How to add a 3D map to your Minecraft server

A web map is one of the nicest things you can give your players. They can look at the whole world from a browser, find builds, and show off their base to friends who are not online. The plugin I recommend is BlueMap, which draws a 3D map you can rotate and zoom.

What BlueMap does

BlueMap reads your world and renders it into map tiles. It then serves a small web page that shows them, with a 3D view, a flat view and a free-flight camera. It can show player positions, and it keeps updating as the world changes.

If you run your own server

1. Download the BlueMap plugin for your server software (Paper, Fabric and others are supported) from Modrinth or Hangar.
2. Put the jar in your server's plugins folder and start the server once.
3. Open plugins/BlueMap/core.conf and set accept-download: true. BlueMap needs to download the Minecraft client files to read the textures, and it asks you to agree first.
4. Restart the server. BlueMap starts rendering. The first render of a large world takes a while.
5. BlueMap serves the map on port 8100 by default. You have to open that port, or put a reverse proxy in front, to reach it from outside.

That last step is the one that trips people up. A web server on your home connection means another open port and another thing to secure.

On Saryno

On Saryno you skip all of that. Open your server, go to the Map tab, and press Add the 3D map. Saryno installs BlueMap, accepts the download for you, and serves the map from the dashboard. You get a link you can share, and you can protect it with a password so only people you tell can open it.

The map needs a few minutes to draw the first time you start it, because it has to render your world. After that it keeps up with changes.

Tips

• Large worlds: limit the rendered area with a render mask in the BlueMap map config, so it does not draw far-away terrain nobody visits.
• Keep it private: if the map shows your base, protect it with a password, since it shows where everything is.
• Hidden bases: a render mask can also leave out areas you do not want shown, such as a private base.
• Other maps: Dynmap is an older alternative with a flat 2D map and a different look.