Snapshot 21w16a introduces some changes to azaleas and dripstone. On top of that, we've tweaked the textures of raw ores. There are also a few additions to the Caves & Cliffs preview datapack.

New Features in 21w16a

• Azalea and Flowering Azalea can now be bonemealed to get an Azalea Trees
• Added dripstone growth

Dripstone growth

• If a stalactite is hanging from a dripstone block with a water source above, it will slowly grow both the stalactite from above and a stalagmite from below
• Growth speed is random but very slow, a single growth step can take several minecraft days
• A stalactite will only grow up to 7 blocks long
• A stalactite will only cause stalagmite growth if the floor or stalagmite below is within 10 blocks
• If the stalactite tip is inside water it won’t drip, and therefore won’t trigger any growth
• If the stalagmite tip is inside water it won’t receive drops, and therefore won’t be grown by a dripping stalactite. Same thing if there is any fluid between the two tips
• A stalagmite or stalactite will never grow into a fluid

Changes in 21w16a

• Tweaked the texture of raw ores and raw ore blocks

Changes to the Caves & Cliffs Preview

• Aquifers below height 0 will sometimes be lava aquifers instead of water aquifers
• Ore veins can now spawn underground

Ore veins

• Ore veins are large, rare, snake-like underground ore formations
• Copper veins form above height 0 and are mixed with granite
• Iron veins form below height 0 and are mixed with tuff

Technical Changes in 21w16a

• Users who previously permanently declined server resource packs will now still be shown the pack prompt if the pack is mandatory (instead of being immediately disconnected)
• The statistic for play time has been renamed to play_time
• There is now a statistic for “Time with World Open” (total_world_time) that also includes the time when the game was paused

Fixed bugs in 21w16a

• MC-29522 - stat.playOneMinute adds a value of 1 every tick
• MC-55775 - Statistics screen sometimes doesn’t show up to date information
• MC-111534 - The firework rocket use statistic doesn’t count rockets used for elytra boosting
• MC-117653 - Recipes and advancements are not granted while most GUIs are open
• MC-136560 - minecraft.used:minecraft.elytra not functioning
• MC-136681 - Debug Stick use statistic increases when not allowed to use it
• MC-157116 - Food that is plantable counts towards using when right clicked on the ground
• MC-190128 - Using a flint and steel to ingite TNT is not tracked by the in-game stats
• MC-203637 - Mobs don’t avoid lava cauldrons when pathfinding despite of setting themselves on fire
• MC-205236 - Frozen State doesn’t go away after respawn when on a server
• MC-208598 - Baby axolotls take damage when touching a solid block from below / eye height is outside of their hitbox
• MC-212113 - Glow Lichen can spawn underwater whilst not in a cave.
• MC-212863 - Glow lichen use the same color as vines on maps
• MC-213927 - Using bone meal on a sapling that is on a moss block consumes bone meal, but doesn’t grow into a tree
• MC-213998 - root_vines_head is unused in-game files
• MC-214129 - Several dirt blocks are not part of the #minecraft:lush_plants_replaceable tag
• MC-214293 - Mobs can spawn on top of azaleas
• MC-215270 - Moss requires air above a replaceable block to spread
• MC-216787 - Cobwebs in mineshafts can generate as if supported by chains
• MC-217411 - Anvils can become damaged when only falling one block
• MC-218590 - Error message for commands.give.failed.toomanyitems doesn’t translate item name
• MC-218592 - Azalea trees can generate inside of lakes (even completely submerged in water)
• MC-218614 - Inconsistency: Infested Deepslate can’t be placed along axis
• MC-218637 - Inconsistency: Infested deepslate is not rotated randomly like normal deepslate
• MC-219155 - Cast fishing line is disconnected from the rod
• MC-219211 - Two mysterious white pixels can be seen in the upper left corner of the recipe book icon
• MC-219851 - Applying bone meal to a waterlogged big dripleaf stem creates more waterlogged big dripleaf stems
• MC-219903 - Silverfish infesting deepslate cause it to rotate
• MC-220024 - Shader compilation slows or fails the more asterisks are in a multiline comment
• MC-220307 - TrueType Font glyphs render incorrectly
• MC-220641 - Loyalty tridents disappear when your inventory is full
• MC-220887 - Shader includes fail to compile correctly when missing newline at end of file
• MC-221560 - Copper/Coal Ore in Deepslate Patches aren’t Deepslate Ores
• MC-221628 - Entities don’t stop glowing after losing the glowing effect
• MC-221652 - Teleport command to player does not work as in previous versions
• MC-221655 - Glow Squids and Axolotls Spawn in Monuments
• MC-222004 - Grass block isn’t apart of the #dirt block tag
• MC-222517 - A large amount of slime or honey blocks will crash the game
• MC-222684 - You cannot grow azalea trees by bonemealing Azalea plants
• MC-222778 - minecraft.used:minecraft.candle doesn’t increase when placing a candle on a cake
• MC-223260 - Emerald ore does not generate as intended
• MC-223553 - minecraft.used:minecraft.glow_ink_sac doesn’t increase when applying a glow ink sac to a sign
• MC-223554 - minecraft.used:minecraft.ink_sac doesn’t increase when applying an ink sac to a sign
• MC-223555 - minecraft.used:minecraft.COLOR_dye doesn’t increase when applying a dye to a sign
• MC-223557 - minecraft.used:minecraft.bucket doesn’t increase when taking powder snow, lava, or water from a cauldron using a bucket
• MC-223558 - minecraft.used:minecraft.glass_bottle doesn’t increase when taking water from a cauldron using a glass bottle
• MC-223563 - minecraft.used:minecraft.glass_bottle doesn’t increase when collecting honey from a beehive or bee nest
• MC-223638 - minecraft.used:minecraft.shears doesn’t increase when carving a pumpkin
• MC-223639 - minecraft.used:minecraft.shears doesn’t increase when collecting honeycombs from a beehive or bee nest
• MC-223756 - minecraft.used:minecraft.powder_snow_bucket doesn’t increase when filling a cauldron with a powder snow bucket
• MC-223757 - minecraft.used:minecraft.lava_bucket doesn’t increase when filling a cauldron with a lava bucket

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:

• Minecraft server jar

Report bugs here:

• Minecraft issue tracker!

Want to give feedback?

• Head over to our feedback website or come chat with us about it on the official Minecraft Discord.