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Lectern Holograms

Lectern holograms allow regular players to create their own holograms using Hologram Books placed in lecterns. This feature gives players a safe, limited way to customize their builds with floating text.

How It Works

  1. Player gets a Hologram Book via /mh getbook
  2. Player writes content in the book (with optional color codes)
  3. Player signs the book
  4. Player right-clicks a lectern with the signed book
  5. A hologram appears above the lectern with the book's content
  6. Breaking the lectern removes the hologram

Step-by-Step Guide

Getting a Hologram Book

/mh getbook

This gives you a writable book with a special internal tag (MasuHologramBook). Only books obtained this way work with lecterns — regular written books are ignored.

Permission: masuholograms.lectern.getbook (default: all players)

Writing Your Hologram

Open the book and write your hologram content:

  • Each line in the book becomes a hologram line
  • Maximum 6 lines per page (configurable)
  • Color codes with & are supported if enabled in config (default: yes)
  • Multiple book pages create a multi-page hologram

Example book content: 

Page 1:
&6Steve's House
&7Welcome!
&eFeel free to look around

Page 2:
&6Rules
&71. No stealing
&72. Close the door

Signing the Book

Sign the book normally (the title doesn't matter). The special Hologram Book tag is preserved through signing.

Placing the Hologram

Right-click a lectern with the signed Hologram Book. The hologram appears above the lectern.

Removing the Hologram

Break the lectern block. The hologram is automatically deleted.

Warning

Holograms are also removed if the lectern is destroyed by explosions, pistons, or other means. The mod validates lectern positions periodically (every 5 seconds by default).

Multi-Page Lectern Holograms

If your book has multiple pages, the hologram automatically gets:

  • Right-click → Next page (except on the last page)
  • Left-click → Previous page (except on the first page)
  • A page indicator line at the bottom

Each viewer can be on a different page.

Player Limits

Each player has a maximum number of lectern holograms they can create simultaneously.

Setting Default
Default limit (no permissions) 3
Maximum configurable limit 20

Checking Your Limit

When you place a hologram, the chat message tells you your current count:

Hologram created! (2/3 holograms used)

Adjusting Limits with LuckPerms

# Set a player's limit to 10
/lp user Steve permission set masuholograms.lectern.limit.10 true

# Give a group unlimited holograms
/lp group builder permission set masuholograms.lectern.bypass true

# Deny hologram creation entirely
/lp user Griefer permission set masuholograms.lectern.use false

Limit Resolution Order

  1. Check masuholograms.lectern.bypass → unlimited
  2. Scan masuholograms.lectern.limit.N from max down to 1 → first match = limit
  3. Fall back to defaultLimit from config

Security

Lectern holograms have several security measures to prevent abuse:

Stripped Syntax

The following patterns are automatically removed from book text:

  • Placeholder syntax: {anything} and %anything%
  • Animation syntax: {#ANIM:name}...{/#ANIM} and &u
  • Section sign characters: § (stripped by vanilla Minecraft)

This means players cannot use placeholders or animations in their holograms.

Forced Flags

All lectern holograms automatically have these flags enabled:

  • DISABLE_PLACEHOLDERS — even if syntax somehow gets through, it won't resolve
  • DISABLE_ANIMATIONS — animation tags are ignored

Color Code Control

Color codes (& codes) can be globally enabled or disabled for lectern holograms:

{
  "lecternHolograms": {
    "allowColorCodes": true
  }
}

Set to false to strip all color formatting from player holograms.

Configuration

All lectern hologram settings are in config.json under the lecternHolograms section:

{
  "lecternHolograms": {
    "enabled": true,
    "maxLinesPerPage": 6,
    "defaultLimit": 3,
    "maxLimit": 20,
    "heightOffset": 0.0,
    "displayRange": 48,
    "allowColorCodes": true,
    "disablePlaceholders": true,
    "disableAnimations": true,
    "validationIntervalTicks": 100
  }
}
Field Default Description
enabled true Enable/disable the feature entirely
maxLinesPerPage 6 Maximum lines per book page
defaultLimit 3 Default hologram limit per player
maxLimit 20 Maximum limit that can be set via permissions
heightOffset 0.0 Vertical offset above the lectern
displayRange 48 Visibility range in blocks
allowColorCodes true Allow & color codes in book text
disablePlaceholders true Force-disable placeholders (security)
disableAnimations true Force-disable animations (security)
validationIntervalTicks 100 How often to check if lecterns still exist (ticks)

Storage

Lectern holograms are stored separately from admin holograms:

config/masuholograms/holograms/players/<playerName>/<hologramName>.json

The hologram name follows the pattern: lectern_<player>_<x>_<y>_<z>[_dimension_suffix]

A tracker file (config/masuholograms/lectern-tracker.json) maps lectern positions to hologram names for quick lookup during validation.

Permissions Summary

Permission Default Description
masuholograms.lectern.use true Place hologram books in lecterns
masuholograms.lectern.getbook true Use /mh getbook
masuholograms.lectern.guide true Use /mh guide
masuholograms.lectern.limit.N false Set hologram limit to N
masuholograms.lectern.bypass false Unlimited holograms

Troubleshooting

"You have reached your hologram limit"

Your current hologram count has reached your limit. Remove existing holograms by breaking their lecterns, or ask an admin to increase your limit.

Hologram doesn't appear

  • Make sure you used a Hologram Book from /mh getbook, not a regular written book
  • Check that the lectern is in a valid position
  • Verify you have the masuholograms.lectern.use permission

Hologram disappeared

  • The lectern may have been destroyed (explosion, piston, manual break)
  • The server may have restarted and the lectern block was modified
  • An admin may have used /mh hologram delete to remove it

Colors don't work

  • Check that allowColorCodes is true in config
  • Use & prefix (e.g., &6Gold), not §
  • Hex colors and gradients are not supported in book text