Getting Started

Getting Started

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There are two ways to start: the transitional setup that exists today, and the VectolynCloud setup that is planned for stage 2.

Today: transitional setup (Windows)

Until VectolynCloud exists, the servers run locally from a network folder outside the repository (for example C:\Vectolyn, the later cloud home) through Windows start scripts. The launcher always starts all servers; choosing servers comes with VectolynCloud.

You need:

• Java 25 on the PATH. Paper 26.3 and the Fabric server for 26.3 require it, and Velocity runs on it too.
• The portable MariaDB 11.8.9 for Windows x64 (ZIP archive).

1. Create the runtime folders

1. Clone the repository.
2. Copy each templates/<Server>/ to <network folder>\<Server>\runtime\.
3. Copy cloud/dist/secrets/vectolyn.env.example to <network folder>\secrets\vectolyn.env and fill in your own values. Never commit this file.
4. Replace every {{VECTOLYN_…}} placeholder in the runtime/ folders with your values. placeholders.md lists each placeholder, where it is used and its local default (ports, heap sizes, the proxy's server list).
5. Create the files that do not come from templates: Proxy/runtime/forwarding.secret (the forwarding secret), the Floodgate key.pem (the base64 value decoded to 16 bytes, the same file on the proxy and on every backend) and eula.txt once you have accepted the Minecraft EULA.

VectolynCloud takes over steps 2 to 5 in stage 2. These folders (<Server>\runtime, Database\runtime) belong to the by-hand start scripts only; VectolynCloud uses its own layout (config/, local/, database/, storage/), see Cloud home.

2. Add the server software

The repository ships no jars. The current setup runs with these versions. The start scripts expect the file names in the second column.

Folder (runtime/)	Server jar	Plugins or mods
Proxy	velocity.jar (Velocity 4.3.0)	plugins/: Geyser-Velocity, Floodgate (Velocity), LuckPerms-Velocity 5.5.71, ViaVersion 5.12.2, ViaBackwards 5.12.2, ViaRewind 4.2.0
Lobby-Server, Survival-Server, Creative-Server, End-Server	paper.jar (Paper 26.3)	plugins/: Floodgate (Spigot), LuckPerms-Bukkit 5.5.71, TAB 6.2.1, PlaceholderAPI 2.12.3, WorldEdit 7.4.6, WorldGuard 7.0.20
Mod-Server	fabric-server.jar (Fabric Loader 0.20.1, MC 26.3)	mods/: Fabric API, FabricProxy-Lite 2.12.0, Floodgate-Fabric 2.2.7-b69, LuckPerms-Fabric 5.5.85, Lithium 0.26.2+mc26.3, FerriteCore 9.0.0, ServerCore 1.5.20+26.3, Chunky 1.5.3, spark 1.10.187, ProxyPortal 2.0.0+26.1
Database	MariaDB 11.8.9, unpacked to mariadb-11.8.9-winx64/	none

The Vectolyn plugins are built from this repository (see Building the plugins below). VectolynLobby goes on the Lobby, VectolynPortalBridge on Lobby, Survival and Creative.

Before the first database start, create the data folder Database/runtime/data with mariadb-install-db.exe from MariaDB's bin folder. Then run the filled-in init.sql once as the MariaDB root user. It creates the LuckPerms database and user.

3. Start

Copy start-network.bat and start-vectolyn-database.cmd from cloud/dist/manual/ into the network folder, run start-network.bat there and pick an option:

Option	Starts
1	Everything: the database, then after five seconds the proxy and all five backends
2	Database only
3	Proxy only
4	Backends only: Lobby, Survival, Mod, Creative, End
5	Nothing, closes the window

Each server opens its own window and restarts five seconds after it stops. Close the window to stop it for good. start-vectolyn-database.cmd starts only the database, like option 2.

Then connect with a Java client to localhost:25565 or with a Bedrock client to localhost, port 19132.

Ports of all servers: Server Network.

Planned: VectolynCloud (stage 2 and later)

VectolynCloud is set up and configured like CloudNet:

1. Run java -jar VectolynCloud.jar on Windows, Linux, macOS, in Docker or on Pterodactyl.
2. On first start a setup wizard runs in the console. It asks, among other things, how the database should run (managed MariaDB, Docker or external) and which of the seven servers and minigame groups you want.
3. The cloud generates the secrets, downloads and verifies the server software and Java runtimes, builds each wanted server from its template into its own folder under local/services/ and starts it. The start prints a banner and one line per step (configuration, database, software, templates, services). Your configuration is in config/. Servers you did not choose are not created, and neither proxy nor lobby refers to them.
4. After that you change the setup through config files and console commands.

From stage 8 on, the web dashboard will offer the same, including the first-time setup and the choice of servers. Wizard, files, console commands and dashboard all work on one shared configuration layer.

From the repository: run VectolynCloud locally

To try the current state of VectolynCloud or a change of your own:

./gradlew :cloud:node:runLocal --console=plain

This builds VectolynCloud.jar and starts it with run/ in the repository root as the cloud home. The setup wizard asks its questions in the same terminal; configuration, secrets, worlds, logs and downloads all stay in run/, which Git ignores as a whole. Stop the network with shutdown in the console, and delete run/ to start over. If your shell runs as administrator or root, add -PallowRoot=true.

run/ is for development only. For a real network, start a release in its own cloud home outside the checkout, see Operations. Details on the task: docs/cloud/launcher.md.

Building the plugins

./gradlew build        # Linux, macOS, Git Bash
gradlew.bat build      # Windows cmd / PowerShell

Gradle starts on Java 17 or newer and compiles with a Java 25 toolchain, which it downloads if missing. The bytecode target is Java 21. The jars land in plugins/lobby/paper/build/libs/ and plugins/portal/paper/build/libs/. Details: Java compatibility.

Plugin reference

Both plugins have no commands and no config you need to touch. This is what they do today. They are replaced by the Vectolyn plugin in stages 3 and 4.

VectolynLobby

Install on the Lobby server.

• On the first start it builds the sky-island lobby around 0, 100, 0 in the server's first world, then writes built: true to plugins/VectolynLobby/config.yml. Set it back to false to build the island again on the next start; existing blocks in that area are overwritten.
• On every start it turns off the daylight and weather cycle in that world and sets the spawn point onto the platform.
• Players are teleported to the spawn when they join. They take no damage and get no hunger.
• Breaking and placing blocks is blocked unless the player has the permission vectolyn.lobby.build. plugin.yml gives it to operators only (default: op); other players need it from a permission plugin.

VectolynPortalBridge

Install on Lobby, Survival and Creative.

• When a player enters an End portal, the plugin cancels the local teleport and sends a Connect message on the BungeeCord plugin channel, which moves the player to the backend named end.
• This needs bungee-plugin-message-channel = true in velocity.toml (set in the proxy template) and a server called end in its [servers] list.
• If the message cannot be sent, the player sees "The End server is currently unavailable." and the server log gets a warning.