Bedrock Edition 1.17.40/Development versions

This is a list of Bedrock Edition 1.17.40 development versions.

## beta 1.17.40.20

**Beta 1.17.40.20** is the first beta version for Bedrock Edition 1.17.40, released on September 15, 2021, which brought changes to the new world generation from Java Edition 1.18 experimental snapshots, and fixes bugs.

### Changes

#### General

RenderDragon
* Used only by selected Android devices that run on ARMv7

#### Technical

Data Driven Items
* Updated documentation for Block Rotation Component.
* Added required toggles to documentation and to content error for block components.

Data Driven Blocks
* Updated documentation for BlockExplosionResistance.

Graphics
* Added a content error for using a material but not providing the required number of textures to the render controller.
* Testing RenderDragon engine across subset of Android devices (ARMv7).

Molang
* Add new compile errors for expressions like 'text' + 3, which were previously ignored (This is a Versioned Change as of engine version 1.17.40).

User Interface
* Added an ImGUI window for easier viewing of content errors.

### Experimental

These additions and changes are accessible by enabling the "Caves & Cliffs" and "Enable GameTest Framework" experimental toggle.

#### Mobs

Donkey and Sheep
* Can now spawn in meadow biome.

Fox
* Can now spawn in grove biome.

Goat
* Now only spawn in snowy slopes, stony peaks, lofty peaks, and snow capped peaks biomes.

Rabbit
* Can now spawn in meadow and snowy slopes biome.

#### World generation

Biomes
* Re-added ice spikes, eroded badlands, jungle edge, and savanna plateau.

Caves
* The cavern now generates in 2 layers of different stone bases depending on the depth.
	+ Cavern layer above Y=0 is made up of regular stone.
	+ Stone transitions to deepslate from Y=0 to Y=-7.
	+ Deepslate now completely replaces stone from Y=-8 to bedrock.
		- Certain types of ores and structures still generate in the deepslate layer.
		- Dirt, diorite, granite and andesite do not generate in this layer.

Mountains
* Meadows sometimes spawn a lone oak or birch, often with a bee nest.
* Infested stone now generate in the new mountain biomes.

Ore distribution
* Tweaked ore distribution to match in parity with *Java Edition*.

Pillager outposts
* Now generate in all the new mountain biomes.

Stony peaks
* A new mountains biome that is a variant of lofty/snowcapped peaks that uses stone and strips of gravel, instead of snow and ice.
	+ Is used to avoid temperature clashes.

Villages
* Now generate in meadows.

General
* Tweaked biome placement, river size, and terrain shapes for a better overworld experience.

#### General

Clouds
* Raised cloud level from 128 to 192.

#### Technical

GameTest Framework
* Renamed method succeedWhenBlockTypePresent to succeedWhenBlockPresent
* Fixed a bug where property idwould return "Unknown" for custom entities (MCPE-137786)
* Identifier strings returned from property idnow include the item's namespace
* GameTestSequence
	+ Removed method thenWaitWithDelay
	+ Added method thenWaitAfter(delayTicks: number, callback: () => undefined) - After a delay, executes the given callback every tick until it succeeds. Exceptions thrown within the callback will end sequence execution

* Player
	+ Fixed a bug where the location property would return an incorrect height for players
	+ Added property id

* Block
	+ Replaced method getLocationwith property location
	+ Replaced method getPermutationwith property permutation
	+ Replaced method getTypewith property type
	+ Replaced methods isWaterloggedand setWaterlogged with property isWaterlogged
	+ Replaced method getBlockDatawith property permutation
	+ Replaced method isEmptywith property isEmpty
	+ Removed property canBeWaterlogged

* BlockType
	+ Replaced method getNamewith property id
	+ Replaced method canBeWaterloggedwith property canBeWaterlogged

* BlockPermutation
	+ Replaced method getTypewith property type

### Known issues

* Beehives generates too frequently in this version.

### Fixes

Experimental
* Maps now correctly show the colors of blocks below a Y level of zero (MCPE-136638)
* Vines now generate in Lush Caves instead of generating above the surface (MCPE-125800)
* Vines can now grow down below zero height
* Villages now generate in the style of the biome they are located in (MCPE-136939)

Blocks
* Falling stalactites are now offset properly to avoid interacting with entities outside their intended hitbox (MCPE-132772).
* Beehives now generate in the world facing south.

Candle Cake Blocks
* Pressing the 'use' button on a Candle Cake now consumes the correct amount of cake slices (MCPE-135519).

Character Creator
* Fixed a crash that could occur when using Character Creator.
* Tweaked color tint for default Steve skin to match default Steve (MCPE-120818).
* Altered message for when friends change skins (MCPE-92772).

Commands
* Education Edition items are no longer shown as an option when using @e[type=] (MCPE-78363).

Gameplay
* Fixed a bug that caused players to be set on fire upon changing dimensions if there was Lava underneath the Nether Portal (MCPE-28765).
* Players can no longer eat food at full hunger in Survival mode (MCPE-60807).
* Sea Grass no longer spawns under Lily Pads during world generation to avoid breaking them.
* Villagers can no longer spam doors open and closed (MCPE-28055).
* Cartographers now more consistently give new maps on all platforms.

World Generation
* Amethyst geodes are now much less likely to generate in Strongholds, and if they do they will not destroy End Portals (MCPE-129861, MCPE-128799).

Graphical
* Improved world visibility culling for underground situations to eliminate seeing sky at the end of tunnels/stairs (MCPE-128372).

Mobs
* Improved mob pathing around partial blocks (MCPE-127381).
* Armor no longer renders on Pillagers and Vindicators, but are still granted armor effects (MCPE-74242).
* Fixed an issue with mob rendering that caused Vindicator Axes to be visible even when they're not attacking on older Resource Packs (MCPE-123229).
* More mobs will spawn underground in the Overworld.

Powder Snow
* Powder Snow no longer disappears when looking at it from a distance (MCPE-127565).

Structure Block
* Trapdoors now rotate correctly when loaded from a Structure block (MCPE-66933).

User Interface
* Fixed an issue where the d-pad and directional keys could not be used to navigate in certain parts of the UI (MCPE-132826).
* Fixed an issue where an error message could be shown after suspending the game on the achievements screens with screen animations disabled (MCPE-132269).
* Fixed an issue where an obscure gamerule was added to settings (MCPE-139025).
* Fix keyboard/d-pad navigation from custom server to edit server button.
* New achievements screens are available on Windows 10 ARM-based PCs.
* The sign in text on the start screen will no longer overlap the Marketplace button.
* Add space between tab title and the word 'Tab' for text-to-speech on Settings screen.
* Added "More Info" button to failed sign-in modal.

Technical
* Command blocks with 'Needs Redstone' and a non-zero 'Delay in Ticks' will now execute only if they remain powered for the delay duration (MCPE-74281).
* Fix alignment of the sidebar display from the `/scoreboard` command when text length changes.
* Fixed failure to render leash when attached to a mob outside of viewport (MCPE-63931).
* Fixed ability to summon experience orbs via `/summon` command (MCPE-130835).
* Fixed display only entity destruction in chunk discard scenarios.
* Fixed query.item\_remaining\_use\_duration having improperly scaled or inverted results (This fix is a Versioned Change as of engine version 1.17.30).

## beta 1.17.40.21

**Beta 1.17.40.21** is the second beta version for Bedrock Edition 1.17.40, released on September 22, 2021, which allows old worlds to upgrade to the new world generation behind experimental toggle, and fixes bugs.

### Changes

#### General

RenderDragon
* As part of continued testing, removed RenderDragon engine support on Android devices (ARMv7) (MCPE-141319)

### Experimental

These additions and changes are accessible by enabling the "Caves & Cliffs" and "Enable GameTest Framework" experimental toggle.

#### World generation

Dripstone Caves
* In world generation, grass is replaced with stone (if generated near grass).

Mountains
* Mountain tops are now more jagged and pointy.
* Mountain areas and peak biomes now are slightly larger on average.

Stone shores
* Sometimes generate layers (strips) of gravel.

Stony peaks
* Sometimes generate layers (strips) of calcite.

General
* Added new world/cave generation when upgrading saved chunks below Y=0 using the Caves and Cliffs experimental toggle.
	+ Chunks previously upgraded with Bedrock underneath will not see this change.
* Upgrades older flat worlds to the new extended heights available with the Caves & Cliffs experimental toggle
* New flat worlds using the Caves & Cliffs experimental toggle will generate starting at "y=-64"

#### Technical

GameTest Framework
* Updated the GameTest Framework interface and added a new SimulatedPlayer capability:
	+ Added 'SimulatedPlayer'class to GameTest. This class enables GameTest to simulate a variety of player behaviors such as movement, using items, and interacting with blocks and entities. See the GameTest API reference documentation for more details.
		- Added function spawnSimulatedPlayer(blockLocation: BlockLocation, name: string): SimulatedPlayer
		- Added function removeSimulatedPlayer(simulatedPlayer: SimulatedPlayer): void
	+ mojang-gametest.Test type
		- Changed signature of function assertEntityInstancePresent(entity: Entity, blockLocation: BlockLocation, isPresent: boolean = true)
	+ mojang-minecraft components
		- Component inventory now works with Player inventories

### Fixes

Experimental
* Fixed an issue in beta builds where flying above the world limit (255 for non-Caves & Cliffs experimental, 319 for Caves & Cliffs experimental) would be prohibited (MCPE-141360).
* Copper Ore now generates up to y=96 instead of y=64 (MCPE-125233).

General
* Holding Top Snow in hand while hovering over Grass Blocks no longer causes incorrect behavior (MCPE-140659, MCPE-140660).
* Bee Nests now generate correctly in the world (MCPE-141324, MCPE-132195).
* Non-fireproof mobs now avoid pathing through fire (MCPE-23835).

Gameplay
* Vanilla Parity: Players are now able to activate Elytra gliding while moving upward (MCPE-59580).
* Using Dye on Signs that contain formatted color text will overwrite the formatted color text.

World Generation
* Fossils are now much less likely to generate in, and destroy structures.
* Dungeons are no longer misplaced or missing outside of the Caves & Cliffs experimental toggle (MCPE-121708).

Mobs
* Iron Golem now spawns only on solid blocks (MCPE-140145).
* Wielded weapons now render properly on Pillagers and Vindicators (MCPE-141321).

User Interface
* Riding an animal now displays the correct button prompt when playing with non-touch controls.

Character Creator
* Back appearance pieces will no longer cover the left and right arrows in the profile screen.
* Fixed featured items in the profile screen not opening the featured catalog in the Dressing Room.
* Fixed default clothes changing color if another item’s color was edited previously.
* Sidebar options can now be selected in expanded view after navigating back from previously selected sidebar option while using controller.
* Sidebar no longer opens upon expanding any of the classic skin packs in the Dressing Room.
* Improved the navigation flow for Character Creator so that it always switches to the selected Character Creator profile (MCPE-139022).
* Skins that are equipped from Marketplace while in-game now apply to character.

Technical
* Fixed a bug that caused animations to be restarted when changing render controllers.
* Fixed text on Signs losing their formatting when new lines or word-wrapping are encountered. Formatting will now persist until the reset code or an overriding code is found. This is not retroactive and previously created Signs will not be changed.
* Molang expressions that contain capital letters are properly evaluated now.
* 'query.get\_equipped\_item\_name' will now recognize Sea Lantern (MCPE-67893).
* Add new compile errors for expressions like 1 + (9 10), which were previously ignored (This is a Versioned Change as of engine version 1.17.40).

## beta 1.17.40.23

**Beta 1.17.40.23** is the third and final beta version for Bedrock Edition 1.17.40, released on September 30, 2021, which fixes bugs.

### Fixes

Experimental
* Fixed shifted sub-chunks on Caves & Cliffs flat worlds (MCPE-140428).
* Flat worlds with the Caves & Cliffs experimental toggle enabled will properly upgrade to use the new dimension heights.

Gameplay
* Fixed an issue where Light Blocks would force players to spawn at the surface of the Overworld.
* Tropical Fish no longer lose their colors upon grabbing them with a Water Bucket and then releasing them (MCPE-137158).
* Trapdoors show up in the Recipe Book again (MCPE-141441).
* Lily Pads can once again be placed on water deeper than one block (MCPE-141403).

Mobs
* Mobs no longer jump continuously on non-full blocks such as Snow layers (MCPE-141411).

## Notes and references

1. ↑ "Minecraft Beta - 1.17.40.20 (Xbox One/Windows 10/Android)" – feedback.minecraft.net, September 15, 2021.
2. ↑ "Minecraft Beta 1.17.40.20" by Jay Wells. Minecraft.net, September 15, 2021
3. ↑ "Minecraft Beta - 1.17.40.21 (Xbox One/Windows 10/Android)" – feedback.minecraft.net, September 22, 2021.
4. ↑ "Minecraft Beta 1.17.40.21" by Jay Wells. Minecraft.net, September 22, 2021
5. ↑ "Minecraft Beta - 1.17.40.23 (Xbox One/Windows 10/Android)" – feedback.minecraft.net, September 30, 2021.