Set up The Floor Is Lava on a Minecraft server

The Floor Is Lava is a team minigame for Paper servers. Teams gather resources, sell them in a shop, buy gear and build a base while lava slowly rises, and the last team left alive wins. It is a plugin, so it installs on the server.

Checked against The Floor Is Lava 1.3.0, the newest build on its Modrinth page, and the project's wiki, October 2026. Modrinth marks both builds the plugin has published as beta, so expect rough edges. The store installs the newest beta when a plugin has no release build.

Pick the right plugin

Several unrelated plugins share this name. This guide covers the Paper plugin by BZKgns, the one with the /tfl command. Check the author in the Plugins tab before you install.

What you need

• A Paper server on Minecraft 26.1 or newer. The plugin lists Paper as its only loader.
• Software that can load plugins. Vanilla servers have no Plugins tab, so switch software in JAR Manager first (see Change your Minecraft version or mod loader).
• The plugin's pages differ on the oldest version. The wiki says 26.1 or newer. The Modrinth page says "Paper 1.21.6+ (26.1+)" and lists 1.3.0 for 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.1.1, 26.1.2 and 26.2, so stay on 26.1 or newer to be safe.
• Operator status for whoever runs the game, because the /tfl admin commands are operator commands. The Players tab can make someone an operator (see Whitelist players and set operators).

Install it

1. Open the Plugins tab and leave the Modrinth button selected.
2. Search for The Floor Is Lava and click Install on the result by BZKgns.
3. Restart from the Console tab (or click Start if the server is stopped), then type plugins. The plugin should appear in the list.

The Game version filter in the store starts on your server's own version and lists only builds for it. Modrinth lists this build for versions up to 26.2. If your server is on a newer version and the search comes back empty, set Game version to Any version, or click Show every version under the empty results. Its Modrinth page lists builds only up to 26.2 and neither page names a tested upper limit, so back up before you try it and read the Console on the first start.

The plugin works without any configuration.

Run a game

An operator runs these in the game:

1. /tfl map reset random generates a random map. Add a seed to choose it yourself, for example /tfl map reset random 12345.
2. /tfl map preview teleports you to the new map in spectator mode. A random map is not always playable, for example when it generates in an ocean, so check it first.
3. /tfl start begins a countdown, moves everyone onto the map and starts the preparation phase.
4. /tfl stop ends the game and sends everyone back to the lobby.

Players use /tfl team to form teams, /shop to buy and sell, and /kit choose <kit name> to pick a starter kit. They gather resources during preparation. Once it ends, the lava rises and hurts anyone below its level.

Use your own map

Put the map's folder inside plugins/TheFloorIsLava/maps/ using the File Manager. For a large map, upload a zip and use Extract here. Then run /tfl map reset map <map name>. The map's settings come from a mapConfig.yml in its folder, or from defaults if there is none.

Change the settings

The plugin keeps six files in plugins/TheFloorIsLava/:

• game.yml covers the flow of a game and the default language.
• danger.yml covers the lava rise.
• items.yml, shop.yml and gambling.yml cover items, prices and the gambling odds.
• defaultMapConfig.yml holds the settings for random maps.

You can edit the files, or change a value in the game with /tfl config <section> set <key> <value>. /tfl config <section> gui opens a menu instead. Changes made in the game last only until the next restart, unless you run /tfl config <section> save, which overwrites the matching file. Adding or removing shop items is only possible in shop.yml.

Common problems

• The game does not start as expected. Load or generate a map first, as in the Modrinth Quick Start, then run /tfl start.
• Players cannot use /tfl start. It is an operator command. Only /shop, /kit choose and /tfl team are for players.
• Your changes vanished after a restart. They were never saved. Run /tfl config <section> save next time.