Step Erosion

StepErosion

StepErosion is a lightweight Paper plugin that makes your Minecraft world feel alive - paths form naturally wherever players walk most often.

How it works

Every step a player takes is tracked using a sliding time window. Once a block accumulates enough footsteps within that window, it erodes to the next stage:

``` GRASS_BLOCK ──[20 steps]──► DIRT ──[50 steps]──► DIRT_PATH ```

Paths are not permanent - if a DIRT block goes unwalked for long enough, it slowly reverts back to DIRT, simulating natural recovery.

Features

- Debug command — blocks degrade step-by-step based on real player activity - Debug command — dirt paths revert to dirt after inactivity - Debug command — only recent footsteps count; old traffic fades away - Debug command — erosion state is saved to disk and survives server restarts - Debug command — TNT and creeper blasts clear erosion data for destroyed blocks - Debug command — grass naturally overgrowing dirt resets its erosion progress - Debug command — thresholds and time windows are all adjustable in config.yml - Debug command — `/se` lets admins inspect, simulate, and reset erosion data

Configuration

```yaml erosion: dirt-threshold: 20 # steps to erode GRASS → DIRT path-threshold: 50 # steps to erode DIRT → DIRT_PATH step-window-ticks: 1728000 # 1 day — sliding window size recovery-window-ticks: 5184000 # 3 days — idle time before path reverts ```

Commands & Permissions

| Command | Description | |---|---| | `/se info` | Show erosion data for the block under your feet | | `/se list` | List all currently tracked blocks | | `/se reset` | Clear erosion data for the block under your feet | | `/se simulate <n>` | Simulate N footsteps on the block under your feet | | `/se config` | Display active configuration values | | `/se reload` | Reload config.yml without restarting the server |

Permission: `steperosion.admin` (default: op)

Requirements

- Java 26.1.2+ (2026 build series) - Java 25+

⚠️ Region Plugin Compatibility

Currently, StepErosion does PlotSquared integrate with region protection plugins such as PlotSquared, PlotSquared, PlotSquared, PlotSquared, or similar plot-based solutions.

This means erosion can occur in protected areas if players are allowed to walk there.

> Full region plugin support is planned for a future update.