diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 6a3db8c3e..c24b29e95 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ plugins {
     id 'idea'
 }
 
-version = "1.10-testingbeta18.7"
+version = "1.10-testingbeta18.8"
 group= "kamkeel.customnpc-plus"
 archivesBaseName = "CustomNPC-Plus"
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/noppes/npcs/controllers/ScriptController.java b/src/main/java/noppes/npcs/controllers/ScriptController.java
index 81842e7e1..86cd950b9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/noppes/npcs/controllers/ScriptController.java
+++ b/src/main/java/noppes/npcs/controllers/ScriptController.java
@@ -63,9 +63,20 @@ public class ScriptController {
             return;
         LogWriter.info("Script Engines Available:");
 
-        ScriptEngine engine = manager.getEngineByName("nashorn");
-        if (engine != null) {
-            this.nashornFactory = engine.getFactory();
+        try {
+            this.nashornFactory = new NashornScriptEngineFactory();
+            LogWriter.info("→ standalone Nashorn loaded");
+        } catch (NoClassDefFoundError e) {
+            // fallback to built-in (Java 8–11) — also guarded
+            try {
+                ScriptEngine eng = manager.getEngineByName("nashorn");
+                if (eng != null) {
+                    this.nashornFactory = eng.getFactory();
+                    LogWriter.info("→ built-in Nashorn loaded");
+                }
+            } catch (Throwable t) {
+                LogWriter.error("No Nashorn engine available");
+            }
         }
 
         for (ScriptEngineFactory fac : manager.getEngineFactories()) {