Release Date:
- Pre-release: July 30, 2012
- Full Release: August 1, 2012
Edition: Java Edition
Development Versions: 19 Snapshots, 2 Pre-releases
Protocol Version: 39
Minimum Java Version: Java SE 5
Java Edition 1.3.1 is a major update that introduced trading with villagers, Adventure mode, new generated structures, and several new blocks and items including emeralds, book and quills, written books, tripwires, and ender chests. This update also split the Creative inventory into categorized sections, improved enchanting, and made singleplayer internally use a multiplayer server.
Key Additions
Blocks
- Wood Logs & Wooden Slabs: All types of wood now have logs, slabs, and stairs with adjusted placement and hitboxes.
- Emerald Ore & Block of Emerald: Found in Extreme Hills biome; blocks can be crafted from 9 emeralds.
- Ender Chest: Stores contents across dimensions; explosion-resistant, emits light and particles. Drops 8 obsidian if not mined with Silk Touch.
- Tripwire Hook: Can trigger redstone signals; string must be manually placed, up to 40 blocks long.
- Sandstone & Wooden Stairs: Fully functional for all wood types.
Items
- Emeralds: Currency for trading with villagers.
- Book and Quill: Write up to 50 pages; can be saved or signed.
- Written Book: Obtained by signing a book and quill; tradable with villagers.
- Golden Apple (Enchanted & Regular): Provides regeneration, resistance, and fire resistance for a limited time; enchanted version glows.
World Generation
- Bonus Chest: Optional starting chest containing tools, logs, and food.
- Desert Villages & Pyramids: Include loot chests, traps, and desert-specific structures.
- Jungle Temples: Cobblestone structures with tripwire traps and loot including iron, gold, diamonds, and emeralds.
Gameplay
- Adventure Mode: Blocks cannot be destroyed, built, or interacted with except via commands; players can interact with chests, furnaces, and dispensers.
- Trading: Villagers use emeralds for buying, selling, and enchanting trades. Purple particles indicate a trade refresh.
- Experience System: Ores, furnaces, and mob spawners now give experience points; XP progression adjusted.
- Enchanting: Maximum level increased to 30; bookshelf requirements adjusted; more chance for multiple enchantments.
- Creative Inventory: Split into tabs (Survival, Search, etc.), allows deletion, shows effects and armor preview.
Commands
/seed,/defaultgamemode,/debug,/gamemode,/toggledownfall,/time,/give,/xp,/kill,/help- Server commands enhanced:
/ban,/kick,/tpnow more descriptive and versatile.
General
- Demo Mode: Limited to 5 in-game days.
- Options: Chat customization, snooper data management, video settings, vertical sync, fullscreen at startup, disable server-offered texture packs.
- Large Biomes World Type: Default world generation; 16× larger biomes; beaches similar to Beta 1.7.3.
- Launcher & Performance: Reduced CPU, RAM, and bandwidth usage; smoother chat; accelerated chunk loading; singleplayer uses internal multiplayer server.
- Debug Screen: Coordinates truncated to 5 decimals; displays both feet and eye level; walking and flying speeds, ground status shown.
Changes
Blocks & Items
- Logs can now be placed in 3 directions.
- Furnaces can be fueled by wooden tools; lava bucket returns empty bucket.
- Ice disappears in the Nether; can be harvested with Silk Touch.
- Glass panes, cauldrons, and dispensers updated.
- TNT, pistons, slabs, stairs, leaves, signs, and doors adjusted for mechanics and placement.
- Cocoa beans can now grow on jungle wood.
Mobs
- Spawning rules updated for upside-down slabs and stairs.
- Creepers, spiders, skeletons, zombies, silverfish, endermen, and villagers behavior improved.
Non-Mob Entities
- Boats and minecarts less glitchy; improved handling and interaction with rails/lily pads.
World Generation
- Biomes scaled and adjusted for desert hills, forest hills, extreme hills, ice mountains, jungle hills, and taiga hills.
- Emerald ore generates in Extreme Hills, up to 8 times per chunk between layers 4–31.
- Cocoa beans appear on small jungle trees.
Multiplayer & Networking
- LAN support for singleplayer.
- Automatic downloading of standard texture packs.
- Hardcore difficulty added (permanent death).
- Connections encrypted; SRV record support.
- Server list improvements and entity visual fixes.
Removals
- Distance particle effects from end portal frames no longer appear offset at extreme distances.
Fixes
- 41 bugs fixed, including:
- Texture packs, creative inventory, mob spawning, block duplication, TNT & piston issues, and multiplayer glitches.
- Various client-server desynchronization and rendering issues.
- Fixed experience drops, enchantments, fishing lines, and potion effect graphics.
Trivia
- 1.3.1 set records for:
- Most snapshots for a major release: 19.
- Longest development period for a major release: 111 days.
- Longest wait between major releases: 153 days after 1.2.1.
- 1.3.1 is the last major Java Edition update without an official name or promotional image.