This week's snapshot brings you some tweaks, bugfixes, and technical changes!

We also have a survey up so that you can tell us what you think about the Nether Update. You can find it by clicking here. We would very much appreciate if you could take the time and fill it out.

New Features in 20w17a

Added an Entity Distance scale option ranging from 50% to 500%
Difficulty and game rules can now be changed from "Create World" screen

Changes in 20w17a

Improved Smithing Table UI
Ruined portals now spawn less frequently
Renamed "Soul Fire Torch" and "Soul Fire Lantern" to "Soul Torch" and "Soul Lantern"
Tweaked Bastion Remnant loot
Walls now create posts under more things, like pressure plates and banners
The "Singleplayer" button will jump directly to "Create World" screen if there are no worlds to select

Technical Changes in 20w17a

Block storage format in chunks slightly changed to speed up various tasks (rendering, pathfinding, world generation, etc).
Chat component style can now select font.
Full range of Unicode characters is supported (some may know what that means 😉)
Added the attribute command

World save format

Saving level.dat now uses randomly-named temporary files (instead of using level.dat_new every time)
player/*.dat are now saved in a way similar to level.dat (including leaving .dat_old files)

Block storage

BlockStates in Sections elements no longer contain values stretching over multiple 64-bit fields. If number of bits per block is not power of two (i.e. single 64-bit value can't fill whole number of blockstates) some bits will not be used. For example, if single block state takes 5 bits, highest 4 bits of every 64-bit field will be unused. That also means slight increase in storage size (in case of 5 bits, from 320 to 342 64-bit fields).

Commands

`attribute`

Adds modifies attribute on single entity. Possible syntax: Parameters:

attribute <target> <attribute> get [<scale>] - get total value of attribute
attribute <target> <attribute> base set <value> - sets base valye
attribute <target> <attribute> base get [<scale>] - get base value
attribute <target> <attribute> modifier add <uuid> <name> <value> add|multiply|multiply_base - adds modifier (fails if modifier is already present)
attribute <target> <attribute> modifier remove <uuid> - removes modifier
attribute <target> <attribute> modifier value get <uuid> [<scale>] - get value of modifier
target - single entity (note: only players, armor stands and mobs have attributes)
attribute - name of attribute (like minecraft:generic.max_health)
name - string (in optional quotes) describing human-readable name of modifier
value - floating point value (note: certain attributes have limits on final value, so your change might not be noticeable)

Chat components

Hover event argument

style.hoverEvent parameter now has parameter contents, with contents depending on type:
- For show_text - chat component
- For show_item - either item id or object with fields id, count and tag (with last one being serialized NBT)
- For show_entity - object with fields: id (UUID), name (chat component) and type (entity type resource location)
Old style value argument is now deprecated (but still supported)

Colors

color property can now contain RGB value prefixed by #. For example #55ff55 will result in the same color as green.

Custom fonts

Chat component style now supports font property, which is resource location for font in resource pack. No entry is equivalent to minecraft:default.

Fonts

Force Unicode option now switches between normal and alternative font (called uniform.json) - no reload needed

Fixed bugs in 20w17a

MC-5410 In creative mode, flying down is stopped when brushing up against ladders or vines.
MC-31032 Using only one empty map doesn't increase minecraft.used:minecraft.map
MC-46417 Sprint particles are generated in spectator mode
MC-56373 Selector and score text components don't work on hoverEvents
MC-94535 Flying and holding CTRL really close to the ground, emits walking particles
MC-96319 Mob pathfinding AI does not regard some blocks as obstructions and is unable to pathfind on top of them
MC-100195 Player retains 1-block hitbox if entering a minecart/boat while swimming or when flying with elytra or a riptide trident
MC-114544 Kicked by "Flying is not enabled on this server" while sleeping
MC-120572 /recipe crashes the game
MC-126244 '/locate', explorer maps, and treasure maps can cause extreme TPS lag, even leading to a complete server freeze if structure generation is turned off
MC-149704 Sneaking / crouching twice makes player sprint
MC-169514 Tamed parrots cannot be renamed unless they are flying
MC-171561 Only one player can access shulker box at a time
MC-174359 Piglins prefer using an unenchanted gold item instead of an enchanted gold item
MC-175113 Rain prevents entities from burning in fire
MC-175186 Respawning doesn't check if the "respawn block" is the correct one for the dimension
MC-175998 Striders are moving very fast between two blocks or when diagonally running into blocks
MC-176029 Right clicking a lodestone with a stack of compasses converts the whole stack
MC-176060 Recipe book doesn't load the entire empty map recipe anymore
MC-176104 Dropped compasses always point up
MC-176116 Saddle texture on Strider is backwards
MC-176521 Pressing space while the recipe book button is highlighted in crafting interfaces doesn't toggle the recipe book
MC-177346 Compass in a mob's hand does not point to correct location if mob turns
MC-177776 Netherite ingots are not sorted properly with other ingots
MC-177780 Shulkers cannot be opened while playing closing animation anymore
MC-177796 Blackstone walls are in the "Building Blocks" category instead of "decoration Blocks" category, unlike all other walls
MC-177862 Polished blackstone button and pressure plate in incorrect area in creative inventory
MC-177885 Invisible Horses show patterns
MC-177997 Baby zoglins still use the same attack damage as an adult
MC-178086 Flying close to the ground with soul speed over soul blocks speeds up player and generates soul particles
MC-178093 Piglins with full inventories won't pick up gold ingots to barter even though you can still right-click to barter with them
MC-178259 Game crashes when an iron golem with the attack damage attribute set to 0.5d
MC-178316 Dispenser plays "dispensed item" sound when attempting to charge a full respawn anchor instead of "dispenser fails"
MC-178630 TNT eyeheight changed
MC-178797 Barrier blocks generate in bastion remnant
MC-178955 Badlands are viewed as a mountainous biome for Ruined Portals
MC-179542 Basalt Delta Blocks Override Nether Bricks in Fortresses

Minecraft Snapshot 20w17a