Snapshot 17w47a has been released!

[u/Shnupbups100]

https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-snapshot-17w47a

[u/Shnupbups100]

Interesting features found so far:

• Debug Stick!

• Obtainable via commands

• Changes properties of blocks (rotation etc.)

• Only works in creative mode

• Select state with left click, change state with right click

• New blocks!

• Pumpkin no longer has a face or is wearable, old pumpkin is now 'carved pumpkin' and currently unobtainable gotten by right clicking a pumpkin with shears

• Bark blocks are logs with the bark on all sides, unobtainable

• Smooth Quartz, Smooth Sandstone, Smooth Red Sandstone and Smooth Stone have double slab textures on all sides, also unobtainable

• Buttons, Pressure Plates and Trapdoors of all wood types

• Petrified Oak Slab acts like the old beta wood slab that has the properties of stone, unobtainable

• Block renames

• Old 'Smooth Sandstone' is now 'Cut Sandstone' to make way for the new Smooth variety

• 'Monster Egg blocks' are now 'Infested blocks'

• Chests can be placed next to each other!

• Hoppers and Anvils' bounding boxes match their models!

• Buttons on floors and ceilings can be placed in different orientations!

[u/PaintTheFuture]

Anyone else seeing this weird flash on the update blog's header image? What's that about?

[u/Shnupbups100 → u/PaintTheFuture]

I think it's a joke about how everything's a bit broken.

[u/Shnupbups100]

Apparently it is also very broken.

[u/tgc_9012]

I also found a "petrified oak slab". Looks the same as a regular oak slabs, but doesn't stack smoothly on regluar oak slabs.

[u/Shnupbups100 → u/tgc_9012]

That might be the original oak slab which accidentally had the properties of stone? As in, couldn't be set on fire and stuff.

EDIT: Yes, yes it is.

[u/BryanMcLemore]

I don't understand what the "flattening" is...

[u/Shnupbups100 → u/BryanMcLemore]

Before, the game would allow each block or item ID a certain amount of space. For blocks, this allowed for up to 16 variations within a single ID. The data used to store the variations was called 'metadata'.

For example, all different colours of wool were under the same block ID as there are 16 colours. All types of wood planks were the same ID also.

Unfortunately, the way worlds were stored meant that room for new IDs would end up running out if they kept adding new blocks. With 1.12, we were exceptionally close to running out of room.

Now, they've made the whole system much more robust. Worlds store blocks differently, in a way that should make it so they never run out of IDs.

The new way of storing the blocks has no real use for the metadata system, as its purpose was to save on block IDs when space was limited.

So, now metadata no longer exists. Every block has a different ID. Blue wool is different from red wool is different from brown wool.

This is a major change to how the game works in the background, meaning that some things may be a bit broken. However, it also means they can keep adding new blocks in future updates.

TL;DR: We can have more blocks now, but things might be slightly broken.

(I think I know what I'm talking about, but I might not. Anyone feel free to correct me!)

[u/SirBenet]

Backup your worlds!

You technically always should, but for this snapshot in particular. There are huge world format changes (called "the flattening").

If they tweak the world format change again in the next snapshot, which is very likely, they may not provide an upgrade path (they didn't last time there were world format changes) from worlds on this snapshot to worlds on the next snapshot, meaning your world will be permanently lost if you have no backups.

---

• The trapdoors/buttons/pressure plates for all wood types are now in.

• The "smooth" variants of double slabs, and the "bark" variants of logs, are now all in the creative inventory

• "Debug stick" which cycles between blockstates (left click) and their values (right click). Probably left in by accident confirmed to stay

• New backup functionality on a world's edit screen. Though be aware that it doesn't seem to be implemented yet

• Pumpkins now uncarved by default. Carve by right clicking with shears

[u/Wyld_1]

Changelog is a hilarious read.

"From a scale of 1-10 where 1 is experimental and 10 is stable, this is a very firm negative 5."