Minecraft Preview Update 1.21.120.20 Now Live via Patch 1.85/1.068

The latest update to the preview and beta branch of Minecraft has been rolled out across all platforms, designated as version 1.21.120.20 by Mojang. Console users will recognize this as version 1.85/1.068. This patch brings a host of new features alongside essential bug fixes, enhancing the gameplay experience for its dedicated community.

Minecraft Preview and Beta Update on Sept. 3 Slots in a Slew of Fixes via Patch Version 1.85/1.068.000

Features and Bug Fixes

Blocks

• Tadpoles now spawn in the water block directly beneath the Frogspawn block (MCPE-225997).
• Resolved an issue that prevented players from destroying valid blocks in Adventure Mode when those blocks were positioned behind water.

Shelf

• Introducing a new feature: adding or removing Redstone power from the Shelf now emits vibrations.
• Anvil and Wall Blocks have been repositioned on the Shelf and Item Frame (MCPE-225309).
• Players will now experience vibrations of frequency 3 when placing, removing, or swapping items on an Unpowered Shelf.
• For Powered Shelves, placing or removing items also emits a vibration of frequency 3, while swapping items results in a frequency of 6.

Commands

• Fixed a bug where the Damage Command incorrectly reported failure when applied to an Ender Crystal (MCPE-191379).
• The /locate biome command has been corrected to direct players accurately to their intended biome (MCPE-159992).

Gameplay

• Improved loading of text for Sign blocks from older worlds.

General

• World creation will now correctly redownload missing Marketplace templates.
• The first-person camera has been adjusted to offset slightly backward when facing and climbing blocks like Ladders and Vines.

Graphical

• Restored Java parity for ambient occlusion calculations on partial blocks (MCPE-226160).
• Implemented TAA upscaling for weather effects such as snow.
• Fixed an issue where the enchantment glint animation continued during game pauses (MCPE-190569).
• Addressed flickering snowflakes during player movement.
• Enhanced gamma correction quality on PC and consoles, including adjustments to Creeper textures in the gamma calibration screen in Vibrant Visuals.
• Mobs will now exhibit slight transparency when the camera approaches closely or passes through them.

Items

• Suspicious Stew is now available in Creative Mode, complete with effect descriptions (MCPE-51173).

Mobs

• Defeated Chicken Jockeys will now drop the Lava Chicken music disc.
• Copper Golem will drop its carried item when interacted with while the player holds an item in their offhand or wears armor (MCPE-225249).
• The Copper Golem Statue has been refined to eliminate cutoff pixels in the sitting pose (MCPE-225999).

Sounds

• Sounds for opening and closing Copper Chests now utilize a natural attenuation curve (MCPE-224011).
• Copper Golem’s step and spin sounds have also been adjusted to reflect a natural attenuation curve.

User Interface

• Clicking on text fields now positions the cursor accurately, even in scrolled message boxes (MCPE-186409).
• The keyboard button on the chat screen is now exclusively visible for touch controls (MCPE-105710).
• Fixed a bug that caused Armor Trims to appear on untrimmed armor in the inventory.
• Updated messaging for when additional players are needed to sleep and skip to dawn (MCPE-183832).
• Brightness adjustment has been renamed to gamma adjustment in Vibrant Visuals.
• A “Reset to Defaults” button has been added to the gamma adjustment screen in Vibrant Visuals.
• The gamma value slider now displays the current gamma value, with the center corresponding to the default value.
• Resolved an issue where worlds backed by Xbox cloud storage displayed a default tile when local data was present but invalid.
• Fixed a bug preventing players from transferring items from the creative inventory to the Pocket UI inventory (MCPE-226829).

World Generation

• Structures will no longer build atop features such as trees at chunk borders.

Technical Updates

API

Developers can now set the version property to “beta” to always select the latest beta version of the module, as illustrated in the manifest.json:

"dependencies": [
{
  "module_name": "@minecraft/server",
  "version": "beta"
}

• Fixed Player.graphicsMode not returning the correct graphics mode when switched to Vibrant Visuals.
• LootTableManager’s loot generation methods now accurately recognize tools enchanted with looting.
• Type ScriptBiomeType has been moved from beta into version 2.3.0.
• The API Dimension.getBiome(location: Vector3) has also transitioned from beta into version 2.3.0.

Blocks

• Custom blocks using a non-opaque rendermethod in the minecraft:materialinstances component will no longer incorrectly cull the top face of the water block when placed above it.

Components

• The filters “allslotsempty”, “anyslotempty”, and “hasequipment” now support “mainhand” as an equipment location.

Editor

• A confirmation dialog has been added in Keyboard Settings for actions like resetting, restoring, or closing the modal without saving changes.
• Fixed a bug that prevented lightning bolts from despawning when entities were paused.
• Corrected a bug that caused text-to-speech narration to misread shortcuts.
• Removed unusable entities from the Summon tool list.
• Fixed a bug that enabled volume selection using the Enter key and Shift+Enter key in Selection’s Freehand Brush Mode.
• A gradient background color has been added to the Color timeline, interpolating between the colors of two adjacent nodes.
• An optional boolean property in the Timeline API (renderGradientBackground) allows for the rendering of the background color to be turned off, with the default setting being ON.

Item Components

• Items with the new “minecraft:fire_resistant” component will no longer visually disappear on the client when thrown into fire while persisting on the server, as the property is now correctly synchronized across both.

Items

• With format version 1.21.110, when a custom item’s menu_category is set to “none” (or unspecified), the item will be usable in commands (MCPE-177866).
• Fixed an issue with rendering custom blocks as “flying items” (MCPE-180489).

Molang

• Addressed inaccuracies in query.graphicsmodeis_any when switching to Vibrant Visuals.
• Introduced 21 new Molang expressions that enhance the game’s functionality and creativity.

Mojang has yet to update the retail version of Minecraft, but updates will be shared promptly once they are available.

Stay connected with MP1st for the latest news by following us on Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Google News.

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media veteran, writer of words, killer of noobs.