Visual Modes, Nameplates, and Renderers

This page helps you choose how corpses should look on your server.

The three main visual modes

Dead Body supports:

• ARMOR_STAND
• ITEM_DISPLAY
• PLAYER_MODEL

All three still use an ArmorStand root anchor internally for tracking, placement, persistence, and cleanup.

ARMOR_STAND

Use this when you want the most proven baseline.

Good for:

• stable public servers
• simple corpse visuals
• Pose Studio editing
• the least dependency complexity

ITEM_DISPLAY

Use this when you want resource-pack-friendly visuals and custom model item presentation.

Good for:

• modern display-based looks
• servers already using custom model data heavily
• tighter control over transforms, scale, and offsets

PLAYER_MODEL

Use this when you want a full player body instead of a simpler marker or display setup.

This mode can use:

• LibsDisguises as the recommended production path
• ProtocolLib as the optional fallback path

Choosing the right mode

safest setup

Use ARMOR_STAND if stability is your first concern.

best resource-pack presentation

Use ITEM_DISPLAY if your server already leans on resource-pack models and model-data workflows.

most ambitious body look

Use PLAYER_MODEL if you specifically want full-body corpse presentation and you are ready to manage the dependency path.

PlayerModel guidance

best practice

For the most reliable full-body result, use LibsDisguises and leave the player-model renderer on the supported path you intend to use.

ProtocolLib-only warning

ProtocolLib-only PLAYER_MODEL rendering is supported, but it is still the less reliable path.

If admins see only the fallback safety marker or loot marker instead of a full body, install LibsDisguises or switch to ARMOR_STAND or ITEM_DISPLAY.

Nameplates

Dead Body supports a global corpse nameplate system based on TextDisplay.

Important options include:

• visuals.nameplate.enabled
• visuals.nameplate.style
• visuals.nameplate.scale
• visuals.nameplate.view-range
• visuals.nameplate.format

Style options:

• FLAT
• BILLBOARD

Nameplate glyphs and custom fonts

Dead Body nameplates support:

• normal text
• & color codes
• literal Unicode or custom glyph characters when the player has the matching resource pack/font
• Nexo <glyph:id> and <shift:value> tags when Nexo is installed

If you configure Nexo glyph tags without Nexo installed, Dead Body logs a warning and falls back to plain text.

View range and visibility

Both ItemDisplay and TextDisplay systems have view-range settings. If something seems to vanish too early, review:

• visuals.nameplate.view-range
• visuals.item-display.view-range
• mob model and disguise tracking settings on the integration side

Mob corpse visuals

Mob corpses can use alternate visuals too. If you want disguised mob-body presentation, review the mob corpse page before enabling it on a live server.

Next pages

• pose Studio, Display Studio, and Admin GUI
• mob Corpses, MythicMobs, and Models
• integrations and Troubleshooting