1.8 - The Bountiful Update (2024)

1.8, the first release of The Bountiful Update, was a major update to Minecraft: Java Edition, released on September 2, 2014.^[1] The update made it easier for map makers to create adventure maps, whilst using the newly added Spectator Mode. It also added many new blocks, items, and mobs; added and extended many commands; and gave way for many more world customization options, among other things.

There were 52 snapshots and three pre-releases for 1.8.

Additions[]

• Diorite, Andesite, and Granite – variants of Stone that can be crafted and found naturally.
• Coarse Dirt – crafted using dirt and gravel in a 2×2 checkered pattern, and replaces the grassless dirt variant found in mega taiga, mesa and savanna biomes
• Prismarine, Prismarine Bricks, and Dark Prismarine – generate in Ocean Monuments
• Red Sandstone
• Iron Trapdoor – can only be opened and closed using Redstone
• Sea Lantern – generate in ocean monuments, emit a light level of 15 and have a subtle animated texture
• Wet Sponge – obtained when a sponge soaks up water. Dropped by Elder Guardians on player kills
• Slime Blocks – mobs and players that land on the top will bounce, like a trampoline, negating all fall damage.
• Banners
• Barrier Blocks – acts like Bedrock but is completely transparent. Becomes visible to players who are holding a barrier in their hand while in creative.
• Polished variants of Diorite, Andesite, and Granite
• New variants for Fences, Fence Gates and Doors
• Prismarine Crystals and Prismarine Shards – dropped by Guardians
• Raw Mutton – drops from Sheep
• Cooked Mutton
• Raw Rabbit – drops from Rabbits
• Cooked Rabbit
• Rabbit Stew
• Rabbit Hide
• Potion of Leaping
• Spawn Eggs for Guardians, Endermites, and Rabbits
• 4 new mobs: Guardians, Elder Guardians, Endermites, and Rabbits
• Armor Stand
• Ocean Monuments
• Customized world type
• Debug Mode world type
• New achievement: Overpowered – obtained by crafting an enchanted golden apple
• New enchantment: Depth Strider – up to three levels, allows players to move faster while in water.
• Spectator Mode
• @e target selector – targets all entities including players
• /kill – removed "Ouch! That looked like it hurt" message
• /execute, /trigger, /replaceitem, /blockdata, /entitydata, /clone, /fill, /testforblocks, /stats, /worldborder, /title, and /particle commands added
• logAdminCommands, sendCommandFeedback, showDeathMessages, reducedDebugInfo, and randomTickSpeed gamerules added
• Many new splashes
• New options in Skin Customization, multiplayer settings, and video settings (Use VBOs and Alternative Block toggles)
• New statistics
• New creeper and spider shaders

Changes[]

• Chiseled and Cracked Stone Bricks, Mossy Cobblestone, and Mossy Stone Bricks are now craftable
• Beacon light beams now change color when going through stained glass/stained glass panes
• Doors stack to 64, and give three instead of one when crafted
• Furnaces now rewind at 2 times speed when they run out of fuel
• Buttons can be placed on the ceiling and on the ground
• Daylight sensors can now be inverted by right clicking
• Mob heads are available in Survival
• Monster Spawners can be right clicked with a spawn egg in hand to change what it produces
• Updated mob AI for all mobs
• Removed AI for Giants and Humans
• Iron Golems no longer attack the player while in Creative Mode
• Tamed Ocelots and Tamed Wolves display a death message in chat if they were named with a name tag
• Arrows behave differently underwater, losing all velocity after a few blocks and slowly fall
• Enchanting now costs Lapis Lazuli
• Added new default skin with slim arms: Alex

Subsequent updates[]

1.8.1[]

Released on November 24, 2014, this update adds the doEntityDrops gamerule, adds proper color display support for new blocks on maps, and changes a few things including but not limited to:

• Jack o' Lanterns can be used to create Iron Golems and Snow Golems again
• Items now rotate on fast graphics
• Potion of Leaping can be extended with Redstone
• Performance enhancements

This version had five pre-releases.

1.8.2[]

Released on February 19, 2015, this update adds 2 new Splash Texts, a frame-time graph to the Debug Screen, and many new statistics.

This version had seven pre-releases.

1.8.3[]

Released on February 20, 2015, this update fixed 11 issues - including a bug in 1.8.2 that caused a crash on world load.

1.8.4[]

Released on April 17, 2015, this update mostly fixed bugs, tweaked Spectator Mode and loading Head skins from Mojang servers.

1.8.5[]

Released on May 22, 2015, this update mostly fixed bugs, added one splash text, and removed splash texts related to Markus Persson.

1.8.6[]

Released on May 25, 2015, this update fixed one bug.

1.8.7[]

Released on June 5, 2015, this update fixed ten issues.

1.8.8[]

Released on July 27, 2015, this update fixed 38 issues. It also changed banners so that only up to sixteen layers are rendered. A new minigame was added to Realms as well.

1.8.9[]

Released on December 9, 2015, this update fixed thirteen issues, added a toggle to Realms notifications as well as optimized Realms.

Trivia[]

• This version is most popular among servers because of the combat system prior to 1.9.
• 1.8 was the only major update to Java Edition to be released in 2014.
• At the time, this was the longest development cycle to a major update in the history of Minecraft, with the first snapshot coming out on January 9, 2014 – 236 days before the full release.

References[]