The latest Minecraft patch is now available for download. This patch is primarily focused on fixing issues that have cropped up since the release of 1.6, but Notch has made a few gameplay changes as well.

• Added a new use for bonemeal
• Changed the material of glowstone from “glass” to “stone”. This means you need a pickaxe to get resources from it
• Made glowstone drop more loot
• Made the recipe sizes for creating cloth blocks and glowstone blocks smaller (2x2 instead of 3x3)
• Re-introduced unlimited FPS, renamed the option again
• Fixed beds not working very well at all in SMP
• Fixed destroying a boat spawning the player too low, causing them to sometimes fall through the ground
• Boats float up to the surface quicker
• Boats falling down into water lose their vertical momentum very fast
• Removed Herobrine

UPDATE: We already have version 1.6.2, that fixes an annoying item bug. Notch tweeted about it just minutes after the launch.


The time has come, Mojang has officially released Minecraft Beta version 1.6. This version brings over 100 bug fixes, and several new features. While we noticed alot of generalized clean ups, there were also some removal of bugs that were commonly exploited in the game.


New Additions

Craftable Maps
Players can now create craftable maps that will update as the player walks around. These maps persist server-side and can even be given to another player, providing a unique way of showing around visitors to your server.

Nether Support In SMP
We've been waiting since 1.2 to see proper Nether support in SMP, and today is finally the day. You can now create portals in SMP and they will properly teleport you to the nether, just like in single player.

Hatches
Hatches act just like doors, except they can be placed on the sky-facing side of blocks. They allow you to create a pathway down to secret caverns or other underground structures.

Tall Grass
This was one of the more subtle, yet visually plesaing additions to the game. It just made certain areas of the world seem more realistic seeing tall grass off in the distance. Destroying the grass will sometimes yield you some seeds, however those seemed to appear less frequently then we'd like.

Notable Bug Fixes


Fixed minecarts next to each other causing extreme velocities (sorry!)
This is probably going to upset alot of crafters, as this was the primary method of "boosting" minecarts. This method has been replaced, however, with the powered rails that were added in 1.5.

Beds work in nether
As the video above shows, beds are only fixed in the most destructive way. Although, this does solve the crashing that was happening before.

As Minecraft's scheduled release date looms near (11/11/11), it's good to see some of these long out standing bugs being fixed.

The Mojang staff are going to be at E3 in a little over a week demoing Minecraft: Pocket Edition, and we'll be there keeping you up to date on all the new things we find out about there.

You've seen the patch notes for Minecraft 1.6, now check out a trailer for the update coming this week. The trailer was put together by HAT Films and primarily focuses on the new map system, though it does show the tall grass being added as well.

With Minecraft patch 1.6 releasing this week and looking to be very big in terms of bug fixes, Notch decided to release the changelist early as well. We already know about the new map system and Nether in SMP, but check out the full list below for all of the fixes and tweaks as well.

• Added Nether support to multiplayer
• Added craftable maps
• Added hatches
• Added tall grass in some biomes
• Mushrooms now spreads (very) slowly
• Added server property view-distance. Sets the radius of terrain updates (in chunks) to send to the players. Range 3-15, default 10.

• It’s no longer possible to build solid blocks on the top layer of the maps (sorry!)
• Players stuck in walls will slide towards the nearest gap if there is one
• Made booster tracks speedier
• Severely nerfed fire so it spread slower, and doesn’t spread infinitely
• Seeds are now found in tall grass, using a hoe on the ground no longer works
• Blocks destroyed by other players in multiplayer now shows the breaking block particle effect
• Activated dispensers make sounds and trigger particles in multiplayer
• Doors make sound for other players in multiplayer
• The record player now supports more than 15 different songs

• Fixed running out of memory corrupting the current level
• Fixed the side textures of grass getting extra dark when mining them
• Fixed anaglyph 3d rendering mode having severe visual bugs
• Fixed the crash screen vanishing immediately
• Fixed not being able to target blocks when at x or z pos 1000
• Fixed the achievements screen messing up the sky color
• Fixed saving while sneaking dropping the player through the ground
• Fixed a system clock change messing up the game speed
• Fixed rain sounds not playing with fast graphics enabled
• Fixed hair and cloaks being rendered in the wrong locations on sneaking players
• Fixed the attack/swing animation not being applied to the armor layer
• Fixed player rotation not being loaded correctly when loading a saved game
• Fixed arrow physics, making them not get stuck midair when you open a door
• Fixed arrows hitting reeds, portals, and other non-solid blocks
• Fixed keybindings not getting saved properly under certain conditions
• Fixed the player not being able to sneak off lowered blocks like cacti
• Fixed a bug where the player could mine without swinging their arm
• Fixed boats placed on snow being placed too far up
• Fixed submerged boats rising very very fast
• Fixed sand dropping onto boats getting stuck in a falling animation
• Fixed a game crash when riding a vehicle or animal into the nether
• Fixed falling while riding not dealing damage to the rider
• Fixed buttons and levers too close to the player being impossible to use
• Fixed dispensers shooting through walls
• Fixed fire hurting through wall corners
• Fixed entities reaching water through wall corners
• Fixed placing doors next to cacti creating half-doors
• Fixed buttons and levers being placeable on leaves in “fast graphics” mode
• Fixed furnaces and dispensers not dropping their contents when destroyed
• Fixed dispensers biasing later slots
• Fixed farmland taking too long to dig
• Fixed tilling below some blocks being possible
• Fixed tilling the underside of blocks somehow working
• Fixed fences and stairs sometimes becoming invisible
• Fixed walking on top of fences not producing step sounds
• Fixed fire sometimes existing mid-air as an invisible block of pain
• Fixed fences and wooden stairs not being flammable
• Fixed fire effect on burning entities sometimes getting rendered in the wrong location
• Fixed fishing rod rendering being a bit lacking
• Fixed fishing rods being stackable
• Fixed mining glass hiding the clouds behind the glass
• Fixed rain falling through liquids
• Fixed items in glass blocks not getting ejected properly
• Fixed water interacting strangely with glass
• Fixed glass not blocking rain sound
• Fixed fences and signs preventing grass from growing
• Fixed rain and snow being incorrectly lit
• Fixed grass staying alive below stair blocks
• Fixed the achievement screen not pausing the game
• Fixed some screens breaking the sky tint color
• Fixed fullscreen mode switching causing mouse issues and screen closes
• Fixed chat messages surviving through game switches
• Fixed ice so it regenerates regardless of whether it’s snowing or not
• Fixed rain falling too slowly
• Fixed levers being placeable on weird locations
• Fixed floor levers sometimes not delivering a signal downwards
• Fixed floor levers sometimes not being removed when the floor is removed
• Fixed rail tiles sometimes not properly connecting to a new neighbor
• Fixed minecarts next to each other causing extreme velocities (sorry!)
• Fixed wolves not following their owner if the name has different caps
• Fixed creepers retaining charge level when they can’t see their target
• Fixed dying in the nether spawning new portals
• “Fixed” beds in the nether
• Fixed inventory acting weird when portaling by making the portal close all screens
• Fixed wooden pressure plates being mined with pickaxes
• Fixed redstone repeaters having the wrong particles
• Fixed saplings being plantable through snow onto non-grass blocks
• Fixed ore density varying per quadrant from the center of the world
• Fixed dispenser graphics being one pixel off. ONE PIXEL!!!
• Fixed mushrooms spawning everywhere during nights
• Fixed animals only spawning near light during the night
• Fixed the multiplayer join screen input field being too short
• Fixed IPv6 addresses being parsed wrongly. To connect to a specific port in IPv6, use the format [1234:567::1]:25565
• Fixed network packets being sent unbuffered, causing huge amounts of packets being sent
• Fixed entity positions going out of synch sometimes. They get re-synched every 20 seconds now.
• Fixed inventory icons not animating after being picked up in multiplayer
• Fixed mushroom soup not leaving a bowl in multiplayer
• Fixed entities above the map height limit becoming invisible
• Fixed healing not flashing the health bar in multiplayer
• Fixed arrows being animated really strangely in multiplayer
• Fixed arrows triggering too many entity move updates in multiplayer
• Fixed the compass not pointing at the spawn location in multiplayer
• Fixed fires being impossible to put out in multiplayer
• Fixed record players spawning client-side fake records in multiplayer
• Fixed records not playing for other players in multiplayer
• Fixed players spawning in the wrong location and quickly lerping to the correct location
• Fixed monsters not being visible for players with their difficulty set to peaceful
• Fixed pigs getting hit by lightning in multiplayer spawning client-side zombie pigmen
• Fixed loads of exploding tnt generating way too many particles, possibly crashing the client
• Fixed bonemeal use in multiplayer sometimes spawning fake client-side trees
• Fixed saplings sometimes spawning trees client-side in multiplayer
• Fixed weather sometimes changing client-side in multiplayer
• Fixed grasscolor.png and foliagecolor.png not being read from texture packs
• Fixed stats getting saved to different files in offline mode if the caps in the player name differ from the true spelling

We now have a more concrete date on Minecraft patch 1.6 going live, instead of just "next week." Notch tweeted early this morning that the patch is scheduled for a Wednesday release. He follows that up with stating that this more than likely means it will be released late Thursday. But still, we at least know the day(s) it's coming now.

He also shared more details on the bug fixes in the patch. There are 78 lines in the notes for fixes and tweaks for the patch as of this writing. Notch clarifies that these are mostly minor bug fixes, including things like fixing dispenser graphics being one pixel off. But he's also nerfed fire: it will no longer spread infinitely as of the patch.

There's also a new server view-distance property being introduced, allowing admins to choose the radius of terrain updates -- in chunks -- that are sent to players. You can tweak this anywhere from 3 to 15, with the default being 10.