For a guide about all the additions and changes in this update, see Java Edition guides/Bountiful Update

Image for the Bountiful Update released by Mojang

The Bountiful Update is the name for Java Edition version 1.8, a major update that was released on September 2, 2014. The update has two main themes, one being features added for mapmakers and the other being new survival features.

Development began the month after 1.7.4 was released. Fifty-two development snapshots were released, from 14w02a to 14w34d – the second most for any major update to date. During a long development period – 236 days long – six subsequent versions of 1.7 were released. The time between releases of 1.7.2 and 1.8 is the second longest time span between major updates, at 312 days. That is over a month longer than the development of Infdev and Alpha combined, and slightly over 2 weeks shorter than the development of Beta. Several iterations of the launcher were also released during this period, from 1.3.9 to 1.5.3.

The official name for the update, the Bountiful Update,[1] was announced on August 22, 2014 in a blog post on the Mojang website.

Mojang released the first pre-release on August 22, 2014, the second pre-release on August 25 and the third pre-release on August 28.

Notable features [ edit ]

Mapmaking features [ edit ]

Additions

5 new gamerules logAdminCommands , randomTickSpeed , reducedDebugInfo , sendCommandFeedback and showDeathMessages

5 new statistics crouchOneCm , sprintOneCm , talkedToVillager , timeSinceDeath and tradedWithVillager

12 new commands /blockdata , /clone , /entitydata , /execute , /fill , /particle , /replaceitem , /stats , /testforblocks , /title , /trigger and /worldborder

13 new NBT tags BlockEntityTag , CanDestroy , CanPlaceOn , CommandStats , generation , HideFlags , Lock , NoAI , PickupDelay , rewardExp , SelectedItem , ShowParticles and Silent

Selector @e for targeting entities

Changes

Interaction with blocks in Adventure Mode is disabled by default

Many new arguments and scopes for existing commands

Block models are now customizable via resource packs

Signs and books can use JSON-formatted text

Monster spawners can be quickly changed using spawn eggs

Survival features [ edit ]

Additions

Changes

Performance changes [ edit ]

VBOs (Vertex Buffer Object) toggle added to Video Settings menu

Anisotropic Filtering removed

Advanced OpenGL removed in favor of a new Advanced Cave Culling Algorithm [2]

Render Distance slider maximum increased to 32 chunks when using 64-bit Java and 2GB allocated RAM

Video [ edit ]

Further revisions [ edit ]

1.8.1 brought performance optimizations and bug fixes.

1.8.2 brought new statistics and a frame time graph for the debug screen, as well as performance optimizations and bug fixes.

1.8.3 was released soon thereafter to fix a crash from 1.8.2.

In 1.8.4, 1.8.5, 1.8.6 and 1.8.7, a number of exploits and vulnerabilities were patched.

1.8.8 saw a new Realms mini game, the ability to use resource packs with Realms, and patches to more exploits.

1.8.9 added Realms notifications, as well as some bug fixes.