Hytale Plugin Development Template

A simple Hytale plugin development template built with Gradle (Kotlin DSL) and Java 25.

Enhanced Fork: this project is an improved fork of the original template from CodyAdam, with additional features for easier development and server execution.

WHAT'S NEW IN THIS FORK?????

• Gradle runServer task: no python dependency, pure gradle workflow 🤡
• Automatic Hytale detection: No need to manually copy server files anymore :3
• Dev mode with symlinks: Instant asset updates without rebuilding
• Manifest templating: Dynamic manifest generation from gradle.properties

Prerequisites:

• JDK 25 (Adoptium, Temurin, whatever you want i dont care)
• Hytale installed via the official launcher

Quick start

1. Configure your plugin

Edit gradle.properties to customize your plugin:

# Game Configuration
gamePatchline=release

# Plugin Information
pluginName=MyAwesomePlugin
pluginVersion=1.0.0
pluginGroup=com.yourname
pluginDescription=My awesome Hytale plugin
pluginMain=com.yourname.myawesomeplugin.MainPlugin

Edit app/src/main/generated/manifest.json to set your plugin metadata (uses variables from gradle.properties):

{
  "Group": "$pluginGroup",
  "Name": "$pluginName",
  "Version": "$pluginVersion",
  "Description": "$pluginDescription",
  "Authors": [
    {
      "Name": "YourName",
      "Email": "your.email@example.com",
      "Url": "https://yourwebsite.com"
    }
  ],
  "Website": "https://yourplugin.com",
  "Main": "$pluginMain"
}

2. Build your plugin

$ ./gradlew build

JAR output: app/build/libs/

3. Run the server

$ ./gradlew runServer

This automatically

• Detects your Hytale installation (Windows/Linux/MacOS)
• Copies HytaleServer.jar and Assets.zip to run/ folder
• Builds your plugin
• Installs it to run/mods/ with symlinked assets
• Starts the server

Customization

Update package name

1. Rename net.example (inside app/src/main/java) to your package path
2. Update package declaration in Plugin.java
3. Update pluginMain in gradle.properties to match your main class
4. Update pluginGroup in gradle.properties

Custom Hytale installation path

If Hytale is not in the default location, set the hytale_home property:

$ ./gradlew runServer -Phytale_home="/path/to/your/hytale"

Or add it to gradle.properties:

hytale_home=/custom/path/to/hytale

Default locations checked:

• Windows: %appdata%\Hytale\install\release\package\game\latest
• Linux: ~/.var/app/com.hypixel.HytaleLauncher/data/Hytale or ~/.local/share/Hytale
• MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Hytale

Development workflow

Dev mode (recommended for faster iteration)

$ ./gradlew installDevMod

This creates:

• Code JAR: Compiled classes only
• Symlinked assets: Direct link to your src/main/resources folder

Benefits: Asset changes are reflected immediately without rebuilding!

Available tasks

• build - Build the final release JAR
• runServer - Build, install, and run the server
• installDevMod - Install dev version (code + symlinked assets)
• buildRelease - Build the distribution JAR
• cleanMods - Clean only the mods folder