Minecraft news » Snapshot 15w50a Ready For Testing; 1.8.9 Released

Today's snapshot is mostly about bugfixes, and that will likely be the primary focus as we approach the inevitable launch of 1.9! It is at this stage of development where it is incredibly important to report all bugs you find! Anything not reported goes unfixed, and no one wants that.

• Fixed skeleton AI ignoring helmets, causing the skeleton to stay still in the shadows
• Fixed loot tables not working with hoppers
• Fixed zombies making no attempt at escaping cacti once they touch them
• Fixed mobs not pathfinding through open fence gates

To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in the dropdown at the bottom left corner of the launcher. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (See the “new profile” dialog).

Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.

Cross-platform server jar: Minecraft server jar

In addition, 1.8.9 is now live, and available in your launcher! The only significant difference between 1.8.8 and 1.8.9 is Realms-related features, though they are worth checking out. Notifications, improvements for Trials, and more have been added, and are setting the stage for more Realms-related improvements in the near future. Neat!