Java Edition 15w37a

15w37a is the twenty-third snapshot for Java Edition 1.9, released on September 10, 2015.^[1]

The Void

• Now a biome with ID 127.
  • No mobs randomly spawn in the biome.
  • Generates a single structure: a stone platform with a cobblestone center block at spawn.

Superflat

• New superflat preset: "The Void".
  • Spawns the player on a stone platform with a cobblestone center block, with the rest being air blocks and the void biome present everywhere.

NBT format

• MinecartHopper entity.
  • Enabled (byte): Determines whether or not the minecart hopper picks up items into its inventory.
    • Example: /summon MinecartHopper ~ ~1 ~ {Enabled:1b}.

Gamerules

• spectatorsGenerateChunks
  • Boolean to control whether or not spectators generate chunks on their own.
    • Defaults to true.

Farmland

• Now has an inventory icon.

Chorus Fruit

• Teleportation range reduced from ±32 to ±8.

Enchanted Golden Apples

• Regeneration level has been reduced from V to II.
• Regeneration time has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Absorption level has been increased from I to IV to balance this.

Golden Apples

• Regeneration level has been reduced from II to I.

Shields

• Now have a new crafting recipe, requiring 6 planks and an iron ingot (this removes the need for wool).
  • As a result, they now lack a base color by default: The new texture shows a wooden face.
    • Crafting a shield with a banner still yields a patterned shield.
• Arrows can now ricochet off a shield to hit other entities.

Combat

• Bows can now be used when in the offhand, in the absence of a usable item in the main hand.
• Sword attack speed increased from 1.45 to 1.6.
• Axe attack speed is now based on the type, rather than 0.8 for all (similar to the hoe).
  • Wooden and stone axes have as speed of 0.8.
  • Iron axes have a speed of 0.9.
  • Gold and diamond axes have a speed of 1.
• Certain attack damage values were changed.
  • Stone and diamond axes now deal 9 damage, instead of 8 and 10 respectively.

Hardcore

• Upon death, the player now has the choice to respawn in Spectator mode, rather than the world being deleted immediately.

Performance

• Improved chunk generation, loading and sending.^[2][3]
  • Improved rendering "by building a chunk only once where it was rebuilt up to 5 times in worst case".^[4]

20 issues fixed

From released versions before 1.9

• MC-46710 – 4 blocks wide paintings need 5 blocks space/paintings popping off wall when blocks around it are broken.
• MC-58073 – Farmland has missing texture in inventory.
• MC-79980 – Skeletons and creepers flee endlessly.
• MC-86513 – Sneak mode ends after using inventory.
• MC-88095 – Nights don't get skipped when the last player is set to Spectator mode.
• MC-88098 – When unloading a hopper minecart it gets unlocked.

From the 1.8 development versions

• MC-59061 – Zoom animation when entering (new generated) world.

From the 1.8.2 development versions

• MC-76679 – Wrong hand position after going through portal/loading world (combined with missing item).
• MC-77604 – Pushed WitherSkulls become invisible.

From the 1.9 development versions

• MC-82923 – Bow in offhand does not work properly.
• MC-86486 – Offhand sneak placing doesn't work like main hand sneak placing.
• MC-86811 – Digging with axes, shovels, and pickaxes cause the new reload/attack animation to appear.
• MC-86905 – Shields not treating shulker projectiles correctly and dosen't prevent fireball's fire damage
• MC-86989 – World/map save dates are not recorded in the newer snapshots.
• MC-87851 – When durability on bow it is 0 / 384 and shoot one more time to bugs.
• MC-87872 – Can't open command blocks after death and respawn or changing dimensions.
• MC-87877 – Command block break particles don't appear after death and respawn.

From the previous development version

• MC-87918 – Animation not playing when placing command blocks after death and respawn
• MC-88206 – Stairs/leaves disappear or replaced by doors/beetroot.
• MC-88277 – Hopper: java.lang.NullPointerException: Updating screen events.

• Unlike most of the first-of-the-week snapshots, this was released on a Thursday instead of Wednesday, similar to the snapshots before 14w26a.
• This version was previously removed from the launcher for some time, but was added back in September 2018.