Compatibility
DBetterModel 6.0 ships one jar containing three compat layers. At startup it reads the installed BetterModel version and selects the matching layer:
| BetterModel | Layer | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| < 1.15.0 | — | Unsupported: clear log message, plugin disables. Use a pre-6.0 release (see README table). |
| 1.15.x | v1 | Bukkit-event based. |
| 2.0.1 – 2.2.x | v2 | BM event bus. 2.0.x/2.1.x run in a reduced-capability mode (see below). |
| 3.x | v3 | BM event bus; requires a Java 25 JVM (BetterModel 3.x itself requires Java 25). |
| 4.x+ (future) | best-effort | DBM reflectively probes the key 3.x API surface; if the probes pass, the v3 layer is enabled with a loud warning, otherwise DBM disables gracefully. Never a crash, never silent misbehavior. |
Check the active layer at runtime with <bm.compat_layer> and the BetterModel version with <bm.version>.
Capabilities
Each layer declares what the running BetterModel can do. Scripts query the set with <bm.capabilities> (lowercase names). Anything a layer cannot do results in a clean, documented error from the command/tag, or the related event simply not firing — never a stacktrace.
| Capability | v1 (1.15.x) | v2 (2.x) | v3 (3.x) | Controls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
event_bus | — | ✔ | ✔ | Internal delivery detail (v1 uses Bukkit events; same script events either way). |
animation_signals | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bm animation signal from denizen: keyframes. |
player_animation_events | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bm player animation signal. |
dummy_trackers | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bmsummon. |
animation_priority | — | — | ✔ | BM 3.x AnimationModifier.priority. |
per_player_animation | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bmstate ... for_players:. |
hitbox_damage_events | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bm hitbox damaged. |
spawn_events | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bm model spawns/despawns for player. |
skin_api | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bmpart. |
mount_events | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | bm model mounted/dismounted. |
hitbox_interact_event | ✔ | ✔ | — | Non-positional interact event (v3 uses the at-variant instead — bm hitbox interacted fires everywhere). |
hitbox_interact_at_event | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | Positional interact event. |
tracker_animation_api | — | ✔ (2.2+) | ✔ | BM TrackerAnimation API. |
bone_filter_animate | ✔ | ✔ (2.2+, emulated per bone) | ✔ (emulated per bone) | bmstate ... bones: restricted to a bone subset. |
player_head_item | ✔ | ✔ | — | BM player-head item helper (removed in BM 3.x). |
animation_lifecycle_events | — | ✔ | ✔ | bm animation starts/ends. |
BetterModel 2.0.x / 2.1.x reduced mode
The 2.x line drifted internally: the TrackerAnimation API and per-bone animation override arrived in 2.2.0. On 2.0.x/2.1.x servers, DBM detects the sub-line at startup and logs a warning: bones: filters on bmstate apply to the whole model. Update BetterModel to 2.2.0+ for full support. Everything else works.
Java requirements
| Setup | Java |
|---|---|
| BetterModel 1.15.x or 2.x | 21+ |
| BetterModel 3.x | 25 (mandated by BetterModel 3.x itself) |
The 6.0 jar intentionally mixes classfile versions: the v3 layer is compiled for Java 25 and is only ever classloaded on servers running BM 3.x — on Java 21 servers those classes are never touched.
Server: Paper 1.21.x+. Denizen: 1.3.1+.