ModelEngine vs ItemsAdder

Compatibility

Differences between ItemsAdder and ModelEngine

Disclaimer

This page is not meant to discredit the works put into ModelEngine or to decide which plugin is better.
ModelEngine lets you introduce custom entities that act almost like the vanilla ones at a reasonable price.
These are just my thoughts about ModelEngine, but there's probably some features I missed.
So, take what I say with a grain of salt and ask others which plugin they like the most.

Click to read the old comparison by Ticxo

Ticxo (ModelEngine developer):

This is in no way an effort to try to prove which plugin is better. ItemsAdder is truly a fascinating, feature-packed plugin at a very reasonable price range. The following are all my observations and in no way the complete picture of ItemsAdder. Please take my observation with a grain of salt and consult others to see which plugin fits you!

⚠️ Tocxo's comparison page wasn't updated since Nov 26, 2022 and might not reflect the actual state of the plugins.

Click here to access the old differences page.

Feature	ItemsAdder	ModelEngine v3	ModelEngine v4
Transition between animations	✅	✅	✅
Async (TPS Unaffected)	✅	✅	✅
Blockbench Plugin	✅	✅	✅
Citizens Integration	✅	✅	✅
Community-Made Assets	~20	~200	?
Configurable Tint Item	❌ (`POTION` by default and `PLAYER_HEAD` for emotes)	✅ (Leather Horse Armor by default) (All leather armor except helmet, all potions, tipped arrow and filled map)	Same as MEG v3
Cost	€19.95	v3: $18.99 (requires payment to update v3->v4)	v4: $31.99 - 52% more than ItemsAdder - 72% more than MEG v3
Effect Keyframes (Keyframes for particle and sound effects)	✅	✅* (scriptable keyframe)	Unknown
Hand Item Display	✅	✅	✅
Head Position	Must be centered	Can be in any position	Same as MEG v3
Inverse Kinematics	❌	✅* (only segmented)	Same as MEG v3
Scale Keyframes	✅	❌	✅
Model Disguise	✅	✅	✅
Unlimited Bone Model Size Limit	❌	❌	✅
Player Skin Bones	✅* (only in emotes)	❌	✅
Display Entities Support	❌	❌	✅
Model Import	Import & Export using custom Blockbench plugin	Drag & Drop	Same as MEG v3
Entity Rotation (Body and Head bone interaction)	Exactly like vanilla entities	Player & Entity style+ [Player] Body rotates when head-body angle is too large [Entity] Body rotate after certain delay Model faces towards traveling direction Configurable stable angle, clamp angle, rotation duration and delay Asymmetric clamp	Same as MEG v3
Multi-Nametag	❌	✅	✅
Multi-Hitbox	❌	✅	✅
MythicMobs Integration	6 Mechanics (1 mechanic but does 6 things): - Apply model - Play & Stop animation - Override default animation - Mount & Dismount model - Color & Enchant model - Show & Hide bones More Info	30+ Mechanics - Apply & Remove model - Play & Stop animation - Override default animations - Mount & Dismount model - Set, Show & Hide nametags - Color & Enchant model - Disguise & Un-disguise player - Combine, Remove, Show & Hide bones - Bone parent swapping - Create statues - Advance Multi-hitbox configuration - Instant model variant swapping - 10+ VFX-related mechanics	Unknown (needs to be checked)
Non-Entity Model Related Features	✅ (it's a content manager, it allows to add more than only custom entities)	❌ (allows adding only custom entities to the game)	Same as MEG v3
Packet Amount	Uses less packets in some cases, more in some other cases. _{(Refer to the comparison below)}	Same as ItemsAdder	Same as ItemsAdder
Procedural Animation (Realtime calculations)	❌	✅	✅
Resource Pack Generation	✅	✅	✅
Multiple Resource Packs	✅* (Requires merging)	❌	❌
Stability	Entity system released in March 2022	Released on Jun 13, 2020	Released on Oct 1, 2023
VFX Models (Lightweight models for projectiles)	❌	✅	✅

Network traffic comparison

This is a comparison of the network traffic usage of both plugins (lower rx and traffic are better).
To make these tests I used 25 ninja_skeleton model downloadable from here: ItemsAdder, ModelEngine.

No AI (standing still with idle animation)

Plugin	Version	Mode	Bundle	rx	Traffic	Video
IA	3.6.2	smooth	Y	5500	300KiB/s	Watch
IA	3.6.2	smooth	N	6800	160KiB/s	Watch
MEG	R3.1.9	A,A,C	-	8200	200KiB/s	Watch
MEG	R4.0.2	-	Y	8500	260KiB/s	Watch

IA	MEG	rx diff (a->b)	traffic diff (a->b)
IA 3.6.2 bundle	MEG 3.1.9	-49%	+33%
IA 3.6.2	MEG 3.1.9	-20%	-25%
IA 3.6.2 bundle	MEG 4.0.2	-54%	+13%
IA 3.6.2	MEG 4.0.2	-25%	-62%
MEG 4.0.2	MEG 3.1.9	+3%	+23%

With AI (wandering around)

Plugin	Version	Mode	Bundle	rx	Traffic	Video
IA	3.6.2	smooth	Y	7700	450KiB/s	Watch
IA	3.6.2	smooth	N	13k	350KiB/s	Watch
MEG	R3.1.9	A,A,C	N	10k	270KiB/s	Watch
MEG	R4.0.2	-	Y	9000	280KiB/s	Watch

IA	MEG	rx diff (a->b)	traffic diff (a->b)
IA 3.6.2 bundle	MEG 3.1.9	-23%	+66%
IA 3.6.2	MEG 3.1.9	+30%	+29%
IA 3.6.2 bundle	MEG 4.0.2	-14%	+60%
IA 3.6.2	MEG 4.0.2	+44%	+25%
MEG 4.0.2	MEG 3.1.9	-11%	+3%

Animation quality comparison

ModelEngine v4 "overall network load reduction" controversy

MythicCraft announcement advertises an "overall network load reduction" for their new ModelEngine v4 version.

There is some chat going on on the MythicCraft Discord server about how rx (packets sent to the client) are extremely lower compared to MEG 3. I also got contacted by some users about this fact and this caught my curiosity.
However these users statements are misleading.

I decided to make some analysis using the client F3 screen data and I made a custom Spigot plugin for the occasion.
The rx values showcased by these users are not correct because of how the client calculates this value.
MEG v4 uses bundle packets which allow the client to wait before elaborating a group of packets received between an interval.

The bundle packet works like that:

Server sends bundle start packet
Server sends the packets (in this case MEG sends display entity teleport and display entity size + rotation
Server sends bundle end packet

This means that the server sends 4 packets in total, but the rx value shown on the client is instead 1.
This happens because the game considers the bundle packets as a single packet, so the F3 screen shows an unreliable value for the purpose of comparing v3 vs v4 or ModelEngine vs ItemsAdder.

I did some testing using a model lend by the EliteCreatures team: a ship model with 35 bones.

Conclusion

✅ IA sends less packets when entities are stand still and not walking around (but still running their current animation, obviously).
❌ IA (for now) sends more packets¹ than MEG v3 when referring to entities walking around the world.
❌ IA has some missing features compared to MEG v3, but they are not something which creates any difficulty into creating realistic custom entities. Refer to the previous comparison table.

✅ MEG v3 has lower packet usage (-30%) for moving entities compared to IA.
❌ MEG v3 has higher packet usage (+20%) for standing entities compared to IA.
❌ MEG v3 entity walking/rotating looks clunky as you can see in the previous video.

Compatibility#

Differences between ItemsAdder and ModelEngine#

Disclaimer#

Network traffic comparison#

No AI (standing still with idle animation)#

With AI (wandering around)#

Animation quality comparison#

ModelEngine v4 "overall network load reduction" controversy#

Conclusion#