Thanks for your feedback and support ❤️

Unfortunately, supporting 1.16.5 is not as simple as changing the API version.
ExploitShield relies heavily on newer packet handling systems, Netty pipeline injection, PacketEvents, and modern server internals that are significantly more stable and secure on 1.17+.

Many of the advanced protections in ExploitShield (especially packet-level crash prevention, strict NBT interception, and behavioral analysis) either do not exist or behave very differently on 1.16.5, which would require maintaining a completely separate implementation.

I prefer focusing development on modern server versions to keep the protection accurate, stable, and low on false positives instead of providing a weaker backport version.

If possible, I highly recommend upgrading to 1.17.1+ (Paper/Folia recommended), since newer versions provide:
• Better packet security
• Improved performance & threading
• More stable ProtocolLib/PacketEvents support
• Better exploit mitigation internally
• Lower crash risks overall

I still appreciate the suggestion and may look into limited legacy support in the future if it becomes realistically maintainable ❤️

<3

Thanks for your detailed feedback! I’m glad to hear the plugin is working well on your server. I’ll keep improving the false positives in future updates, especially for the options you mentioned. Appreciate your support!

Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m very happy that EZExploitFixer works well on your server with 109 players. I’ll check the minor issues you mentioned on Discord and try to fix them in the next update. Your support means a lot!

❤️