Java Edition Beta 1.8 Pre-release

Beta 1.8 Pre-release is the first pre-release for Java Edition Beta 1.8, that was released on September 9, 2011.

Blocks

 * Glass Pane JE1 BE1.png Glass Pane
 * Crafted using 6 glass.
 * Drops itself when destroyed.
 * Iron Bars (E) JE1 BE1.png Iron Bars
 * Crafted using 6 iron ingots.
 * Appear only in strongholds and blacksmith houses.


 * Oak Fence Gate (EW) JE1.png Fence gate
 * Connect to fences.
 * Open when.


 * Stone Bricks JE1 BE1.png Stone bricks
 * Come in regular, cracked, and mossy varieties.
 * Occur naturally in strongholds. The different bricks are all called stone bricks in-game. The regular stone bricks can be crafted into stone brick slabs and stairs.


 * Cracked Stone Bricks JE1 BE1.png Cracked Stone Bricks


 * Mossy Stone Bricks JE1 BE1.png Mossy Stone Bricks


 * Vines (N) JE1.png Vines
 * Can grow to nearby blocks.
 * Can not be climbed in this version.


 * Cobblestone JE3 BE2.png Stone JE4.png Stone Bricks JE1 BE1.png Infested Block
 * Spawn silverfish when broken.
 * Doesn't drop when broken.


 * Brick Slab JE1.png Bricks Slab
 * Stone Brick Slab (centered) JE1 BE1.png Stone Bricks Slab


 * Brick Stairs JE1.png Brick stairs
 * Drop brick blocks.


 * Stone Brick Stairs JE1.png Stone brick stairs
 * Drop stone bricks.


 * Brown Mushroom Block JE1 BE1.png Red Mushroom Block JE1 BE1.png Mushroom Stem JE1 BE1.png Mushroom Blocks
 * Drop their corresponding mushroom.
 * Do not generate naturally as of yet.
 * Generate when the player uses bone meal on a mushroom.


 * Melon JE1 BE1.png Melons
 * Drops melon slices when mined.


 * Melon Stem Age 7 JE1.png Melon stems.
 * Melon Stem Age 7 JE1.png Pumpkin stems.

Commands

 * Added.
 * Changes the gamemode.

Items

 * Cooked Chicken JE1 BE1.png Cooked Chicken
 * Restores 6 hunger.


 * Raw Chicken JE1 BE1.png Raw Chicken
 * Dropped by chickens.
 * Raw chicken can give the player hunger effect.


 * Steak JE1 BE1.png Steak
 * Restores 8 hunger.
 * Raw Beef JE1 BE1.png Raw Beef
 * Dropped by cows.
 * Steak reuses old porkchop texture.
 * Restores 1.5 hunger.
 * Rotten Flesh JE1.png Rotten flesh
 * Dropped by zombiess and zombie pigmen.
 * Can give the player the hunger effect. Restores 4 hunger.


 * Ender Pearl JE1.png Ender pearl
 * Dropped by endermen.
 * Currently have no use.
 * Model is not aligned.


 * Melon Slice JE1 BE1.png Melon Slice
 * Drops from melon blocks.
 * Restores 2 hunger.


 * Melon Seeds JE1 BE1.png Melon Seeds
 * Crafted from melon slices.
 * Can be planted in farmland to grow melons.


 * Pumpkin Seeds JE1 BE1.png Pumpkin Seeds
 * Crafted from pumpkins.
 * Can be planted in farmland to grow pumpkins.

Mobs

 * Cave Spider JE1 BE1.png Cave Spider
 * Inflicts Poison on the player.
 * New variant of the spider.
 * Spawns from spawners in mineshafts.


 * Enderman JE1.png Enderman
 * Have the ability to teleport.
 * Makes zombie sounds.
 * Endermen are able to carry every block including bedrock and obsidian.
 * Enderman's eyes are green instead of purple.
 * The enderman's purple particles were instead smoke particles.
 * Do not drop their blocks upon death.
 * Have 10 health.


 * Silverfish.gif Silverfish
 * Appears when the player breaks infested blocks.
 * Now has AI. (Unused in Beta 1.7 - Beta 1.7.3)

World generation

 * Biomes
 * Extreme Hills
 * Ocean
 * Oceans existed in previous versions, however, now they exist as an actual biome, spanning thousands of blocks.


 * Generated structures
 * Mineshaft
 * Village (Uninhabited)
 * Stronghold
 * Ravine

Gameplay

 * Hunger
 * Sprinting
 * Activated by double-tapping.
 * Experience
 * Currently has no use.
 * Different sound, more like a pop.
 * No sound for leveling up, (it doesn't really exist).
 * Blocking
 * Activated by a sword.
 * Negates 50% of the incoming damage.
 * Critical hits
 * Does more damage depending how close the player was to the ground while falling.


 * Gamemodes
 * Creative
 * Infinite access to almost every item.
 * No health, (except falling in the void)
 * Food is not edible.
 * Flying by double tapping.
 * Insane reach.


 * Void fog
 * Increases darkness at extreme depths.
 * Decreases field of vision.


 * Effects
 * Do not show off particles.
 * They do not have inventory sprites.
 * Added obtainable status effects:
 * Regeneration, which increases health slowly.
 * Obtained after eating a golden apple.
 * Hunger, which decreases the hunger bar.
 * Obtained after eating a rotten flesh or a raw chicken.
 * Poison, which hurts the player.
 * Obtained when being hurt by a cave spider.
 * Added unobtainable status effects, but are functional:
 * Speed, Slowness, Haste, Mining Fatigue, Instant Health, Instant Damage, Water Breathing and Nausea.
 * Added unobtainable and nonfunctional status effects:
 * Strength, Weakness, Jump Boost, Resistance, Fire Resistance, Invisibility, Blindness and Night Vision.

General

 * Debug keys
 * and move time forwards and backwards, respectively.


 * Main menu
 * Revamped the main menu by adding an animated menu panorama. The menu panorama uses seed  in terrain generated using the generator last seen in Beta 1.7.3 at coordinates (61, 75, -68).


 * Options
 * The player can now set their field of view in the options via the FOV slider. It can be set from 70 (default) to 110 (Quake Pro).


 * Server list
 * The ability to save and view multiple servers has now been added.


 * Splash
 * Added the following splash text:
 * Jeb has amazing hair!
 * Casual gaming!
 * Undefeated!
 * Kinda like Lemmings!
 * Follow the train, CJ!
 * Leveraging synergy!
 * This message will never appear on the splash screen, isn't that weird? (Unused)
 * DungeonQuest is unfair!
 * 110813!
 * 90210!
 * Check out the far lands!
 * Tyrian would love it!
 * Also try VVVVVV!
 * Also try Super Meat Boy!
 * Also try Terraria!
 * Also try Mount And Blade!
 * Also try Project Zomboid!
 * Also try World of Goo!
 * Also try Limbo!
 * Also try Pixeljunk Shooter!
 * Also try Braid!
 * That's super!
 * Bread is pain!
 * Read more books!
 * Khaaaaaaaaan!
 * Less addictive than TV Tropes!
 * More addictive than lemonade!
 * Bigger than a bread box!
 * Millions of peaches!
 * Fnord!
 * This is my true form!
 * Totally forgot about Dre!
 * Don't bother with the clones!
 * Pumpkinhead!
 * Hobo humping slobo babe!

Blocks

 * Ferns
 * Triangular ferns no longer generate naturally.


 * Chest.png Chests
 * Chest.gif Large Chest.gif Added an opening and closing animation with a new chest model.
 * The chest's texture is no longer in the terrain.png file. Instead, it is in the folder "item" under "chest.png" and "chestlarge.png", with the former being a chest on its own and the latter being the large chest.
 * Are now tile entities, which means they no longer show the block breaking animation and are also now slightly smaller than they were before.
 * Now change the direction they face based on the viewpoint of the player.
 * Can now be found in mineshafts and strongholds.
 * Use door sounds when opening and closing.


 * Lava
 * Now when lava is touched by rain, it emits smoke particles.


 * Obsidian
 * Obsidian can now be mined by an iron pickaxe or moved by an enderman.

Items

 * Passive mobs
 * No longer despawn.


 * Shears
 * Can now be used to harvest shrubs.


 * Cooked Porkchop
 * Changed the texture from Steak JE1 BE1.png to Cooked Porkchop JE2 BE1.png.
 * Its old texture is now used by steak.


 * Golden Apples
 * Now restore, instead of health points, and also give Regeneration for 30 seconds.


 * Item (entity)
 * Fixed stairs, cactus, farmland, pressure plate, fence, cake, snow layer, button, and trapdoor items being too big.

Mobs

 * Pigs
 * Their snouts now extrude from their model, rather than being flat.


 * Humans
 * Removed the mob as an entity, however, their AI is still in the code.


 * Skeleton JE3 BE1.png Skeletons
 * The bows of skeletons are now larger and held realistically (full-sized bows, two-handed, but don't yet show the arrow pulling back).
 * Skeletons now fire arrows slower, but further.
 * Skeletons no longer bounce around the player, making them much easier to hit.

World generation

 * Biomes
 * Biomes are now much bigger and more flat.
 * Hills and mountains tend not to generate as much, except in the new extreme hills biome.
 * They are no longer aligned based on temperature and humidity, instead their distribution is random.
 * Swamplands
 * They have been renamed to just "swamps".
 * They are a much more vibrant green color.
 * They have a new tree type, which are slightly bigger and have vines hanging from their leaves. They can also generate in shallow water pools.
 * They are much more flat.
 * Taiga
 * They no longer have snow nor ice.


 * Sea level
 * Now one block lower.

Gameplay

 * Explosions
 * Now emit shockwave particles.


 * Daylight cycle
 * No longer require chunk updates and is a smooth transition.


 * Player
 * Unarmed damage was decreased from to.


 * Void
 * Entities are now lit in the void.
 * Color of the void now changes from blue to black while descending.


 * Spawn
 * The player's spawn point is now bound to a specific biome rather than to any sand block. The player can spawn in forest, swamp and taiga biomes.

General

 * Debug screen
 * The ability to see the level's seed has now been added to the debug screen.
 * Entity numbers being shown above a mob's head have now been removed from the debug screen.


 * Light
 * Implemented a new lighting engine. The lighting on a block is given a tint based on the most prominent source of light.
 * Artificial light now gives a very subtle "flicker".


 * Options
 * Added the brightness option.


 * Splash
 * Removed duplicate "Check it out!"

World generation

 * Biomes
 * (old)
 * These did not generate in previous versions, so their removal was not noticeable.
 * (old)
 * These did not generate in previous versions, so their removal was not noticeable.
 * These did not generate in previous versions, so their removal was not noticeable.
 * These did not generate in previous versions, so their removal was not noticeable.
 * These did not generate in previous versions, so their removal was not noticeable.


 * Structures
 * Beach (old)
 * Gravel beach
 * All removed biomes convert to a new biome, (if generated)


 * General
 * Far Lands

General

 * Distance effects
 * The famous high-distance world rendering offset bug has been fixed (except for moving pistons)
 * Redstone repeater top faces are no longer weirdly broken
 * Rails, powered rails and detector rails are no longer stretched
 * Ladders are no longer offset nor stretched
 * Upwards travelling redstone wire no longer appears offset from the block it's on
 * The side faces of flowing water and lava are no longer broken


 * World boundary
 * Has now been moved to 30,000,000, from 32,000,000

Reupload
Beta 1.8 Pre-release was reuploaded approximately 24 hours after its initial release to fix bugs and remove some debug features. Features and bugs present in the initial version include:
 * Villages do not generate correctly. Only the wells, gravel paths, and lampposts generate; houses do not generate.
 * The Stronghold does not generate correctly. Only the central staircase will generate.
 * Various models often become corrupted.
 * Screenshots can sometimes fail to save, printing an error into the chat:, where   and   are two numbers, with   being less than  . This bug seems to occur after changing the resolution of the game window, and can be solved by making the window smaller.
 * The world can sometimes fail to save, resulting in lost progress when quitting.
 * Various debug keys exist.
 * freezes the camera in its current position.
 * , while also turning back time, enables a strange "bouncy" movement. It locks the player's y coordinate (meaning they cannot jump or fall). It makes the player accelerate relatively slowly when moving. The speed can be changed using mouse scroll, negative speeds revert the controls. Additionally, blocks lose their collision, however the player is still affected by solid blocks trying to push them out (as observed in normal gameplay), though if the player is moving quickly enough they can push all the way through a block. Strangely enough, negative speeds will "suck" the player into blocks on collision.
 * and change the view's rotation clockwise and counterclockwise, respectively. Holding both keys simultaneously resets the rotation.
 * and decrease and increase the field of view, respectively. These keys seem to affect the field of view differently to how the FOV option does - the player's hand (or anything the player is holding) will also become stretched as the field of view increases or decreases, which does not happen if the player changes the FOV option in the menu. Holding both keys simultaneously resets the field of view.
 * makes the player look up, looks left,  looks down, and  looks right. These movements are normally done by moving the mouse. This setting cannot be reset by holding any keys simultaneously.
 * and moves the third-person camera forwards and backwards, respectively. This setting cannot be reset by holding both keys simultaneously.

Trivia

 * Beta 1.8 Pre-release is the first pre-release for Minecraft.
 * Beta 1.8 Pre-release is also the first publicly released development version of Minecraft.
 * This version was really glitched before reupload (see images).