Java Edition 23w40a

23w40a is the first snapshot for Java Edition 1.20.3, released on October 4, 2023,^[1] which improves shields, changes chat component serialization, and fixes bugs.

Tag

• Added following damage type tag:
  • #can_break_armor_stand: contains player_attack and player_explosion.
    • Used for damage types that can incrementally knock down armor stands.
• Added following entity tags:
  • #can_breathe_under_water: contains #undead, axolotl, frog, guardian, elder_guardian, turtle, glow_squid, cod, pufferfish, salmon, squid, tropical_fish, tadpole, and armor_stand.
    • Used to disable drowning.
  • #undead: contains #skeletons, #zombies, wither, and phantom.
  • #zombies: contains zombie_horse, zombie, zombie_villager, zombified_piglin, zoglin, drowned, and husk.

Decorated pot

• Now, if block state cracked is set to true, decorated pots always shatter when broken.

Shield

• When a player is blocking with a shield, the arm with the shield now follows the direction the player is looking at, when viewed from third person perspective.

Data pack

• The pack format version is now 19.

Raw JSON text format

• Plain-text chat components (text, no sibilings, no stylings) are now always serialized as string instead of {"text": "your text"}.
• Chat components now serialize to NBT when sent over network.
• Chat components now have an optional type value (allowed values: text, translatable, score, selector, nbt, and keybind) to speed up parsing and improve error checking.
• id field in show_entity hoverEvent style now also accepts UUID as an array of 4 integers.
• Numeric and boolean arguments for translate component are no longer converted to string.
• The following JSON component representations are no longer accepted:
  • null
  • []
• Errors in following style fields are no longer silently ignored:
  • color
  • clickEvent
  • hoverEvent
  • hoverEvent[action=show_entity].contents.name
  • hoverEvent[action=show_item].contents.tag

Tag

• Added skeleton_horse into #skeletons entity tag.

22 issues fixed

From released versions before 1.20

• MC-47607 – Barrier particles aren't shown if particles are set to minimal.
• MC-50647 – Slime mob spawners spawn slimes only in slime chunks.
• MC-78314 – (Marker) Armor stands create bubbles in water.
• MC-109101 – Shields do not block damage while the player faces straight up.
• MC-114761 – Area effect cloud applies effect to dying mob.
• MC-172398 – Fire texture renders according to the player's rotation in the player inventory.
• MC-221558 – Light particles aren't shown if particles are set to minimal.
• MC-227255 – Beehives and bee nests do not rotate/mirror correctly in structure blocks.
• MC-236946 – Shield attack vector is normalized incorrectly.
• MC-247421 – Console spam: "Error starting SoundSystem. Turning off sounds & music".
• MC-253819 – Bells don't rotate correctly when loaded by structure/jigsaw blocks.
• MC-254850 – An operator can kick a host of a LAN world.
• MC-255173 – Nether portal teleportation is inaccurate at large coordinate values.
• MC-260341 – Death screen can remain after respawning using the Unsafe Link Warning.
• MC-263123 – Mending incorrectly calculates overflow after full repair.

From 1.20.1

• MC-261303 – Decorated pots have an unused "cracked" block state.
• MC-264748 – GLX._initGlfw Treats Pointer as a String.
• MC-265353 – Clocks and Compasses in Item Display Entities don't show correct time/direction.

From 1.20.2

• MC-265462 – Sending resource pack during play phase shows loading terrain screen for a long time.
• MC-265519 – Game minimizes when certain areas of the screen are clicked on Mac in fullscreen mode.
• MC-265589 – Brigadier exception can be repeatedly logged if command has invalid syntax.
• MC-266196 – Signs and hanging signs become non-editable by right-click after modifying one line message to an empty text string with a specific color.