VelocityNavigator v4.0.0

[4.0.0] — 2026-05-01

Added

• Power of Two selection algorithm (power_of_two) — picks two random candidates, selects the one with fewer players. Near-optimal distribution at O(1) cost.
• Weighted Round Robin selection algorithm (weighted_round_robin) — interleaved WRR that distributes traffic proportionally to server weights.
• Least Connections selection algorithm (least_connections) — selects the server with the lowest exponential moving average (EMA) of connection load and rate.
• Consistent Hash selection algorithm (consistent_hash) — deterministic player-to-server mapping using a consistent hash ring with 150 virtual nodes and SHA-256 hashing. Provides session affinity.
• LobbyEntry format — servers can be configured as plain strings or inline tables with max_players and weight fields. Backward compatible with plain strings.
• Per-lobby max-player cap — servers at their max_players capacity are automatically excluded from routing.
• Circuit Breaker — automatic server failure detection with CLOSED → OPEN → HALF_OPEN state machine. Unhealthy servers are excluded from routing until they recover.
• Server Drain Mode — /vn drain <server>, /vn undrain <server>, /vn drain status commands for graceful server maintenance.
• Connection Retry with Fallback — automatic retry on connection failure with configurable max_retries. Shows retry message with <attempt>/<max> placeholders.
• Per-Group Selection Mode Override — contextual routing groups can specify their own mode, overriding the global selection_mode.
• Fallback Priority Chain — ordered fallback groups when a contextual group's servers are all unavailable.
• Player Affinity Routing — sticky sessions with configurable stickiness probability (0.0–1.0). Players tend to return to their previous lobby.
• Graceful Degradation — when all health checks fail, fall back to a configured degradation mode (default: random) instead of showing "No lobby found".
• Geo-Based Routing (experimental) — stub implementation for geo-based lobby routing using MaxMind GeoLite2 Country database.
• Routing Metrics API — new NavigatorAPI methods: getRoutingDistribution(), getHealthCheckLatencies(), getCircuitBreakerStatuses().
• Connection Rate Tracking — sliding window (60-second) connection rate tracker used by least_connections mode.
• Server Load Tracking — EMA-based server load tracker used by least_connections mode.
• Routing Stats — per-server connection counts with 60-second reset, shown in /vn status.
• Enhanced /vn status dashboard — now shows circuit breaker status, drained servers, and routing distribution.
• /vn updatecheck command — manually check for updates (replaces recurring auto-update check).
• Startup update notification — one-time update check 5 seconds after proxy start.
• Admin join update notification — players with velocitynavigator.admin permission are notified in-game when they join if an update is available. Controlled by notify_admins_on_join config.
• <player> placeholder — new placeholder available in all message templates.
• <attempt> and <max> placeholders — available in messages.retrying.
• messages.retrying config — new message template for connection retry notifications.
• notify_on_startup config — suppress startup update notification.
• notify_admins_on_join config — enable/disable in-game admin update notification on join.
• Health check cache purge — expired cache entries are automatically purged every 60 seconds.
• getCachedOnlineServers() method — synchronous cached player count access for initial join balancing (replaces blocking .join() call).
• Config version field — CURRENT_VERSION set to 4. Auto-migration from v3 configs with .bak backup.

Changed

• Removed .join() blocking call in onPlayerChooseInitialServer — replaced with synchronous cache lookup. Falls through to Velocity's built-in try list on cold start.
• Round-robin state only resets when lobby topology changes — applyLoadedConfiguration() now compares previous and current lobby lists before resetting.
• Contextual groups — changed from Map<String, List<LobbyEntry>> to Map<String, GroupConfig> where GroupConfig contains servers and optional mode.
• UpdateChecker — removed recurring schedule; now runs a single check on startup. Removed enabled, notifyConsole, startupDelaySeconds fields.
• ConfigManager — reads both plain strings and inline tables for lobby entries (backward compatible). Writes inline tables when max_players or weight is non-default.
• MessageFormatter — added player, attempt, max to allowed placeholders.
• noLobbyFound message — now includes (<reason>) placeholder by default.
• ServerCandidate record — now includes effectiveWeight and emaLoad fields.
• RouteDecision — provides ordered candidate list for retry fallback.

Fixed

• Blocking .join() in event handler — onPlayerChooseInitialServer no longer blocks the event loop with .join() calls. Uses cached data synchronously instead.
• Round-robin reset on every reload — round-robin counter is now only reset when the lobby topology actually changes, preventing unnecessary redistribution on config reload.
• Health check cache memory leak — expired cache entries are now purged every 60 seconds.
• Permission node inconsistency — velocitynavigator.bypasscooldown now also checks velocitynavigator.bypass.cooldown for consistency.

Deprecated

• velocitynavigator.bypasscooldown permission — use velocitynavigator.bypass.cooldown instead. The legacy name still works as a fallback.

Removed

• update_checker.enabled config field — the update checker now always runs on startup.
• update_checker.notifyConsole config field — update notifications are always logged to console.
• update_checker.startupDelaySeconds config field — startup delay is fixed at 5 seconds.
• Recurring update check schedule — replaced by one-time startup check and /vn updatecheck.

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