Better Boat Movement

Jump your boat! Adds the ability to jump with boats and customize some boat behavior for a more dynamic water adventure.
Take control of your voyage with new boat-jumping mechanics and personalizable settings!

✨ Features

• Obstacle-Aware Jumping: Boats automatically jump reachable obstacles using their actual collision shapes instead of trying to boost over walls that are too tall.
• Optional Manual Jumping: Enable the jump keybind to jump once per keypress; it defaults to H and can be reassigned.
• Adjustable Behavior: Fine-tune how boat jumping works to best fit your play style.
• Multiplayer Friendly: Fabric, NeoForge, Paper, Folia, and Purpur servers validate movement and synchronize their gameplay settings to connected modded players. Paper-family automatic jumping also works for vanilla clients.

🎬 Demo - See the boat jump

Settings: stepHeight = 0.4, extraCollisionDetectionRange = 2.0

⚙️ Configuration

Fabric and NeoForge use config/better-boat-movement.json. Paper, Folia, and Purpur use plugins/better-boat-movement/better-boat-movement.json.

Installation

Players can join a Paper, Folia, or Purpur server without installing the mod and still receive automatic boat boosts. However, installing the matching client mod is strongly recommended: its smoother client-side prediction makes boat movement feel much more immediate and satisfying. It also enables the manual jump keybind and the synchronized read-only server settings screen.

On Paper-family servers, the two client options differ as follows:

• Vanilla client: Automatic boosts and configured ejection timing work entirely through the server plugin. There is no manual jump keybind or settings screen.
• Client mod installed (strongly recommended): Adds smoother client-side boost prediction, making jumps feel more responsive and satisfying, plus the optional manual jump keybind and a read-only view of the server's synchronized settings. The server remains authoritative.

Configure your boat-jumping experience with the same JSON options on every platform:

{
    "version": 7, // just ignore this, this is for migration purposes only
    "config": {
        "stepHeight": 0.35, // Sets the upward velocity applied by an automatic boost.
        "playerEjectTicks": 200.0, // Sets how many ticks the game waits before ejecting a player who has lost control of a boat.
        "boosting": {
            "boostStates": [
                "UNDER_WATER",
                "ON_LAND",
                "IN_WATER",
                "UNDER_FLOWING_WATER"
            ], // Sets the preferences under which states the boat should be boosted.
            "allowedSupportingBlocks": [], // Restricts boosts to boats resting on these block IDs or #tags. An empty list allows every block.
            "allowedCollidingBlocks": [], // Restricts boosts to the nearest block ID or #tag hit by the boat's path. An empty list allows every block.
            "onlyForPlayers": true, // Restricts automatic boosts to boats carrying a player.
            "extraCollisionDetectionRange": 0.5, // Looks this many blocks farther along the boat's path so it can boost before contact.
            "heightTolerance": 0.25 // Allows an obstacle to exceed the boat's predicted rise by this many blocks and still trigger a boost.
        },
        "keybind": {
            "allowJumpKeybind": false, // Enables manual boat jumping with the configurable keybind.
            "keybindJumpHeightMultiplier": 1.2, // Specifies the multiplier applied to stepHeight for a manual jump.
            "onlyKeybindJumpOnGroundOrWater": true // Prevents manual jumping while the boat is in the air.
        }
    }
}

Changes made in the local or singleplayer configuration screen apply when saved. A remote server's gameplay configuration is shown read-only and is authoritative. Dedicated-server file changes require a restart.

Detailed behavior

For the precise automatic-boost, collision, manual-jump, and multiplayer authority rules, see the gameplay behavior reference.

ℹ️ Note on Multiplayer Safety

Prior to v1.1.1 it is possible to get flagged by anti-cheat on multiplayer servers.
Please use v1.1.1 or higher to be on the safe side.

💬 Support & Feedback

• Open an issue for bugs or suggestions.
• Join our Discord for help and community.