Java Edition Beta 1.5

Beta 1.5 is a version of Java Edition Beta released on April 19, 2011, which added statistics and achievements, new types of rails and saplings, and cobwebs among other changes and fixes.

Blocks

 * Birch Sapling JE1.png Birch Sapling
 * Grows into birch trees.


 * Cobweb JE1 BE1.png Cobweb
 * Unobtainable in the game without inventory editing until Beta 1.8.


 * Detector Rail (NS) JE1 BE1.png Detector Rail
 * Crafted with 1 stone pressure plate, 6 iron ingots and 1 redstone dust.
 * Used to detect minecarts on top of it; when activated, they produce redstone power.


 * Powered Rail (NS) JE1 BE1.png Powered Rail
 * Crafted with 1 stick, 6 gold ingots and 1 redstone dust.
 * Needs to be powered by redstone.
 * Transmits redstone signal to 8 powered rails far.


 * Spruce Sapling JE1.png Spruce Sapling
 * Grows into spruce trees.

Mobs

 * Charged Creeper JE1 BE1.png Charged Creepers
 * When struck by a lightning bolt, they now become a charged creeper, and have a much more powerful explosion.


 * Pigs
 * When struck by a lighting bolt they now become zombie pigmen.

Mobs

 * Lightning Bolt
 * May strike during thunderstorms, creating fire and dealing damage around it.

Gameplay

 * Achievements
 * Are now transferred between worlds.


 * Weather
 * Added natural occurring rain, snowfalls, and thunderstorms.

General

 * Controls
 * + clicking on something in a chest will immediately move the selected item(s) into the player's inventory and vice-versa.


 * Options
 * Ability to change GUI size (Small, Normal, Large, Auto).
 * Advanced OpenGL (Occlusion Culling: doesn't render blocks that the player can't "see", helps performance in cards that support it).


 * Statistics
 * Are now transferred between worlds.

Blocks

 * Bed


 * Sleeping in thunderstorms is now possible, even in daytime.


 * Crying obsidian


 * Texture has now been removed from terrain.png.


 * Fire


 * Now spreads much slower than before.


 * Grass Block JE4.png Grass Blocks


 * When using fancy graphics, the sides now use the same color as the top (example of a grass block in Alpha 1.2.0: Grass Block JE3 BE1.png).


 * Ladders


 * Its crafting recipe now produces 2 ladders to offset the fix of the staggered-ladder exploit.


 * Saplings


 * Can now serve as fuel in furnaces.
 * Have the same smelting time as sticks.


 * Redstone Wire


 * Fully off redstone wire is no longer black.
 * Several changes in redstone wire rendering
 * Due this change, it no longer appears stretched when travelling vertically up a block. However, it still appears offset.

Items

 * General


 * Dropped items in flowing water move faster than before.


 * Redstone Dust


 * Can now be placed on snow.

Mobs

 * Pigs


 * When killed by burning, now drop cooked porkchops upon death.


 * Wolves


 * Now more common, even in non-taiga/forest biomes.

World generation

 * Birch and spruce trees


 * Now drop birch saplings and spruce saplings, respectively.

General

 * Controls


 * Pressing will switch between input boxes.
 * + no longer creates a 36450&times;17700 pixel screenshot.


 * Performance


 * Huge performance improvements for old and slow computers.

Fixes

 * 15 bugs fixed
 * Players are only 'on' a ladder (can climb it/fall slowly) if the lower half is in the ladder block, rather than any part of the player.
 * It is no longer possible to climb with a one-block gap in a ladder, or a ladder that starts at eye level.
 * On fancy graphics, the sides of grass blocks are now biome-specific and match the shade on the top.
 * Player movement through water has been fixed to previous speed.
 * Wolves' pathfinding now has a better understanding of doors. They will go through doors most of the time, but will sometimes get stuck on the 3-pixel thickness of the door.
 * The lighting on portals and ice has been fixed when using smooth lighting.
 * Stairs are no longer transparent to light.
 * On multiplayer, the health of wolves are now synchronized between server and client, causing wolves to only whimper when low on health, as opposed to all of the time.
 * Redstone in off state is red again.
 * Fixed saplings occasionally growing trees that stretch to world limit.
 * Crops hit with water now drop seeds and wheat, as opposed to just wheat.
 * Moving minecarts will continue to move if the world is closed.
 * The Mojang logo is the correct size when the client is maximized.
 * The exploit to make chests three or more side by side by placing a water source and placing a chest in that source has been fixed.
 * + doesn't attempt to create massive .tga screenshots, which are more than 1GB in size, anymore.
 * Sugar cane can no longer be placed on any block that is not dirt.