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Ascend troubleshooting

This page covers issues specific to Ascend. For engine-level problems (network mode, DB, Redis, map paste, chat routing) see the Tea troubleshooting page.

/play ascend fails with "Unknown game ascend"​

Ascend isn't registered on a server in the fleet. See the Tea-level version of this error in the Tea troubleshooting page. The Ascend-specific causes are:

  • Ascend.jar not installed on the arena server.
  • Ascend disabled itself during startup - scroll up in the arena server log for a SEVERE line.

Morph not visible / player looks like themselves to others​

The disguise didn't apply. Check:

  • LibsDisguises is enabled without errors on the server.
  • The stage's mob-type is a valid EntityType name. Ascend logs "Unknown mob-type: XYZ" at startup for invalid values.
  • The evolving player sees themselves in first-person on purpose so the controls don't feel weird - other players see the morph normally.

Evolution ceremony is in the wrong spot​

The map's evolution-viewer and/or evolution-mob spawns are off. Run /tea map edit ascend <map> to open the draft, walk to the right positions and run /tea map evolutionviewer / /tea map evolutionmob, then /tea map save. /tea map status shows every spawn currently set on the draft.

Ceremony fires but mob puppets don't appear​

The ceremony sends per-viewer mob packets. If nothing shows up:

  • The evolution-mob spawn is inside a wall or below the world. Re-run /tea map edit and reposition it.
  • Another plugin is intercepting outbound entity-spawn packets. Try disabling packet-modifying plugins one at a time.

Sneak-evolve does nothing on slabs/stairs​

If sneak-progress isn't ticking up:

  • You have to hold sneak for 3 seconds (2s with Quick Evolver). Damage resets the progress bar.
  • You must have an evolve unlocked - a kill since your last evolve.
  • The arena must be in LIVE state.

Abilities don't trigger when right-clicking an enemy morph​

If a right-click doesn't fire your stage ability:

  • Your stage's ability: in config.yml is blank or points at an unregistered id.
  • The arena isn't in LIVE state yet.
  • An inventory menu or another plugin's interaction handler is stealing the event first.

"Missing translation: ascend.xxx" in chat or scoreboard​

A translation key your stage uses isn't present in any loaded lang/*.yml. Ascend merges jar defaults on enable, so this should resolve automatically. If you added custom stages to config.yml and the scoreboard shows ascend.stage.<your-id>, the stage's translation key isn't in your locale bundle - add it and /tea reload.

Match ends instantly on apex arrival​

Your stage-order: list has fewer entries than expected, so the first stage a player reaches is already the apex. Check /tea reload actually picked up your edits, and confirm stage-order lists every stage you want on the ladder, in the right order.

Devolve-on-death keeps knocking me back to stage 0​

That's the default behavior with game.devolve-on-death: true. Set it to false in plugins/Ascend/config.yml if you want deaths to cost only HP, not progress.

Winner isn't crowned at match timeout​

game.max-match-seconds has elapsed but nobody wins. Ascend picks the highest-stage player when the timer runs out; ties (equal stages) resolve to no winner and the arena resets with no celebration. If that's happening too often, lower the time cap or raise it so matches naturally conclude.