Skip to main content

Adding Faction Names to Player Chat Messages

This guide explains how to display a player's faction name in chat using Improved Factions, PlaceholderAPI (PAPI), and a compatible chat formatting plugin.

⚠️ Plugin Behavior Changes Over Time This guide is written based on the most common plugin setups as of now. Plugins like ChatInjector have changed behavior between versions. Always double-check plugin configs, changelogs, and documentation when setting up.

Requirements​

  1. Improved Factions
  2. PlaceholderAPI (PAPI)
  3. A chat formatting plugin (e.g., LPC):

Steps​

1. Install the Plugins​

  • Add Improved Factions, PAPI, and a chat formatter (e.g., LPC) to your server’s plugins folder.
  • Start the server to generate the configuration files.

2. Add PlaceholderAPI Placeholders​

  • Improved Factions provides placeholders such as %faction_name%, %faction_rank%, etc.
  • These are auto-registered—check your server logs to confirm.

3. Configure Chat Formatting​

LPC Chat Formatter​

LPC is a lightweight standalone chat formatting plugin that works well with PlaceholderAPI and Improved Factions. You can download it here: 🔗 LPC Chat Formatter (1.7.10 – 1.21.4)

  • Supports % placeholders natively.
  • Very easy to configure for custom chat styles.
# LPC/config.yml
chat-format: "[%faction_name%] {name} >> {message}"

📝 Tip: If you're using LPC, you don't need ChatInjector or ProtocolLib—it's a simpler solution if you're not tied to EssentialsX's formatting.

4. Handling Factionless Players​

By default, %faction_name% may return an empty string. To handle this cleanly:

# ImprovedFactions/config.yml
default-placeholders:
  name: "No Faction"

5. Add Colors​

Use & codes for coloring:

format: "%player% [&a%faction_name%&r] >> %message%"

6. Test Your Setup​

  • Join a faction with /f create <name>
  • Check if chat displays [FactionName]
  • Leave a faction and confirm it displays "No Faction"

Troubleshooting​

  • Placeholder not showing? Run /papi parse me %faction_name% to test placeholder output.
  • Factionless value missing? Add default-placeholders in the Improved Factions config.
  • Essentials config missing format:? Consider switching to LPC, which provides clearer formatting options.

For help, visit the Improved Factions Discord or open an issue on GitHub.