Java Edition 20w17a

20w17a is the thirteenth snapshot for Java Edition 1.16, released on April 22, 2020, which added the command, tweaked bastion remnant loot, and lowered the spawn rate of ruined portals.

Command format

 * Commands
 * Added the command.
 * Used to get, set, or modify attributes.
 * Possible syntax: Parameters:
 * - get total value of attribute
 * - sets base value
 * - get base value
 * - adds modifier (fails if modifier is already present)
 * - removes modifier
 * - get value of modifier
 * - single entity (note: only players, armor stands and mobs have attributes)
 * - name of attribute (like )
 * - string (in optional quotes) describing human-readable name of modifier
 * - floating point value (note: Certain attributes have limits on final value, so the change might not be noticeable).

General

 * Options
 * Added an "Entity Distance" scale option ranging from 50% to 500%.
 * Sets the distance at which mobs render into frame.


 * Tags
 * Added block tag
 * Contains light and heavy weighted pressure plates, as well as the  and   block tags.
 * Added block tag
 * Contains stone and polished blackstone pressure plates.


 * Sounds
 * Added new sounds for chains.


 * World creation
 * Difficulty and game rules can now be changed from the "Create World" screen.

Blocks



 * Furnaces
 * Breaking a furnace will now give the experience for the smelted things inside.


 * Gilded blackstone and nether gold ore
 * Now use the same sounds as nether quartz ore.


 * Smithing tables
 * Improved UI.
 * Added an ingot outline to the second input slot.
 * Added a hammer icon above the input slots, similar to the anvil UI.


 * Soul fire torches and soul fire lanterns
 * Renamed "Soul Fire Torch" and "Soul Fire Lantern" to "Soul Torch" and "Soul Lantern", respectively.
 * IDs have been changed from to, respectively.


 * Walls
 * Now change into posts when pressure plates and banners are placed on them.

World generation

 * Bastion remnants
 * Bastion remnant loot has been tweaked.
 * Ancient debris and netherite scraps have been made generally rarer.
 * Netherite gear can no longer be found in bastion remnants; instead, diamond gear is found.
 * The chances and stack sizes of various items have been tweaked.


 * Ruined portals
 * Now spawn about 30% less frequently.

Gameplay

 * Creative Inventory
 * Inventory tab names, which appear in the description of items when in the Search tab, now display in boldface.
 * Other information, such as tag names, will display in boldface as well.
 * Netherite ingots and netherite scrap have been moved next to iron and gold ingots.

General

 * Block storage format
 * Block storage format in chunks has been slightly changed to speed up various tasks (rendering, pathfinding, world generation, etc.).
 * in elements no longer contain values stretching over multiple 64-bit fields.
 * If the number of bits per block is not power of two (i.e. single 64-bit value can't fill whole number of blockstates) some bits will not be used.
 * For example, if a single block state takes 5 bits, the highest 4 bits of every 64-bit field will be unused. That also means slight increase in storage size (in case of 5 bits, from 320 to 342 64-bit fields).


 * Fonts
 * Chat component style now supports property, which is resource location for font in the resource pack. No entry is equivalent to.
 * Full range of Unicode characters is supported, making it possible to type emojis and other unicode characters outside of the Basic Multilingual Plane.
 * However, custom resource packs must be used to display correct characters instead of tofu, due to the lack of these characters in the default font.
 * option now switches between normal and alternative font (called ) - no reload needed.


 * Main menu
 * The "Singleplayer" button will jump directly to "Create World" screen if there are no worlds to select.


 * Raw JSON text format
 * The JSON  component now supports 6-digit hexadecimal colors to specify custom colors other than the 16 default color codes.
 * Example:
 * The  chat component now uses the parameter , with contents depending on type:
 * For - chat component
 * For - either item id or object with fields,  and  (with last one being serialized NBT)
 * For - object with fields:  (UUID),  (chat component) and  (entity type resource location)
 * The  argument is now deprecated, but still supported.


 * Tags
 * Changed the block tag to include the  block tags.


 * World save format
 * Saving now uses randomly-named temporary files (instead of using  every time).
 * are now saved in a way similar to (including leaving  files).

Video
Video made by slicedlime: