When online, it can get it from http://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/versions/versions.json
But when it doesn't have an internet connection, it must store it somewhere offline. Where is that? What folder is it in on my computer? I know it must be somewhere, because when you are configuring your profile in the launcher, you can set the version of Minecraft you want to use, even when you don't have an internet connection. But I can't find it. It isn't in the main Minecraft folder (c:\users\MYNAME\appdata\roaming\.minecraft) or any sub directory of that folder. I was thinking, if I modded one of my Minecraft jars, but wanted to also have available an unmodded copy, I could create a separate folder to put the modded jar file in, and then just add a reference to this folder in the file that has a list of all the versions of Minecraft, so that the mod would be its own separate version of the game, as far as the launcher was concerned. However, I don't know where on the computer to find this version list file. Anybody here know what folder to find it in?
I don't think there is a file. When I'm offline the versions that are available are the ones that I have previously downloaded, i.e. the ones that exist in .minecraft/versions Each directory under there has a json file that describes what it is. Probably MC just scans this folder. having another file that lists these is just one more thing to maintain and worry about being out of sync.
But when it doesn't have an internet connection, it must store it somewhere offline. Where is that? What folder is it in on my computer? I know it must be somewhere, because when you are configuring your profile in the launcher, you can set the version of Minecraft you want to use, even when you don't have an internet connection. But I can't find it. It isn't in the main Minecraft folder (c:\users\MYNAME\appdata\roaming\.minecraft) or any sub directory of that folder. I was thinking, if I modded one of my Minecraft jars, but wanted to also have available an unmodded copy, I could create a separate folder to put the modded jar file in, and then just add a reference to this folder in the file that has a list of all the versions of Minecraft, so that the mod would be its own separate version of the game, as far as the launcher was concerned. However, I don't know where on the computer to find this version list file. Anybody here know what folder to find it in?