Minecraft: Java Edition 1.19 Pre-Release 1 begins road to launch day for 'The Wild Update'

Screenshot of Minecraft The Wild Update
(Image credit: Mojang Studios)

What you need to know

  • Mojang Studios has been working on The Wild Update, Minecraft's next content update, for many months.
  • On Wednesday, the studio officially began to test pre-release builds of The Wild Update with Minecraft: Java Edition players.
  • This means The Wild Update is nearing completion, with only bug fixes and general improvements planned from this point.
  • Minecraft: Java Edition 1.19 Pre-Release 1 is now available for players to test with a host of changes and other fixes.

Minecraft players regularly enjoy injections of fresh content through successive updates, and the next release is arriving later this year in the form of The Wild Update. Mojang Studios has been actively developing The Wild Update in tandem with the Minecraft community for months, but the update is now rapidly approaching an official release to all players.

Mojang Studios is now testing Minecraft: Java Edition 1.19 Pre-Release 1, which includes a fresh batch of bug fixes, changes, and technical updates for players to explore. As The Wild Update is now officially in the "pre-release" era of development, don't expect any major changes or feature additions from this point forward. The release is now more-or-less feature locked, with only minor fixes and improvements to occur until completion.

The Wild Update is the next content update for one of PC's greatest games, and will bring new biomes, mobs, gameplay mechanics, and more to Minecraft. Players will be able to discover the terrifying Deep Dark and Ancient Cities, guarded by powerful Wardens, or explore idyllic mangrove swamps populated by frogs and mud. The Wild Update still doesn't have an exact release date, but we should learn more in the next few weeks or months.

The full changelog for Minecraft: Java Edition 1.19 Pre-Release 1 includes:

Changes & bug fixes

Changes

  • Slightly reduced the number of Mangrove trees in Mangrove Swamps
  • Endermen, Skeletons, Wither Skeletons, and Piglins now spawn in a wider range of light levels in the Nether (from light level 0 to 11)
  • Item interaction vibrations are now emitted when you start or finish "using" an item with a start and finish state (such as Bows, Crossbows, Goat Horns, Shields, Food)
  • Item interaction vibrations are now ignored when sneaking
  • Placing items that aren't armor (such as Pumpkins and Skulls) in your headwear slot now plays a generic equip sound

Fixed bugs

  • Equipping armor / elytra through inventory or dispenser doesn't play sounds
  • `PacketBuffer.writeString`'s max length is in bytes, while `readString` is in characters
  • Attempting to open the Minecraft Realms menu claims that the client is outdated, even if the snapshot may be newer than the release
  • Sculk sensors are not activated upon entities being summoned by a spawner
  • Equipping armor through the inventory does not count as a vibration
  • Distance value for Sculk Sensors is limited to integers
  • Goats don't panic when tempted with their favorite food
  • "FOV Effects" setting description is inaccurate
  • No subtitles are produced upon frogs stepping
  • The `entity.frog.tounge` sound is misspelled
  • Frogs don't panic when tempted with their favorite food
  • Tadpoles are not tempted by slime balls
  • Frogs can jump around while being tempted with slimeballs
  • Tadpoles drop experience, unlike other baby mobs
  • The comparator frequency of sculk sensors when you are stepping on it is the last frequency it heard
  • Items collected off the ground by allays travel too high above their hitboxes
  • 'It Spreads' advancement is not a child of 'Monster Hunter'
  • Swapping items to the player's off-hand can generate vibrations
  • The Birthday Song advancement description doesn't capitalise the word Cake
  • ID of the British cat doesn't match texture name
  • Sculk catalyst triggers when a villager converts into zombie villager by a zombie
  • The subtitle for picking up a Tadpole with a bucket is the generic "Bucket fills" subtitle
  • `/tp` "argument" duplicated on the tab options
  • The server crashes when attempting to load chunks that contain command blocks that consist of large numbers of characters within the previous output field
  • Goat horn subtitles are improperly capitalized
  • Goat horn playing isn't detected as a vibration
  • Server logs "Game test server" messages
  • Entity selectors in `/say` commands are no longer evaluated
  • Potted mangrove propagule model is incorrect
  • Structure Block messages are formatted as chat
  • Duplicate object key `[lang file]`
  • Failed to launch the game on 32-bit operating system
  • `io.netty.handler.codec.EncoderException` when using special characters in chat message
  • Game crash regarding warden anger
  • Chat closes itself if the control for Open Chat is set to Enter
  • Clicking "incomplete command" message removes / in chat
  • Iron golems can spawn on nonspawnable blocks such as leaves, glass, sea lanterns, etc
  • Warden emerge / roar / sonic charge / dig animation (and possibly other similar animations) don't start unless the player looks at the Warden first
  • `/say` command fails to apply server message styling when sent from a command block, server console, or RCON, unlike `/msg`
  • Wardens can spawn on any non-full block, as long as it's solid
  • Reflected ghast fireball cannot hit the ghast
  • You can run commands with double slash prefix
  • The `--dev` argument for the data generators no longer converts NBT to SNBT properly

Technical updates

General

  • Auto-completion is now available for the template argument to `place template`
  • Custom servers can now enable or disable chat preview for certain clients by sending a new network packet
  • Now, a chat preview is also shown for chat-related commands, such as `/say` and `/msg`
  • `test-rainbow-chat` has been removed from `server.properties`

Added game events

  • `note_block_play` with a vibration frequency of 6
  • `instrument_play` with a vibration frequency of 15
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.