ImprovedHoppers — Smart, claim-aware item routing
 
Dependencies
ImprovedHoppers requires Vault for economy integration. Without Vault, features like smelter unlock costs and upgrades will not function.
 
Soft Dependencies
DecentHolograms – enables hologram HUDs above hoppers.
LuckPerms – supports dynamic permission-based limits.
SuperiorSkyblock2 or BentoBox – provides per-island hopper limits and trust handling.
 
Ditch laggy hopper snakes. Turn a single special hopper into a remote item router that teleports items to linked containers using filters, priorities, distribution rules, power modes, and a slick in-game GUI. Works great on survival, SMP, and Skyblock servers.
 
Why admins love it
- Replaces long hopper chains with one “smart” hopper per system — far fewer ticking blocks, far less server load.
 
- Batches transfers, skips empty inputs/blocked targets, and avoids unloaded chunks.
 
- Built-in claim system (or hooks your region plugin), with trust lists and admin bypass.
 
 
Core Features
- Remote Item Routing — Link one Improved Hopper to many containers across a configurable distance (same world). Per-target priority, whitelist/blacklist filters, and round-robin/fill-first distribution.
 
- Full In-Game GUI — Right-click to manage links, filters, power, trust, stats, simulation, and more. No commands required for normal use.
 
- Chat Search for Filters — Click the compass, type to search, or cancel.
 
- Optional Power System — Three modes:
 
- None (free)
 
- Redstone-controlled (requireRedstonePower / pauseWhenPowered)
 
- Fuel-powered via linked Fuel Chest converting fuel items → Power Units (distance & amount cost)
 
- Trust & Claims — Hoppers must be claimed to function; owners can trust players, admins can bypass. Craft-claimed by default.
 
- Lag-Aware Batching — Per-tick caps, skips unloaded targets, optional bounded retry queue.
 
- Visual Tools — Particle lines from hopper to linked chests; toggle transfer trails and filter-focus viz.
 
- Built-in Smelter — Optional virtual smelting with unlock/upgrade costs via Vault.
 
- Hologram HUD (optional) — Status line over hoppers via DecentHolograms (ACTIVE/IDLE with last transfer info & power).
 
- Craftable — Recipes for both Improved Hopper and Fuel Chest are configurable.
 
Plugin Feature Video

 
 
Quick Start
- Craft an Improved Hopper (and optional Fuel Chest if using Fuel mode).
 
- Place & Claim it (recipe-crafted ones auto-claim).
 
- Open GUI → add Targets, then click containers to link (use /improvedhoppers wand to multi-link quickly).
 
- Set filters, priorities, distribution.
 
- Pick your Power Mode. For Fuel, link Fuel Chest and insert fuel.
 
- (Optional) Add redstone depending on your redstone settings.
 
 
Commands
/improvedhoppers – Shows subcommands
/improvedhoppers wand – Get link wand for multi-linking
/improvedhoppers settings – Open settings (node or admin view)
/improvedhoppers remote – Get remote controller (view/manage from anywhere)
/improvedhoppers reload – Reload config (admin)
/improvedhoppers power apply – Re-apply power settings (admin)
 
Permissions
User
- improvedhoppers.user.wand – get/use link wand (default: true)
 
- improvedhoppers.user.settings – open node settings (default: true)
 
- improvedhoppers.user.remote – use remote controller (default: true)
 
- improvedhoppers.user.* – all user perms (default: true)
 
 
Admin
- improvedhoppers.admin – moderation bypass (default: op)
 
- improvedhoppers.admin.reload – reload config (default: op)
 
- improvedhoppers.admin.settings – open admin settings GUI (default: op)
 
- improvedhoppers.admin.* – all admin+user (default: op)
 
 
Limits (override config)
- improvedhoppers.limit.player.<n> – per-player hopper limit override
 
- improvedhoppers.limit.island.<n> – per-island hopper limit (Skyblock)
 
- improvedhoppers.limit.links.<n> – links per material override
 
- improvedhoppers.limit.trusted.<n> – trusted players per hopper override
 
- improvedhoppers.limit.filter.<n> – filter count override
 
- improvedhoppers.hopper.power.<n> – hopper power capacity (PU) override
 
 
Crafting
- Improved Hopper — shaped recipe (I C I / R H R / I C I), items & names configurable.
 
- Fuel Chest — configurable recipe (coal + chest).
 
 
 
 
Config Highlights
- Link Distance — default/max distance, owner-online requirement, and node cleanup tick interval.
 
- Transfer & Suction — interval, per-tick item caps, suction radius & costs, chunk-load queueing.
 
- Smelter — enable, cook times, queue size, unlock/upgrade costs (Vault).
 
- Fuel/Power — capacity, regen, auto-refuel, link limits & distances, fuel values. (Power is off by default; enable under general.hopper.fuelchest.enabled.)
 
- Limits — per-player/island totals, filters per hopper, links per material, trusted slots.
 
- Particles & Holograms — GUI colors, orbit/trail, hologram toggles & update ticks.
 
- Storage Backend — YAML (default) or SQLite.
 
 
Performance Notes
- Batches and caps items per tick, skips empty or blocked targets, and avoids unloaded chunks.
 
- Visualizer can be toggled per-player; optional filter-focused trails reduce spam.
 
- Optional distance-scaled power discourages extreme cross-map links.
 
 
Compatibility & Hooks
- Server: Paper/Spigot 1.20+ (API 1.21 targeted).
 
- Hard deps: Vault (economy).
 
- Soft deps: DecentHolograms (HUD), LuckPerms (dynamic limits), SuperiorSkyblock2, BentoBox.
 
- Regions: Works with GriefPrevention/WorldGuard; ships lightweight internal claims if absent.
 
 
Admin Tools
Open /improvedhoppers settings while looking at a node (or the admin settings panel with permission) to tweak everything in-game: link distance, suction/transfer, fuel values, smelter, limits, particles/holograms, worlds, recipes, and more.
 
API & Events (for developers)
Exposes events such as HopperSorterTransferEvent, HopperSorterFuelConsumeEvent, HopperSorterClaimEvent, overflow and alert hooks; simple API sketches for fuel/virtual targets.
 
Storage & Persistence
Choose YAML or SQLite. YAML loader persists node power, names, particle colors, links, and smelter state safely.
 
FAQ
Q: Can I disable the power system?
A: Yes — it’s off by default; flip general.hopper.fuelchest.enabled to true to use fuel.
 
Q: Can players manage hoppers remotely?
A: Yes — /improvedhoppers remote opens a network overview or node GUI depending on click.
 
Q: Do vanilla hopper pulls still happen on claimed nodes?
A: No — vanilla InventoryMoveItemEvent/InventoryPickupItemEvent are cancelled for claimed hoppers to avoid conflicts.