[LVS|Zz] Minecraft 1.17!
Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:43 pm
With a new version of Minecraft coming up, I thought I could give you some insight into what I'm doing behind the scenes to prepare for it.
Java 16
Minecraft currently requires Java 8, which is now over 7 years old. Mojang has decided to make Java 16 a requirement from Minecraft 1.17 onwards. You shouldn't need to worry about this when running your clients from the official launcher, as Mojang handle your java versions for you. For servers, we need to make sure we are running the correct version. This would ordinarily not be too complicated, we are already running Java 11 (which is an LTS or Long Term Support release). However, Zestygames complicates this a bit.
Our Zestygames run on a range of Minecraft versions, which can sometimes not agree on which version of Java they need. Older versions of MC, pre-1.12.2, cannot run on java 11. I will need to extensively test the older Minecraft versions to make sure they are compatible with Java 16. I also plan to build in support to Zestygames so it can handle the disparate java version requirements across different minigame servers, which will likely require writing a new wrapper to handle launching the servers.
Resource Dimension
Although Part 1 of Caves & Cliffs will have some new content to explore new chunks for, the majority of generation changes are coming in Part 2 when the basic laws of the universe will be upended by the addition of negative y values! We do still have new areas to explore in our overworld, but generating lots of new chunks to find a few new materials just isn't sustainable in the long-term for our server.
So, with 1.17 we will be trying out a new feature to provide access to all the new content of this update, and hopefully all future updates. We will be adding a new Resource Dimension! I have a few requirements for this resource dimension, including:
Breaking changes to datapacks
LVS, and to an extent also Zz, is powered by several datapacks which need to be kept up to date with new versions. 1.17 is introducing a few breaking changes which would affect various systems. I am in the process of going through each datapack and rewriting the affected functions, predicates, advancements and loot tables.
One example is the VillagerItemCollector datapack which allows Villagers on LVS to pick up food with the mobGriefing gamerule set to false. The datapack is public and open source, you can monitor the status of 1.17 support here and are welcome to contribute.
SkyGrid
This update has a lot of great new materials, but I know some are disappointed by the delay to the second part of the update. So between the release of Part 1 and Part 2 I will be releasing a public SkyGrid world for everyone to play, which will be up to date with all of the latest blocks!
I originally created our SkyGrid plugin for Zestyland where we played it with all of the Zesties, but this time it will be open to all Zedlings and will be updated to support the latest version with all of the latest blocks!
More details about our SkyGrid server will be revealed closer to the time, once the 1.17 hype has died down a bit.
Contributing
If you would like to support me in both maintaining Zedwork every day and accomplishing all the above to prepare for the new updates, please consider becoming a Zesty or Zesty+ Subscriber.
Java 16
Minecraft currently requires Java 8, which is now over 7 years old. Mojang has decided to make Java 16 a requirement from Minecraft 1.17 onwards. You shouldn't need to worry about this when running your clients from the official launcher, as Mojang handle your java versions for you. For servers, we need to make sure we are running the correct version. This would ordinarily not be too complicated, we are already running Java 11 (which is an LTS or Long Term Support release). However, Zestygames complicates this a bit.
Our Zestygames run on a range of Minecraft versions, which can sometimes not agree on which version of Java they need. Older versions of MC, pre-1.12.2, cannot run on java 11. I will need to extensively test the older Minecraft versions to make sure they are compatible with Java 16. I also plan to build in support to Zestygames so it can handle the disparate java version requirements across different minigame servers, which will likely require writing a new wrapper to handle launching the servers.
Resource Dimension
Although Part 1 of Caves & Cliffs will have some new content to explore new chunks for, the majority of generation changes are coming in Part 2 when the basic laws of the universe will be upended by the addition of negative y values! We do still have new areas to explore in our overworld, but generating lots of new chunks to find a few new materials just isn't sustainable in the long-term for our server.
So, with 1.17 we will be trying out a new feature to provide access to all the new content of this update, and hopefully all future updates. We will be adding a new Resource Dimension! I have a few requirements for this resource dimension, including:
- Must have a unique seed
- Must be able to regenerate regularly, with a fresh seed each time
- Players who are in the resource dimension when it resets will be safe, with no risk to losing their items or their life due to terrain changes after a dimension regeneration.
- Players can enter and leave the resource dimension whenever they like, without the use of commands.
Breaking changes to datapacks
LVS, and to an extent also Zz, is powered by several datapacks which need to be kept up to date with new versions. 1.17 is introducing a few breaking changes which would affect various systems. I am in the process of going through each datapack and rewriting the affected functions, predicates, advancements and loot tables.
One example is the VillagerItemCollector datapack which allows Villagers on LVS to pick up food with the mobGriefing gamerule set to false. The datapack is public and open source, you can monitor the status of 1.17 support here and are welcome to contribute.
SkyGrid
This update has a lot of great new materials, but I know some are disappointed by the delay to the second part of the update. So between the release of Part 1 and Part 2 I will be releasing a public SkyGrid world for everyone to play, which will be up to date with all of the latest blocks!
I originally created our SkyGrid plugin for Zestyland where we played it with all of the Zesties, but this time it will be open to all Zedlings and will be updated to support the latest version with all of the latest blocks!
More details about our SkyGrid server will be revealed closer to the time, once the 1.17 hype has died down a bit.
Contributing
If you would like to support me in both maintaining Zedwork every day and accomplishing all the above to prepare for the new updates, please consider becoming a Zesty or Zesty+ Subscriber.