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Template:1.9, the first release of the Combat Update,[1] is an upcoming major update to Minecraft with no set release date. Dinnerbone has stated that many of the features he has shown for 1.9 are not “100% final”, so things may change later.[2]

Additions

General

World selection screen
  • Worlds now display the version they were last played in or "unknown" if the version was older than snapshot 15w32a.
    • The version number will display in red if it has been played in a newer version before.
  • Now displays a thumbnail per world, showing a glimpse of the world (it takes a screenshot when you have just created or opened it for the first time in the 15w32b snapshot or higher).
    • When the world hasn't been opened in snapshot 15w32b or before, or if the game couldn't make a screenshot thumbnail, there will be a gray-scale image.
    • The thumbnail will be saved in the world folder under .minecraft/saves with the name "icon.png".
      • This allows the player to modify it easily and safely.
    • An exclamation mark will appear on top of the thumbnail, indicating that the world has not been played in the current snapshot yet.
      • It displays a message when hovered over: "Don't forget to backup this world before you load it in this snapshot."
      • It will also warn if a world was played in a newer version of minecraft, telling the player that the world may corrupt if they open it in an older version.
  • The player can now click the play arrow on the thumbnail to open the world, just like a server.
Statistics
  • sneakTime
    • Tracks the amount of ticks the player has held the sneak key, regardless if the player was moving.

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 for right-hand players and vice versa).
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 his/her main hand and a torch in their other hand, right clicking will place the torch.
      • This happens because 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 F (by default) will switch 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)
  • Only the main hand can be used for attacking.
    • Even bows can't be used while in the offhand.
  • Bows can be used when something else is in the offhand.
    • Arrows in the offhand take priority over arrows in any slot.
  • The offhand model is invisible in first person view while it's empty.
  • Some attributes and enchantments will apply to the offhand item, while others will not.
Status effects
  • Levitation:
    • Received when the player is hit by 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:
      • Effect level 255 does nothing.
      • Effect level 254 results in slow fall (similar to lunar gravity).
  • Glowing:
    • Received when players or mobs are hit by spectral arrows.
    • Makes player's outline glow, even through non-transparent blocks.
      • The outline includes the models of the currently held items and worn armor.
    • 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.

Command format

Scoreboard
  • Added /scoreboard players tag ...
    • The player can add and remove tags for any entity based on NBT tags of that entity/player.
      • For example /scoreboard players tag @a test {OnGround:0b} will add the tag "test" to all players that are in the air.
    • Tags can be accessed by using the parameters after the selector; /give @a[tag=test] stone 1 will give 1 stone to all players that have the tag "test".
    • The player can use /scoreboard players tag <player> list to see what tags are on an entity.
    • Tags are stored in the playerdata file as strings, not in the scoreboard files.
      • This means that any tag the player binds has to be bound to an existing online player or an existing entity.
      • Unlike objectives, tags cannot be displayed anywhere on the HUD or inventory.
        • Only via the list subcommand can the player see which tags an entity has on the chat.
  • Added three new objective types: XP, hunger and oxygen.
    • "xp" can be used to track the players exact XP level, without any intermediate steps.
    • "food" can be used to track the hunger level of the player (ranges from 0 to 20).
    • "air" can be used to see how long the player has been underwater.
      • Starts at 300 (out of water) and then decreases 1 per tick as long as the player´s head is underwater (resets when the player gets out of the water).
      • The water breathing effect freezes the timer and the respiration enchantment slows down the countdown from 300, each time more with each level.
NBT tags
  • LeftHanded
    • Boolean tag that controls the dominant hand of mobs.
    • Set to "0" for right handed mobs and "1" for left handed mobs.
  • ArmorItems and HandItems
    • Used to specify the armor worn and items held by specific mobs respectively.
  • ArmorDropChances and HandDropChances
    • Used to specify the dropping chances of worn armor and held items of specific mobs respectively.

World generation

The End
  • Generates an infinite 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.
End City
  • Generates on the new outer end islands.
  • Dungeon-type structure fashioned like a branching tower made of endstone and many of the new blocks.
    • Resembles a tree house.
  • Contains loot inside of chests.
  • Generates with shulkers in it.
End ship
  • It sometimes generates up in the air next to the end city dungeon.
    • It always appears to sail form what appears to be a pier.
    • Composed of many of the same materials.
  • Generates with shulkers in it.
  • Has a pumpkin, a dragon head, a brewing stand with potions of healing and other various loot.
Chorus trees
  • Generate on the outer islands of the End.
  • Tree-like arrangements of the new chorus plant and chorus flower blocks.
  • The whole structure is destroyed when the bottom-most block is destroyed, like 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.
End Gateway Portal
  • A small structure consisting of an end gateway block and two little bulbs of bedrock, at both the bottom and the top.
    • It is 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 enderpearls at it, or by riding pigs, boats or minecarts.
      • The player will get teleported to somewhere on the outer end islands.
      • The final location of the player depends on what angle the player entered or at what angle the enderpearl was thrown at.
  • One of them is created for each dragon kill.
    • Up to 20 are possible this way.
    • Placed in a radius around the end portal.
    • Another one is also created everytime the player uses it to teleport to a new location.
      • So both gateways are linked, and the player has a way back.

Blocks

Chorus flower
  • Spawn on the top of the chorus trees.
  • Breaks if the supporting block below is broken.
    • It only drops when mined directly.
  • Can only be planted on end stone in any dimension.
  • It will show a different texture when it stops growing.
Chorus plant
Dragon head
  • While a player wears the head and moves, the head's mouth opens and closes repeatedly.
  • When powered with redstone while it's placed on solid block, the jaw starts to open and close.
    • It will keep the mouth position of the exact moment it was unpowered.
End Gateway
  • A portal block used to transport the player to the new outer regions of the end.
    • The texture is identical to the end portal block, but the model is that of a full block rather than plane.
  • The player cannot use pick block or /give to obtain it.
  • Naturally generates after killing the dragon and traveling someplace new in the End with it.
  • Shows yellow beacon beam when created and used.
End rod
  • Generates in the End city dungeons.
  • Placeable horizontally and vertically.
    • The model has a little base that is oriented against the block it was placed on.
      • If it's placed on top of another rod, then it will have the opposite orientation.
  • Produces 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.
End stone brick
  • Generates in the End city dungeons.
  • Can be crafted with 4 blocks of end stone.
Grass path
  • Are 15/16 block high
  • Obtainable by right-clicking grass with a shovel.
    • Drains the shovel's durability.
  • Drops dirt, even when using silk touch.
  • Cannot be obtained in the creative inventory.
    • But unlike farmland, it can be obtained by using the pick block key in creative.
Purpur block
Purpur pillar
  • Generates in the End city dungeons.
  • Can be crafted with purpur slabs.
Purpur stairs
  • Generates in the End city dungeons.
  • Can be crafted with purpur blocks.
Purpur slab
  • Generates in the End city dungeons.
  • Can be crafted with purpur blocks.
Structure block
  • Only placable via /setblock, but unusable.
  • It has an "S" on the texture.
  • It has different modes.

Items

Arrows
  • New spectral arrow:
    • The tip is gold colored in both the item and the entity model.
    • Shows mob and player outlines in their respective team color when hit – even when invisible.
    • NBT tag for entities to disable outlines.
    • NBT tag to force outline: {Glowing:1b}.
    • The glowing is a status effect.
    • Crafted by surrounding an arrow with 4 glowstone dust.
      • Yields 2 spectral arrows.
  • Arrows can be tipped with potions.
    • 14 new arrow types in total.
    • Each differently tipped arrow is available in the creative menu, just like enchanted books.
    • Corresponding effect is applied on hit.
Beetroot
  • Restores 1 (🍗).
  • Spawns naturally in villages.
  • Can be used to craft beetroot soup.
  • Can also be used to craft rose red dye.
Beetroot soup
Beetroot seeds
  • Used to grow beetroots.
Chorus fruit
  • Obtained from chorus plants.
  • Can be eaten even if the player is not hungry, similar to golden apples.
    • Teleports the player to a random nearby location when eaten (like an enderman).
    • Does not heal hunger points if the hunger bar is full.
      • Otherwise it will heal 4 (🍗🍗).
  • Can be cooked in the furnace to obtain Popped Chorus Fruits.
Popped chorus fruit
Shulker spawn egg
  • Used to spawn a shulker.
  • Purple with darker purple spots.

Mobs

Shulker
  • Short for "Shell Lurker".
  • A hostile mob with the appearance of a purple block.
    • Only spawns on the ground or at the walls of end cities when they first generate.
  • When attacking, it opens its shell on a spinning animation revealing the creature inhabiting.
    • The creature looks a like a little white cube with big eyes.
    • Its attack consists in shooting projectiles.
      • The projectiles chase the player until it's out of range
        • They can only move along one of the three grid axes at a time and on integer steps.
      • 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.
    • It has an idle animation where it opens its shells a little to peak through.
  • It can be pushed by pistons and resists being placed on any position that isn't 3 integers (except if they are on minecarts).
  • It can teleport like an enderman.
    • It 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).
  • It's one of the few entities (apart from boats and minecarts) that can be stood on.
    • It even displaces the player properly during its attacking and idle animations.

Changes

General

Options
  • Removed the Broadcast Settings section.
  • Removed Super Secret Settings and Alternate Blocks from video settings.
Bosses
  • Proper support for multiple bosses’ health bars, so they show at the same time without obstructing each other.
Damage tooltips
  • Now read "When in main hand:"
Death messages
  • Death messages will now be displayed on the player's death screen as well as in the chat.
Resource packs
  • The required pack version number was changed to "2" in pack.mcmeta.
    • Older resource packs require user acknowledgment to use.
  • 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.
Structure data
  • Now comes from /assets/structures.
Particles
  • Are no longer entities.
    • This will reduce memory usage to increase performance.

Gameplay

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.
Status effects
  • Status effect icons are now displayed on the HUD on the right hand corner, instead of just in the inventory (similar to 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.

Command format

NBT Tags
  • CustomNameVisible:true will make 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.
  • Introduced a limit on the amount of tags an entity can have (1024 tags).
    • If it's surpassed, then it displays an error message saying: "Cannot add more than 1024 tags to an entity."

World generation

The End
  • A set amount of differently-sized obsidian pillars are arranged in a circular fashion.
    • The tallest pillars have iron bars around their ender crystal.
      • This makes it so that you have to climb some of the pillars, making the fight harder.
  • The exit portal is pre-generated at the center of the island, but without the dragon egg and portal blocks.
  • New outer regions of the end with "satellite islands" spread through a radius.
    • Mini islands generate between the center and main islands.
    • End islands and mini end islands have chorus trees spread throughout them.
The Nether
  • Removed the Nether fog.
Villages

Blocks

Dead bushes
  • Will now drop anywhere between 0–2 sticks.
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.
Trapdoors
  • No longer require supporting blocks.
    • Therefore they can be moved by pistons freely.
Stairs
  • Are now rotated 90° in the inventory.
Pressure Plates
  • Have now a slightly thinner item model.
Glass panes & Iron bars
  • Glass panes/iron bars without any connecting blocks are now 2x2 pixels in footprint.
    • This is compared to the big cross configuration that was default.

Items

Bows
  • Now shows an animation for drawing back an arrow in the hotbar/inventory.
  • Arrows in the off hand are prioritized over arrows in the rest of the inventory slots.
Ender pearls
  • Can now be thrown in creative mode.
Maps
  • Now display as a mini map when held in the off hand, or if the off-hand slot is occupied.
    • The (old) large version is only visible when held in the dominant hand with both hands free.
Fishing rods
  • Casting fishing rods now has an animation in the hotbar/inventory.
Potions
  • Mixed potions' colors now blend.
  • Numeric IDs are no longer used. Instead an NBT "Potion" tag is used.
    • e.g. /give <target> minecraft:potion 1 0 {Potion:"minecraft:swiftness"}.
  • 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.
  • Glowstone dust or redstone can no longer be added to extended or tier-II potions respectively.
  • Most recipes for the Potion of Weakness were removed (see: brewing for all the removed recipes).

Mobs

All Mobs
  • Have a 5% chance to spawn left-handed.
    • Mobs able to hold items will hold them according to their dominant hand.
Ender dragon
  • Similar to the one on console edition.
  • The dragon can be re-spawned indefinitely many times, by creating a creeper face configuration out of clay in the End.
    • Subsequent dragons will spawn new gateways up to a total of 20, but won't drop XP or create new dragon eggs.
  • No longer takes damage from snowballs, eggs or fishing rods.
  • Its AI and attacks has been changed:
    • The "charge" attack has been given a great amount of knockback.
    • Breathes fire/purple particles (called "ender acid") on players and mobs while on top of the portal.
      • During the attack, it knockbacks and damages all players on all angles in the vicinity.
      • Immediately charges the player right after.
    • Shoots special projectiles at the player called "dragon breath".
    • Defends the obsidian pillars more, the further the fight progresses.
    • Flies back to the portal once it gets killed.
Villagers
  • Farmer villagers now harvest beetroot.
Skeletons
  • Have an animation for lifting up and drawing back their bow.
  • Mapmakers can make skeletons shoot potion-tipped arrows.
Endermen
  • Remain aggravated towards the player despite being in contact with water.
  • Drop the block they were holding when killed.
Pigs
Chickens
Creepers, skeletons & zombies
    • Must be closer to notice players wearing the corresponding mob head.

Non-mob entities

Projectiles
  • Slightly altered the path of projectiles.[3][verify]
Armor stands
  • Can now be summoned to dual wield with commands.

Planned additions

General

Captions/Subtitles[4][5]
  • Subtitles which display for each sound for the hard of hearing/deaf.[6]
    • An example would be “Creeper hissing”.[7]
    • Would have "<" or ">" to point in the direction this sound is coming from.[5]

Gameplay

Brewing
  • Possibly new potions.[8]
Enchanting
  • Possibly new enchantments.[8]

Blocks

New block type[9]
  • Uncertain if he was referring to an already added block.

Items

Shields[10]
  • Will be used for blocking instead of a sword. [11]
  • Can be used to allow attacking and defending at the same time.
  • Shields can be crafted with a banner to add custom patterns.[12]
  • Used to block attacks from the side the shield is held on.
  • Sounds will be played for when you blocked an attack.[13]

Non-mob entities

Craftable ender crystals
  • A version of the ender crystal that can be crafted, which spawns another dragon when placed.[14]

Planned changes

General

Statistics
  • Two new columns for the statistics screen[15]

Command format

  • /clone will be able to rotate and mirror structures.

Blocks

Command blocks
  • Will have a new UI.[16]
  • Will support tab to complete.

Items

Swords
  • Can no longer be used for blocking.

Mobs

Hostile mobs
  • Will now have different animations to show that they are attacking.

Non-mob entities

Splash Potions
  • The particle of the potion will stay for a small amount of time where it landed.[17]
    • During this time, if a mob walks into the particles, it will get the potion effect.
      • Dinnerbone has said that it wont work exactly like this, because he changed some things for demonstration.[18]

Fixes

28 issues fixed
From released versions before Template:1.9
  • MC-438 – Ender pearl can't be used in creative mode
  • MC-849 – Eating a food item / drinking potion / curing zombie has a chance of also consuming a second food item / potion without any animation
  • MC-1537 – Sometimes doors in strongholds are misplaced
  • MC-1663 – Dying while having a gui window open doesn't make appear the death screen
  • MC-1956 – Arms misplaced in skeletons with a bow
  • MC-2490 – TNT animation ends at 80 ticks, ignores fuse length changes.
  • MC-2768 – Ladder Bug with Trapdoors
  • MC-2835 – Resizing the Minecraft window while dead grays out the Respawn/Exit to Menu buttons and several other screens
  • MC-2963 – Left hand covers corner of held map when riding an entity and switching the perspective
  • MC-4474 – Boss health bar temporarily viewable after respawn and loading another world
  • MC-4491 – Cast Fishing Rod Looks Like Stick in 3rd Person
  • MC-5404 – Name Tags/XP Orbs/Splash Potions are angled in third-person mode
  • MC-14826 – Lead break / disappear on game restart or chunk reload
  • MC-30481 – Enchanted fishing rod doesn't glow when fishing
  • MC-42841 – Incorrect Creative Instant Health Damage value
  • MC-47526 – Ender Crystal entity spawning 1 block too low
  • MC-48730 – Nametags still show while player is invisible and on team
  • MC-53897 – Torches in Villages, Stronghold, & End exit portal spawned dropped
  • MC-56268 – Breaking the bedrock below an Ender Crystal (in the End) creates performance drops, rapidly flickering light
  • MC-67952 – XP Orbs have graphical bugs when looking straight down
  • MC-68062 – Boss health bar only visible when looking at boss
  • MC-69320 – Data tag output by /entitydata and /blockdata contains too many commas
  • MC-74113/entitydata NoAI on Ender Dragon causes it to rapidly vibrate
  • MC-75082 – End music will stop every time the ender dragon loads out of view
  • MC-77686 – Weird pixels in top-left corner of hand-held maps
  • MC-78918 – "Java" isn't capitalized in Twitch message about diverging architecture
  • MC-83964 – Blindness And Night Vision Doesn't Create Complete Blindness Anymore
  • MC-84262 – Zombies Still Follow in Creative

Trivia

  • This is now the longest wait for a major update to Minecraft, with 3360 days now having elapsed since the release of 1.8 on September 2, 2014.
    • Until this point, the longest waits had been those between 1.7.2 and 1.8 (312 days), and between 1.2.1 and 1.3.1 (153 days).
  • This has also been the longest span of time between the release of a major update to Minecraft and a snapshot for the next major update, with 330 days having elapsed between the release of 1.8 on September 2, 2014, and 15w31a on July 29, 2015.

References

  1. "Darn, I hoped this would go unnoticed for a few days. Well spotted, @3ddeters. http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/co …"@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, April 1, 2015
  2. "Worth noting: things about 1.9 that I tweet are not 100% final, that's why there's no snapshots and not much info. Things may change further"@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, May 28, 2015
  3. https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/3f7m2y/minecraft_snowball_projectile_changes_snapshot/
  4. "Super rough and initial work on closed captions/subtitles: https://gfycat.com/DefinitiveInex … - needs some more work, but I think it's getting there."@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 9, 2015
  5. a b "Another attempt of how subtitles could work in Minecraft: https://gfycat.com/LinedShyAppalo … - feedback welcome, is it better or worse than last one?"@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 16, 2015
  6. "And now back to working on subtitles for hard of hearing players :)"@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 9, 2015
  7. "Whilst watching a talk on accessibility yesterday, I realized how to add captioning ("[creeper hissing]") to MC. Hope it helps some people."@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 6, 2015
  8. a b https://mojang.com/2015/07/minecraft-snapshot-15w31a/
  9. "This reddit post made me happy about a new block type we're working on for 1.9... http://i.imgur.com/Rg7HYOw.png"@jeb_ (Jens Bergensten) on X, March 3, 2015
  10. "After reading a lot of helpful feedback on /r/MinecraftSuggestions, I reworked the new inventory slots a little. https://gfycat.com/CoordinatedCom …"@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, May 22, 2015
  11. "@CraftyCore That was only removed because it was a bug. In 1.9, swords don't block; shields do - you can block and hit at the same time."@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, May 28, 2015
  12. https://youtu.be/Minecon&t=21m11s
  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ9LoyyuWgE
  14. https://youtu.be/Blkh2fxo6iY&t=5m11s
  15. https://twitter.com/seargedp/status/630837692490731520
  16. http://limitedengagement.net/podcasts/010-the-future-of-minecraft/#more-114 at 1:47:25
  17. https://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/630765822559043584
  18. https://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/630766964798042112


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