- XP bar in Creative and Adventure (level + 24-segment bar + percentage).
- Players earn XP like in Survival from mining, mobs, trades, smelting, fishing and breeding.
- Full Mending support for tools and armor.
- Optional: loose XP orbs are forwarded to nearby Creative/Adventure players.
- Built for Paper 1.21+, Java 21, no player data files.
Example: Mending repair
Command feedback
Spoiler: Setup
Install
- Put CreativeXP-2.1.4.jar into your plugins folder.
- Start the server to generate plugins/CreativeXP/config.yml.
- Edit the config to match your server.
- Run /creativexp reload to apply changes.
- XP bar is shown in ADVENTURE and CREATIVE.
- XP is earned like Survival in CREATIVE and ADVENTURE.
- XP-orb catchall is disabled until you enable it.
- Creative build worlds with real progression.
- Adventure maps where the bar should always be visible.
- Staff worlds and hubs where admins still repair gear with Mending.
Spoiler: Gameplay & XP sources
XP sources for Creative/Adventure
- Blocks – ores and selected blocks give XP when mined with a tool that meets the required mining level; no XP with Silk Touch. Spawners and several sculk blocks can give XP even without normal drops.
- Entities – uses vanilla droppedExp when available; otherwise tuned values (passive mobs around 1–3 XP, standard hostile mobs 5 XP, bosses and elites higher, Ender Dragon 12000/500).
- Smelting – XP is taken from FurnaceExtractEvent and the vanilla value is cleared.
- Fishing – XP for caught fish or entities, close to vanilla ranges.
- Breeding – XP when a player breeds animals.
- Trading (Paper) – XP for villager trades that normally give XP; vanilla orbs are suppressed so CreativeXP handles them.
- 24-segment green actionbar bar with level label and percentage.
- Updates on join, respawn, XP/level changes and gamemode changes.
- Sync task every experience-bar.sync-interval-ticks ticks (default 20; 0 disables).
- If the player’s gamemode is not in experience-bar.enabled-gamemodes, the bar is cleared.
Spoiler: Mending & XP orbs
Mending logic
- Whenever XP is applied, one random damaged item with Mending (hands + armor) is repaired first.
- Remaining XP is added to the player’s XP bar.
- Orbs are split with vanilla logic (max 32767 XP per orb) so pickup sounds and timing feel natural.
- Uses PlayerPickupExperienceEvent in gamemodes from survival-xp.enabled-gamemodes.
- Cancels the original pickup, removes the orb, applies Mending and then gives remaining XP directly.
- Plays a quiet pickup sound and refreshes the bar on the next tick.
- When experience-orb-catchall.enabled is true, EntitySpawnEvent intercepts XP orbs.
- Searches the nearest player within experience-orb-catchall.radius (default 12.0) whose gamemode is enabled for survival XP (Survival is ignored).
- Removes the orb, applies Mending, adds remaining XP and refreshes the bar.
- The listener is registered on reload – after changing this setting, run /creativexp reload once after a restart.
Spoiler: Config keys ⚙️
Main options (config.yml)
# Controls how and where the experience display is shown.
# In Creative the vanilla bar is hidden by the client, so the plugin mirrors it in the action bar.
experience-bar :
# Game modes in which the experience display should be visible.
# Options: SURVIVAL, CREATIVE, ADVENTURE, SPECTATOR
# Add SPECTATOR if you want the bar while spectating (vanilla hides it).
enabled-gamemodes :
- ADVENTURE
- CREATIVE
# How often the plugin should resync the bar for all online players.
# 20 ticks = 1 second. Set to 0 to disable the periodic sync task.
sync-interval-ticks : 20
# Treat selected game modes like Survival for XP gain (e.g., pickup XP orbs).
# Useful if you want Creative/Adventure players to actually collect XP.
survival-xp:
enabled-gamemodes :
- CREATIVE
- ADVENTURE
# Optional catch-all for experience orbs: forward orbs near Creative/Adventure players.
experience-orb-catchall:
enabled : false
# Radius in blocks to search for a player to receive the orb (only if enabled).
radius : 12.0
# Public-facing messages. MiniMessage format is supported.
messages:
prefix : "<gray>[<gradient:#9CFF6E:#00D06B>CreativeXP</gradient>]</gray>"
usage : "<prefix> <yellow>Use: /creativexp reload</yellow>"
unknown-command : "<prefix> <red>Unknown subcommand.</red> <gray>Try: /creativexp reload</gray>"
no-permission : "<prefix> <red>You do not have permission to do that.</red>"
reloaded : "<prefix> <green>Configuration reloaded.</green>"
- experience-bar.enabled-gamemodes – gamemodes that show the actionbar XP bar.
Default: ADVENTURE, CREATIVE - experience-bar.sync-interval-ticks – sync interval in ticks.
Default: 20; 0 disables the task. - survival-xp.enabled-gamemodes – gamemodes that earn XP like Survival.
Default: CREATIVE, ADVENTURE - experience-orb-catchall.enabled – forwards loose XP orbs to eligible players.
Default: false - experience-orb-catchall.radius – radius for the catchall search.
Default: 12.0, minimum 0.5 - messages.* – MiniMessage texts (prefix, usage, unknown-command, no-permission, reloaded).
<prefix> is filled automatically; extra placeholders (for example <command>) can be added per message.
Code (YAML):
# Controls how and where the experience display is shown.
# In Creative the vanilla bar is hidden by the client, so the plugin mirrors it in the action bar.
experience-bar :
# Game modes in which the experience display should be visible.
# Options: SURVIVAL, CREATIVE, ADVENTURE, SPECTATOR
# Add SPECTATOR if you want the bar while spectating (vanilla hides it).
enabled-gamemodes :
- ADVENTURE
- CREATIVE
# How often the plugin should resync the bar for all online players.
# 20 ticks = 1 second. Set to 0 to disable the periodic sync task.
sync-interval-ticks : 20
# Treat selected game modes like Survival for XP gain (e.g., pickup XP orbs).
# Useful if you want Creative/Adventure players to actually collect XP.
survival-xp:
enabled-gamemodes :
- CREATIVE
- ADVENTURE
# Optional catch-all for experience orbs: forward orbs near Creative/Adventure players.
experience-orb-catchall:
enabled : false
# Radius in blocks to search for a player to receive the orb (only if enabled).
radius : 12.0
# Public-facing messages. MiniMessage format is supported.
messages:
prefix : "<gray>[<gradient:#9CFF6E:#00D06B>CreativeXP</gradient>]</gray>"
usage : "<prefix> <yellow>Use: /creativexp reload</yellow>"
unknown-command : "<prefix> <red>Unknown subcommand.</red> <gray>Try: /creativexp reload</gray>"
no-permission : "<prefix> <red>You do not have permission to do that.</red>"
reloaded : "<prefix> <green>Configuration reloaded.</green>"
Spoiler: Commands & permissions ⌨️
- /creativexp reload – reloads the config, refreshes the bar and re-registers the XP-orb catchall if enabled.
- Alias: /showxp
- Permission: creativexp.reload (default: OP)
Spoiler: Technical details
- Built for Paper 1.21 (api-version: 1.21, Paper API 1.21.10-SNAPSHOT).
- Recommended Java runtime: Java 21.[/ICODE].
- No player data files; only config.yml.
Spoiler: Tips & FAQ
- XP bar missing – check the player’s gamemode is listed in experience-bar.enabled-gamemodes.
- No XP in Creative/Adventure – verify survival-xp.enabled-gamemodes.
- Orbs not forwarded – enable experience-orb-catchall.enabled, set a suitable radius and run /creativexp reload after restart.
- No XP from ores – avoid Silk Touch and use a tool with the correct mining level.
- Sounds – pickup sounds are intentionally quiet (around volume 0.1, pitch 0.9–1.1) and play in Creative as well.
Quick facts
- Edition: Minecraft Java
- File type: .jar
- Minecraft versions listed: 1.20, 1.20.6, 1.21
- How to install: Install the matching mod loader (Forge, Fabric or NeoForge) for your Minecraft version. → Download the .jar. → Put it in the .minecraft/mods folder and launch that loader profile.
- Where to get it: Opens on Spigot — not every file is mirrored on our own servers.
Install steps are the general flow for this file type — How to install Minecraft Java mods & modpacks walks through it step by step.
CreativeXP - Visible XP Bar & Survival XP in Creative/Adventure is a free Minecraft Java mod. Compatible with Minecraft 1.20, 1.20.6, 1.21. Downloaded 18 times (via Spigot). Download it and open it directly in the game.