‘The Wild Update’ is here in full with the latest Minecraft beta

Source: Mojang Studios | Twitter

Minecraft is hardly short on content, but that’s not stopping Mojang Studios from preparing the next major content update for the endlessly expanding creative survival game. The Wild Update is expected to release later in 2022 officially, and development has been ongoing behind-the-scenes for months. On Wednesday, development entered a new stage with the release of the first full-fledged Minecraft: Bedrock Edition beta for The Wild Update.

Minecraft: Bedrock Edition 1.19.0.20 (.21 for Minecraft Preview), is the first Bedrock Edition build that falls under the “1.19” version number and The Wild Update. While the version number itself means very little, this build includes a plethora of new features, tweaks and changes, bug fixes, technical updates, and more. It also moves all the pre-existing The Wild Update features out from the “Experimental features” toggle, making them a standard part of the beta experience.

The headling addition of the latest beta is the mangrove swamp biome, one of the new areas coming to Minecraft with The Wild Update. This biome includes the mangrove tree (including a new type of wood), mangrove roots, and brand-new mud blocks. The changelog is extensive, however, and includes far more than that one feature addition from The Wild Update.

Minecraft isn’t just one of the best Xbox games; it’s also one of the greatest games of all time. The Wild Update is arriving later in 2022 with a slew of new features, but interested players can test the first full-featured beta for the content update right now across Xbox, Windows, Android, and iOS platforms.

Unfortunately, this beta does not include any Xbox Series X|S Optimizations, and The Wild Update likely isn’t going to. Despite a recent leak, it’s been confirmed that ray tracing isn’t coming to Minecraft on Xbox Series X|S in the near future.

The full changelog for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.19.0.20 / Minecraft Preview 1.19.0.21 includes:

Features & bug fixes

The Wild Update

• The Wild Update features no longer require the experimental toggle to be enabled
• Added new The Wild Update splash screen texts
• Added new The Wild Update loading screen tips

Mangrove swamp biome

• Added Mangrove Swamp biome
• Added Mangrove Tree feature
• Added Mangrove Propagule base functionality
• Added Mangrove Roots and Muddy Mangrove Roots
• Added all the new Mangrove Wood Types

Mud

• Added Mud related block recipes
• Implemented Mud walking / sinking

Mud block

• Added base Mud block functionality
• Added Mud block sounds
• Added Mud block renewability

Mud brick blocks

• Added Mud Brick block
• Added Mud Brick sounds
• Added Mud Brick Slab / Stair / Wall blocks

Packed mud

• Added Packed Mud block

Allay

• Allay can now be leashed if it is already holding an item
• Allay can now be named by a Name Tag if it is already holding an item
• Allays now have initial sounds
• Allay now move slower when not attempting to follow its owner, and will only start following its owner from a further distance than before

Frog

• Frogs no longer croak while they are eating mobs

Gameplay

• Fixed a bug where Wardens temporarily could miss noticing vibrations, and Allays could miss noticing that Note Blocks were being played
• Stop Warden from getting angry at itself and inanimate mobs
• The Darkness effect now has a black distance fog, similar to how the Blindness effect works
• Parrots now imitate the Warden
• The Warden has a new angry listening sound
• The Warden now has updated sounds and custom death and hurt sounds
• Allow Warden to preserve anger level towards despawned entities
• Fixed eroded Badlands biome placement error that caused it to fragment

Sculk sensors

• Sculk Sensors can now detect a wider range of vibrations
• Sculk Sensors can now detect players sneaking on top of them
• Sculk Sensors cannot detect players shooting an arrow while sneaking anymore
• Sculk Sensors can now detect players falling in Lava
• Sculk Sensors can now detect players sneaking in Water
• Sculk Sensors can now detect landing projectiles
• Sculk Sensors can now detect containers being opened or closed
• Sculk Sensors can now detect Candles being placed, lit, or unlit
• Sculk Sensors can now detect players eating food or drinking potions
• Sculk Sensors can now detect Goat Horns being played
• Sculk Sensors can now detect Big Dripleaves changing their state

Accessibility

• There is now a Darkness effect strength slider in Settings that adjusts how dark the screen can get during the effect

Graphical

• Fixed a texture bug in the Warden’s bioluminescent texture where the right arm’s bottom face didn’t have bioluminescent colors
• Updated fog JSON schema to allow distance fog settings to use negative value as fog_start. Allowing nearby blocks also to be tinted with fog color
• Added adjustable fog effect that can expand or shrink over time. Users will get the sense of eyes adjusting when going into water
• Fixed a bug where the Trident, Bow, Spyglass, Crossbow, and Shield would not be visible when held by an Allay
• Fixed a bug where the Trident, Bow, Spyglass and Crossbow would not render when picked up by a Fox
• Mirrored the Spider’s left legs
• Mirrored the Wolf’s left ear and left legs
• Fixed a bug where the Brewing Stand’s arms textures did not touch the base
• Moved the Brewing Stand’s base UVs and updated the base texture
• Fixed the Brewing Stand’s arms rotation
• Fixed a bug where End Crystal beams would point far above their target blocks
• Fixed a bug causing z-fighting to occur on bottom of player’s head while wearing a Skull

Mobile touch controls

• Block highlights will no longer stay if players lift their block breaking finger off the screen while still using a second finger to move around with non-classic touch controls
• Fixed issue where Boats were not controllable with new touch controls
• Fixed issue where players were not able to descend while on top of Scaffolding
• Removed inversion of movement when in front-facing third-person camera
• Fixed issue where the Invert Y-Axis setting was not working correctly with touch controls

General

• Fixed a bug causing the Parrot’s head always to face the player while riding the player
• Fixed bug causing player to take fall damage after getting into a Bed while falling
• Fixed bug causing baby Llamas to fire llama spit from above their head
• Fixed a crash when loading a Behavior Pack with non-JSON object in entity components, component_groups, and add / remove events
• Fences and Walls no longer connect to Bells

Updated block textures

• Created a better transition between the End Portal Frame side texture and the End Stone
• Removed unused pixels in the End Rod texture
• Updated the Mycelium’s side texture to match other dirt-based textures

Wandering trader

• The Wandering Trader no longer opens or closes doors
• The Wandering Trader now randomly moves around
• The Wandering Trader now matches Java Edition’s drinking sounds
• The Wandering Trader now has disappear / reappear sound effects when gaining / losing Invisibility
• The Wandering Trader can now be named with a Name Tag (this will not prevent it from despawning)

Stability & performance

• Cleaned up leftover biome / block / light memory when leaving a world
• Fixed a crash that could occur when lightning hits a Lightning Rod in certain scenarios

User interface

• Added appropriate messaging when there is no internet connection on Xbox devices

Vanilla parity

Villagers

• Villagers will no longer begin sleeping while riding something near a Bed

Technical updates

General

• Volume instances are now stored in the world, persisting between play sessions
• Limit path strings and loc ID strings in data-driven blocks to 256 characters
• Limit the length of crafting tag strings in CraftingTableComponent to 64 characters
• Limit the number of elements in the material_instances field of the BlockMaterialInstancesComponent to 64
• Limit the number of elements in the conditions and block_filter fields of the BlockPlacementFieldComponent to 64
• Updated documentation for originand size fields of the minecraft:block_collision and minecraft:aim_collision components
• Actor properties can now be applied to player entities. Updated network protocol version to support this

Item components

• Added new data-driven Item component minecraft:chargeable — Allows the item to be charged (like Apples or Bows) when the use action button is held
• on_complete — Trigger executed when the items use duration has been completed

Commands

• Reload command will now discover new function and script files

Dedicated server

• Enable Windows Dedicated Server console to read UTF-16 encoded Unicode input

Actors

• Added in check to prevent an actor that is a passenger from being ridden by the vehicle it is on preventing an infinite loop looking for the root vehicle

AI goals

• Exposed new data parameter can_sleep_while_riding for minecraft.behavior.sleep. If set to false, the goal will not start if the mob is riding

Commands

• The /spreadplayers command will now avoid more hazardous locations

Gameplay

• Fixed crashing issue on some Marketplace worlds

Mobs

• Entities that use KnockbackRoarGoal can once again properly use entity filters to determine damage

Molang

• Fixed a crash in query.variant related to thrown potions and invalid potion IDs

Experimental features

GameTest framework

• Fixed Date.now() to no longer truncate to a 32-bit integer

mojang-gametest module

• Added function rotateVector — Rotates a vector relative to the GameTest structure rotation

mojang-minecraft module

• New property onPlayer: onScreenDisplay : ScreenDisplay — exposes a new interface to trigger on-screen content
  • ScreenDisplay type:
  • setTitle(title : String, options? : TitleDisplayOptions) — cause a title to show up on the player’s HUD, optionally specifying the subtitle and fade in, stay and fade-out times
  • clearTitle() — clear title and subtitle
  • updateSubtitle(subtitle : String) — update the subtitle (but not the title)
  • setActionBar(text : String) — set the action bar text
  • TitleDisplayOptions object:
  • subtitle? : String — optional subtitle
  • fadeInSeconds : Int — number of seconds to fade in new title and subtitle
  • staySeconds : Int — number of seconds to have the title and subtitle stay on screen
  • fadeOutSeconds : Int — number of seconds to fade out title and subtitle
• Support of dynamic properties that script can use to persist data per-World or per-Entity. Note that properties must be registered using the propertyRegistry in the new WorldInitialize event
  • DynamicPropertiesDefinition:
  • Added function defineNumber(identifier: string): void — Defines a dynamic number property
  • Added function defineString(identifier: string, maxLength: number): void — Defines a dynamic string property
  • Added function defineBoolean(identifier: string): void — Defines a dynamic boolean property
  • Added event worldInitialize(worldInitializeEvent: WorldInitializeEvent) — Fires during world load and contains the property registry used for declaring dynamic properties
  • PropertyRegistry:
  • Added function registerEntityTypeDynamicProperties(propertiesDefinition: DynamicPropertiesDefinition, entityType: EntityType) — Registers dynamic property definitions for the given EntityType
  • Added function registerWorldDynamicProperties(propertiesDefinition: DynamicPropertiesDefinition) — Registers property definitions for the world
  • World object / Entity object additions:
  • Added function setDynamicProperty(identifier: string, value: boolean | string | number) — Adds a dynamic property to the world / entity
  • Added function getDynamicProperty(identifier: string): boolean | string | number — Gets a dynamic property from the world / entity if it exists, otherwise returns undefined
  • Added function removeDynamicProperty(identifier: string): boolean — Removes a dynamic property value from the world / entity
  • New events:
  • Added event events.projectileHit — Fires when a projectile hits a Block or Entity
  • Added event events.itemStartUseOn — Sent when the player first interacts with a block
  • Added event events.itemStopUseOn — Sent when fire if the block is successfully interacted with and the block has changed — such as when grass is turned to a path with a Shovel
  • Added event events.itemStartCharge — Sent when the player first starts using a charging / animated item
  • Added event events.itemCompleteCharge — Sent when the item has completed its charge action
  • Added event events.itemReleaseCharge — Sent when the user has finished using the item and released the build action
  • Added event events.itemStopCharge — Sent either when the player has finished an items use cycle or when the player has released the use action with the item
  • ItemStartUseOnEvent added read-only property buildBlockLocation — The result build block position. Useful for determining where a block was placed
  • Added member player?: Player to the LeverActivate event — The player that activated the lever