BetterSmithing Guide

A concise walkthrough for server owners to configure and use the BetterSmithing plugin. The plugin automatically registers smithing-table upgrades for armor/tools based on your config and the materials available on your server version.

What the Plugin Does

• Scans your server’s Material list for leather, wooden, stone, copper, iron, golden, and diamond tools/armor (swords, spears, shovels, pickaxes, axes, hoes, helmets, chestplates, leggings, boots).
• Builds upgrade recipes for each tier pair you define in the config, matching items by suffix (e.g., WOODEN_SWORD → STONE_SWORD).
• Uses modern Smithing Transform recipes when supported (1.20+); falls back to legacy SmithingRecipe on older versions.
• Optionally requires a smithing template item if your server version enforces templates.

Installation

1. Drop the plugin jar into plugins/ and start the server once.
2. Edit the generated config at plugins/BetterSmithing/config.yml on the server.
3. Reload or restart the server to apply changes.

Configuration

The defaults live in src/main/resources/config.yml. Key options:

Template

template: COAL

• Set to the smithing template item required by your server version (e.g., NETHERITE_UPGRADE_SMITHING_TEMPLATE).
• If your server mandates templates and this is missing/invalid, recipes will be skipped and a warning is logged.
• Set to AIR to allow legacy behavior on older versions that do not require templates.

Tiers

Each tier maps to the tier it can be upgraded into and the consumable item for the upgrade. Leave upgrade_to or upgrade_item blank to disable that tier.

tiers:
  leather:
    upgrade_to: golden
    upgrade_item: gold_ingot
  wooden:
    upgrade_to: stone
    upgrade_item: stone
  stone:
    upgrade_to: copper
    upgrade_item: copper_ingot
  copper:
    upgrade_to: iron
    upgrade_item: iron_ingot
  golden:
    upgrade_to: iron
    upgrade_item: iron_ingot
  iron:
    upgrade_to: diamond
    upgrade_item: diamond

How it works:

• The plugin looks up the tool/armor sets for both the source and target tiers. If either set is empty on your server version, that upgrade path is skipped with a log warning.
• upgrade_item must be a valid Bukkit Material; otherwise the path is skipped with a warning.
• Items are paired by the shared suffix, so every matching item (e.g., all helmets) gets its own smithing recipe.

Supported tool/armor types

SWORD, SPEAR, SHOVEL, PICKAXE, AXE, HOE, HELMET, CHESTPLATE, LEGGINGS, BOOTS

Example: Custom Path

If you want wooden → iron directly and disable everything else:

template: NETHERITE_UPGRADE_SMITHING_TEMPLATE
 
tiers:
  wooden:
    upgrade_to: iron
    upgrade_item: iron_ingot
  stone:
    upgrade_to: ""
    upgrade_item: ""
  leather:
    upgrade_to: ""
    upgrade_item: ""
  copper:
    upgrade_to: ""
    upgrade_item: ""
  golden:
    upgrade_to: ""
    upgrade_item: ""
  iron:
    upgrade_to: ""
    upgrade_item: ""

Troubleshooting

• Missing recipes on 1.20+: Ensure template is set to a valid smithing template material.
• A tier is skipped: Check server logs for warnings about unknown tiers, empty tier sets (not available on your MC version), or invalid upgrade_item materials.
• No commands appear: This plugin only registers recipes; there are no player or admin commands.