Make Vanilla Minecraft More Fun: Show Crafting with InteractionVisualizer

This guide is for owners of survival or SMP servers who want the game to feel more alive without turning it into a modpack. By the end you will have InteractionVisualizer installed and tuned, so players can see each other crafting, smelting and enchanting. We also cover a few other vanilla-friendly ideas to build on.

Why vanilla can feel flat on a multiplayer server#

In vanilla Minecraft, most of what players do happens inside a menu. Someone walks up to a crafting table and clicks it, and from the outside nothing changes. A furnace gives no clue how far along its smelt is. On a busy SMP that means a lot of shared spaces look empty even when people are using them.

Making vanilla more fun often doesn't need new mechanics. It means making the existing ones visible and social, so a shared base or a spawn workshop feels like a place where things happen.

What InteractionVisualizer shows your players#

InteractionVisualizer by LOOHP shows the contents of function blocks in the world. When a player puts items into a crafting table, the items appear on top of the table for everyone nearby. Furnaces get a floating progress bar, enchanting tables show the item being enchanted, and so on.

Everything is sent to players as packets. None of the displayed items or stands exist on the server, so they cannot be picked up, killed with commands or change the world in any way. The plugin is free, licensed GPL-3.0, and listed on SpigotMC, Modrinth and Hangar.

InteractionVisualizer Free Shows the contents and progress of crafting tables, furnaces, chests and other function blocks in the world using client-side packets. On SpigotMC

Blocks and entities it covers#

• Crafting: crafting table and crafter (upward facing only), stonecutter, grindstone, anvil, cartography table, enchanting table, loom
• Cooking: furnace, blast furnace, smoker, campfire, soul campfire, brewing stand
• Storage: chests, double chests, ender chests, shulker boxes, barrels, droppers, dispensers, hoppers
• Other blocks: beacon, conduit, jukebox, note block, bee nests and hives, lectern, spawner, banner
• Entities: dropped items and villagers

The three display modules#

Hologram text follows each player's client language, and community translations live in a separate GitHub repository.

Minecraft Plugin Spotlight | Interaction Visualizer by LOOHP MusicTechnician

Check your version before you install#

The SpigotMC page lists 26.2 as the native version. It says the plugin was tested from 1.12 through 1.21, plus 26.1 and 26.2. Modrinth lists Paper, Spigot, Folia and Purpur as loaders. When we checked, the version on SpigotMC was 2026.1.4, posted on 19 September 2026.

On a modern server it needs no other plugins. Servers on 1.16.5 or older need extra library plugins, and the resource page lists which ones for each version range. Separate builds exist for 1.12.2.

Install InteractionVisualizer step by step#

Download the jar from SpigotMC, Modrinth or Hangar, picking the file that matches your Minecraft version. Then put it in your server's plugins folder and restart.

The first start creates plugins/InteractionVisualizer/config.yml. To test it, walk up to a crafting table, put a few items in the grid and look at it from another account (or ask a friend). The items should sit on the table top.

Visualize crafting in Minecraft with Interaction Visualizer Plugin ServerMiner

Tune which blocks are visualized#

You do not have to show everything. On a server with big storage rooms, chest and hopper displays can add clutter, while crafting, furnaces and enchanting are where the fun is. Every block has its own entry under Blocks in config.yml:

Blocks:
  CraftingTable:
    Enabled: true
  Furnace:
    Enabled: true
    CheckingPeriod: 20
    Options:
      ProgressBarLength: 10
      FilledColor: "&e"
      EmptyColor: "&7"

• Set Enabled: false on any block you want left alone.
• CheckingPeriod is in ticks (20 ticks is one second). A higher number means fewer checks.
• The furnace Options let you restyle the progress bar to match your server colours.

Switch whole modules on or off#

The Modules section turns the three display types on or off for the whole server:

Modules:
  ItemStand:
    Enabled: true
  ItemDrop:
    Enabled: true
  Hologram:
    Enabled: true

If players only want the items on tables and not the floating text, turning off Hologram here is quicker than editing each block.

Ease the load on a busy server#

• Raise CheckingPeriod on blocks that players use a lot.
• Raise Period under LightUpdate if the server struggles with light updates. The comment in the config says to adjust it for exactly this case.
• Disable storage blocks first if you run large sorting systems.

After editing, run /interactionvisualizer reload (needs interactionvisualizer.reload, op by default).

Let players choose for themselves#

Some players love the extra detail, others want a clean screen. /iv toggle lets each player switch the itemstand, itemdrop and hologram modules for themselves. Their choice is saved in SQLite by default, or in MySQL if you set Type to MYSQL in the database section.

To make toggling a rank perk instead, take the default away and grant it to a group, as shown in our guide to setting up LuckPerms groups and ranks.

Turn the visuals into gameplay moments#

The plugin works best when you give players a reason to gather. A few ideas that cost nothing:

• A shared workshop at spawn. Put crafting tables, furnaces, an anvil and an enchanting table together so new players see others working. Keep it safe with a protected region, as in our WorldGuard safe zones guide.
• Visible villager trading halls. Villagers are covered too, so a trading hall becomes something to watch.
• Market streets. Smelting and crafting stalls next to player shops make a district feel busy. Our post on survival server shops and player stalls covers the shop side.
• Build contests around function blocks. Kitchens with campfires and smokers, brewing labs and music rooms with jukeboxes all look better when they show what is happening.

Other vanilla-friendly plugins to pair with it#

If you want more than visuals but still want the game to feel like Minecraft, these stay close to vanilla:

vane is a suite of modules that extends vanilla rather than replacing it. Check which Paper version each release needs before you install it.

vane Free A Paper plugin suite of lore-friendly vanilla extensions, including enchantments, portals, custom items and region protection. On Modrinth

SimpleHarvest is a small, dependency-free plugin for faster farming, with configurable hoe chances, XP drops and farmland protection.

SimpleHarvest Free Lets players right-click mature crops to harvest and replant them, with configurable hoe bonuses. On Modrinth

Event SMP, made by our team, adds random events like Meteor Shower, Ore Frenzy, Blood Moon and XP Rain to an SMP. Every event can be switched off in events.yml, and names, lore and menus are editable so you can translate it.

Made by our team Plugins Event SMP - Custom, Random & Fun Events Level Up your SMP | This Plugin adds 24+ Events to your SMP - Spice up your boring SMP Gameplay. $2.69 $4.49 View product