Posted: April 15, 2020
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
NOTE: This beta is a work in progress version of the full Nether Update. Some features seen in Java Edition snapshots may not yet be present.
New Features
Basalt Deltas
Basalt Deltas can now be found in the Nether!
- Remnants of volcanic eruptions, this biome sports a high concentration of Basalt columns and lava deltas
- Walking through, you will be surrounded by flakes of flowing white ash
- Magma Cubes finally have a place to call home, spawning very frequently
- A new block, Blackstone, can be found in large patches here
- Twisting Vines and fungi grow from the cave floor
Ruined Portals
- Remains of ancient nether portals can now be found in the Nether and Overworld!
- May contain blocks of Crying Obsidian
Bastion Remnants
What’s made of Blackstone and full of Piglins and Hoglins? Bastion Remnants!
- Added 4 separate Bastion Remnant types: Bridge, Hoglin Stable, Housing Units, and Treasure Room
- You can find these sizable structures in all biomes in the Nether, except for the ashy cliffs of Basalt Deltas
- Explore, loot, and conquer a Bastion Remnant to call it your home…but beware, Piglins don’t take kindly to intruders stealing their things
- Added a new music disc from Lena Reine titled ‘Pigstep’ which can only be found in Bastion chests
- Added chain blocks
World Generation
- Added patches of Blackstone and Gravel to all Nether biomes at and below lava level
- Added patches of Soul Sand to Soulsand Valleys at and below lava level
- Twisting Vines that grow from the top of a block upwards!
- Twisting vines now climbable!
- Nether gold ore can now spawn in the nether!
Blackstone
The only stone whose color is almost as dark as the humor of Mojang’s former writer and friend, Tom Stone!
- Added a new set of stone blocks with regular, polished, and polished brick variants!
- Added Gilded Blackstone - Blackstone which has been imbued with gold and has a chance of dropping gold nuggets when broken
- You can find these new blocks in Bastions
- Blackstone can be used to craft a Furnace
- Blackstone can be used to craft stone tools
Lodestone (Experimental)
A new block that can help you get your bearings!
- Crafted from a Netherite ingot and Chiseled Stone Bricks
- Use a compass on a Lodestone to create a Lodestone compass pointing to that Lodestone
Respawn Anchor
- Added the Respawn Anchor that can set your respawn point in the Nether. Use while holding Glowstone to charge to a maximum of four charges - each respawn depletes one charge
- You can charge the Respawn Anchor using a Dispenser
Strider
- Striders are neutral mobs that stride the Nether, preferably through lava
- They are not hostile
- They spawn in lava and are fire immune
- When they are not in lava, they freeze and shiver and move slower
- You can breed striders by feeding them warped fungus
- Striders can be mounted if they first get a saddle placed on them
- Similar to pigs, they can be controlled by the player using mushroom-on-a-stick!
- Baby Striders follow their parents
Zoglins
- Zoglins are zombified Hoglins - the result of bringing a Hoglin into the overworld
- Unlike Hoglins they can’t be bred or fed, and they don’t care about warped fungus
- Beware - these beasts are raving mad and attack just about everything they see!
How to make Netherite tools and armor
- Add one of your Diamond tools or armor pieces into a Smithing Table, with a Netherite Ingot
- The Smithing Table will preview your new Netherite item on the right slot. Take it out to craft!
Soul Speed
Never suffer again drudging through Soul Sand Valleys - Soul Speed has you covered!
- Shine your boots of choice with this soul-sucking enchantment to speed around on Soul Sand and Soul Soil!
- There’s a downside, however: Enchantments will slowly degrade your boots each Soul block you walk on
- Can only be obtained by bartering with those pesky Piglins
Blocks
- Hyphae of Crimson and Warped Stems, included their stripped versions, can be crafted. Similar to Wood from the Overworld
- Nether gold ore can be mined with any pickaxe and will drop gold nuggets
- Added the Soul Campfire - A campfire with blue flames craftable with Soul Soil or Soul Sand
- Added Chiseled Nether Bricks, Cracked Nether Bricks, and Quartz Bricks blocks
Music and Sounds
- We’re happy to announce that we’ve added three new tracks for the upcoming Nether Update, all composed by the very talented Lena Raine
- Rubedo will be played in the Nether Wastes
- Chrysopoeia will be played in Crimson Forests
- So Below will be played in Soulsand Valleys
- Added moody sounds to Crimson Forest, Warped Forest, and Soulsand Valley
Changes
General
- Oak and Birch saplings grown within 2 block radius of a flower now have a 5% chance to grow a tree with a Beehive
- Villager trade values have been changed to closely match Java Edition (MCPE-47141)
- Added new sounds for Honey block and Honeycomb block
- Hoe is now a digger-item and can dig Netherwart Block, Warpedwart Block, Hay Block, Dried Kelp Block, Target Block and Shroomlight Block. Hoes can be enchanted like other diggable items
- Mobs that panic now do so for all damage types
- Creepers now deal damage when in a boat on the water
Parity
- Added ambient cave sounds
- Added Update Aquatic underwater music
New Server Window
- Created a new server tab play screen layout to provide more information about third-party servers
- Added new information sections about third party servers: Description, screenshots, available games, and news/updates
- Removed colors from third party server messages for accessibility purposes
- Fixed ping latency clarity for users, now provides latency value separate from user count
- Added messaging to explain what adding a server does
Kicking and Banning Changes
Kicking
- Problem players can be now be removed from your world by pausing and going to the Player Permissions screen
- Anyone with Operator permissions will be able to kick players. Trusted players can help moderate your world
- Kicked players will not be able to rejoin LAN games while the world is open
Kick Command
- Problem players can also be kicked with the new /kick command, optionally including a reason for kicking
- The kick command can use target selectors, such as /kick @a[team=Red]
Banning and Realms Permissions
- Realm owners can also ban problem players by pausing and going to the Player Permissions screen
- Realm owners can now change permissions of players in their Realm from the Player Permissions screen
- The name of the Realm is now shown on the pause screen
Spawnpoint Command
- The spawnpoint command can now be used in the Nether
Fixes
Crashes and Stability
- Fixed a crash related to exploding beds in the nether
- Fixed a crash that could occur when typing a character into chat that we don’t have a font sheet for
- Using the /fill command with Soul Fire no longer causes the game to crash (MCPE-65672)
General
- Light propagation now works correctly, fixing hostile mob spawning (MCPE-49616)
- Typing in the inventory Search field no longer creates lag (MCPE-64584)
- The smooth camera option (from full keyboard gameplay) is no longer jittery, and is smooth again (MCPE-54969)
- Fixed an issue with the Marketplace not always loading in correctly
- Fixed an issue with notifications not showing in iOS
- The hay blocks in the town centre in the Abandoned Village seed are now generated correctly
- The screen reader now only reads the generating world message once when converting worlds to Bedrock
- Ender Dragon’s fireball lingering particles are no longer invisible
- Activator rails now dismount players and other mobs at the correct position (MCPE-30744)
- The Wither’s spawning explosion no longer breaks obsidian (MCPE-59502)
- Obfuscated text color code works on signs placed in the world (MCPE-33780)
- Bamboo has been changed to be unpathable by mobs to prevent them getting stuck (MCPE-46805)
- Target block redstone signal duration is based on projectile type - Long for trident and arrows, short for other projectiles (MCPE-65413)
- Armor stands no longer shift and fall through blocks when a world is reloaded (MCPE-29170)
Gameplay
- Giant spruce trees once again generate podzol underneath (MCPE-65046)
- Fixed an issue with player experience being lost when reloading a world
- Minecarts no longer collide with other minecarts on parallel tracks (MCPE-59302)
- Falling top snow can no longer break solid blocks (MCPE-63214)
- Fixed a bug that sometimes allowed Villagers and players to respawn inside blocks when getting out of bed (MCPE-46064)
- The XP cost is now readable in the Anvil UI screen (MCPE-51908)
- Bamboo can now be placed on top of bamboo saplings without Experimental Gameplay being enabled (MCPE-50088)
Mobs
- The Iron Golem's legs don't swing as far anymore
- Reduced the melee attack range of mounted mobs (MCPE-48539)
- Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented mobs from burning on bottom-half slabs (MCPE-32822)
- Turtles now lay eggs correctly (MCPE-59043)
- Guardians can now spawn in bubble columns (MCPE-37671)
- Fixed a bug that caused Vex mobs to move too slowly when moving on X and Z axes (MCPE-41879)
Blocks
- Smooth Quartz now uses the correct texture (MCPE-42276)
- Using Silk Touch on Giant Mushrooms now drops the correct blocks (MCPE-34114)
Scripting and Add-ons Fixes and Changes
- Implemented AvoidMobTypeDefinition and converted hardcoded properties to be data-driven
- A content error will now show up if you provide an invalid item name to minecraft:interact in the transform_to_item field
- Add documentation for minecraft:density_limit (MCPE-61126)
- Adding a new subject to filters so damage sensors can filter on projectiles
- Fixed an issue with custom brewing recipes
Admire Item Component
- Mobs can now admire items they pick up or receive during an interaction. For a mob to admire an item they need to have both the admire_item goal and the admire_item component, and the relevant configuration need to be done in the interact component and/or the shareables component
Component Variables
- duration - Specifies for how long the admire animation should last, the default value is 10
- cooldown_after_being_attacked - Specifies for how long the goal will be unavailable after the mob is attacked, the default value is 0
Goal Variables
- priority - Specifies how the mob should prioritize this goal
- admire_item_sound - The sound event to play when the mob is avoiding another mob
- sound_interval - The range of time in seconds to randomly wait before playing the sound again
Angry Component
- Several new variables have been introduced to the angry component
Goal Variables
- broadcast_anger_on_attack - If true the mob will send a pulse of brodcast anger whenever it attacks, broadcast_anger must also be true for this to work
- broadcast_anger_on_being_attacked - If true the mob will send a pulse of brodcast anger whenever it is attacked, broadcast_anger must also be true for this to work
- angry_sound - The sound event to play when the mob is angry
- sound_interval - The range of time in seconds to randomly wait before playing the sound again
Avoid Mob Type Goal
Several new variables have been introduced to the avoid_mob_type goal
Goal Variables
- avoid_mob_sound - The sound event to play when the mob is angry
- sound_interval - The range of time in seconds to randomly wait before playing the sound again
Barter Component
Mobs can now barter when they pick up items, or when they receive an item during an interaction. For a mob to barter they need to have both the barter goal and the barter component, and the relevant configuration need to be done in the interact component and/or the shareables component
Component Variables
- barter_table - A path to a loot table, which is used to determine what items the mob gives out during barter
- cooldown_after_being_attacked - Specifies for how long the goal will be unavailable after the mob is attacked, the default value is 0
Barter Goal
- Mobs can now barter when they pick up items, or when they receive an item during an interaction. For a mob to barter they need to have both the barter goal and the barter component, and the relevant configuration need to be done in the interact component and/or the shareables component
Goal Variables
- priority - Specifies how the mob should prioritize this goal
Celebrate Hunt Component
- Specifies that the mob should have the hunt celebration behavior
Component Variables
- broadcast - If true, celebration will be broadcasted to other entities in the radius. Default value is true
- radius - If broadcast is enabled, specifies the radius in which it will notify other entities for celebration. Default value is 16
- duration - Duration, in seconds, of celebration. Default value is 4
- celeberation_targets - The list of conditions that target of hunt must satisfy to initiate celebration
- celebrate_sound - The sound event to play when the mob is celebrating
- sound_interval - The range of time in seconds to randomly wait before playing the sound again
Equip Item Component
- Mobs can now equip armor and weapons that they pick up
Equip Item Goal
- Mobs can now equip armor and weapons that they pick up
Interact Component
Component Variables
- barter - If true the mob will try to activate the barter goal after the interaction, default value is false
- admire - If true the mob will try to activate the admire goal after the interaction, default value is false
MoveToLavaGoal
- Added the MoveToLava goal, similar to MoveToWater goal. Mob tries to find and move to lava
Navigation component
- Navigationcomponent now has can_path_over_lava and can_walk_in_lava parameters, allowing mobs (like the strider) to traverse lava
PanicGoal
- Changed the priority from the damage type to the "ignore_mob_damage" flag (if that flag is set and a mob attacks the mob with the Panic Goal, they will not panic even if the damage type matches one in their "damage_sources" list)
- Changed damage types from being hard-coded to being data-driven using the existing "Entity Damage Sources"
- Changed the default from "fire, fire_tick, magma" (old hardcoded behavior) to "all"
Pre-1.16 mobs will default to "fire, fire_tick, magma"
Pickup Items Goal
The PickupItemsGoal only considers items that the mob can reach
- When determining whether the goal can be used we now check whether the mob can reach an item it’s interested in, before committing to it as the target of the goal. This is to avoid mobs getting stuck in this goal after deciding to pick up an item they cannot reach
PickupBasedOnChance variable
- This new variable was added to be used for monsters that can pickup items sometimes but also preserve mobs that used this goal in the past like Villagers. If this variable is true, the mob will have a calculation done (based on things like time played by the player, game difficulty, and moon brightness) to determine if this is a mob that is allowed to pickup items. That value is only calculated on the mob’s first spawn, which means it is forever saved on that mob and doesn’t change. If the variable is false (which it is by default), the mob will always be able to pickup items using the goal
CanPickupAnyItem variable
- The PickupItemsGoal is dependent on the ShareableComponent and the items that are added to its items list. This new variable overrides that list and tells the component that this mob can pickup any item even if it isn’t in the list. Items picked up because of this variable still honor the priority set to items in the list of items however. This means that any items with a set priority in the list will still be picked up over any item that may be picked up because of this variable. By default it is set to false
CooldownAfterBeingAttacked variable
- The variable cooldown_after_being_attacked has been added to the goal, specifying for how many seconds after being attacked the goal should be unavailable. The default value is 0
CanPickupToHandOrEquipment variable
- Specifying if the mob can equip items that it picks up or put items in its hand, or if it belongs in the inventory
Shareable Component
Component Variables
- item/barter - If true the mob will try to activate the barter goal after picking up the item, default value is false
- item/admire - If true the mob will try to activate the admire goal after picking up the item, default value is false
- item/consume_item - Specifies if an item should be consumed, for instance Piglins consume (eat) porkchop. Default value is false
- item/stored_in_inventory - Specifies if the item is desired to be picked up and stored in the mobs inventory. Default value is false
Tweaked a number of in-game sounds
- A large amount of sounds have had their volume and pitch slightly changed in order to get close to Java parity when it comes to sound, and come closer how these sounds where intended to sound
- This change has gone into all slices - because previous behavior has been wrong and should not be used by content creators. Creator that relied on the previous volume and pitch need to override that in their content from now on
Splash Text
- The Splash Text loading code has been augmented to allow splash text JSON files to be additive, rather than replacing them completely, and to allow some conditional statements to disable splash text entries. Use a field called "canMerge" that sits next to the "splashes" field, it is a bool that defaults to 'false'. Also, another sibling of "splashes" is "conditional", which is an array of objects. Those objects contain a "requires" field and a "splashes" field. The "splashes" field is an array of strings like the original "splashes" field, and the "requires" field contains three fields - "platforms", "treatments", and "stores", each of which is an array of strings that is compared with the relevant data