PermissionsEx is red and commands won't work!

Hey I recently got a server and when I tried to install permissionsEx it goes red and the commands won't work. Then I look online and see oh maybe it's out dated. Then I got to bukkit.com and find the page and it says it doesn't work for 1.8. Then I download and earlier version for 1.7.9 which is what I'm running and it still won't work. I was wondering if maybe I did something to the config or if I'm being stupid and didn't look hard enough at the version I downloaded. It would be great if you could help me. Thanks in Advanced!
groups:
default:
options:
default: true
permissions:
- essentials.balance
- essentials.delhome
- essentials.exp
- essentials.help
- essentials.helpop
- essentials.home
- essentials.ignore
# essentials.kit gives them access to the /kit command
- essentials.kit
# essentials.kits.guest gives them access to /kit guest (sign or typed command)
- essentials.kits.tools
- essentials.list
- essentials.mail
- essentials.mail.send
- essentials.me
- essentials.msg
- essentials.pay
- essentials.realname
- essentials.sethome
- essentials.signs.use.buy
- essentials.signs.use.info
- essentials.signs.use.warp
- -essentials.socialspy
- essentials.spawn
- essentials.tpa
- essentials.tpaccept
- essentials.tpahere
- essentials.tpdeny
- essentials.warp
- essentials.warp.list
- essentials.worth
- essentials.build
- modifyworld.*
Trusted:
inheritance:
- default
permissions:
- essentials.balance
- essentials.delhome
- essentials.exp
- essentials.help
- essentials.helpop
- essentials.home
- essentials.ignore
- essentials.info
# essentials.kit gives them access to the /kit command
- essentials.kit
# essentials.kits.guest gives them access to /kit guest (sign or typed command)
- essentials.kits.guest
- essentials.list
- essentials.mail
- essentials.mail.send
- essentials.me
- essentials.msg
- essentials.pay
- essentials.protect.pvp
- essentials.realname
- essentials.recipe
- essentials.sell
- essentials.sethome
- essentials.signs.use.buy
- essentials.signs.use.info
- essentials.signs.use.warp
- -essentials.socialspy
- essentials.spawn
- essentials.tpa
- essentials.tpaccept
- essentials.tpahere
- essentials.tpdeny
- essentials.warp
- essentials.warp.list
- essentials.worth
- essentials.sethome.multiple.3
- essentials.mute
- essentials.kick
moderator:
prefix: '&b~Mod'
inheritance:
- trusted
permissions:
- essentials.balance
- essentials.delhome
- essentials.exp
- essentials.help
- essentials.helpop
- essentials.home
- essentials.ignore
- essentials.info
# essentials.kit gives them access to the /kit command
- essentials.kit
# essentials.kits.guest gives them access to /kit guest (sign or typed command)
- essentials.kits.guest
- essentials.list
- essentials.mail
- essentials.mail.send
- essentials.me
- essentials.msg
- essentials.pay
- essentials.protect.pvp
- essentials.realname
- essentials.recipe
- essentials.sell
- essentials.sethome
- essentials.signs.use.buy
- essentials.signs.use.info
- essentials.signs.use.warp
- -essentials.socialspy
- essentials.spawn
- essentials.tpa
- essentials.tpaccept
- essentials.tpahere
- essentials.tpdeny
- essentials.warp
- essentials.warp.list
- essentials.worth
- essentials.sethome.multiple.6
- essentials.mute
- essentials.kick
- bukkit.command.banlist
- bukkit.command.ban.list
- essentials.nick
- essentials.ban.notify
- essentials.chat.ignoreexempt
- essentials.exp.others
- essentials.gc
- essentials.helpop.receive
- essentials.invsee
# Moderators should not have the ability to modify the inventory of others.
# Trust me on this, as they WILL abuse the power.
- -essentials.invsee.preventmodify
- essentials.jail
# Moderators should not be exempt from being jailed
- -essentials.jail.exempt
- essentials.jails
- essentials.kick
- essentials.kick.notify
# Moderators should not be able to /kill others
- -essentials.kill
- essentials.mute
- essentials.mute.notify
- essentials.socialspy
- essentials.tempban
- essentials.tempban.offline
- essentials.togglejail
- essentials.tpahere admin:
prefix: '&4~Admin'
inheritance:
- moderator
permissions:
# These are NEGATED permissions (the extra - in front)
# That means they CANNOT use these commands. You really
# DO NOT want admins to use op, deop, give, take, etc. as someone
# will eventually op another player you do not want opped, and they WILL grief.
- -bukkit.command.plugins
- bukkit.command.toggledownfall
- essentials.balance.others
- essentials.balancetop
- essentials.sethome
-essentials.sethome.multiple.10
- essentials.ban
- -essentials.ban.offline
- essentials.broadcast
- essentials.burn
- essentials.clearinventory
# Enchant is also a BAD idea, as they will just enchant "god" gear and give it away.
- essentials.ext
- essentials.feed
# You don't want admins changing the game mode of others either, they WILL grief
- essentials.invsee.modify
- -essentials.item
- essentials.jail.exempt
- essentials.joinfullserver
- essentials.kill
- essentials.list.hidden
- essentials.mute.exempt
- essentials.mute.notify
- essentials.nick
- essentials.nick.color
- essentials.nick.others
- essentials.seen
- essentials.seen.banreason
- -essentials.setworth
- essentials.socialspy
- essentials.unban
- essentials.vanish
- essentials.vanish.see
- essentials.warp.otherplayers
- essentials.weather
- -permissions.*
# The /whois command will show someone's IP address. Moderators don't need to know
# that information, as it could be used to DDOS someone
owner:
inheritance:
- Admin
permissions:
- autodeop.reload
- bukkit.command.plugins
- bukkit.command.reload
- bukkit.command.restart
- bukkit.command.restart
- bukkit.commands.timings
- bukkit.command.timings
- bukkit.command.tps
- bukkit.command.version
- cm.set
# Make sure owner doesn't have separate creative mode/survival mode inventories
- creativeControl.blacklist.*
- creativeControl.data.status
- creativeControl.preventions.*
- essentials.command.plugins
- essentials.enchant
- essentials.enchantments.*
- essentials.enderchest.modify
- essentials.essentials
- essentials.fireball
- essentials.fly.others
- essentials.gamemode.others
- essentials.heal.cooldown.bypass
- essentials.plugins
- essentials.signs.*
- essentials.spawnmob.*
- essentials.spawnmob.stack
- essentials.speed
- essentials.speed.bypass
- essentials.speed.others
- essentials.time.set
- essentials.vanish.*
- permissions.*
- vanish.*
- worldedit.*
- worldguard.*
prefix: '&5Owner'
schema-version: 1

 

pastebin your permissions file, since the structure formatiting is totally lost in that post.
IN-RED = there be loads of errors splashed about in your server log when you start, errors which will hint at why, they could be loaded with yml parsing errors reported, or difficulty parsing due to the logic of the structure being off, or due to something else. So a log from a clean startup of the server (not a /reload, plus with pex, /reload kills it anyways) pastebinned will explain whats what

 

If it is red, then you need an earlier version. Permissions just will not work if the config is wrong.

 

K thanks