Common Issues

Critical Compatibility Notes

IMPORTANT

• Stacking plugins: We support StackMob, RoseStacker and WildStacker. Others may need an exception — open a ticket.
• Non-Paper forks: Some forks remove our Boss tag. Test with Paper first before reporting.
• Citizens: When a Boss uses Citizens, the Citizens plugin handles most attributes. Use /npc to configure those settings.

Spawning Issues

Bosses are not spawning!

• Check Spawning Limits: /boss menu > Bosses > Your Boss > Spawning Limits
• Check if your Spawn Rule includes the Boss and its delay, chance, and other properties
• Check if other plugins block mob spawning (WorldGuard, GriefPrevention, Factions, Residence, etc.)
• Try spawning with /boss egg to see error messages:

• Set Debug to [spawning] in settings.yml and restart

Spawning Configuration Questions

Spawn Bosses at a certain time?
Create a spawn rule for the given time in /boss menu > Spawn Rules.

Rotating spawns (one of several Bosses at a location)?
Use a Respawn After Death spawn rule. Add all bosses to one rule with a delay (e.g., 30 seconds). Only one boss from the rule is alive at any time — when it dies, the next spawns after the delay.

Spawn Bosses when entering a region?
Create the region using /boss tools, then make a spawn rule via /boss menu > Spawn Rules > Entering a Region. Alternatively, use CommandRegions with WorldGuard.

Entity and Behavior Issues

Bosses disabling after restart or losing abilities / Boss Eggs / Riding broken!

• Do not use spaces in world folder names — this is unsupported
• SimplePets or other pets plugins: Exclude your Boss type from them
• StackMob and other mob stacking plugins: Contact their author to add a Boss exception
• ViaVersion, ProtocolSupport: May break Boss Eggs or riding. Test without them first

Boss Name and Display Issues

HEX / RGB colored names?
Open /boss menu > select Boss > Settings > Alias. Use MiniMessage format: "<#123456>My Boss Name".

Boss name doesn't display?
Likely a mob stacking plugin conflict. We support StackMob as an exception.

Console spams "Named entity X was slain by Y"?
Set settings.log-named-deaths to false in spigot.yml.

Custom AI and Behavior

Dragon boss behavior issues?
Minecraft's dragon behavior is inconsistent when spawned manually. Experiment with custom rules to change the spawning phase.

Make animals aggressive / add better AI?
Install Citizens and enable custom pathfinder in /boss menu > Bosses > Your Boss > Settings > Citizens. Only affects newly spawned Bosses.

Change skins for NPC Bosses?
Open Boss > Settings > Citizens Settings and change the skin there.

Customize Player or Citizen boss behavior (speed, follow distance, armor toughness)?
Enable Citizens integration in Boss > Settings > Citizens, then use /npc select while looking at the Boss and configure with /npc commands.

Permissions and World Management

Restrict Boss Eggs to a region?
Use LuckPerms with the ExtraContent addon ("WorldGuard Regions") and give boss.use.spawneregg permission in that region only.

Prevent Boss Eggs in a certain world?
Give negative boss.use.spawneregg permission for that world. In LuckPerms, set it to false.

Interface Issues

Odd creative inventory issues / Menu items disappearing?
Caused by ViaVersion, ProtocolSupport, CMI, or OpenInv — not a Boss issue. Switch to survival or clear your inventory.

Customization Options

Custom messages or commands on Boss death/spawn/health threshold?
Open Boss menu > Settings > Commands.

Disable a message?
Set it to "none", "", or [].

Increase maximum Boss health from 2048?
Change it in spigot.yml. Health values over 256 may cause weird behavior and are unsupported.

Health and Damage Issues

Boss health bar shows 0 but boss is still alive
This was caused by a bug where the health bar used raw event damage instead of final damage after armor/enchantment reductions. Update to the latest Boss version which fixes this.

Boss damage display seems wrong
The damage display shows the hit damage, not total damage dealt. Area-of-effect attacks (sweeping edge, explosions) may show lower numbers because damage is split or modified by armor.

Multiple health trigger commands not all activating
Health-triggered commands fire when the Boss crosses a health threshold. If a single hit crosses multiple thresholds (e.g., Boss goes from 80% to 20% in one hit), only the lowest crossed threshold fires. Space your thresholds further apart or use Bosses with higher health.

Boss regenerating player's life
This is likely caused by the Steal Life skill working in reverse due to a configuration error. Check your Boss > Skills > Steal Life settings.

Evoker fang attack not affected by damage multiplier
Some entity attack types (like evoker fangs) are separate entities in Minecraft and don't inherit the Boss's damage multiplier. This is a Minecraft limitation.

PlaceholderAPI kill variables not working
Boss variables (like {boss_kills}) require the Boss to be killed by direct player damage. If a Boss dies from /effect commands, fire damage, or other indirect causes, kill placeholders won't trigger.

Common Tips

Formatting

• Use color codes with the & character in quotes: Random_Message: '&cHello &aworld'
• Use \n for new lines. See Use Right Encoding page.

Startup and Loading Issues

"Failed to download library" error
Your server couldn't download required libraries from Maven Central (network outage, firewall, DNS issues). Restart to retry.

"Counting unloaded Bosses requires modern Paper software. Disabling..."
Another plugin bundles an incompatible Adventure library. This is a Jar Hell issue — find and fix the conflicting plugin.

Boss packs not working on legacy versions (1.8.8)
Pre-made Boss packs use modern entity types and materials. You need to manually adapt them for legacy versions.