If you are looking for the normal Snapshots you can download through your launcher you'll have to wait until September. For now, the below Snapshot is a special download for testing only. You cannot play your old worlds which means you will need to create a new world specifically for this Snapshot.
Changes Compared to Caves & Cliffs: Part 1
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New world height and depth
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New mountain biomes (lofty peaks, snowcapped peaks, grove, meadow, and snowy slopes)
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New cave generation (cheese, spaghetti, and noodle caves)
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Local water levels and lava levels in the underground
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New cave biomes generate naturally underground and inside mountains (lush caves, dripstone caves)
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Natural variation in terrain shape and elevation, independently from biomes. For example, forests and deserts could form up on a hill without needing a special biome just for that.
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New ore distribution
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Large ore veins
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Integrated mountains, caves, and cave entrances
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Monsters will only spawn in complete darkness
NOTE: this snapshot is experimental, and everything is subject to change. Some features may be significantly changed or even removed if needed to improve performance. Also keep in mind that this experimental snapshot is missing some important performance improvements that we are currently working on, so things may be slow.
Installation
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Unpack the folder into your "versions" folder of your local Minecraft application data folder (see below if you are confused)
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Create a new launch configuration in the launcher and select the "pending 1.18_experimental-snapshot-1.zip" version
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Start the game and the remaining files will be downloaded
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Play in a new world! This version is not compatible with other snapshots!
You Can Find the Data Folder With These Methods
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Windows: Press Win+R and type %appdata%\.minecraft and press Ok
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Mac OS X: In Finder, in the Go menu, select "Go to Folder" and enter ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
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Linux: ~/.minecraft or /home/<your username>/.minecraft/
What About the Preview Caves & Cliffs Preview Datapack?
These changes are too big for a datapack, that's why we're doing it in a separate experimental snapshot. So for now, the experimental snapshot serves the same purpose as the datapack did before.
Can I Open Old Worlds in This Experimental Snapshot?
No, experimental snapshots can only open worlds that were created in the same version. Later on in the actual 1.18 release, you will be able to open 1.17 worlds.
What About Bedrock?
An earlier version of the experimental Caves & Cliffs world generation is available on Minecraft Bedrock. You can read about it here. We are working hard to get this new version of the world generation to Bedrock betas soon.
How to Give Feedback
Use the feedback site or this Reddit post.
We are mostly interested in feedback about the new world generation overall, and what it is like to play in it. We are also looking for feedback on the updated mob spawning. We changed so that mobs only spawn in complete darkness in order to make it easier to spawn-proof the new larger caves.
New feature requests are not so useful at this point, since the scope of the Caves & Cliffs update is already large enough and we want to focus on finishing the features that we've already announced.
Note that we don’t use the bug tracker for experimental snapshots.
When Will These Features Show Up in the Normal Snapshots?
1.18 snapshots will probably start sometime around September.
Ore Distribution
A large image for ore distribution for Minecraft 1.18 can be found here.
