In today’s snapshot, we’re making a few needed changes that directly relate to our recent announcement. If you haven’t yet read it, we strongly recommend you do. You can also check out this Caves & Cliffs video from Agnes and Henrik to learn more about our plans for the update.
Even though some features will be released later than we’d planned, you can still try them out through a separate data pack. More information, as well as our latest tweaks, can be found here below.
The riskier and technically more complex world generation changes for the Caves & Cliffs update will be shipped in a later update and have been switched off in this snapshot. This means:
World height has been switched back to the 1.16 levels
Noise caves and aquifers have been switched off
Cave and ravine carvers have been returned to their old settings
Crack carvers have been switched off
Ore distribution has been returned to the 1.16 setup
Copper now generates between the bottom of the world and height 192, being most common around height 96
Tuff now generates in blobs between heights 0 and 16
Worlds created in snapshot 21w05b or any earlier version can now once again be opened
Worlds created in any version between snapshot 21w06a and 21w14a can no longer be opened
The Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack
You can still try out the world generation for the later update using a datapack which activates the changes as an experimental custom world:
Launch the game, go to the "Create New World" screen, and click the “Data Packs” button
Drag the downloaded zip file onto the Minecraft window
The game will ask you if you want to add the data pack – click “Yes”
Click the play arrow on the data pack that just appeared in the list – this will move it to the list on the right-hand side of the screen
Click the "Done" button and continue creating your world as normal
Keep in mind that the world you create with the data pack will be flagged as experimental by the game, and such worlds are not guaranteed to work in future versions. Also, please note that you can’t add data packs that change the world generation to existing worlds, so you must create a new world to access the experimental features.
New Features in 21w15a
Goats will ram anything that moves… and also armor stands
Changes in 21w15a
The main menu background has been updated
A crinkly, crunchy sound now plays when Bone Meal is used
Reordered some blocks in the Building Blocks Tab in Creative Menu
When require-resource-pack is used in server.properties, there's now an option for servers to add a custom message.
A dedicated server can configure additional message to be shown on resource pack prompt (resource-pack-prompt in server.properties, expects chat component syntax, can contain multiple lines)
Bugs fixed in 21w15a
MC-203855 – A geode configured_feature causes a crash when use_alternate_layer0_chance is used with no entries in inner_placements
MC-212145 – Summoning Glow Lichen using /setblock doesn't place any lichen but creates light until the block is updated
MC-212273 – Glow Lichen doesn't render when being held by an Enderman
MC-215836 – Deepslate uses the same color as stone on maps
MC-215844 – Stone still generates around lava pools at low levels
MC-216588 – Feature placement – java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: bound must be positive
MC-218588 – Cracked deepslate bricks & tiles are in the incorrect position in the creative inventory
MC-218698 – Infested deepslate makes the old "stone" sounds
MC-218705 – Deepslate emerald ore is separated from other deepslate ores in the creative inventory
MC-218749 – Deepslate coal ore doesn't drop experience
MC-218944 – Copper ore and deepslate copper ore have inconsistent textures
MC-219972 – Deepslate gold ore has an inconsistent pixel
MC-221501 – Water splash potions don't give the axolotl 1.5 minutes of moisture
MC-221718 – Lava fog repeatedly fails to render each block at certain y-levels
MC-222522 – Nether Gold Ore is no longer smeltable
Get the Snapshot
Snapshots are available for Minecraft Java Edition. To install the snapshot, open up the Minecraft Launcher and enable snapshots in the "Installations" tab.
Testing versions can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.
If you want to know what else is being added and changed in the Caves & Cliffs update, check out the previous snapshot post. For the latest news about the Nether Update, see the previous release post. Also check out the latest Bedrock Beta post.