Action Bar

What it is

Displays a short, transient message above the player’s hotbar. Good for frequent, unobtrusive countdown updates.

When to use

• Use for timers where players need periodic awareness without a persistent HUD element.

How to enable

• Add ACTION_BAR to display.types for a countdown or include it in the default display types in your plugin config:

countdowns:
  maintenance:
    type: DURATION
    duration: "2h"
    display:
      types:
        - ACTION_BAR

Compatibility & behavior

• Uses the best available server API (modern Player.sendActionBar where available). The plugin includes fallbacks but may degrade to chat on very old runtimes.

Config override

• display-overrides.force-enable.action_bar - force registration when auto-detection fails. Use only when you understand your server’s runtime.

Troubleshooting

• If players see chat instead of an action bar, their server or client may not support the action bar API; use CHAT as a fallback.
• Test on a staging server with the same Bukkit/Paper build as production.

Recommendation

• Prefer ACTION_BAR on modern Spigot/Paper servers; keep CHAT as a fallback for mixed-version networks.