Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.18.0.20 is the first real release for ‘Caves and Cliffs Update’ Part 2

Source: Mojang Studios | Twitter

The road for Minecraft to hit the second half of the Caves and Cliffs update has been long and winding, but Mojang Studios has tirelessly continued their work. Today a major milestone is reached in the development phase since Minecraft: Bedrock Edition 1.18.0.20 officially breaks cover and is available to Minecraft testers on Xbox, Windows, and Android devices.

The latest Minecraft beta is the first build to be moved under the version 1.18 umbrella and will include the second part of the Caves and Cliffs update. While a version number is ultimately arbitrary and doesn’t affect much, it’s important that all features and changes that were previously hidden under the Experimental Features button are now exposed and affect almost all of the worlds in this beta. This means that the features of 1.18 Caves and Cliffs Update Part Two are now activated by default and will inevitably be tested by significantly more players in the beta program.

We may find out more about the 1.18 Caves and Cliffs Update Part 2 (and when it might be released) during Minecraft Live 2021 later this year, and even what other games Mojang may be working on. Until then, however, Minecraft continues to be one of the top Xbox games, and this constant influx of testable features justifies the idea.

In case you missed it, Minecraft’s Steve and Alex are becoming amiibo characters for the Switch. Those numbers won’t come until sometime in 2022 but will almost certainly be considered some of the best Minecraft toys and gifts when they do.

The full changelog for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.18.0.20 includes:

Caves and cliffs update functions

• Functions related to Caves and Cliffs Part II have been moved from the Experimental Toggle and are now activated by default
• note: Loading your world into this beta will automatically introduce a new world generation of Caves & Cliffs Part II without creating a standard world copy. You can read more about how to add a new generation under your existing chunks in our FAQ!
• The new world generation in Caves and Cliffs Part II is currently not compatible with the “Creation of Custom Biomes” experiment. In this beta, expect worlds with custom biome generation to be potentially unstable and that custom biomes will only exist in currently salvaged areas of the world
• The generation rates have been changed to match the Java Edition
• Fixed an issue that prevented large trees from growing under y = 0. grow
• Small Drip Sheet is now properly generated as part of the Lush Caves biome

Cave generation

• Old caves can now reach the surface
• The placement of the old cave carver is now on par with the Java Edition
• There is no longer floating water in caves

Feature placement

• Wildflowers no longer replace blocks in villages or other buildings
• Tuff blob features are now under y = 0. generated
• Deepslate patches are no longer shown above y = 0. generated
• Amethyst geodes are now placed in the correct y-area during world generation

World generation

• Updated Granite, Andesite, Diorite, Dirt, and Gravel feature placement to match Java Edition
• Optimized peaks so that small mountains look more like real rugged mountain peaks than flat hills
• Improved mix between old and new chunks
• Manhole tunnels can no longer replace bedrock

Features and bug fixes

Stability & performance

• Players are no longer disconnected when the server and client have different runtime block IDs
• The time for placing vines in the overworld has been optimized

Accessibility

• Added missing screen reader at the prompt “Controller lost connection”

Style of play

• Corrected portal locations when the portal was moved but the location was not updated
• Breaking a block under fire no longer creates an invisible block of fire if the doFireTick Rules of the game are deactivated

Generally

• Players with higher than the recommended render distance settings will now be prompted to change them to the recommended value
• The default and maximum render distance settings have been updated for better performance
• A prompt now warns players that they will return to the main menu when they log into the game

Graphically

• The “Carved Pumpkin” enchantment shine now only covers the item and no longer covers the entire space
• Fixed a bug that could occur on older worlds where looking up in a minecart would reveal the inside of the minecart and block the player’s view
• Item rendering has been updated so that enchanted items are no longer invisible in the Nether

Marketplace

• The store update prompt will no longer appear if there is no internet connection or the session has failed

Mobs

• Mobs can now cross trapdoors
• Mobs no longer walk around campfires
• Axolotls now animate correctly when in the air
• Sweet berry bushes now harm mobs
• Mobs are no longer trying to wander through Sweet Berry Bushes

user interface

• Structure block can now be saved and loaded within the current dimension height limits
• Fixed an issue where searching for nonexistent content returned the incorrect “1 result” message
• Fixed overlapping text for offers on 4: 3 resolution screens
• The parity of the Java edition when lying in bed in multiplayer has been fixed. A message will show how many players are in bed while waiting for all of the players to fall asleep
• Provide better visual feedback and cues for various render spacing settings

Vanilla parity

• Raid mobs will now disappear after the end of a raid if the player moves too far away
• The color of the raid boss bar has been changed from purple to red
• Defenders no longer appear naturally on Illager patrols

Villages

• The Hero of the Village effect now applies to all players who helped kill a raider once a raid is defeated, and the effect remains for players even if they leave the village

Technical update

Commands

• Sequence of function calls triggered by /execute within a function are now consistent

Generally

• Added caching support for subchunk requests and fixed issues with holes in the terrain
• Fixed a rendering bug that could occur when attempting to render a vanilla mob in a base game version prior to the version in which mob was introduced via JSON files
• Most content errors and warnings are now only displayed once per world

Article scripting

• Implemented first past of Item Script Components
• Item batch
  • Open interfaces for accessing scriptable ItemComponents At ItemStack
  • hasComponent(componentId: string) – returns true if the ItemStack has the component [componentId] attached to
  • getComponent(componentId: string) – returns a handle to the component attached to it ItemStack. Returns an undefined handle if the component does not exist or the component does not yet need to be made available for scripting
  • getComponents() – Returns an array of all scriptable components attached on this one ItemStack
• Number range
  • A class to describe a random value between a minimum and maximum number
  • property min – the minimum value in the range
  • property max – the maximum value in the range
  • next() – returns a random number between min and max
• Article registration
  • Added Items Registration class to get everyone Items by name
  • get(itemId: string) – indicates a handle. return ItemType if a type with the specified name exists
• Script activated article components
• Minecraft: food
  • Read-only property nutrition – Number that describes how much food this food gives the player when consumed
  • Read-only property saturationModifier – Number that is the satiety modifier used to apply the satiety buff when eating
  • Read-only property canAlwaysEat – If true, the player can always eat this item (even if he is not hungry)
  • Read-only property usingConvertsTo – String name of the article into which it is converted when it is consumed. If it is empty, the element will not be converted to anything else
• Minecraft: durability
  • Read-only property maxDurability – the number of damage this item can take before it breaks
  • Read-only property damageRange – a NumberRange Description of the likelihood that the item will lose its shelf life
  • property damage – gets or sets the current damage on the ItemStack
  • getDamageChance(unbreaking: number = 0) – Gives the maximum chance that this item will be damaged with the damageRange Property when given an indestructible level. Incoming unbreaking parameter must be greater than 0. be