Huge Minecraft patch goes live

Update 1.6 has just gone live for indie world-building sensation Minecraft, bringing with it a long list of new features, improvements and fixes.

As detailed in creator Notch's blog, new additions include craftable maps, slow-growing mushrooms, hatches and Nether support for multiplayer.

Here's the full (very long) list of changes:

New features:

Added Nether support to multiplayer
The client will ask minecraft.net if the current login is valid. If the server says "no", a warning message appears in the client. You can still play the game even if this happens.
Added craftable maps
Added hatches
Added tall grass in some biomes
Mushrooms now spreads (very) slowly
Added server property view-distance. Sets the radius of terrain updates (in chunks) to send to the players. Range 3-15, default 10.
Added dead shrubs in deserts
Added allow-nether (set to true or false) in server.properties
Blocks destroyed by other players in multiplayer now shows the breaking block particle effect
Doors make sound for other players in multiplayer
The record player now supports more than 15 different songs (you can't get the records yet, though)
Activated dispensers make sounds and trigger particles in multiplayer
Players stuck in walls will slide towards the nearest gap if there is one
Changes:

Disabled Advanced OpenGL until we can fix some bugs with it
It's no longer possible to build solid blocks on the top layer of the maps (sorry!)
Made booster tracks speedier
Severely nerfed fire so it spread slower, and doesn't spread infinitely
Seeds are now found in tall grass, using a hoe on the ground no longer works
Compressed network traffic more agressively
Blocks that don't change appearance when the data changes don't send block updates when their data changes now
Arrows shot by players can now be picked up by all players
Nothing riding anything or being ridden by anything can enter portals
Bugfixes:

Fixed running out of memory corrupting the current level
Fixed the side textures of grass getting extra dark when mining them
Fixed anaglyph 3d rendering mode having severe visual bugs
Fixed the crash screen vanishing immediately
Fixed not being able to target blocks when at x or z pos 1000
Fixed the achievements screen messing up the sky color
Fixed saving while sneaking dropping the player through the ground
Fixed a system clock change messing up the game speed
Fixed rain sounds not playing with fast graphics enabled
Fixed hair and cloaks being rendered in the wrong locations on sneaking players
Fixed the attack/swing animation not being applied to the armor layer
Fixed player rotation not being loaded correctly when loading a saved game
Fixed arrow physics, making them not get stuck midair when you open a door
Fixed arrows hitting reeds, portals, and other non-solid blocks
Fixed keybindings not getting saved properly under certain conditions
Fixed the player not being able to sneak off lowered blocks like cacti
Fixed a bug where the player could mine without swinging their arm
Fixed boats placed on snow being placed too far up
Fixed submerged boats rising very very fast
Fixed sand dropping onto boats getting stuck in a falling animation
Fixed a game crash when riding a vehicle or animal into the nether
Fixed falling while riding not dealing damage to the rider
Fixed buttons and levers too close to the player being impossible to use
Fixed dispensers shooting through walls
Fixed fire hurting through wall corners
Fixed entities reaching water through wall corners
Fixed placing doors next to cacti creating half-doors
Fixed buttons and levers being placeable on leaves in "fast graphics" mode
Fixed furnaces and dispensers not dropping their contents when destroyed
Fixed dispensers biasing later slots
Fixed farmland taking too long to dig
Fixed tilling below some blocks being possible
Fixed tilling the underside of blocks somehow working
Fixed fences and stairs sometimes becoming invisible
Fixed walking on top of fences not producing step sounds
Fixed fire sometimes existing mid-air as an invisible block of pain
Fixed fences and wooden stairs not being flammable
Fixed fire effect on burning entities sometimes getting rendered in the wrong location
Fixed fishing rod rendering being a bit lacking
Fixed fishing rods being stackable
Fixed mining glass hiding the clouds behind the glass
Fixed rain falling through liquids
Fixed items in glass blocks not getting ejected properly
Fixed water interacting strangely with glass
Fixed glass not blocking rain sound
Fixed fences and signs preventing grass from growing
Fixed rain and snow being incorrectly lit
Fixed grass staying alive below stair blocks
Fixed the achievement screen not pausing the game
Fixed some screens breaking the sky tint color
Fixed fullscreen mode switching causing mouse issues and screen closes
Fixed chat messages surviving through game switches
Fixed ice so it regenerates regardless of whether it's snowing or not
Fixed rain falling too slowly
Fixed levers being placeable on weird locations
Fixed floor levers sometimes not delivering a signal downwards
Fixed floor levers sometimes not being removed when the floor is removed
Fixed rail tiles sometimes not properly connecting to a new neighbor
Fixed minecarts next to each other causing extreme velocities (sorry!)
Fixed wolves not following their owner if the name has different caps
Fixed creepers retaining charge level when they can't see their target
Fixed dying in the nether spawning new portals
"Fixed" beds in the nether
Fixed inventory acting weird when portaling by making the portal close all screens
Fixed wooden pressure plates being mined with pickaxes
Fixed redstone repeaters having the wrong particles
Fixed saplings being plantable through snow onto non-grass blocks
Fixed ore density varying per quadrant from the center of the world
Fixed dispenser graphics being one pixel off. ONE PIXEL!!!
Fixed mushrooms spawning everywhere during nights
Fixed animals only spawning near light during the night
Fixed the multiplayer join screen input field being too short
Fixed IPv6 addresses being parsed wrongly. To connect to a specific port in IPv6, use the format [1234:567::1]:25565
Fixed network packets being sent unbuffered, causing huge amounts of packets being sent
Fixed entity positions going out of synch sometimes. They get re-synched every 20 seconds now.
Fixed inventory icons not animating after being picked up in multiplayer
Fixed mushroom soup not leaving a bowl in multiplayer
Fixed entities above the map height limit becoming invisible
Fixed healing not flashing the health bar in multiplayer
Fixed arrows being animated really strangely in multiplayer
Fixed arrows triggering too many entity move updates in multiplayer
Fixed the compass not pointing at the spawn location in multiplayer
Fixed fires being impossible to put out in multiplayer
Fixed record players spawning client-side fake records in multiplayer
Fixed records not playing for other players in multiplayer
Fixed players spawning in the wrong location and quickly lerping to the correct location
Fixed monsters not being visible for players with their difficulty set to peaceful
Fixed pigs getting hit by lightning in multiplayer spawning client-side zombie pigmen
Fixed loads of exploding tnt generating way too many particles, possibly crashing the client
Fixed bonemeal use in multiplayer sometimes spawning fake client-side trees
Fixed saplings sometimes spawning trees client-side in multiplayer
Fixed weather sometimes changing client-side in multiplayer
Fixed grasscolor.png and foliagecolor.png not being read from texture packs
Fixed stats getting saved to different files in offline mode if the caps in the player name differ from the true spelling
Fixed fireballs not being visible in multiplayer
Fixed ghasts' fireing animation not being visible in multiplayer
Fixed receiving more items than the maximum stack size sometimes causing an oversized stack in the inventory

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...atch-goes-live