Minecraft players have been waiting patiently for the 1.17 update, the first of Caves and Cliffs. While there’s been plenty of its features available in the beta and regular Snapshot Updates, the 1.17 Pre Release is now finally live.

Here’s what you need to know about it, and what future Pre Releases will bring to Minecraft: Java Edition.

Minecraft 1.17 Pre Release 1

Minecraft 1.17 Pre Release 1 drops many new bug fixes for the future update, and also brings some new features as well (returning candles to the first part of Caves and Cliffs rather than the second scheduled for December).

Mojang have revealed that the Pre Releases won’t follow the Snapshot Update schedule of dropping each Wednesday - and with the first releasing on Thursday, May 27th, this could be the regular day moving forward.

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Patch Notes

With the Minecraft 1.17 Pre Release bringing plenty to the table, let’s waste no more time and dive right into its massive patch notes.

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ADVANCEMENTS

• Added “Whatever Floats Your Goat!” for floating in a boat with a goat
• Added “Wax on” for applying wax to a Copper block!
• Included “Wax off” for scraping wax off a Copper block!
• Added “The Cutest Predator” for catching an axolotl in a bucket!
• Added “The Healing Power of Friendship!” for teaming up with an axolotl and winning a fight
• Included “Glow and Behold” for making a sign glow
• Added “Light as a Rabbit” for walking on powder snow with leather boots
• Added “Surge Protector!” for having a lightning strike a lightning rod near a villager without setting the area on fire
• Added “Is it a Bird?” for looking at a parrot through a spyglass
• Added “Is it a Balloon?” for looking at a ghast through a spyglass
• Added “Is it a Plane?” for looking at a dragon through a spyglass

CHANGES IN 1.17 PRE-RELEASE 1

• Candles have been added back to the creative inventory
• Recipes for crafting and dying candles are once again available
• Candles now have a different texture when lit
• Glowing text on signs now has an outer glow, making text in dark colours more visible in the dark
• Holding down the space bar now increases the scroll speed in the credits

THE CAVES & CLIFFS PREVIEW

Download the updated datapack now.

TECHNICAL CHANGES IN 1.17 PRE-RELEASE 1

• Added started_riding, lightning_strike and using_item advancement triggers
• Added source condition to effects_changed trigger
• Included lightning_bolt sub-predicate
• Added passenger, stepping_on and lightning_bolt properties to entity predicate
• Added looking_at condition to player sub-predicate
• Expanded item field on item predicate to items
• Expanded block field on block predicate to blocks
• Added F3+L shortcut to generate and persist performance metrics from in-game
  • F3+L on single-player worlds will also include reports for the integrated server
• Removed debug report command (use perf start/stop for server performance measurement)
• perf start/stop command on dedicated servers will now generate and persist server performance metrics

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ADVANCEMENTS

NEW TRIGGERS

STARTED_RIDING

• Triggered when player starts riding a vehicle or entity starts riding vehicle currently ridden by player
• Conditions:
  • player - either a player that started riding or one of boat passengers

LIGHTNING_STRIKE

• Triggered when lightning finishes (i.e. entity disappears)
• Triggers for any player on the server
• Conditions
  • player - player for which this trigger runs
  • lightning - predicate for lightning entity
  • bystander - predicate for one of the entities in a certain area around strike not hurt by it

USING_ITEM

• Triggered for every tick of using items (like crossbows, spyglass, fishing rods, etc)
• Conditions
  • player - players that uses item
  • item - item being used

CHANGED TRIGGERS

EFFECTS_CHANGED

• Added source triggers that matches entity that triggered the change
• Might be empty when:
  • there is no entity (for example, effect gained from a beacon)
  • the effect is self-applied
  • effect is removed

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