Screenshot 1 of 1. MinecraftHub-generated cover art for Show My Maps: a floating mountain block island with a workshop of crafting tables and furnaces and a chest, under a sunset sky
What Show My Maps works with.
| Platform | Java Edition |
|---|---|
| Loaders | Fabric |
| Minecraft versions | 1.21, 1.21.11, 26.1.2, 26.2 |
| Environment | Client, Server |
Show My Maps is a Fabric mod, with a matching plugin for Paper and its forks, that draws a filled map's real picture wherever the item appears. Vanilla only paints map art while you hold the map. Everywhere else it is a blank roll of parchment. The mod runs on the client, and the plugin or a Fabric server half fills the gaps.
Loaders and versions
- Fabric: Minecraft 1.21 to 26.2. The newest build requires Fabric API, optionally Mod Menu.
What it draws
- Map icons in slots, so a page of map art reads at a glance with no hovering.
- A tooltip preview under the normal lines in the inventory, chests, hoppers, the creative menu and shop GUIs.
- Dropped maps that spin as the art itself.
- A shulker box tooltip that shows contents as a slot grid, maps included. It steps aside if you run Shulker Box Tooltip.
Why some maps stay blank
Map pixels live on the server, and the client only receives them in two cases: the map is in your own inventory, or it hangs in a nearby item frame. A map in a chest, an auction page or a shulker box is never sent, and no client mod can draw data it was never given. That is the honest limit of the client-only install.
Installing the server half
- 1.Fabric servers take the same mod file in the mods folder. Maps in an inventory get painted without being held, and maps in an open container get sent.
- 2.Paper, Spigot and their forks cannot load Fabric mods. Take the Paper file from the Versions tab and put it in plugins. It sends colours for whatever inventory a player has open, plus shulker contents and nearby dropped maps.
- 3.Keep the Fabric mod on every player's client either way.
Owners control access with the showmymaps.see permission, which everyone holds until removed, and a disabled-worlds setting that turns off whole worlds by name. A player without the permission is never sent the colours.
Settings and cache
Open the settings screen through Mod Menu, or edit config/show_my_maps.json. It uses vanilla widgets, carries no config library, and lets you resize or switch off every feature. Each map you receive is saved to disk per server, so art you have seen once keeps previewing across relogs and dimension changes.
Questions about Show My Maps.
4 questions
Does Show My Maps work on multiplayer servers?
Yes, with limits. The mod works as a client-only install on any server, but it can only draw maps you have carried or seen in a nearby item frame, plus cached ones. For chests and auction pages the server needs the plugin or the Fabric mod.
How do I show maps in chests on a Paper server?
Put the Paper file from the Versions tab into the server's plugins folder, and keep the Fabric mod on each player's client. The plugin sends map colours for any inventory a player has open, including chests, auction pages and shulker boxes.
Does Show My Maps need Fabric API?
The Fabric mod needs Fabric Loader and Fabric API. Mod Menu is optional and opens the settings screen. The Paper plugin needs neither of them and goes on the server on its own.
Can I stop certain players from seeing map previews?
Yes. Everyone holds the showmymaps.see permission by default, so owners can take it away from chosen players. A player without it is never sent the map colours. The disabled-worlds setting also turns previews off for whole worlds by name.
