Minecraft:Java Edition 15w31a

15w31a is the first Minecraft:snapshot for Minecraft:Java Edition 1.9, released on July 29, 2015,<ref>Template:Cite</ref> with a large amount of Minecraft:End-related changes. This is the first snapshot released in 2015.<ref group="note">Not counting Minecraft:15w14a, which was an April Fools' joke snapshot</ref>

Additions

Blocks

File:Chorus Plant JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Chorus plants

• Generate in Minecraft:the End.
• Can be grown using chorus flowers.
• Breaks in quick succession if the supporting chorus plant below is broken.
• Drop Minecraft:chorus fruit.

Template:Animate Minecraft:Chorus flowers

• Spawn on the top of the chorus trees.
• Break if the supporting block below is broken.
  • It only drops when mined directly.
• Can only be planted on Minecraft:End stone in any dimension.
• Has a different texture when it can no longer grow.

File:Dragon Head (S) JE1.png Minecraft:Dragon heads

• While worn, the head's mouth opens and closes repeatedly when moving around.
• When powered with redstone while placed on solid block, the jaw starts to open and close.
  • Keeps the mouth position of the exact moment it was unpowered.

File:End Gateway JE1.png Minecraft:End gateway blocks

• A portal block used to transport the player to the new outer regions of the end.
  • The texture is identical to the Minecraft:End portal block, but the model is that of a full block rather than plane.
• The player cannot use Template:Control or Template:Cmd to obtain it.
  • It can only be set by using Template:Cmd.
• Naturally generate after killing the dragon and traveling someplace new in the End with it.
• Show yellow beacon beam when created and used.
• Emits light level of 15.

File:End Rod (U) JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:End rods

• Generate in the Minecraft:End cities.
• Placeable horizontally and vertically.
• Emits light level of 14.
  • The model has a little base that is oriented against the block it was placed on.
    • If placed on top of another rod, then it has the opposite orientation.
• Produce white particles.
• Used as a lighting source with the same efficacy as torches.
• Unlike torches, they are tangible.
  • Horizontal End rods can be stepped up onto like slabs.

File:End Stone Bricks JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:End stone bricks

• Generate in the End cities.
• Can be crafted with 4 blocks of Minecraft:End stone.

File:Dirt Path JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Grass paths

• Are visually 15/16 block high.
• Obtainable by right-clicking Minecraft:grass blocks with a shovel.
  • This reduces the shovel's durability by one.
• Drop dirt, even when using Silk Touch.
• Cannot be obtained from the Creative inventory.
  • But unlike farmland, it can be obtained by using the Template:Control key in Creative.

File:Purpur Block JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Purpur blocks

• Generate in the End cities.
• Can be crafted with Minecraft:popped chorus fruit.

File:Purpur Pillar (UD) JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Purpur pillars

• Generate in the End cities.
• Can be crafted with purpur slabs.

File:Purpur Slab JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Purpur slabs

• Generate in the End cities.
• Can be crafted with purpur blocks.

File:Purpur Stairs JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Purpur stairs

• Generate in the End cities.
• Can be crafted with purpur blocks.

File:Structure Block JE1.png Minecraft:Structure blocks

• Only placable via Template:Cmd.
• Can be used with Minecraft:NBT parameters (Template:Cmd or Template:Cmd).
  • GUI is only used by Mojang employees.
• Have a letter on the texture based on its mode.

Items

File:Spectral Arrow (item) JE1.png Minecraft:Spectral arrows

• The tip is gold colored, but just in the item model.
• Show mob and player outlines in their respective team color when hit – even when invisible.
• Tag for entities to disable outlines. Template:More info
• Tag to force outline: {Glowing:1b}.
• The glowing is a status effect.
• Crafted by surrounding an Minecraft:arrow with 4 Minecraft:glowstone dust.
  • Yields 2 spectral arrows.

Template:Animate Minecraft:Tipped arrows

• Arrows tipped with potions.
  • 14 new arrow types in total.
  • Each differently tipped arrow is available in the Creative inventory, just like enchanted books.
  • Corresponding effect is applied on hit.

File:Beetroot JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Beetroots

• Restore Template:Hunger.
• Spawn naturally in villages.
• Can be used to craft Minecraft:beetroot soup.
• Can also be used to craft Minecraft:rose red dye.

File:Beetroot Seeds JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Beetroot seeds

• Used to grow beetroot.

File:Beetroot Soup JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Beetroot soup

• Restores Template:Hunger.
• Crafted from 6 Minecraft:beetroots and a Minecraft:bowl.

File:Chorus Fruit JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Chorus fruits

• Obtained from Minecraft:chorus plants.
• Can be eaten even if the player is not hungry, similar to Minecraft:golden apples.
  • Teleports the player to a random nearby location when eaten (like an Minecraft:enderman or a Minecraft:shulker).
  • Does not heal hunger points if the hunger bar is full.
    • Otherwise it heals Template:Hunger.
• Can be cooked in the Minecraft:furnace to obtain popped chorus fruits.

File:Popped Chorus Fruit JE1 BE1.png Minecraft:Popped chorus fruits

• Obtained from cooking Minecraft:chorus fruit.
• Used to craft Minecraft:purpur blocks.
• Cannot be eaten.

Template:InvSprite Minecraft:Shulker spawn eggs

• Used to spawn a Minecraft:shulker.
• Purple with darker purple spots.

Mobs

General

• Mobs have a 5% chance to spawn left-handed, through the new LeftHanded boolean tag.
  • Mobs able to hold items hold them according to their dominant hand.

File:Shulker.png Minecraft:Shulkers

• Short for "Shell Lurker".
• Hostile mobs with the appearance of a purple block.
  • Only spawn on the ground or at the walls of End cities when they first generate.
• When attacking, they open their shell with a spinning animation, revealing the creature inhabiting.
  • The creature looks like a little white cube with big eyes.
  • Its attack consists of shooting projectiles.
    • The projectiles chase the player until the projectile is out of range.
      • They can only move along one of the three grid axes at a time and on integer steps.
        • This means they can move only via taxicab geometry.
    • Projectiles can be knocked away by attacking them.
    • Getting hit by a projectile causes 2 hearts of damage and inflicts the Levitation status effect.
    • They take more damage while their shell is open.
      • Their shells are considered armor, and bounce arrows off.
  • It has an idle animation, where it opens its shells a little to peak through.
• Can be pushed by Minecraft:pistons, and can exist only on coordinates that are integers (except if they are on Minecraft:minecarts).
• Can teleport like an Minecraft:enderman.
  • Sometimes does this while being attacked or placed in unusual circumstances:
    • Removing its support block.
    • Pushing it into a non-air block (except piston heads).
    • Pushing a non-air block into its position (except piston heads).
• Is one of the few entities (apart from Minecraft:boats and minecarts) that can be stood upon.
  • It even displaces the player properly during its attacking and idle animations.

World generation

Template:EnvLink

• Generate on the new outer End islands.
• Dungeon-type structure fashioned like a branching tower made of Minecraft:End stone and many of the new blocks.
  • Resemble a tree house.
• Generate with Minecraft:shulkers in it.

Template:EnvLink

• Can generate up in the air, right next to an End city.
  • Always generate sailing away from what appears to be a pier.
  • Composed of many of the same materials as the End city.
• Generate with Minecraft:shulkers in it.
• Have a Minecraft:beacon set to Speed, a Minecraft:brewing stand with Minecraft:potions of Healing, and other loot.

File:Chorus plant.png Minecraft:Chorus trees

• Tree-like arrangements of the new Minecraft:chorus plant and Minecraft:chorus flower blocks.
• Generate on the outer End islands
• The whole structure is destroyed when the bottom-most block is destroyed, like Minecraft:cacti.
• Can be farmed by planting the chorus fruit flowers that come from the top of the plants.
  • Unlike cacti, chorus plants do not require the supporting block to be below it, but rather adjacent.
    • This allows the structure to grow around obstacles, like other plants.

File:End gateway JE1.png Minecraft:End gateways

• Small structures consisting of an Minecraft:End gateway block and two little bulbs of bedrock, at both the bottom and the top.
  • Are an alternative way of traveling to the outer End islands, without having to build or fly all the way over there.
  • Since the bulbs of bedrock only leave a one block slit on the horizontal plane, it is only accessible by throwing Minecraft:ender pearls at it, or by riding Minecraft:pigs, Minecraft:boats or Minecraft:minecarts.
    • The player is teleported to somewhere on the outer End islands.
    • The final location of the player depends on what angle they entered or at what angle the ender pearl was thrown at.
• One gateway is created for each dragon kill.
  • Up to 20 gateways are possible to create this way.
  • Gateways spawn in a radius around the End portal.
  • Another gateway is created every time the player teleports to a new location.
    • The created gateway is linked to the original, so the player has a way back.

Command format

Minecraft:NBT format

• Added tags HandItems, ArmorItems, HandDropChances, and ArmorDropChances to Living.
• Added tags HandItems and ArmorItems to ArmorStand.
• Added tag Glowing to Entity.
• Added tag Team to LivingBase.
• Added tag DragonPhase to EnderDragon
• Added entity Shulker, child of SnowMan.
• Added entity ShulkerBullet, child of Entity.
• Added entity DragonFireball, which extends FireballBase and has no unique tags.
• Added entities TippedArrow and SpectralArrow, children of Arrow.
• Added block EndGateway, child of TileEntity.
• Added block Structure, child of TileEntity.
• Added item tag Potion, child of tag.

Gameplay

Dominant hand option

• An option for players to change their dominant hand on their player model.
  • Under "Skin Customization".
• Changes the orientation of the offhand slot in the hotbar (left often suits right-hand players better and vice versa).

Minecraft:Dual wielding

• Players can now use both hands at the same time to do different actions, with the left and right mouse buttons.
  • For example, if a player has a pickaxe in their main hand and a torch in their other hand, right clicking places the torch.
    • This happens because a pickaxe lacks a right click use, and therefore the game tries to then treat the other item as if it's being right clicked.
    • The player cannot click both buttons at the same time.
  • This is achieved through an extra inventory slot called the "offhand" slot.
    • Pressing Template:Key (by default) switches whatever item is selected in the hotbar with the item in the offhand (including no item).
    • The offhand slot is displayed next to the hotbar when it's not empty (left for right-hand players and vice versa).
      • It's also available in the Minecraft:inventory screen.
• Only the main hand can be used for attacking.
  • Even bows can't be used in the offhand.
• Minecraft:Bows can be used when something else is in the offhand.
  • Arrows in the offhand take priority over arrows in the rest of the inventory slots.
• The offhand model is invisible in first person view, while it's empty.
• Some attributes and enchantments apply to the offhand item, while others do not.

Minecraft:Status effects

• Template:EffectLink
  • Received when the player is hit by Minecraft:shulker projectiles.
  • Makes player involuntarily float high into the air.
    • Can be used to get to higher places.
  • Listed as a negative effect, due to the potential to kill from fall damage.
  • Higher levels of Levitation result in faster floating, except for the last two:
    • Level 255 does nothing.
    • Level 254 results in slow fall (similar to lunar gravity).

• Template:EffectLink
  • Received when players or mobs are hit by Minecraft:spectral arrows.
  • Makes player's outline glow, seen even through non-transparent blocks.
    • The outline includes the models of the currently held items.
  • Listed as a negative effect, because it prevents players from hiding from other players.
  • It becomes colored differently if the player is part of a team, to match its team color.

Changes

Blocks

Minecraft:Dead bushes

• Now drop anywhere between 0–2 Minecraft:sticks when broken without Minecraft:shears.

Minecraft:Doors

• Changed the shading on acacia, birch, dark oak and jungle doors.

Minecraft:Fire

• The block states flip and alt were removed, and the integer state upper was reimplemented as the byte state up.
  • This reduced the number of states representing fire from 3072 to 512.

Minecraft:Glass panes and Minecraft:iron bars

• Are now 2×2 pixels in footprint if no blocks connect to them.
  • This is compared to the big cross configuration that was the default.

Minecraft:Pressure plates

• Now have a slightly thinner item model.

Minecraft:Redstone wire

• Model was changed somewhat, resulting in subtle appearance differences.
  • Before:
    File:Inactive Redstone Wire (unconnected) JE1.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NS) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (EW) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NE) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (ES) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (SW) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NW) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NEW) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NES) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (ESW) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NSW) JE3.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NESW) JE3.png
    File:Active Redstone Wire (unconnected) JE1.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NS) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (EW) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NE) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (ES) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (SW) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NW) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NEW) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NES) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (ESW) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NSW) JE3.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NESW) JE3.png
  • After:
    File:Inactive Redstone Wire (unconnected) JE2.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NS) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (EW) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NE) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (ES) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (SW) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NW) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NEW) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NES) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (ESW) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NSW) JE4.png File:Inactive Redstone Wire (NESW) JE4.png
    File:Active Redstone Wire (unconnected) JE2.pngFile:Active Redstone Wire (NS) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (EW) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NE) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (ES) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (SW) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NW) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NEW) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NES) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (ESW) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NSW) JE4.png File:Active Redstone Wire (NESW) JE4.png

Minecraft:Stairs

• Are now rotated 90° in the inventory.

Minecraft:Trapdoors

• No longer require supporting blocks.
  • Therefore they can be moved by Minecraft:pistons freely.
• An open trapdoor may be climbed like a Minecraft:ladder if it is directly above one and on the same side of the block.

Items

Minecraft:Bows

• The bow in the hotbar now shows an animation for drawing back an Minecraft:arrow.
• Arrows in the off hand are prioritized over arrows in the rest of the Minecraft:inventory slots.

Minecraft:Ender pearls

• Can now be thrown in Minecraft:Creative mode.

Minecraft:Fishing rods

• Casting fishing rods now has an animation in the hotbar/inventory.

Item models for chest-like blocks

• Unlike other blocks, Minecraft:chests, Minecraft:trapped chests and Minecraft:ender chests have their item model rotated, to have the front face in view of the player.
  • This made it easier to distinguish between trapped and regular chests while being held, since only their front face is different.

Minecraft:Maps

• Now display as a mini map when held in the off hand, or if the offhand slot is occupied.
  • The (old) large version is visible only when held in the dominant hand with both hands-free.

Minecraft:Potions

• Mixed potions' colors now blend.
• Numeric IDs are no longer used. Instead, a "Potion" tag is used.
  • e.g. Template:Cmd
• Splash potions now have a separate data value and ID name and can be created from all potions, including water bottles.
• Added Mundane, Thick and Awkward potions to the Creative inventory.
• Minecraft:Glowstone dust or Minecraft:redstone can no longer be added to extended or tier-II potions, respectively.
• Most recipes for Minecraft:potion of Weakness were removed; only brewing from a Minecraft:water bottle remains.
• Minecraft:Potion of Slowness can no longer be brewed from a Minecraft:potion of Fire Resistance.
• Minecraft:Potion of Harming can no longer be brewed from a Minecraft:potion of Water Breathing.
• Splash potions now have the same duration as drinkable potions.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>

Mobs

Minecraft:Chickens

• Can be led and bred with Minecraft:melon seeds, Minecraft:pumpkin seeds, and Minecraft:beetroot seeds, in addition to regular seeds.

Minecraft:Ender dragons

• Similar to the one on Minecraft:Legacy Console Edition.
• The dragon can be re-spawned indefinitely by creating a creeper face configuration out of Minecraft:clay in Minecraft:the End.
  • Subsequent dragons spawn new gateways, but don't drop Minecraft:XP or create new Minecraft:dragon eggs.
• The dragon AI and attacks has been changed:
  • Breathes fire/purple particles on players and mobs, while on top of the portal.
  • Drops fireballs on top of the player.
  • Defends the obsidian pillars more, the further the fight progresses.
• The dragon flies and stops over the portal sometimes, only then can the last blow be dealt.

Minecraft:Endermen

• Remain aggravated towards the player despite being in contact with Minecraft:water.
• Drop the block they were holding when killed.

Minecraft:Pigs

• Can be led and bred with Minecraft:potatoes and Minecraft:beetroots, in addition to Minecraft:carrots.

Minecraft:Skeletons

• Have an animation for lifting up and drawing back their Minecraft:bow.

Minecraft:Villagers

• Farmer villagers now harvest beetroot.

Non-mob entities

Minecraft:Armor stands

• Can now be summoned to dual wield with commands in Creative.

Projectiles

• Slightly altered the path of projectiles.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/3f7m2y/minecraft_snowball_projectile_changes_snapshot/</ref>

World generation

Minecraft:The End

• A set amount of differently-sized obsidian pillars are arranged in a circular fashion.
  • The tallest pillars have Minecraft:iron bars around their Minecraft:ender crystal to deflect projectiles.
• The exit portal is pre-generated at the center of the island, but without the Minecraft:dragon egg and portal blocks.
• Now generates a great amount of islands in every direction from the main island, though separated from it in all directions by an empty gap of about 1,000 blocks.
  • Mini islands generate between the center and main islands.
  • End islands and mini End islands have chorus trees spread throughout them.

Minecraft:The Nether

• Removed the Minecraft:fog in the Nether.

Minecraft:Villages

• Farms now include Minecraft:beetroot crops.

Command format

NBT format

• Tag Equipment (under Living) has become deprecated.
• Tag DropChances (under Living) has become deprecated.

Gameplay

Crosshair

• No longer shows the crosshair in 3rd person view.

Minecraft:Inventory

• Rearranged the Survival inventory and the Creative "Survival tab" to accommodate for the new offhand slot.
• Unified the orientation of many items in the inventory.

Minecraft:Status effects

• Status effects icons are now displayed on the HUD on the right hand corner, instead of just in the inventory (similar to Minecraft:Pocket Edition).
  • They are ordered by the time of infliction from right to left.
  • Positive effects are on the top row and negative effects on the bottom row.
  • Effects that are about to run out, blink.
    • They blink faster when they are closer to running out and start fading away.

General

Attributes

• CustomNameVisible:true makes the name tag on mobs show in the same way as on players.
• Entities can now be summoned straight to teams: {team="TeamName"}.
• DropChances and Equipment tags are no longer used.
  • ArmorItems, HandItems, ArmorDropChances and HandDropChances are used instead.

Minecraft:Bosses

• Proper support for multiple bosses' health bars, so they show at the same time without obstructing each other.

Damage tooltips

• Items can damage differently based on where they are placed to (main hand, offhand, armor slots).

Minecraft:Death messages

• Death messages now are displayed on the player's death screen as well as in the chat.

Minecraft:Models

• Different models/textures can be used for each different damage values, item states, and whether the item is held in a different hand.
  • This works on compasses, clocks, and anything that can have a durability bar.
  • It also contains additional tags for bows and fishing rods.
• Models can be put together based on block state attributes, such as fences.
  • As a result, the vanilla set of block models was reduced by almost 300.
• Block model JSON is now strict: comments and quote-less identifiers are not allowed.
• display tag defaults have changed, and the thirdperson and firstperson tags were replaced with thirdperson_righthand, thirdperson_lefthand, firstperson_righthand, and firstperson_lefthand.
• parent and elements tags can coexist now, though the top level elements tag overwrites all former ones.
• UV is now optional, and if not supplied it automatically generates based on the element's position.

Minecraft:Options

• Removed the Broadcast Settings section, as well as Twitch integration as a whole.
• Removed Super Secret Settings and Alternate Blocks from video settings.

Minecraft:Resource packs Template:Resource pack format/value

• Older resource packs require user acknowledgment to use.

Structure data

• Now comes from /assets/structures.

Trivia

• Before Minecraft:18w43a, 15w31a holds the record as having the most content in one developmental release, having nearly twice as much content as Minecraft:Java Edition 1.4.2 had in October 2012.
  • The previous record was held by Minecraft:13w36a for Minecraft:Java Edition 1.7.2.
• 15w31a was previously removed from the Minecraft:launcher for some time, but was added back in September 2018.