Implement new API for heads

[tastybento]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

See BentoBoxWorld/BentoBox#2774

Describe the solution you'd like.

See BentoBoxWorld/BentoBox#2774

Describe alternatives you've considered.

See BentoBoxWorld/BentoBox#2774

Agreements

• I have searched for and ensured there isn't already an open issue regarding this.
• I have ensured the feature I'm requesting isn't already in the latest supported BentoBox build or Addons.

Other

No response

[Techirion]

I wonder if it would make sense to optionally use the Paper API for this instead of manually handling Mojang requests.

Reference (current implementation):
https://github.com/BentoBoxWorld/BentoBox/blob/77bd4e87104b699af7000faecc8f449124a935a1/src/main/java/world/bentobox/bentobox/util/heads/HeadGetter.java#L211

Paper provides PlayerProfile, which can resolve UUIDs and skin textures and already handles Mojang lookups internally:

PlayerProfile profile = Bukkit.createProfile(playerName);

// Blocking call – would need to run async
profile.complete(true);

ItemStack head = new ItemStack(Material.PLAYER_HEAD);
head.editMeta(SkullMeta.class, meta -> meta.setPlayerProfile(profile));

Docs:
https://jd.papermc.io/paper/1.21.11/com/destroystokyo/paper/profile/PlayerProfile.html

This is just a concept / possible alternative, but it should work in practice.

Not sure but, this could break pure Spigot compatibility? So it would need to be optional or Paper-only.

The current implementation works, but on larger servers it can become problematic:

• Servers may need to define custom Environment URLs (session / services / profiles)
• Handle caching and proxying themselves (using own Environment URLs)

Using Paper’s profile API could offload some of this complexity and reduce the likelihood of hitting rate limits, while keeping the existing approach as a fallback for Spigot.

Just throwing the idea out there for discussion 🙂