What Was Added In Minecraft 1.18 – Patch Notes & Changelog

The latest addition to Minecraft is here in the form of the Caves & Cliffs Part 2 update. It completely changes the Overworld generation, with new cave biomes, larger caves, flooded caves, and taller mountains. Some features for Minecraft 1.18 were before given during 1.17’s production cycle, so some features will not be new to you. So today we will look at what was added in Minecraft 1.18, with official patch notes and Minecraft 1.18 changelog.

What Was Added in Minecraft 1.18?

These Minecraft patch notes and changelog is taken from the official minecraft.net feedback webpage. So here’s what was added in Minecraft 1.18:

1. Added an “Allow Server Listings” option to opt-out of having your name displayed in server listings
2. Added an Online options screen where you can now find the Realms Notifications option
3. Minecraft 1.18 added new Overworld biomes
4. Added noise caves and aquifers
5. Added world autosave indicator for single-player worlds
6. Axolotls now have their own, separate, mob cap
7. Axolotls now only spawn in Lush Caves when in water that is above Clay Blocks
8. Badlands Mineshafts now generate higher up
9. Buried Treasure Chests may contain a Potion of Water Breathing
10. Changed default brightness to 50
11. Cod, Salmon, Pufferfish, Tropical Fish, Squid, and Dolphins now only spawn in water from height 50 to height 64
12. Frozen Peaks biome
13. Glow Squids now only spawn in water blocks under a height of 30
14. If it is raining, sleeping will stop the rain and reset the weather cycle (in 1.17 sleeping would always reset the weather cycle)
15. Illagers (Vindicator, Pillager, Evoker) no longer attack baby villagers
16. New music has been added to the game
17. New ore distribution and large ore veins
18. Overworld build and generation limits have been expanded
19. Raised the cloud level from 128 to 192
20. Redesigned how effects look in the inventory screen, to allow them to show even with the recipe book open
21. Removed world types “Caves” and “Floating islands” from the world creation screen
22. Sprinting is no longer reduced to walking when gently brushing your sleeve against a wall
23. Tropical Fish now also spawn in Lush Caves at any height
24. Villages are slightly more spread out
25. World spawn selection algorithm has been reworked, now spawns player according to climate parameters

Advancements

1. Added “Caves & Cliffs” for falling from top to bottom of the Overworld
2. Added “Feels like home” for riding strider on lava for 50 blocks in the Overworld
3. Minecraft 1.18 added “Star Trader” for trading with a villager at the build height limit
4. Added “Sound of Music” for playing music with a jukebox in a Meadow biome

Blocks

1. Enchanting Tables now emit a low amount of light
2. Using Shears on the tip of a Cave Vine, Twisting Vine, Weeping Wine, and Kelp will stop them from further growing
3. Copper Ore now drops 2-5 (from 2-3) Raw Copper items
4. In the Stonecutter, a Block of Copper can be converted to 4 Cut Copper
5. Restricted Big Dripleaf placement to Clay, Grass, Dirt, Farmland, Moss, Rooted Dirt, Podzol, and Mycelium

Effects

1. Your list of effects are now shown to the right of your inventory, instead of the left side
2. When the inventory effects list is visible, it will be hidden from the game view to reducing screen clutter
3. There’s now two modes of seeing the effect list: Compact and Classic
   • Classic is the pre-existing list of effects, one after another
   • Compact is a single icon for each effect, suitable for small screen estate
4. The game will automatically switch between the two modes to suit the available screen estate (including having the recipe book open)

Large Ore Veins

1. Ore Veins are large, rare, snake-like underground ore formations
2. Copper Ore Veins form between height 0 and 50 and are mixed with Granite
3. Iron Ore Veins form below height -60 and -8 and are mixed with Tuff

Mob Spawning & Music

1. Monsters now only spawn in places where the light from blocks is 0 (skylight still prevents spawning like before)
2. Added new music by Lena Raine and Kumi Tanioka to the Overworld (when playing in Survival Mode) and the main menu
3. Added a new music disc from Lena Raine titled ‘Otherside’. This can be found rarely in Stronghold Corridor Chests or much more rarely in Dungeon Chests

New Overworld Biomes

Dripstone Caves

1. Contains plenty of Pointed Dripstone and Dripstone Block on the floors and ceilings, as well as within small pools of water
2. In some places, you’ll find larger stalagmites, stalactites, and columns built from Dripstone Blocks
3. Contains extra Copper Ore
4. Drowned can spawn in aquifers inside Dripstone Caves

Frozen Peaks

1. Smooth mountain peaks with ice and snow
2. Spawns Goats and Yeti. Wait, no, actually it’s just Goats

Grove

1. Snowy terrain with big Spruce Trees and Powder Snow traps. You might want to wear leather boots!
2. Tends to generate on high-altitude terrain beneath mountain peaks or on hilltops
3. Spawns Wolves, Rabbits, and Foxes

Jagged Peaks

1. Dramatic jagged mountain peaks with Snow and Stone blocks
2. Spawns Goats

Lush Caves

1. Moss covers the floors and ceilings
2. Spore Blossoms grow from the ceiling and drip particles
3. Contains Clay pools with Dripleaf plants growing out of them
4. Contains Azalea Bushes and Flowering Azalea Bushes
5. The Azalea Tree loves to have its roots in Lush Caves, so if you find an Azalea Tree (either overground or in a cave) you know there is a Lush Cave beneath you
6. Cave Vines with Glow Berries grow from the ceiling and light up the caves

Meadow

1. Large grassy and flowery biome that tends to generate high up on plateaus or next to large mountain ranges
2. Sometimes contains a lone, tall Oak or Birch Tree with a Bee Nest
3. Think Sound of Music!
4. Spawns Donkeys, Rabbits, and Sheep

Snowy Slopes

1. Very snowy terrain that can hide Powder Snow traps. I hope you kept those leather boots!
2. Tends to generate on high-altitude terrain beneath mountain peaks or on hilltops
3. Spawns Rabbits and Goats

Patch Notes & Changelog Minecraft 1.18

New Ore Distribution

1. Changed ore generation to match the new world height, and to add more strategy to mining. There is no longer a single height level that is best for all ores – you need to make tradeoffs!
2. Iron Ore generates below height 72, with a strong bias towards height 16. Iron Ore also generates above 80, with more Iron Ore as you go higher.
3. Copper Ore generates between height 0 and 96, with a strong bias towards height 48. Copper Ore generates in larger amounts in Dripstone Caves Biome.
4. Lapis Lazuli Ore generates below height 64, with a strong bias towards height 0. However, Lapis Lazuli Ore below height -32 or above height 32 cannot generate exposed to air. It will either be buried or inside water.
5. Coal Ore generates above height 0, with a strong bias towards height 96 and above. Coal Ore has reduced air exposure, so you will find more Coal Ore buried or underwater than exposed to air.
6. Gold Ore generates below height 32, with a strong bias towards height -16. Extra Gold Ore generates below height -48. Extra Gold Ore can be found in Badlands biomes above height 32.
7. Redstone Ore generates below height 16. Redstone Ore generation gradually increases as you go below height -32 and further down.
8. Diamond Ore generates below height 16, with more Diamond Ore the lower you go. Diamond Ore has reduced air exposure, so you will find more Diamond Ore buried or underwater than exposed to air.
9. Emerald Ore generates above height -16 in mountainous biomes, with more Emerald Ore the higher you go. Emerald Ore below height 0 is very rare!

Noise Caves and Aquifers

1. Noise caves are a new way of generating caves, providing more natural variety. They can get really huge sometimes! Noise caves come in three flavors:
   • Cheese caves: Like the holes in swiss cheese. These often form caverns of various sizes.
   • Spaghetti caves: Long squiggly tunnels, sometimes wide like tagliatelle
   • Noodle caves: Thinner, squigglier, and a more claustrophobic variant of spaghetti caves
2. No, they aren’t loud. The “noise” part of noise caves is a technical term and has nothing to do with sound.
3. The old cave carvers and canyons still generate, combining with the noise caves to form interesting cave systems
4. As with carvers, noise caves form cave entrances where they intersect the surface
5. An aquifer is an area with the local water level, independent of sea level
6. Aquifers are used during world generation to generate bodies of water inside noise caves
7. This sometimes results in large underground lakes
8. They can also form inside mountains and on the surface
9. Aquifers below y0 will sometimes be lava aquifers instead of water aquifers
10. Magma Blocks sometimes generated at the bottom of underground bodies of water
11. Underwater cave carvers and underwater canyons have been removed since aquifers are used to generate water in caves instead

Sprinting

• Previously, any collision with a block would reduce sprinting to walking. Now, for very minor angles of collision with a block, players retain their sprint. For larger angles of collision, the old behavior is retained.

Upgrading of Old Worlds

1. The transition between new and old terrain is less “cliffy”
   • Will surface height blend? Yes.
   • In Minecraft 1.18, will biomes blend? Yes.
   • Will caves blend? Your mileage may vary.
2. In old chunks, if there is any Bedrock at y=0, the sections below non-air blocks will be filled with new generation
3. The old Bedrock between y=0 and y=4 in old chunks gets replaced with Deepslate
4. A new Bedrock layer is placed at y=-64

World Generation What Was Added In Minecraft 1.18

1. Generation range and build limits have been expanded by 64 blocks up and 64 blocks down, to a total range of 384 blocks
2. Underground features, structures, and caves generate all the way down to y-64
3. Exception: Diorite, Granite, Andesite, and Dirt will not generate below y0
4. Tweaked size and positioning of Diorite, Andesite, and Granite generation
5. Dripstone clusters can no longer be found in normal caves, only in Dripstone Caves biomes
6. Starting from y8 and below, Deepslate gradually replaces all Stone
7. Deepslate blobs no longer generate above y0
8. The terrain shape and elevation varies dramatically, independently from biomes
   • For example, forests and deserts could form up on a hill without needing a special biome just for that
9. Less Diorite, Granite, and Andesite generates above y 60
10. Strips of Gravel can generate on stony shores
11. Swamp trees can grow in water 2 blocks deep (instead of just 1 block deep)
12. Removed water lake features, aquifers provide local water levels
13. A bunch of biome variants with similar features but different shapes have been merged into one since the shape is controlled independently now
14. Renamed some biomes
15. Geodes now only generate up to height 30

Technical

1. Added an accessibility option to stop the sky from flashing during thunderstorms
2. Added fall_from_height and ride_entity_distance advancement triggers
3. Changed nether_travel to match other similar triggers
4. Added an option to specify the audio device used by the game
5. Replaced light and barrier particles with block_marker
6. Replaced the client bound chunk update network packet with another one that additionally contains light update data
   • The separate light update packet still exists and is sent when a light update happens without a chunk update
7. New video setting called “Chunk Builder”
8. Changed the prioritization order of the chunk rendering pipeline
   • Unrendered chunk holes in the world should not appear anymore while flying fast with high render distance
9. View distance now causes chunks to load cylindrically around players instead of in a square
10. Added “Toggle Sprint” and “Toggle Sneak” to the Controls settings
11. Moved Keybinds out to their own settings screen, accessible from Controls
12. Information about the world generation noise is now displayed on the debug screen
13. Added illageralt, rune-like font from Minecraft Dungeons (currently only usable via commands)
14. Added startup option –jfrProfile and command jfr to start profiling with Java Flight Recorder as well as a few custom events
15. Loot table functions set_contents and set_loot_table now require a type field with a valid block entity type

More Technical Changes

1. Added new loot table function set_potion
2. The maximum amount of background threads are increased
3. Worlds last saved before Minecraft 1.2 (pre “Anvil”) can no longer be opened directly
4. Data pack format has been increased to 8
5. Resource pack format has been increased to 8
6. –report option in the data generator now creates reference files for the entirety of the worldgen, instead of just the biomes
7. Removed length limits for the scoreboard, score holder, and team names
8. Standalone server.jar now bundles contains individual libraries instead of being a flat archive
9. Size limit for server resource packs has been increased to 250 MB
10. Servers can now set property hide-online-players to true in order to not send a player list on status requests
11. A new setting called “Simulation Distance”
12. Mob spawners can now override light checks for spawning
13. Added telemetry for world loading

That’s everything you need to know about What was added in Minecraft 1.18 with official patch notes and Minecraft 1.18 changelog. While you are here, don’t forget to check out the list of the best Minecraft 1.18 shaders and how to download and install Optifine 1.18.