Current download verification. 13 October 2026: The restored ClothesPlus Free JAR passed 277 tests and obfuscated artifact verification. Original bundled skin and overlay archives and upgrade baselines are unchanged. A fresh Minecraft server boot and connected-player check have not been performed for this artifact.

ClothesPlus Free 4.2.3

A complete in-game character and clothing creator for Paper servers. Players choose a category, browse styles and colours, and press Apply to save. An optional private NPC shows their saved appearance. A fixed camera, visible instructions and keyboard navigation guide each choice.

Free includes the creator, skin composition, an optional supplied overlay library, permissions, translations, saved appearances, an in-game layout editor, and the shared ClothesPlus developer API. Servers can also run commands/API only and use their own overlay artwork. Free does not generate a resource pack.

Latest update

4.2.3 fixes the missing left-click/Back action on Minecraft 26.3 and allows the checked 26.3 NPC metadata layout. Install PacketEvents 2.14.0 for Creator mode and fully restart. Existing saved appearances, overlays and layouts remain in place. See upgrade notes (see this online guide) and the guide index (see this online guide).

Install

1. Install Paper, using Java 21 for the 1.21.4 API baseline, and, when using the creator UI, the standard PacketEvents 2.14.0 Spigot server plugin (the normal release, not the no-adv variant). Use the Java version required by your Paper release. This build keeps the Paper 1.21.4 API baseline and adds native 26.3 packet handling. Paper 26.x requires Java 25. Native-client appearance and controls still need validation on your server. Spigot and Folia are not supported.
2. Put ClothesPlus-Free-4.2.3.jar in plugins/, then start the server. For commands/API only, configure the settings described below. Install only one ClothesPlus Free JAR at a time. The API JAR is a developer dependency, not another plugin to install.
3. In plugins/ClothesPlusFree/config.yml, set skins.mineskin-api-key using a key from the MineSkin account manager. Applying a newly composed skin needs a signed texture. Browsing choices and viewing an already saved appearance do not create signing requests.
4. Restart after changing runtime configuration. Join and use /cpf open. /cpf status shows setup information for administrators. Set creator.preview.enabled: false to use the panel without the saved-appearance NPC.

The default setup installs its Base_Skin/ templates, 4,880 bundled overlays, language files, and creator layout. Set overlays.install-bundled: false to skip installation and updates of the bundled overlays; existing overlay files are retained.

Commands/API only with your own artwork

For commands/API only, stop the server and set creator.enabled: false and overlays.install-bundled: false in plugins/ClothesPlusFree/config.yml. Keep your MineSkin key and other settings. PacketEvents is not required in this mode.

For an existing server, stop it and edit these settings in your current config.yml, retaining your API key and other preferences:

creator:
  enabled: false
overlays:
  install-bundled: false
skins:
  close-inventory-on-apply: false

These are keys to merge into the existing sections, not a complete replacement configuration. Restart after changing them. Disabling bundled installation does not remove overlays installed earlier; manage those files explicitly if you want a custom-only catalogue.

Put a transparent Minecraft skin overlay at plugins/ClothesPlusFree/overlays/shoes/copper.png, ensure shoes is in overlays.categories, then run /cpf reload and /cpf wear shoes/copper.png. Nested folders are optional for this flat example. /cpf shows command help in this mode; /cpf list, wear, remove, clear, and profile commands remain available subject to permissions and the selected skin mode. The creator, editor, camera, and NPC stay disabled.

With skins.close-inventory-on-apply: false (the default), an accepted command/API appearance is saved without forcing another plugin’s inventory menu to close. The visible player-profile refresh waits until that menu closes. Set it to true to refresh immediately; Paper’s profile update may close the menu. Signing and file operations still complete asynchronously.

The creator

The first page shows a scrollable list of categories. Selecting one opens a detail page with separate Style and Colour rows, Clear/Reset, and Back. Selected colours appear as swatches sampled from the actual texture. Gender and arm width have their own rows; Apply and Exit stay inside the footer.

A separate display card above the avatar shows the bindings. Clicks work with an empty hand through a private interaction target. PacketEvents uses a fixed non-player camera and a stationary mount, hiding the hotbar and suppressing movement while W/S stays available for navigation. Held items are hidden only on that client and resynchronized on exit; the actual inventory is never changed.

The panel shows its bindings. These names refer to Minecraft’s default key assignments: Q is Drop and F is Swap Hands, so players who rebind those actions should use their own assigned keys.

The labels, selected styles and colour swatches update as you browse. The NPC continues showing the saved appearance until Apply succeeds; unsaved draft changes are not rendered on it. Apply has a visible three-second cooldown and a saving indicator. Browsing never uploads to MineSkin; matching image/model signatures are reused, and uncached signing requests are serialized with rate-limit backoff.

Hair, eyebrows and beards share matching colour folders. Changing the colour preserves each selected feature’s style and does not equip a feature that was cleared. Gender and classic/slim arm choices adapt selections to compatible variants. Missing custom variants are handled as described in the skin system guide (see this online guide).

Apply keeps the editor camera stable: it saves the outfit and updates the NPC immediately, then refreshes your real player skin after you exit. Wearing a jacket automatically hides the shirt’s outer torso and sleeves; removing the jacket restores them. Your original shirt PNG and selection stay intact.

Full controls and layout editing: creator guide (see this online guide).

Character mode and Base Skin mode

The creator starts every composition from the original/configured base, never from the previously applied outfit. skins.clear-outer-layer clears old outer-layer pixels before drawing the new clothes. It preserves inner-layer UVs. In clothing-only mode, set both this option and skins.base-skin.clear-outer-layer to false if you deliberately want to keep the original outer layer.

skins.base-png, skins.creator-base-paths, and skins.base-skin.gender-paths support server-specific templates. Legacy base_skin / Base_Skin boolean settings are recognized. See modes, arm conversion and folder metadata (see this online guide) before adding your own templates.

Add and organize overlays

plugins/ClothesPlusFree/
  config.yml
  creator.yml
  lang/en.yml
  lang/tr.yml
  Base_Skin/
  overlays/
    hairs/human_race/steve-male/brown/Male_7.png
    eyebrows/human_race/steve-male/brown/Male_2.png
    beards/human_race/steve-male/brown/Male_1.png
    shirts/steve-male/hoodies/Blue_Hoodie.png
    shirts/shared/Server_Shirt.png
  players/
  cache/

Use transparent 64×64 or legacy 64×32 Minecraft skin PNGs, up to 1 MiB each. These are skin layers, not cropped inventory icons. Category order in overlays.categories determines composition order. Nested profile/model and colour folders supply filtering and palette metadata; the catalogue supports up to 8,192 entries and 24 categories.

Run /cpf reload after editing overlays, config.yml‘s overlays.categories list/order, the layout or language files. It reads the category list from disk, validates the catalogue and enabled creator layout before replacing them, and closes active creator sessions on success. Other runtime configuration changes require a full restart. Malformed or truncated PNGs are skipped with their path in the server log; invalid YAML is rejected.

The 8,192 limit counts catalogue PNG assets, not outfit combinations. Combinations are composed and signed on demand; matching image/model signatures are cached and reused.

Commands and permissions

/clothesfree and /cpf are aliases. /cpf help shows permission-aware clickable suggestions.

All permission names start with clothesplus.free.. Player features default to allowed. edit, reload, status, and the admin grouping default to operators. admin grants those three administrative permissions. Player commands also require use; revoking a permission during a session cannot bypass Apply checks.

For content restrictions, explicitly deny clothesplus.free.category.hairs or an overlay node such as clothesplus.free.overlay.hairs.human_race.steve-male.brown.male_7.png. Overlay nodes include the .png extension: shoes/copper.png uses clothesplus.free.overlay.shoes.copper.png. IDs are lowercased, / becomes ., and underscores and hyphens are retained. Use /cpf list for exact catalogue IDs. Commands also accept an omitted .png suffix and an unambiguous case-insensitive match; permissions always use the resolved catalogue ID.

For an unlock-based server, enable permissions.require-category and/or permissions.require-overlay, then grant the appropriate nodes. clothesplus.free.category.* and clothesplus.free.overlay.* grant each whole group; explicit item denials take precedence. API mutations are trusted integration actions, so calling plugins must enforce their own access and purchase rules.

Every command rechecks the resulting outfit, including retained layers and colour/model variants. If a retained file was deleted, access was revoked, or Base Skin mode rejects its category, the error names that layer and the reason. Remove only the affected selection, for example /cpf remove hairs/old.png, or remove several together with /cpf remove hairs/old.png hats/retired.png. Other valid layers stay selected. Wearing a replacement in the same category can also replace a missing old file. Profile commands reject a missing compatible variant instead of silently dropping the layer.

Language and quiet chat

Set messages.enabled: false to silence all plugin chat, including help, command responses and creator notifications. The on-screen creator remains visible and usable.

Edit lang/en.yml, choose the supplied Turkish UI with messages.language: tr, or copy English to lang/<language>.yml and select that name. Missing translated keys fall back to English. & colour codes and documented {placeholders} are supported. Blank chat entries suppress individual messages, and messages.disabled-keys can mute selected keys. messages.prefix adds an optional chat prefix.

Creator labels are configured in creator.yml; creator.button.<button-id> entries in a language file override them for that language. Category names and keyboard hints are also translatable. /cpf reload reads language edits; changing the selected language in runtime configuration requires a restart.

Updating an existing server

Stop the server, replace the JAR, and start it again. There is no requirement to delete your plugin folder. This release uses config version 8, language version 4 and creator layout version 3.

• Config and language upgrades compare old shipped defaults, installed values and new defaults. Unchanged defaults update; custom values and deliberate deletions stay intact. Changed files are backed up under backup/ before replacement. Invalid YAML is never replaced by a generated blank file.
• The untouched old starter layout upgrades to the new two-page design as a whole. Custom button layouts stay intact; creator.latest.yml offers the new design for an administrator to adopt deliberately.
• Overlay and base-template SHA-256 manifests update untouched bundled artwork and add newly shipped assets. Edited files and deliberate deletions are retained; replaced defaults are backed up. A server predating manifests keeps unknown existing artwork untouched on its first migration.
• Restarting the same version does not rewrite these files or repopulate deleted artwork. .defaults/ and the asset manifests record shipped versions; keep them with server backups.

Free and Premium

Free provides the complete category, clothing, profile and Apply workflow, with an optional NPC displaying the saved appearance. Its public API contract remains compatible with integrations that support either edition.

Premium remains the broader product: its Studio/browser workflows, shops, sewing, richer wardrobe/barber systems, artwork publishing tools, expanded model providers, animations and cinematic systems are outside Free’s scope.

Downloads and integrations

Free is distributed as an obfuscated plugin JAR. The primary download is the plugin JAR; setup and update instructions are in this online guide. The separate API SDK adds the shared API binary, API sources, Javadoc and an example integration. Neither public package includes Free’s implementation source, unobfuscated build or name mappings.

The plugin includes the shared API 4.0.0 contract; the plugin release version is 4.2.3. Its API names stay stable for existing integrations. Consumers use the API with provided scope, discover ClothesPlusApi from Bukkit’s ServicesManager, and check capabilities and operation results. Never block the server thread with join() or get().

Developer integration notes (see this online guide) explain permissions, asynchronous callbacks, model restrictions, and the Free/Premium boundary. Integrating a server plugin does not require Free’s implementation source. Free’s Java internals are private and are not a supported extension point.

Release checks

Version 4.2.3 passed 277 regression tests and obfuscated-artifact checks. The earlier 6 October 2026 JAR started and stopped on Paper 26.3 build 157 BETA with Java 25, in both creator and commands-only modes. Native-client appearance, controls and the skin-signing service were not exercised in that check; test them with a player on your own server before rollout.