PickUpSpawners: Mine Spawners with Silk Touch
Running a Minecraft server often hits a wall when players want to relocate a monster spawner. In vanilla gameplay, breaking a spawner destroys it, leaving only a few orbs of experience. Server admins looking for a clean, configurable solution have long relied on the PickUpSpawners plugin. It introduces a familiar mod-like mechanic: use a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch, and the spawner drops as a block you can carry and place elsewhere.
This guide covers the core functionality, installation steps, permission nodes, and version compatibility. Whether you manage a small survival server or a large network with mini-games, this tool delivers a stable and lightweight way to expand gameplay without bloating your build.
Core Functionality: How It Works
The principle is straightforward. Once the plugin is active, a player holding a Silk Touch-enchanted pickaxe can right-click any placed spawner. The plugin checks the world configuration, and if allowed, the spawner instantly converts into an item in the player's inventory. Placing it back into the world works just like placing any other block. The spawner retains its original mob type, so a zombie spawner stays a zombie spawner, which is critical for experience farms and resource generation.
The plugin does not alter natural loot tables. Spawners will not appear in chests or as mob drops. It only adds the ability to extract blocks that already exist in the world, preserving the vanilla balance and preventing an oversupply of rare resources.
Configuration and World Restrictions
The configuration file provides granular control. Admins can specify which worlds allow pickup and placement. If a world is not on the list, the plugin simply blocks interaction with spawner blocks. This is ideal for protecting minigame arenas or creative plots. A separate nosilk mode allows players to collect spawners without any enchantment, which many servers use as a donor or VIP perk.
Installation and Version Compatibility
Installing the plugin takes minutes. Download the jar file and place it into the plugins folder of your server. After a restart or a plugin manager reload, the plugin generates a default configuration with basic permissions and world lists. For those using a launcher like foxygame.net, the process is even smoother, as the interface allows direct downloads and compatibility checks without manual file hunting.
PickUpSpawners is built for Spigot and Paper servers. It runs reliably on Minecraft versions from 1.8 through recent 1.20 releases, making it a solid choice for both legacy and modern builds. The plugin is lightweight and rarely conflicts with region protection plugins. If you use WorldGuard, simply add flags to allow spawner interaction in protected areas.
Permission Nodes for Flexible Role Management
The plugin ships with four primary permissions that cover most scenarios:
- pickupspawners.pickup - Grants the base right to collect spawners. Enabled for all players by default.
- pickupspawners.place - Allows placing a spawner in the world. Also active for everyone out of the box.
- pickupspawners.nosilk - Permits collecting spawners without the Silk Touch enchantment. Default: operators only.
- pickupspawners.allworlds - Bypasses the world restriction list. Players with this node can place and collect spawners anywhere, even where the config forbids it. Default: operators only.
For quick assignment of full privileges, the wildcard permission pickupspawners.* grants all nodes at once, ideal for admins and moderators. To create a donor rank, simply grant pickupspawners.nosilk so VIP players can move spawners without needing an enchanted tool.
Practical Server Tips
On an economy-focused server, think ahead about spawner pricing. With this plugin, players will quickly strip dungeons and fortresses of every spawner block. Consider adding a cooldown, a per-player limit, or alternative acquisition methods such as admin shops or custom crafting recipes to keep the market stable.
For minigame servers, the plugin opens creative possibilities. Build an arena where players fight for the right to carry off a rare spawner as a trophy. The plugin's low overhead ensures no performance impact, even during peak player counts.
Conclusion
PickUpSpawners: Mine Spawners with Silk Touch is a compact but essential utility for any server that wants to add a missing vanilla mechanic. Its flexible permission system, world-specific controls, and optional Silk Touch bypass make it suitable for survival, creative, and donor-driven builds. Setup takes minutes, and the customization options are nearly endless. If you want to energize your server economy or simply give players more freedom in construction, this plugin is worth adding to your next stable build. To get started, download PickUpSpawners: Mine Spawners with Silk Touch and follow the installation steps above. For a quick reference, PickUpSpawners: Mine Spawners with Silk Touch for Minecraft is available for Spigot and Paper, and the how to install process is identical across all supported versions.