MC 23w45a - New Snapshot, all Kinds of Java/MS heck

231114 MC 23w45a

I'm still trying to get setup to make some new MC videos, but I tried another old headset of mine and it had no mic sound at all.  I did get a whisper-quiet keyboard from Amazon, got here in one day, so no clacking keys while I try to record MC adventures.

I figured I should try the latest version for a change, so I can see some of the experimental features everyone is gibbering about.  I usually catch Waffles and Ibxtoycat for snapshot videos.  But 1.18 and above it requires Java 17.  Kinda funny that the versions are almost the same.  I thought Java was at 1.8.  I was not wrong.  Straight from java.com:

Download Java for Windows

Version 8 Update 391 (filesize: 64.37 MB) Why is Java 8 recommended?

Release date: October 17, 2023

Using the Find feature shows no articles with 17 in them.

But the downloads page says

Java 21 and Java 17 available now

And for 17 they have only the developer kit (JDK) not the runtime (JRE).  I guess that's it then.  Full JDK.https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/#jdk17-windows

Got it.  Gotta love the launchers with all their config options.  MultiMC lets me choose whichever JRE I need for an instance.

Failed to run after all that.

Fine.  I'll get the Minecraft Launcher from the MC pages.  It updated my Host Processes for Windows?  That seems a bit low-level for comfort.  And a notification that "Gaming Services" just got installed.  But I alread had the XBox Game Bar...

Please continue in the Microsoft Store.  Dammit already.

Hit the Play button.  Now it's installing things again.  Microsoft login.  Pulled out my phone expecting some stupid code, but the Launcher is ready without it.  Maybe because I just signed in yesterday?  Who the fk knows.

Okay, Latest Snapshot.  Go.  Downloading 655 megs??  How did the game get so freaking large?  It can't be more than a meg of java code and a few hundred tiny tiny graphics.  Maybe all these splash screens?  Meh.  Just start the game.

I only set aside an hour to play, and it has been 20 minutes of headaches.

2051: finally.  New World: survival, peaceful, experimental.  Go.

2058: spawned on a grassy hill, ran down to trees w some bees flying around.  Got about 8 logs, wooden tool set, 3 wool, 4 pigs.  Huge pit cave, start on stone tools, first 3 coal.

2105: It's not a speedrun or anything, but I already got a ston pick and hacked down to teh cave floor, brought up 11 iron and some coal.  Made a little 3x4 niche with bed, chest, crafting table, furnace.  Base is at 86 52 91.

2111: 29 iron, glow squids frolicking in a dark pool.  Tons of copper down there and a block of raw copper ... odd.  One thing I always like to do is make cobble stairs down to key areas so I can see them from a distance and make an escape.  Sucks to be chased by mobs and pick the wrong slope to ty and climb.

2118: found a cave twisting down to deepslate layer, 1st two gold ore.  Back to base, full set of iron armor.  Set to easy mode, head back down there, get shot with an arrow less than 2 seconds later.  3 zombies, spider, creeper from behind.  That's fun.

2132: It's night outside, but I lit up the nearest caves to stop spawnage.  Got my 3rd string, made a bow but have no arrows.

2142: cleared the grass outside my cubbyhole base, got 12 seeds, made iron shovel & hoe and farmed some blocks along a nearby pool as my starter wheat farm.  All the usual stuff.

2152: quick creative mode flight to look around for any new/unfamiliar stuff.  tiny beach with turtles 868 62 123.  Ruined portal frame 1027 76 260.  Epic mountain arches 813 67 654 - top spot for a base.  Nothing new spotted, and the hard drive chugged the whole time generating new chunks.  Acacia village at 1307 67 875, even better base with beaches and turtles nearby.

2203: I didn't see any unfamiliar blocks, no trace of the new archaeology structures, but just as I was giving up for the night, and was going to use commands to find nearby structures, I swung around and saw a woodland mansion on a hill near 1618 90 1638.  I have literally never been to one of those.  I'm not really cheating, but I don't want to dump big hours into an experimental world that could beceome useless in future releases.  I just want to look around some.

Nearest monument at 2208 ~ 256.  Oh yuck, I didn't want an ocean monument, I wanted the new archaeology dig structure.  Trail ruins!  That's the one.  1488 ~ -464.  There we go, a few gravel & terracotta sticking out of a hillside.  Back to survival to explore it.  What a nonsensical mix of blocks down here.  Lots of falling gravel, and according to F3 the suspicious gravel has a bit of a grey knot in the middle.  I gave myself a brush so I could learn how these blocks work - r-click to uncover the goods, left click breaks them like any other tool.  If you break one it makes a glass-breaking sound, and when they drop there's a different odd sound.  So many blocks: stone brisk, over a stack of brick blocks, even new mud blocks, mud bricks and stairs and slabs.  Fun to excavate.  So that was a fun find for the night.  Will continue tomorrow.