What is DBetterModel
DBetterModel 6.0 "Omni": one jar for every BetterModel (1.15.x, 2.x, 3.x).
Lines of code
Demo
Why 6.0
Up to 5.0 I shipped one DBetterModel release per BetterModel version. BetterModel broke its API twice (1.x → 2.x → 3.x), so that matrix kept growing and every BM update stranded someone. 6.0 replaces it with a single universal jar: it detects the installed BetterModel at startup and picks the matching compat layer.
| BetterModel | DBetterModel |
|---|---|
| 1.15.x / 2.0.x–2.2.x / 3.x | 6.0.0 (single jar) |
Historical table for pre-6.0 users:
| BetterModel Version | Latest Supported DBetterModel Version |
|---|---|
| 1.15.0 | 5.0.0 |
| 1.14.0-1.14.2 | 4.3.0 |
| 1.13.4 | 4.2.0 |
| 1.13.0-1.13.1 | 4.1.0 |
| 1.11.0 | 4.0.0 |
| 1.10.3 | 3.5.0 (abandoned, will not be released) |
| 1.10.2 | 3.4.0 |
| 1.10.0-1.10.1 | 3.3.0 |
| 1.9.0-1.9.3 | 2.1.0 |
| 1.8.0-1.8.1 | 2.0.1 |
| 1.5.5 | 1.1.0 |
| 1.5.1 | 1.0.0 |
What's in 6.0
- Universal compat core — version-neutral API with three statically compiled layers (v1/v2/v3), selected at startup. No private-field reflection anywhere. Unknown future BM majors (4.x+) get a best-effort probe instead of a crash.
- Capability system — each layer declares what the running BetterModel can do; scripts query it with
<bm.capabilities>. Anything unavailable reports a clean error instead of a stacktrace. - Blockbench keyframe signals —
denizen:name{key=value}instruction keyframes fire thebm animation signalDenizen event on all supported BM lines, including 1.15.x and 2.x. bmsummon— location-bound models (dummy trackers) for props and cutscenes, no carrier entity needed.- Full event suite — 14 script events: signals, animation start/end, per-player spawn/despawn, tracker lifecycle, hitbox damage/interact, mount/dismount, reload.
- Read/write bone API — the tags that were write-only in 5.x (glow, tint, billboard, view range, brightness, scale, offset, item...) now read back too.
skinbone mechanism — apply a player's skin part to a bone as an adjust (skin:[part=head;from=<player>]), the modern take onbmpart.- Legacy aliases restored —
world_rotation, bonebm_entity,lerp_frameswork again, so 3.x/4.x-era scripts run as-is. - 100% backward compatible — every 5.0 script runs unchanged.
- Experimental — a keyframe-to-script bridge and Folia-ready internals; see
docs/EXPERIMENTAL.
DBetterModel vs denizen-utilities (BetterModel bridge)
Both bridge BetterModel into Denizen. Verified against denizen-utilities 2.8.x (compiled against bettermodel-bukkit-api:3.0.1); the table lists only source-verifiable differences, not a quality judgement.
| DBetterModel 6.0 | denizen-utilities | |
|---|---|---|
| BetterModel support | 1.15.x + 2.x + 3.x, one jar | 3.x only |
| BM API access | public API only | reflection into a BM private field (RenderedBone.itemStack via setAccessible) |
| Off-thread work | Bukkit/region schedulers | a raw new Thread + Thread.sleep(100) |
Keyframe signals (bm animation signal) | fire on all BM lines, incl. 1.15/2.x | 3.x only |
| Location-bound models (dummy trackers) | yes — bmsummon | no |
| Skin part → bone | bmpart command and skin mechanism | .skin mechanism (their bmpart is deprecated) |
| Mount / billboard | commands (bmmount, bmboard) | mechanisms (.mount, .billboard) |
Docs
- Wiki: wiki.meigo.pw/docs/dbettermodel
- In-repo: the
docs/folder mirrors the wiki (commands, events, objects & tags, compatibility, migration, experimental, FAQ).
Editor setup (VS Code)
The Denizen extension's script checker doesn't know DBetterModel's object types out of the box, so it flags bmentity@/bmmodel@/bmbone@ tags as unknown. Teach it: Settings (Ctrl+,) → search denizenscript → Denizenscript: Extra Sources → add
https://github.com/meigoc/dbettermodel/archive/refs/heads/main.zipthen reload the window. See the FAQ for details.
Requirements
| Java | 21+ (Java 25 only when running BetterModel 3.x — BM 3.x itself requires it) |
| Server | Paper 1.21.x+ |
| Denizen | 1.3.1+ |
| BetterModel | 1.15.x, 2.0.x–2.2.x, or 3.x |