PixelPrinter – Minecraft 1.21.x (Java 21)

This release updates PixelPrinter for the 1.21 server line (tested on 1.21.8) and modern Java. It also hardens version/reflection utilities so the plugin boots cleanly on today’s Spigot/Paper/Purpur servers.

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✅ Requirements

• Server: Spigot / Paper / Purpur 1.21.x
• Java: 21 (server runtime)
• Plugin file: use the shaded JAR you downloaded from this release (the one without the original- prefix)

Not compatible with 1.20.x or lower (those are typically Java 17). If you need 1.20.6 support, use an older PixelPrinter build or build a Java 17 / API 1.20.6 variant.

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✨ Highlights

• Builds against spigot-api 1.21.8
• Compiled with Java 21 (--release 21)
• Safer server-version detection (works on modern Paper/Purpur where CraftBukkit packages are unversioned)
• Robust version comparison (no more StringIndexOutOfBoundsException on startup)
• Replaced internal com.sun.* Base64 usage with java.util.Base64 (JDK 8+ API)
• Included JSON-Simple for legacy metrics class (bundled in shaded JAR)
• Cleaned shading setup to avoid bundling test libraries

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🔧 Changes (Developer-facing)

• plugin.yml
  • version: ${project.version} to keep metadata in sync with the POM
  • authors: now credits joex92 and ZombieStriker (original creator)
  • api-version: '1.21'
• ReflectionUtil / RGBBlockColor
  • Added safe fallbacks when CraftBukkit package is unversioned
  • Rewrote version parsing to handle v1_21[_R#] and 1.21[.x] formats
• SkinCreator
  • Switched Base64 to java.util.Base64
• Shading
  • Ensured JSON-Simple is included; excluded test libs (JUnit/Hamcrest) to slim the JAR

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📦 Installation / Upgrade

1. Stop your server.
2. Drop PixelPrinter-1.0.49-mc1.21.8-R0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar (the shaded JAR from this release) into plugins/.
3. Start the server.
4. Verify with: