Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 22w44a brings more Creative Inventory changes

Early image of Minecraft 1.20.
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

What you need to know

  • New features and changes are being tested in the latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshots.
  • On Wednesday, Mojang Studios began rolling out Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 22w44a to players.
  • The snapshot includes more tweaks to the Creative Inventory, a couple Minecraft 1.20 changes, and more.
  • Spawners and Spawn Eggs also enjoy a variety of changes and updates in this release.

The world of Minecraft is ever-changing, and Mojang Studios is perpetuating the evolution with a new series of Minecraft: Java Edition snapshots bringing experimental new features, sweeping changes, a plethora of bug fixes, and more. On Wednesday, the latest such snapshot became available to players.

Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 22w44a brings a few tiny changes to Minecraft 1.20 features over its predecessor, but the highlights of this week's release are undoubtedly the further changes to the Creative Inventory, alterations to Spawners and Spawn Eggs, and added walking sounds for different blocks and environments. There's also the usual inclusion of technical updates and bug fixes for players to explore, if they wish.

PC gamers have countless incredible titles available to them, but Minecraft has stood the test of time and persevered over the years as among the best of them. Mojang Studios is now working on the next major update for Minecraft players, under the 1.20 version number, which will focus on player expression, representation, and creativity. For now, players can already test the earliest Minecraft 1.20 features alongside other snapshot-bound changes.

The full changelog for Minecraft: Java Edition Snapshot 22w44a includes:

Minecraft 1.20 features

General

  • Bamboo Mosaic can now be used as fuel
  • Chiseled Bookshelves now works with Hoppers

Features & changes

General

  • More changes to the Creative Inventory
  • Monster Spawner changes
  • Spawn Egg changes
  • Step sound changes

Creative Inventory

  • A (hopefully) final round of changes has been made to the Creative Tab orderings to address feedback:
  • Operator-only blocks and items can now be found in the Redstone Blocks tab if you have the required permissions
  • Functional Blocks
    • Added:
      • Tinted Glass
      • Bee Nest
    • Moved Respawn Anchor before Beds
    • Reordered Pressure Plates by functionality
    • Moved End Portal Frame & Infested blocks into this tab from Natural Blocks tab
  • Redstone Blocks
    • Added:
      • Chest
      • Barrel
      • Cauldron
      • Furnace
      • Composter
  • Building Blocks
    • Added:
      • Chain
      • Block of Amethyst
    • Moved Block of Redstone and Block of Coal into this tab from the Natural Blocks tab
  • Crafting
    • Added:
      • Ancient Debris
  • Reordered the following tabs for better consistency
    • Building Blocks
    • Natural Blocks
    • Consumables
  • Reordered ore materials and blocks to be more consistent across tabs

Monster Spawners

  • Spawners no longer have a default mob spawn type when placed by a player (previously was the Pig)
  • Will not emit fire particles when a mob spawn type has not been defined
  • Renamed to Monster Spawner to match Bedrock, and removed purple text color
  • Pick-block now works for Spawner blocks
  • The mob type is now displayed in the hover description of a Spawner item stack
    • If a mob type has not been defined yet, the hover description will describe how to set it

Sounds

  • Step sounds can now be heard when walking on:
    • Carpets
    • Lily Pads
    • Small Amethyst Buds
  • Step sounds can now be heard when walking through:
    • Nether Sprouts
    • Glow Lichen
    • Crimson Roots
    • Warped Roots

Spawn Eggs

  • Added new Spawn Egg items for Ender Dragon, Iron Golem, Snow Golem and Wither mobs to Creative mode
    • Ender Dragon and Wither Spawn Eggs will only be available through commands to prevent accidental destruction of player builds
  • Polar Bear Spawn Egg colors have changed to distinguish it from the Ghast Spawn Egg

Technical updates

Game rules

  • Added `blockExplosionDropDecay`, `mobExplosionDropDecay` and `tntExplosionDropDecay` game rules
    • When set to `false`, all blocks drop loot
    • When set to `true`, blocks drop loot randomly depending on how far from the explosion center
    • Defaults to `false` for TNT, `true` for block and mob
  • Added `snowAccumulationHeight` game rule
    • When it is snowing, this game rule determines the maximum number of Snow Layers that can be accumulated in each block
    • Defaults to `1`
    • Set to `0` makes no Snow form at all
    • Set to `8` or above lets snow form up to the level of a full block
  • Added `waterSourceConversion` and `lavaSourceConversion` game rules
    • When set to `true`, allows new sources of that fluid to form
    • Defaults to `true` for Water and `false` for Lava
  • Added `globalSoundEvents` game rule, controlling whether certain gameplay moments are heard by all players regardless of location
    • Defaults to `true`

Fixed bugs

General

  • Sprinting isn’t canceled when dismounting rideable entities while sprinting
  • Lily Pads use incorrect sound
  • Turtles don’t have breeding delay
  • Re-creating a world doesn’t allow a blank seed and uses recreated world’s seed instead of random
  • “Data mode” and “Load mode” aren’t capitalized while “Save Mode” and “Corner Mode” are
  • “Erase cached data” is not capitalized
  • Frog walking animation is slowed down when applied with slow falling
  • Neither the secure chat warning toast nor the chat preview warning screen is presented to the player when joining a server using the --server argument
  • Lily pads do not produce sounds when walking on them
  • Camels will not pathfind over 1.5 high blocks
  • Non Flammable Wood Item tag contains 1.20 content even when disabled
  • Bamboo Fence Gate has missing textures / culling issues
  • Camel walking animation is slowed down when applied with slow falling
  • Bamboo mosaic slabs aren’t flammable
  • Some bamboo blocks can’t be used as furnace fuel
  • Mobs face south even with a given rotation value
  • Entities no longer have random rotations upon being summoned from spawn eggs
  • Weighted pressure plates are placed wrong in creative inventory
  • The game crashes when pressing the `ESC` key while having draft chat reports saved
  • Tinted glass is not considered a "Functional Block"
  • You aren’t prompted to save your chat reports as drafts while only having report categories inputted
  •  Cactus is not grouped with sugar cane in Creative inventory
  • Mushroom stem comes after nether fungus stems in Creative inventory, but mushroom blocks come before wart blocks
  • Bee nest is absent from Functional Blocks
Image

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Another Java Edition snapshot is here, this time with more tweaks for the Creative Inventory. Minecraft: Java Edition is available through PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

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Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.