Jmeter Maven 2.1.0- Error in NonGUIDriver java.lang.IllegalArgumentException - jmeter

Question

This question was attempted to be answered here in this post:
Jmeter- Error in NonGUIDriver java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
but the solution didn't work, was wondering if anyone else had another solution or can clarify the solution...
I'm trying to run Jmeter Maven plugin (version 2.1.0) to run my Jmeter script which was written in version 3.1 of Jmeter. I followed all of the instructions mentioned here https://github.com/jmeter-maven-plugin/jmeter-maven-plugin to create the pom.xml file.
when i execute the following maven command:
mvn clean verify -Denv=prod -Djmx.filename={the_name_of_my_jmx_file}
i get the following 2 errors:
1
[INFO] Invalid value detected for <postTestPauseInSeconds>. Setting pause to 0...
2
[INFO] Error in NonGUIDriver java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Problem loading XML from: {path to my jmx file} missing class com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.ConversionException:
[INFO] ---- Debugging information ----
[INFO] cause-exception : com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.ConversionException
[INFO] cause-message :
[INFO] first-jmeter-class : org.apache.jmeter.save.converters.HashTreeConverter.unmarshal(HashTreeConverter.java:67)
[INFO] class : org.apache.jmeter.save.ScriptWrapper
[INFO] required-type : org.apache.jorphan.collections.ListedHashTree
[INFO] converter-type : org.apache.jmeter.save.ScriptWrapperConverter
[INFO] path : /jmeterTestPlan/hashTree/hashTree/hashTree/hashTree[2]/kg.apc.jmeter.reporters.LoadosophiaUploader
[INFO] line number : 2051
[INFO] version : 3.1 r1770033
the pom.xml file i'm using is here:
http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
4.0.0
<groupId>com.company.testframework</groupId>
<artifactId>test-project-performance</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>Performance test script for project</name>
<properties>
<jmeter.version>3.1</jmeter.version>
<jmeter.maven.plugin>2.1.0</jmeter.maven.plugin>
<!-- <jmeter.maven.plugin>1.10.1</jmeter.maven.plugin> -->
<jmeter.plugins.standard>1.1.3</jmeter.plugins.standard>
<jmeter.plugins.extras>1.3.1</jmeter.plugins.extras>
<!-- <jmeter.plugins.extras>1.4.0</jmeter.plugins.extras> -->
<env>prod</env>
</properties>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>properties-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.0.0</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>initialize</phase>
<goals>
<goal>read-project-properties</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<files>
<file>src/test/resources/conf/${env}.properties</file>
</files>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>com.lazerycode.jmeter</groupId>
<artifactId>jmeter-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>${jmeter.maven.plugin}</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>jmeter-tests</id>
<goals>
<goal>jmeter</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
<configuration>
<jmeterVersion>${jmeter.version}</jmeterVersion>
<resultsFileFormat>xml</resultsFileFormat>
<testResultsTimestamp>false</testResultsTimestamp>
<suppressJMeterOutput>false</suppressJMeterOutput>
<ignoreResultFailures>false</ignoreResultFailures>
<overrideRootLogLevel>INFO</overrideRootLogLevel>
<downloadExtensionDependencies>false</downloadExtensionDependencies>
<jmeterExtensions>
<artifact>kg.apc:jmeter-plugins:pom:1.3.1</artifact>
</jmeterExtensions>
<propertiesUser>
<environment>${env}</environment>
<jtl_file_name>${jmx.filename}.jtl</jtl_file_name>
<project_build_directory>${project.build.directory}</project_build_directory>
<!-- Project Specific Properties -->
<main_threads>${main.threads}</main_threads>
<rampup_seconds>${rampup.seconds}</rampup_seconds>
<duration_seconds>${duration.seconds}</duration_seconds>
<host_url>${host.url}</host_url>
<user_name>${user.name}</user_name>
<user_password>${user.password}</user_password>
<offer_id>${offer.id}</offer_id>
</propertiesUser>
<propertiesJMeter>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.autoflush>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.autoflush>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.output_format>csv</jmeter.save.saveservice.output_format>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.assertion_results_failure_message>false</jmeter.save.saveservice.assertion_results_failure_message>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.data_type>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.data_type>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.label>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.label>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.response_code>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.response_code>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.successful>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.successful>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.thread_name>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.thread_name>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.time>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.time>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.assertions>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.assertions>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.latency>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.latency>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.bytes>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.bytes>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.url>true</jmeter.save.saveservice.url>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.thread_counts>false</jmeter.save.saveservice.thread_counts>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.sample_count>false</jmeter.save.saveservice.sample_count>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.timestamp_format>ms</jmeter.save.saveservice.timestamp_format>
<jmeter.save.saveservice.timestamp_format>yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss.SSS</jmeter.save.saveservice.timestamp_format>
<httpclient4.retrycount>3</httpclient4.retrycount>
<httpsampler.await_termination_timeout>60</httpsampler.await_termination_timeout>
<http.socket.timeout>20000</http.socket.timeout>
</propertiesJMeter>
<testFilesIncluded>
<jMeterTestFile>${jmx.filename}.jmx</jMeterTestFile>
</testFilesIncluded>
</configuration>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>kg.apc</groupId>
<artifactId>jmeter-plugins-standard</artifactId>
<version>${jmeter.plugins.standard}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>kg.apc</groupId>
<artifactId>jmeter-plugins-extras-libs</artifactId>
<version>${jmeter.plugins.extras}</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>

Answer 1

According to Adding additional libraries to the classpath
You can add any additional Java libraries to JMeter's lib/ext directory by using the configuration element. This uses the Eclipse Aether libraries to perform dependency resolution.
So it should be enough to do the following:
<configuration>
<jmeterExtensions>
<artifact>kg.apc:jmeter-plugins:pom:1.3.1</artifact>
</jmeterExtensions>
</configuration>
Your manual dependency adding via dependencies section is not required, moreover you specified version 1.1.3 in dependencies and version 1.3.1 in jmeterExtensions
Finally, your uploader won't work as it has been superseded with the BM.Sense Uploader therefore I would recommend switching to plugin version 1.4.0.