Java Edition Beta 1.8/Development versions

This is a list of Java Edition Beta 1.8 development versions.

At PAX Prime 2011, Mojang showcased an early build of Beta 1.8 for public viewing. It was compiled on August 25, 2011^[1] and showcased during the event which started the next day.

Dead bush

• Missing a tooltip.

Vines

• Missing a tooltip.

Chest

• Uses a full block model.

Fence gate

• Missing a tooltip.
• In the inventory it appears as a flat texture: .

Cactus

• Receiving damage from cacti replenishes the hunger bar.^[2]

General

• Every mob drops ten individual experience orbs on death.
• Passive mobs do not run around upon being attacked.

Pigs

• Old models with flat snouts are used.

Endermen

• Drop 0-2 diamonds on death.

Rose

• Generates in the world.

Villages

• Can generate in any biome, even in oceans.

Deserts

• Sand generates as a single layer on top of dirt.

Swamps

• A placeholder biome takes the place of swamps.
• Shares the same flat height values as swamps.
• Uses the same colors as plains.
• Trees and short grass do not generate.

Taigas

• A placeholder biome takes the place of taigas.
• Uses the same colors as plains.
• Sparse oak trees generate.
• Short grass does not generate.

Extreme hills

• Short grass does not generate.

Ocean

• Short grass does not generate.

Inventory

• The player spawns with various tools and items when creating a world in Survival mode.

Spawn

• The player spawns in a village.

Sprinting

• Only lasts five seconds at a time with movement speed and field of view decreasing during this time period.

Heads-up display

• On top of the experience bar, if the player has attained at least one level, the player's "skill points" are displayed. These are simply three times the amount of levels that the player has.
• The version label in the top left corner of the screen is not included.

Controls

• Key binds cannot be bound to mouse buttons.^[3]
• Pressing F does not require holding down F3 to adjust fog distance.^[4]

Title screen

• The old Mojang logo is used.

Multiplayer

• The multiplayer join screen does not have a refresh button.

Lighting

• Uses old update code.^[5]

A special pre-release version of Beta 1.8 was privately given to Hat Films for the creation of the official Beta 1.8 trailer.^[6]

Experience

• Uses a "skill points" system.
  • For every level gained, the player gets three skill points.

HUD

• Shows skill points over the experience bar.
  • Also present in Creative mode.
• Does not show version number.

Extreme hills

• Don't generate with tall grass.

Village

• Can generate in any biome.

Rose

• Still generates in the world.

Disk

• Don't generate, if they have even been implemented yet.

Beta 1.8 Pre-release is the first pre-release for Java Edition Beta 1.8, that was initially privately released and then leaked, on September 8, 2011. This is the first pre-release to become available in 2011.

Beta 1.8 Pre-release was reuploaded/recompiled 23 hours after its initial compilation to fix bugs and remove some debug features.

Stone bricks

• Occur naturally in strongholds.
• Crafted using stone.

Cracked stone bricks

• Occur naturally in strongholds.

Mossy stone bricks

• Occur naturally in strongholds.

Infested blocks

• Spawn silverfish when broken.
• Infested stone bricks are occasionally found in strongholds.
• Infested stone can generate in the extreme hills biome.
• Doesn't drop when broken.
• They currently lack an in-game name.

Bricks slab

• Crafted using bricks.

Stone bricks slab

• Occur naturally in strongholds.
• Crafted using stone bricks.

Brick stairs

• Drop brick blocks.
• Crafted using bricks.

Stone brick stairs

• Occur naturally in strongholds.
• Drop stone bricks.
• Crafted using stone bricks.

Glass pane

• Crafted using glass.

Iron bars

• Appear only in strongholds and blacksmith houses.
• Crafted using iron ingots.

Fence gate

• Open when used.
• Connect to fences.
• Crafted using stick and planks.

Vines

• Can grow to nearby blocks.
• Are naturally generated in swamps.

Mushroom blocks

• Drop their corresponding mushroom.
• Generate when the player uses bone meal on a mushroom.

Pumpkin stems

• Are plants grown on farmland that, over time, grow pumpkins on farmland blocks adjacent to them.

Melon stems

• Are plants grown on farmland that, over time, grow melons on farmland blocks adjacent to them.

Melon

• Currently only obtainable by crafting using 9 melon slices.

Raw chicken

• New food item.
• Dropped by chickens.
• Restores 2 () hunger.
• Can give the player hunger effect.

Cooked chicken

• New food item.
• Restores 6 () hunger.

Raw beef

• New food item.
• Dropped by cows.
• Restores 3 () hunger.

Steak

• New food item.
• Restores 8 () hunger.

Ender pearl

• Dropped by endermen.
• Has no function.

Melon seeds

• Can be planted in farmland to grow melons.
• Crafted from melons.

Melon

• New food item.
• Drops from melon blocks.
• Restores 2 () hunger.

Pumpkin seeds

• Cannot be obtained.
• Can be planted in farmland to grow pumpkins.

Rotten flesh

• New food item.
• Dropped by zombies and zombie pigmen.
• Restores 4 () hunger.
• Can give the player the hunger effect.

Cave spider

• New variant of the spider.
• Inflicts Poison on the player.
• Has 20HP × 10.
• Spawns from spawners in mineshafts.

Enderman

• Becomes hostile to players that damage it or look directly at its face, using its arms to attack.
• Has the ability to teleport.
• Is able to carry every block.
• Makes zombie sounds.
• Emits smoke particles.
• Has 10HP.

Silverfish

• Appears when the player breaks infested blocks.
• Has 20HP × 10.

Experience orb

• Adds to the player's total experience when collected.
• Entity ID is XPOrb.
• Plays low-pitched item pickup sound upon collecting.
• Dropped by monsters and animals when they are killed.

Ravine

• Are deep and long cracks breaching the underground layers of the Overworld.

Huge mushroom

• Does not generate naturally.
• Can be artificially created by applying bone meal to a brown or red mushroom.

Extreme hills

• New biome.

Ocean

• New biome.
• Oceans existed in previous versions, however, now they exist as an actual biome, spanning thousands of blocks.

River

• New biome.
• Flows through/in between biomes.

Mineshaft

• Are underground structures primarily found underground in the Overworld.
• They consist of interlinked 3×3 tunnels with incomplete rail lines running through them, with planks platforms bridging gaps.
• Mineshafts are the only structures where cave spider monster spawners can be found.

Stronghold

• Is an underground structure in the Overworld.
• Only 1 generates per world.

Village

• Is a group or complex of buildings and other above ground structures that generate naturally in the Overworld.

Achievements

• Added Sniper Duel: "Kill a skeleton with an arrow at 50 meters".

Debug keys

• Several debug keys were accidentally left in this release. These would be removed in the reupload.
  • F9 freezes the camera in its current position.
  • F7 moves time forwards.
  • F6, 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 "suck" the player into blocks on collision.
  • N and M change the view's rotation clockwise and counterclockwise, respectively. Holding both keys simultaneously resets the rotation.
  • Y and H 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) also becomes 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.
  • I makes the player look up, J looks left, K looks down, and L looks right. These movements are normally done by moving the mouse. This setting cannot be reset by holding any keys simultaneously.
  • U and O moves the third-person camera forwards and backwards, respectively. This setting cannot be reset by holding both keys simultaneously.

Sprinting

• Activated by double-tapping W or double-tapping ⇧ Shift while moving.^[7]

Hunger

• Is a feature exclusive to the player, which is required for natural health regeneration and sprinting.
• Decreases when the player does certain actions, like when being hurt, jumping and mining.
• Food no longer heals directly, but indirectly: if the food meter is above 90%, heals every 4 seconds.
• If the food meter is at 0%, the player starves and loses hearts every 4 seconds.
• It can be restored by eating food.

Experience

• Currently has no use.

Critical hits

• Do more damage depending how close the player was to the ground while falling.

Creative gamemode

• Infinite access to almost every item.
• No health, except when falling into the void.
• Food is not edible.
• Flying by double tapping ␣ Space.
• Increased reach.

Effects

• Added obtainable status effects:
  • Regeneration, which increases health slowly.
    • Obtained after eating a golden apple.
  • Hunger, which decreases the hunger bar.
    • Obtained after eating rotten flesh or raw chicken.
  • Poison, which hurts the player.
    • Obtained when being hurt by a cave spider.
• Added unobtainable status effects:
  • Speed, Slowness, Haste, Mining Fatigue, Instant Health, Instant Damage, Water Breathing, Nausea, Strength, Weakness, Jump Boost, Resistance, Fire Resistance, Invisibility, Blindness and Night Vision.

Fog

• Now changes color during sunrise and sunset when looking toward the sun.

Void fog

• Increases darkness at extreme depths.
• Decreases field of vision.

/gamemode

• Changes the gamemode.

Main menu

• Revamped the main menu by adding an animated menu panorama.^[8]

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).
• "Attack", "Use Item", and "List Players" can now be remapped.
• Added the brightness option.

Particles

• Added crit, hugeexplosion, townaura, and depthsuspend.
  • Performing a critical hit on any mob causes 'sparks' to fly.
  • Explosion particles are now shockwaves instead of smoke.
  • Tiny stationary bubble particles can be seen when underwater.
  • Fog is now thicker and darker deep underground, and gives off particles. Due to this, the void appears black.

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!

Cake

• Now a slice of cake restore 3 (), instead of 3HP.

Ferns

• Ferns no longer generate naturally.

Chests

• Texture changed from .
• Added an opening and closing animation .
• 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 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

• Texture changed from .
• Now when lava is touched by rain, it emits smoke particles.

Leaves

• Player-placed leaves no longer decay.

Moss stone

• Texture changed from .

Obsidian

• Can now be mined by an iron pickaxe or moved by an enderman.

Stone pressure plate

• Can now be placed on fences.

Cobblestone slab

• Renamed from "Stone Slab" to "Cobblestone Slab".

Torch

• Their model is no longer always rendered in full brightness.

Water

• Changed texture from .

Wooden pressure plate

• Can now be placed on fences.

Apples

• Now restore 4 (), instead of 4HP.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Bow

• Behavior has been overhauled; they now need to be charged in order to fire.
  • Arrows from bows now damage in accordance with the charging time.
  • Added new textures visible in hand, in order to indicate their charge .

Bread

• Now restore 5 (), instead of 5HP.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Cooked fish

• Now restore 5 (), instead of 5HP.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Cooked porkchop

• Changed the texture from .
• Now restore 8 (), instead of 8HP.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Cookie

• Now restore 1 (), instead of 1HP.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Golden apples

• Now restore 10 (), instead of 20HP × 10 health points.
• Also give Regeneration for 30 seconds.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Mushroom stew

• Now restore 8 (), instead of 10HP.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Raw fish

• Now restore 2 (), instead of 2HP.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Raw porkchop

• Now restore 3 (), instead of 3HP.
• Can now be stacked up to 64.
• Now takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.

Shears

• Can now collect fern, grass and vines.

Swords

• Added blocking.
  • Negates 50% of the incoming damage.

Passive mobs

• No longer despawn.
• Randomly flee if attacked by the player or other mobs.

Hostile mobs

• Perform attack animations.

Pigs

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

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.

Zombies

• Now drop rotten flesh instead of feathers.

Arrows

• Hit a mob visually "stick" into the mob rather than just disappear.

Players

• Unarmed damage was decreased from 2HP to 1HP.
• The player can now jump four blocks horizontally by sprinting.

General

• 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.
• The sea level has been decreased by one block (64 to 63).

Desert

• Larger than before.

Forest

• Wolves now spawn more often.

Plains

• Larger than before.

Swamp

• They are a much more vibrant green color.
• They have a new tree type, swamp oaks, 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

• No longer generate with snow or ice.

Clouds

• Height raised to the top of the map.
• Can no longer phase through blocks.
• Movement now syncs with the game's time.

Controls

• Holding  Left Mouse Button with a weapon now only swings once.
• Holding  Right Mouse Button to place blocks is slightly slower than before.
• Player list in multiplayer, defaults to ↹ Tab.

Daylight cycle

• No longer require chunk updates and is a smooth transition.
• A few tweaks to sunrise and sunset:
  • Clouds change color during sunrise and sunset to match the sky color.
  • Horizon, specifically haze changes color more vividly during sunset and sunrise.

HUD

• Armor bar moved to above hearts, due to hunger bar.
• The version tag appears outside of the debug screen again.

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.

Weather

• Rain and snow now render faster.

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".

Splash

• Removed duplicate "Check it out!"

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.

Far Lands

Seasonal forest

Rainforest

Shrubland

Savanna

Tundra

Ice desert

• This biome did not generate in previous versions, so its removal has no effect on regular gameplay.

Beach

Gravel beach

• All removed biomes convert to a new biome (if generated).

Mob

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

Monster

• Removed the monster as an entity, however, their AI is still in the code.

Controls

• Removed the ability to change the fog level using F.

Distance effects

• The 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 reduced from 32,000,000 to 30,000,000.

Options

• "Toggle Fog" can no longer be remapped.

1 bug fixed

• Fixed stairs, cactus, farmland, pressure plate, fence, cake, snow layer, button, and trapdoor items being too big.

The following bugs were fixed in the reupload.

5 bugs reported

• 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 generates.
• Various models often become corrupted.
• Screenshots can sometimes fail to save, printing an error into the chat: Failed to save: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Number of remaining buffer elements is x, must be at least y. Because at most y elements is required, regardless of actual returned element count, where x and y are two numbers, with y being less than x. 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.

Beta 1.8 Pre-release was reuploaded/recompiled approximately 23 hours after its initial compilation, to fix several bugs and remove some debug features that were accidentally left in the game.

Debug keys

• Removed several debug keys that were accidentally left in the pre-reupload version.

4 bugs fixed

From the previous development version

• Villages and strongholds now generate correctly.
• Fixed an issue where some models would become corrupted.
• Fixed screenshots failing to save with a java.lang.IllegalArgumentException error.
• Fixed the world failing to save.

Beta 1.8 Pre-release 2 ;) [sic] is the second and final pre-release for Java Edition Beta 1.8, released on September 13, 2011.^[9][10]

An earlier variant of this version, from September 12, 2011, has also been found. In the earlier version, dead bushes are missing their tooltip, but apart from that and some other minor code differences, this version is identical. It is unknown if the September 12 version was publicly released.

Options

• "Pick Block" can now be remapped.
• "Toggle Fog" can be remapped once again.

Cracked stone bricks

• Cracked stone bricks now drop themselves instead of regular stone bricks.

Dead bushes

• Now have a tooltip.

Grass block

• Name changed from "Grass".

Mossy stone bricks

• Mossy stone bricks now drop themselves instead of regular stone bricks.

Vines

• Now spread infinitely down, but do not spread if there are more than four other vine blocks nearby.

Bone meal

• Can now be used on pumpkin seeds and melon seeds.
• Huge mushrooms can only be made if a mushroom is planted on grass or dirt.

Swords

• Blocking now works in multiplayer.

Cave spiders

• Now apply Poison for a shorter duration on Normal and no longer apply it at all on Easy instead of applying the full duration regardless of difficulty.

Squid

• Now drop experience orbs when killed.

Mineshaft

• Their density is now significantly decreased.
• Generate about 2.5 times as often.

Stronghold

• Increased stronghold count to three per map instead of one.

Controls

• Fog key mapped to F.
• F6 and F7 working as a result of left-in debug code not being removed.