MoParticles

MoParticles is a Paper plugin that brings Bedrock-style particle effects to Java Edition. It parses MoLang particle definitions — the same JSON format used by Bedrock and the SnowStorm effect ecosystem — and converts them into smooth, Java-compatible animations rendered with vanilla item displays.

No client mod. No custom protocol. No configuration to get started.

How it works

MoParticles turns a static MoLang definition into a playable animation in four steps:

1. Parse — your effect's .json file (the Bedrock particle_effect format) is read and its MoLang expressions — math functions, query functions, variables — are evaluated by a built-in MoLang engine.
2. Bake — the effect is simulated ahead of time and compressed into a sequence of pre-computed frames. At runtime the plugin only plays back baked data; it never evaluates MoLang per-tick.
3. Render — each frame is played with vanilla ItemDisplay entities and item models, so everything stays within the vanilla protocol.
4. Pack — a resource pack containing the item models and the synthesized particle textures is generated for you at plugins/MoParticles/generated/resourcepack.zip.

flowchart LR
    A["particle .json (MoLang)"] --> B["MolangEngine"]
    B --> C["ParticleSimulator (baked frames)"]
    C --> D["AnimationPlayer (item displays)"]
    C --> E["ResourcePackGenerator"]
    E --> F["resourcepack.zip"]

Why MoParticles?

• Reuse existing Bedrock effects. Drop in any compatible MoLang particle JSON — the bundled examples are taken straight from SnowStorm.
• Pure vanilla rendering. Item displays + item models. Anything a resource pack can describe, MoParticles can play.
• Cheap at runtime. All of the expensive simulation happens once, when the effect is loaded — not on every tick.
• A real API. Your plugin can list, play, and stop effects with a few lines of code.

Included effects

Three effects ship with the plugin, extracted from SnowStorm:

Effect ID	Description
snowstorm:fire	A custom fire particle with tinted, fading embers
snowstorm:loading	SnowStorm's loading-circle spinner
snowstorm:rainbow	A looping rainbow particle animation

Try one out right away:

/moparticles playhere snowstorm:fire

Links

• GitHub repository
• Releases & downloads
• Next: Getting started →