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The Lobby

The lobby is a small hub world that DiscoPanel hosts itself - no container, no extra server, no mods. Players who join through the proxy on an address that doesn’t match any server land on a little plaza with a portal gate for every server on the panel. Walk through a gate to join that server.

Each gate has a sign with the server’s name, its player count, and its state, and a beacon beam that tells you the same thing from across the plaza:

  • Portal lit, blue beam - running, walk through to join.
  • Purple - asleep. Walk in and the panel starts it; you wait on the plaza and hop over when it’s ready.
  • Magenta - starting right now.
  • Orange - runs a different Minecraft version than yours. The sign says which.
  • Gray - offline, and joining won’t start it. Ask whoever runs the panel.

You can also type in chat: a server’s name or its number joins it, and menu reprints the list. Everyone in the lobby sees each other and can chat while they wait.

Turning it on

Section titled “Turning it on”

The lobby is off by default. Enable it in Settings > Network under The lobby. Two related settings live next to it:

  • Verified accounts (on by default) - lobby visitors must be signed in to a real Minecraft account, same as an online-mode server. Turn it off only if your servers run in offline mode.
  • Catch all on a server’s Network tab - sends unmatched addresses to that server instead of the lobby. A catch-all wins over the lobby.

While the panel has exactly one proxied server, unknown addresses skip the lobby and go straight to that server - a lobby with one door isn’t worth the stop.

Waiting rooms

Section titled “Waiting rooms”

The lobby doubles as the waiting room for servers that start on demand. When someone joins a stopped server that has Wake on Connect enabled, or one that’s still booting, they wait on the plaza instead of staring at a disconnect screen, and get moved over automatically the moment the server answers.

What players need

Section titled “What players need”
  • Minecraft 1.16.4 or newer (Java Edition) to enter the lobby at all. Older clients get a kick screen saying so.
  • On 1.20.5 or newer, hopping through a gate is seamless - the game reconnects itself. Older versions get a “your world is ready, join again” message instead, and their next join lands on the right server.
  • Vanilla and lightly modded clients are fine. Clients whose mod loader insists on a matching server (NeoForge packs, for example) can’t stand in a vanilla lobby - they get a screen listing every server’s direct address so they can connect straight in.