Save Timer Counts On Reload/Shutdown

Ok so basically i am making a plugin that contains multiple runnables, but i am running into an issue where every time i reload or restart the server, the tasks count get reset, and it starts over, i need it to save its timer since it will be used again on startup therefore i don't want the counter to start over again, If the execution time is 1 day, and they are 23 hours into the timer, i don't want them to have to start from 0 again if that makes sense. here is a example class of what i have so far.

PHP:

package com.frostdeveloper.playerlogs.module;

import com.frostdeveloper.playerlogs.manager.CacheManager;
import com.frostdeveloper.playerlogs.manager.ModuleManager;
import com.frostdeveloper.playerlogs.model.Module;
import com.frostdeveloper.playerlogs.model.Scheduler;
import org.bukkit.scheduler.BukkitRunnable;
import org.bukkit.scheduler.BukkitTask;

public class ExampleModule extends ModuleManager implements Module, Scheduler
{
    // CLASS INSTANCES
    private final CacheManager cache = plugin.getCacheManager();
   
    // CLASS SPECIFIC OBJECTS
    private final String identifier = "example-module";
    private final String cacheIdentifier = "example-timer";
    private static BukkitTask task;
   
    @Override
    public void initialize() { start(); }
   
    @Override
    public void start()
    {
        String cachedTimer = cache.getCache(cacheIdentifier) != null ? cache.getCache(cacheIdentifier) : "0";
       
        task  = new BukkitRunnable() {
            int counter = Integer.parseInt(cachedTimer);
           
            @Override
            public void run() {
                final int interval = api.toMinute(30); // EVERY 30 MINUTES
               
                // STOP TASK IN-CASE THE DATA FOLDER IS DELETED
                if (!plugin.getDataFolder().exists() || !isRegistered()) {
                    shutdown();
                    return;
                }
               
                // IF COUNTER IS GREATER THAN INTERVAL, DELETE CACHE.
                if (counter > interval) {
                    cache.deleteCache(cacheIdentifier);
                }
               
                // IF COUNTER IS LESS THAN INTERVAL, ADD TO COUNTER AND SET CACHE
                if (counter < interval) {
                    counter++;
                    cache.setCache(cacheIdentifier, counter);
                }
                else {
                    System.out.println("This message is shown when counter hits the desired interval"); /* TODO TEMP */
                   
                    counter = 0;
                    cache.setCache(cacheIdentifier, counter);
                }
            }
        }.runTaskTimer(plugin, 0, 20);
    }
   
    @Override
    public void registerModule()
    {
        addToMaster(this);
       
        if (getConfig().getBoolean("example-task.enabled")) {
            addToRegistry(this);
        }
    }
   
    @Override
    public void shutdown()
    {
        cancel();
       
        if (isCancelled()) {
            plugin.debug(getClass(), "module.unload.success", identifier);
        }
    }
   
    @Override
    public boolean isRegistered() { return getRegisteredList().contains(this); }
   
    public String getIdentifier() { return identifier; }
   
    @Override
    public int getTaskId() { return getRegisteredList().indexOf(this); }
   
    @Override
    public boolean isCancelled() { return task == null || task.isCancelled(); }
   
    @Override
    public void cancel()
    {
        if (task != null) {
            task.cancel();
        }
    }
}


Currently, this code will save the current count every second to a file in my plugin folder, but i would like to avoid this since i do not want the server owner to be able to modify the timer. Is there a better way to store my timers?

 

If you just want to make sure the serer op can not modify the values you can use encryption, or encoding.
Search the internet for some simple string encryption.
You can also use this code snippet I wrote to save to a "Flat File" instead of as text. It saves as a GZip compressed binary file, which will just look like gobbledy-gook if opened with a text editor.
https://bukkit.org/threads/flat-file-generic-save-load.489508/