This update is a major internal rewrite focused on stability, scalability, routing reliability, and production readiness.

Large parts of the plugin architecture were redesigned to improve failover handling, backend monitoring, reconnect behavior, and long-term maintainability.

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Added
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Centralized Health Monitoring
- Added async centralized backend health monitoring
- Added cached backend health states
- Added backend latency tracking
- Added backend quarantine handling
- Added automatic backend recovery detection
- Added safer ping scheduling system

Sticky Sessions
- Added real sticky-session support
- Players now prefer previously connected healthy backends
- Added stale session expiration handling
- Added safe sticky-session fallback behavior

Weighted Balancing
- Added configurable weighted backend balancing
- Routing now properly respects configured server weights
- Added improved balancing logic combined with:
- backend health
- player limits
- latency checks
- sticky sessions

Routing Improvements
- Added improved fallback routing
- Added deterministic routing behavior
- Added retry cooldown handling
- Added safer reconnect flow
- Added backend quarantine protection
- Added reconnect spam protection

Metrics & Diagnostics
- Added improved routing diagnostics
- Added backend monitoring improvements
- Added cleaner debug output
- Added better lifecycle logging

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Improved
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Architecture
- Reworked internal plugin architecture
- Split large systems into dedicated services
- Improved service separation and encapsulation
- Improved maintainability across routing systems
- Improved lifecycle management
- Improved async safety

Performance
- Reduced unnecessary allocations
- Reduced repeated routing lookups
- Reduced async scheduler overhead
- Reduced ping amplification during outages
- Improved routing hot-path efficiency
- Improved cache usage

Concurrency
- Improved thread safety
- Improved session state handling
- Improved reconnect synchronization
- Improved retry handling under heavy load
- Improved async task cleanup

Reliability
- Improved backend outage handling
- Improved fallback reliability
- Improved retry stability
- Improved shutdown handling
- Improved startup validation
- Improved reconnect handling during backend instability

Security
- Improved plugin messaging validation
- Improved malformed packet protection
- Improved backend validation
- Improved routing safety protections

Codebase
- Cleaned and standardized code formatting
- Removed excessive AI-style comments
- Removed noisy block comments
- Simplified internal structure
- Cleaned unused logic and redundant code
- Improved readability across the project

Documentation
- Fully rewritten README
- Added architecture documentation
- Added routing documentation
- Added deployment recommendations
- Added troubleshooting guidance
- Added scaling recommendations
- Added configuration explanations

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Changed
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Java Version
- Updated project target from Java 8 to Java 17

Plugin Naming
- Standardized plugin naming to:
- `FlowGate-Lite`

Artifact Naming
- Final build artifact is now:
- `FlowGate-Lite-1.0.4.jar`

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Fixed
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- Fixed backend ping amplification
- Fixed unsafe plugin messaging behavior
- Fixed multiple routing edge cases
- Fixed reconnect instability issues
- Fixed various async lifecycle problems
- Fixed inconsistent plugin naming
- Fixed startup validation issues
- Fixed shutdown cleanup issues
- Fixed several routing race-condition risks
- Fixed stale retry/session handling
- Fixed inconsistent balancing behavior

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Recommended
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Before deploying to production:
- stress-test reconnect behavior
- test backend outage scenarios
- test proxy restart behavior
- verify failover routing under load
- monitor memory usage during extended runtime

Compatibility

- Java 17+
- Waterfall
- BungeeCord-compatible proxy environments

Hub Routing Overhaul
This update fully rewrites and stabilizes the hub routing and fallback system.
Focus: reliability, smooth player flow, and clean messaging.

✨ Improvements
Smart Hub Selection

• Added intelligent hub selection based on player count
  
  
• Automatically routes players to the best available hub
  
  
• Supports soft/hard limits for load balancing
  

Reliable Fallback System

• Players are now correctly routed when any server goes down
  
  
• Behavior:
  
  • → Sends to available hub if one exists
    
    
  • → Sends to fallback only if no hubs are online
    
• Works globally across all servers
  

Continuous Hub Detection

• Fallback server now continuously searches for available hubs
  
  
• Players are automatically moved when a hub becomes available
  
  
• No manual reconnect needed
  

Connection Throttling

• Added randomized delays (100–500ms) for reconnect attempts
  
  
• Added staggered delays (200–1000ms) when many players are waiting
  
  
• Prevents hub flooding during mass reconnects
  

Messaging System

• All routing messages now come from messages.yml
  
  
• Clean and consistent user experience
  

Added messages:

• routing.searching → shown when player enters fallback
  
  
• routing.found → shown when a hub is found
  
  
• Removed redundant message spam from scheduler
  

Internal Changes

• Reworked LimboRouterListener for better tracking and cleanup
  
  
• Improved FallbackListener routing logic
  
  
• Added HubUtil#getBestAvailableHub() for smart selection
  
  
• Added HubUtil#isHub() helper method
  
  
• Fixed initial join handling via ServerConnectBlockerListener
  
  
• Made sendMessage() accessible across components
  

Fixes

• Fixed players not being routed correctly when servers go down
  
  
• Fixed fallback not connecting when hubs are unavailable
  
  
• Fixed hub detection inconsistencies
  
  
• Fixed message duplication issues
  
  
• Fixed improper routing during initial join
  

Result

• Stable server switching
  
  
• Correct fallback behavior
  
  
• Smooth recovery from server downtime
  
  
• Clean, controlled messaging
  
  
• Scalable for large player counts
  

⬇️ Update Notes

• No config changes required
  
  
• Fully backward compatible
  
  
• Restart proxy after update (no reload)

Minor Update

• Fixed and cleaned up information inside configuration YML files
• Removed leftover personal branding
• No functional or behavioral changes

✅ Fully Operational • Production-Ready • Battle-Tested
FlowGate Lite v1.0.2 marks the first fully stable and complete release of the Lite branch.
All core systems are finalized, hardened, and verified in real network conditions.

✨ What’s New in v1.0.2
Reliable Hub Recovery

• Players are automatically routed back to a hub the moment one becomes available
• No reconnect required, no manual commands

Zero Disconnects During Hub Outages

• If all hubs go offline, players are safely moved to the fallback server
• Eliminates “Could not connect to a default or fallback server” kicks

⏳ Smart Fallback Waiting System

• Animated waiting titles while players are in fallback
• Starts and stops automatically, no duplication, no flicker

Improved Hub Commands

• /hub now:
  • Tries all hubs intelligently
  • Sends players to fallback if no hub is available
  • Never kicks players out of the network

Hardened Event Handling

• Proper handling of:
  • Server crashes
  • Mass restarts
  • Runtime disconnects
• Native Bungee logic respected — no forced overrides

Clean & Optimized Core

• Removed duplicated messages
• No ping spam
• Minimal schedulers
• Predictable, readable routing logic

Stability Philosophy
FlowGate Lite does not guess and does not rush connections.

It guarantees:

• No random kicks
• No reconnect loops
• No broken join flow
• No unnecessary background load

Version Info

• Plugin: FlowGate Lite
• Version: 1.0.2
• Status: ✅ Stable / Production Ready
• Proxy: BungeeCord / Waterfall

Recommendation
This version is safe to deploy on live networks.

If you want:

• predictable player flow
• clean fallback handling
• zero chaos during outages

This is the version to use.

‍ Developed by Terona Studios
Built with stability, clarity, and long-term maintainability in mind.

First Version