place your own YAML or JavaScript files. For example, a script named example.yml can be referenced in a scoreboard file as {example}, while a JavaScript file test.js would be called with {js:test.js}. These scripts can fetch data from other plugins, perform calculations, or even change a player’s sidebar based on in‑game events.

The auto‑update system is controlled in config.yml. You can whitelist specific placeholders to update, set the tick interval (20 ticks = 1 second), and even run updates asynchronously for better performance. If you need a completely static sidebar, simply disable auto‑update.

Conclusion

SideBar transforms the Minecraft scoreboard from a forgotten corner of the screen into a vibrant, informative dashboard. Its extensive variable library, permission‑based distribution, and scripting support make it suitable for everything from small community servers to large networks. The configuration is entirely file‑based, so there is no database overhead, and the plugin plays nicely with other scoreboard plugins thanks to its compatibility mode. Whether you want to show player rankings, economy balances, or custom game statistics, SideBar gives you the control to make it happen without writing a single line of Java code. Give it a try and watch your server’s sidebar come alive.