Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, beeeeeta! Oh, hello. I was just practicing my scales so that I can harmonise with the new music that was added this week! In fact, I think that even more is in order. While you test out all the new features in this beta and report all the bugs you can find, I’m going to pen a ballad about the new deep dark blocks that will be haunting in all senses of the word. As always, we really appreciate all the feedback you send to aka.ms/CavesCliffsFeedback and please report any bugs you may find at bugs.mojang.com.

(Please check out the latest Java Edition Snapshot article too!)

Highlights in this beta!

• Added new music tracks to the game!
• Added new Vanilla Experiments Toggle
  • Please note – these will not be included in the main 1.18 release, but are being included as Experiments so that we can continue to develop these features and gather your feedback
  • New Deep Dark Blocks!
  • Moved Goat Horn and Sculk Blocks behind the toggle. Please enable the toggle to test these work-in-progress features in your worlds. For more information please see our updated FAQ!
• Removed Old World type from the world creation screen (existing worlds will still be playable). For more information, please see our FAQ page for this change.
• Please remember to report and update any crucial bugs you've found in the game so far, so we can get these reviewed before the full release!

Experimental Features

• Added new "Vanilla Experiments" experimental toggle for Sculk Sensor and Goat Horn
  • You will need to enable the Vanilla Experiments toggle in your worlds to use these features
• When converting a really old world to Caves & Cliffs experimental directly, we now place new terrain below zero height (MCPE-143851)

Deep Dark blocks

• Added Sculk Block
• Added Sculk Vein Block
• Added Sculk Catalyst Block
• Added Sculk Shrieker Block

Non-Experimental Features and Bug Fixes

Music

• Added new music, by Lena Raine and Kumi Tanioka, to the Overworld (when playing in Survival Mode) and to the main menu
  • Please note: Mobile players will need to download the updated music pack from the Marketplace
• Added a new music disc from Lena Raine titled "otherside". This can be found rarely in Stronghold corridor chests or much more rarely in Dungeon chests.

Old World Type

• Removed "Old" World Type option from Create New World screen
• Locked "Old" Worlds to BaseGameVersion 1.17.40
• Existing "Old" World types will still be playable, but will not be updated with 1.18 features

Blocks

• Campfires no longer drop only one Charcoal when broken by a Piston or an explosion, instead dropping two units as expected (MCPE-139467)
• Light blocks will now survive a TNT or Creeper explosion

Feature Placement

• Glow Lichen no longer generates at the bottom of the ocean (MCPE-125198)
• Strongholds can no longer generate mid-air in large caves
• Underwater magma features are now placed on surfaces under water to allow exploration of underwater caves and aquifers (MCPE-141376)
• Glow Lichen no longer generate above ground in Bedrock (MCPE-141412)
• Village buildings now carve less terrain around them when placed
• Added feature placement distribution triangle", and changed all features that used "gaussian" distribution to now use "triangle"

Gameplay

• Fixed StructureVoid block forcing player to spawn above ground if they left in a cave filled with those blocks
• Fixed bug where players could create an x-ray vision effect when inside a block below y=0 (MCPE-141130)
• New random number generator used for overworld generation
• Fire Charge is not consumed anymore when used on lit Candles, Candle Cakes, Campfires, activated Nether Portals, or on other blocks that are already on fire

General

• Fixed issue where weather was not affecting or affected by blocks above y = 255
• Improved the error messaging in the Play screen when Microsoft Account permissions are set to block multiplayer
• Fixed an issue causing Paintings to break and drop when loading into worlds and Marketplace templates (MCPE-144217)

Vanilla Parity

• Raid boss bars now decrease whenever a raider takes damage

Villagers

• Villagers will keep following their schedules in worlds that have been ticking for a very long time, and when game time is negative (MCPE-98361)

Graphical

• Fixed a visual glitch where taking a plant from a Flower Pot would result in the plant still being rendered (MCPE-143661)

Mobs

• The riding position of Llamas no longer shifts after being tamed (MCPE-143006)
• Fixed an issue preventing Tropical Fish from spawning in Lukewarm Oceans

Performance and Stability

• Fixed several crashes that could occur during gameplay
• Fixed crash when loading certain LevelChunks
• Optimized the generation of ores in the world
• Fixed a crash that could occur when going through portals with tamed pets (MCPE-129738)
• Fixed a soft lock that could sometimes occur when attempting to generate a world from a bad template

User Interface

• References to Xbox Live have been changed to Xbox

Technical Updates

Clone Command Intersect Error

• The '/clone' command has been updated to properly check for overlapping source and destinations areas no longer allowing for a 1 block depth overlap on each axis. This can continue to be overridden via the force clone option

PLEASE READ before participating in the Minecraft Beta: 

• Joining the beta will replace your game with a work in progress version of Minecraft 
• You will not have access to Realms and will not be able to join non-beta players while you're previewing the beta
• Any worlds played while in the beta cannot be opened in previous versions of the game so please make copies of worlds to prevent losing them 
• Beta builds can be unstable and are not representative of final version quality 
• The beta is available only on Xbox One, Windows 10, and Android (Google Play). To join or leave the beta, see aka.ms/JoinMCBeta for detailed instructions

As always, you can check out the latest full changelog at aka.ms/MinecraftBeta. Good luck and enjoy the beta update!