Release Notes - MC Data Bridge 2.0.1

This is a landmark update, representing a complete architectural overhaul of MC Data Bridge to introduce robust, high-performance, cross-server data synchronization for BungeeCord and Velocity networks.

🚀 Major New Features

• Cross-Server Synchronization: The plugin now fully supports synchronizing player data (inventory, health, XP, potion effects, etc.) across multiple servers connected via a BungeeCord or Velocity proxy.
• Database Locking System: A sophisticated, atomic locking mechanism has been implemented to prevent all race conditions and data corruption.
  • When a player joins a server, the plugin acquires a lock on their data in the database.
  • This lock is continuously renewed via a "heartbeat" task while the player is online.
  • If a player switches servers, the new server waits for the old server to save and release the lock.
  • A configurable lock-timeout ensures that if a server crashes, its locks will eventually expire and can be claimed by another server, preventing players from being permanently locked out.
• Proxy Integration: The plugin now listens for a custom mc-data-bridge:main plugin message from the proxy. This message tells the server to immediately save a player's data when they are switching servers, ensuring data is persisted before they connect to the next server.
• Startup Self-Healing: On startup, the plugin will now find and release any "orphaned" locks that were held by that same server before a crash or shutdown, ensuring a clean state.

⚙️ Configuration & Setup

• server-id (Critical): A new, mandatory server-id has been added to config.yml. Each server connected to the same database must have a unique ID for the locking system to function correctly.
• lock-timeout: A new setting to control how long a lock is considered valid before it can be forcefully acquired by another server. The default is 60 seconds.

📞 Compatibility

• Minecraft Version: This version is built for and compatible with Minecraft 1.21.x.
• Platform Support: The plugin now requires the Paper API (for Spigot servers) and includes support for BungeeCord API and Velocity API.

✅ Stability & Performance

• New Serialization Format: Item data is now serialized to Base64, which is significantly more robust and reliable than the previous NBT-based string method.
• Backward Compatibility: The new version can still read the old NBT-based item format, ensuring a smooth upgrade path for existing users. Old data will be converted to the new format the next time it is saved.
• Optimized Database Logic: All database interactions have been rewritten to be more efficient and atomic, using HikariCP for best-in-class connection pooling.

⚠️ Important Notes for Upgrading

• This is a major, breaking update. It is a drop-in replacement, but its core logic is entirely new.
• Proxy Installation Required: For the new cross-server synchronization to work, you must install the same mc-data-bridge-*.jar file into the plugins/ folder of your BungeeCord or Velocity proxy server.
• Configuration is Critical: You must define a unique server-id in your config.yml on every single one of your Spigot/Paper servers. Failure to do so will lead to data corruption in a multi-server environment.