Pl3xMap vs Tectonicus

Pl3xMap is a free, MIT-licensed world map viewer for Minecraft servers, using the game's vanilla rendering style. It presents a top-down 2D map designed for navigation, with live updates, dimension maps, and markers or waypoints. Player markers can show yaw rotation, health and armor. Built-in render types include basic, night, biomes, inhabited and flowermap, and the browser interface uses Leaflet. The project lists CraftBukkit, Spigot, Paper, Purpur and Fabric as supported server platforms; Fabric requires Fabric API. Additional compatibility listings include Bukkit, Folia, Forge and Quilt. Pl3xMap installs as a jar in the server's plugins or mods directory and includes an internal web server that defaults to port 8080. Some server hosts restrict ports, so setup may depend on what the host permits. Integrations can hide vanished players, show world borders, or display public homes and warps. Addons can show claim areas, banners, signs, loaded mobs and player death spots, though addon support is not guaranteed. Developers can import the Pl3xMap API through Gradle or Maven; the project directs users to Discord for help.

Tectonicus generates a detailed, zoomable map from a Minecraft Java world by building a 3D model and rendering map images. Its stated aim is to make maps resemble what players see in Minecraft. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows; maps can be viewed offline or served from a web server. Setup involves downloading a release, preparing an XML configuration file, and running the program from the command line with Java. Later runs using the same options are quicker after the initial render because only changed tiles are rendered. Players can filter which signs appear, and signs marked with #view can create first-person views with configurable height, angle, field of view, and nighttime rendering. Release 2.31 supports Minecraft 1.21 through 1.21.11, but not Minecraft 26.1. It also adds rectangular world subsets and arm64 LWJGL libraries for M-series Macs and possibly other ARM systems. Generated images can consume gigabytes of disk space depending on world size; WebP or JPG output and closestZoomSize can reduce storage use. Copper golem statues do not work, and shelves render only partially.