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    News
    Adrian Östergård
    Written By
    Adrian Östergård
    Published
    10/7/21

    Minecraft Snapshot 21w40a

    A Minecraft Java Snapshot

    Yet another snapshot is now available for Minecraft Java. This time around we've done some additional tweaks to world generation and a few changes to mob spawning.

    We've continuously made performance improvements since we released the first Caves & Cliffs: Part II snapshot (21w37a), and we've created another survey about performance. If you try out the snapshot, we would very much appreciate it if you could fill out this survey and tell us how you perceive the current performance. Thanks and happy mining!

    We still highly recommend backing up your world before loading it in this snapshot.

    Changes in 21w40a

    • World generation tweaks
    • Changes to mob spawning
    • Copper Ore now drops 2-5 (from 2-3) Raw Copper items
    • In the Stonecutter, a Block of Copper can be converted to four Cut Copper
    • A bunch of biome variants with similar features but different shapes have been merged into one since the shape is controlled independently now
    • Renamed some biomes

    World Generation

    • Updated ore distribution to make branch mining deep down more rewarding. Updated ore distribution chart
      • For example, added more unexposed diamonds
      • Iron ore now generates above 80, with more iron ore as you go higher
      • Extra gold generates below height -48
    • Non-cave biomes no longer change with height - so no more savannas in the sky and things like that
    • Tweaked the relative size of some biomes to match 1.17 a bit closer.
    • Increased the average size of most biomes (this also means biomes aren’t in the same places as before)
    • Fixed some aquifer issues (a side effect of this is that aquifers are in different places now compared to last snapshot)
    • Slightly increased the frequency of underwater magma
    • Increased the amount of dungeons, especially below height 0
    • Gravel now generates below height 0
    • Villages are slightly more spread out
    • Removed water lake features, Aquifers provide local water levels

    Mob Spawns

    • Axolotls now only spawn in water, above clay blocks, in lush caves
    • Glowsquids now only spawn in water blocks, under height 30
    • Cod, Salmon, Pufferfish, Tropical Fish, Squid, and Dolphins now only spawn in water from height 50 to height 64
    • Tropical Fish now also spawn in lush caves at any height
    • Zombies once again spawn in dripstone caves – drowned can also spawn there however
    • Goats no longer spawn in stony peaks
    A graph of how ore is distributed within the latest Minecraft Java snapshot.

    Ore distribution in snapshot 21w40a. Click here for a link to the full-size image.

    Technical changes in 21w40a

    • Optimized AI for Axolotls, Goats, Hoglins, Zoglins, Piglins, Piglin Brutes and Villagers
    • Bedrock layers generate dependent on the world seed now

    Fixed bugs in 21w40a

    • MC-132306 - Snowy grass without snow near lakes in snowy biome
    • MC-169523 - As of 18w06a, the sand, clay and gravel blocks no longer generate around small lakes
    • MC-197688 - Mountain Edge never generates
    • MC-217906 - Large amounts of axolotls cause performance issues
    • MC-225842 - Flowers can generate on large plants near lakes
    • MC-225858 - Seeds and flowers appear in ponds
    • MC-227064 - Floating grass can still generate above water lakes
    • MC-229365 - Large amounts of goats causes performance issues
    • MC-236617 - Mountains & Gravelly Mountains use their 1.17.1 biome ID name
    • MC-236632 - Banners without patterns do not render properly
    • MC-236663 - Command blocks do not display command in their UI
    • MC-236736 - No relief on treasure map or explorer maps
    • MC-236896 - Strange mini broken aquifer walls generating commonly on the surface
    • MC-237490 - The bottom parts of aquifers aren’t always surrounded by blocks which can occasionally cause them to spill into caves in ways that appear bizarre
    • MC-237666 - Unused biomes still present in game files
    • MC-237925 - Opening world from 1.12.2 (or older) in latest snapshot regenerates random chunks
    • MC-237933 - Sweet Berries generate much too often
    • MC-237950 - Cave vines can generate without tip because prioritize_tip option is negated
    • MC-237951 - Cave vines can generate into water
    • MC-237962 - Entities bob their head up and down when targeting towards the player
    • MC-238104 - Blue Orchid generation has decreased
    • MC-238265 - version.json contains internal revision ID instead of game version ID

    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.

    Snapshots can corrupt your world, so please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.

    Cross-platform server jar:

    Report bugs here:

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