Oraxen: create custom items and blocks, step by step

Oraxen lets you add items, blocks, furniture and glyphs (small icons in chat and menus) with their own textures to a Paper server, without any mod on the player's side. The plugin assembles the resource pack itself from your files and offers it to players when they log in.

What it does

• Items with texture and 3D model, and ready-to-use mechanics: durability, effects, skills, smoke, sounds.
• Custom blocks, which can be placed and mined.
• Furniture: seats, decorations, which can be placed and rotated.
• Glyphs, usable in chat, the player list or titles.

Setup

Oraxen is a paid plugin, sold on the major plugin platforms; its code is public. It installs on Paper and needs dependencies (including ProtocolLib): the plugin's page gives the exact list for your version.

1. Drop Oraxen and its dependencies into plugins/, start once.
2. Oraxen generates examples and a first resource pack.
3. Reconnect and accept the pack: the example items are there.

Useful commands: /oraxen give <player> <item> to get an item, and /oraxen reload all after a change.

Create a first item

Each file in Oraxen's items folder describes one or more items:

ruby_sword:
  displayname: "<red>Ruby sword"
  material: DIAMOND_SWORD
  Pack:
    generate_model: false
    model: ruby_sword

The model and texture go into Oraxen's pack folder, in the locations given by its documentation. Names are written in MiniMessage format (<red>, <gradient:#ff5555:#ffaa00>…</gradient>): the gradient text tool generates this format directly.

An indentation mistake stops the item from loading: run the file through the YAML validator before reloading.

Hosting the pack

Oraxen can automatically upload the pack to its hosting service and give the address to players: nothing to configure to get started. You can also host it yourself, on your website or a storage space, if you'd rather control everything.

So that every player sees the textures, make the pack mandatory (require-resource-pack in server.properties) and announce it in the welcome message: a player who refuses the pack sees vanilla items.

A light pack

• 16 × 16 or 32 × 32 textures: beyond that, the pack grows fast for a barely visible difference.
• Delete the examples you don't use: they're included in the pack.
• A single content plugin: Oraxen and ItemsAdder together produce two competing packs.
• Merge other packs (music, interface) into Oraxen's rather than sending several.

The limits

• Bedrock: through Geyser, custom items need a Bedrock pack and a dedicated configuration. Plan for it, or accept that Bedrock players see vanilla items.
• Furniture is made of entities: in large numbers, it weighs on performance. Check with Spark.
• Minecraft updates regularly change the pack format: wait for the compatible Oraxen version before updating the server. See Update your server without breaking anything.

Oraxen or ItemsAdder?

Oraxen appeals with its short files and automatic pack hosting; ItemsAdder with the number of features and content provided. Both are solid: pick the one whose documentation speaks to you most, and stick with it. Other plugins of the same family exist; compare them on how often they're updated.

The full list of plugins that matter is in The most popular Minecraft plugins.