Minecraft 26.3 Snapshot 2 Now Available

We’re rolling out the second snapshot for Minecraft 26.3, bringing a major upgrade to how the game handles transparency. This week’s release introduces a new order-independent transparency (OIT) algorithm designed to resolve long-standing translucency issues more effectively. Additionally, we’ve optimized mob behavior when players aren’t nearby, made gameplay adjustments, and included technical changes and bug fixes.

Happy mining!

Known Issues

• When using Vulkan on Mac, the world will not render and instead displays a pink screen.Changes
• Persistent mobs now deactivate their random walk and swim behaviors when no players are nearby, matching the behavior of non-persistent mobs.Order-Independent Transparency (OIT)Translucent surfaces usually need to be rendered back-to-front to avoid visual glitches, which requires sorting geometry before rendering , a very expensive process. Even with perfect sorting, intersecting triangles remain impossible to render correctly.Previously, the “Improved Transparency” video setting attempted to mitigate these issues by rendering different types of translucent objects (entities, particles, water, etc.) to separate textures, then combining them. While this fixed some problems with a performance cost, it introduced other subtle issues.Now, enabling the “Improved Transparency” setting activates a new OIT algorithm, which renders translucent objects in any order without sorting. This fixes all major translucency-related visual issues, such as objects disappearing when viewed through translucent surfaces. However, because the algorithm is an approximation, it introduces minor visual artifacts , for example, cloud colors may appear slightly incorrect when viewed through multiple translucent layers.We expect OIT to have a higher performance impact than the previous implementation. When “Improved Transparency” is turned off, the game will prioritize performance over correctness, sorting geometry as needed , behavior that hasn’t changed meaningfully.Developer’s Note: Special thanks to Rubén Osório López, Jozufozu, and the Minecraft modding community for sharing information that helped make this possible.Technical Changes
• Data Pack version is now 109.0.Server Properties
• The white-list property is now true by default.Data Pack Versions 109.0Data Components
• Added minecraft:block_transformer , this component allows items to transform one block into another upon player interaction.Loot Tables
• Added till/rooted_dirt loot table for drops when tilling Rooted Dirt with a hoe.World Generation
• Cave Air is no longer generated in Nether caves.Features
• Added minecraft:copypropertiesprovider Block State Provider , copies common Block State properties from the block at the evaluated position to the resulting state. Format: object with field:
• Changed minecraft:steppedcolumncluster Feature Type (renamed from minecraft:basalt_columns). Now offers more control:
• Changed minecraft:singleblockpillar Feature Type (renamed from minecraft:basalt_pillar):
• Changed minecraft:randomneighborspread Feature Type (renamed from minecraft:glowstone_blob):
• Added minecraft:overlay Feature Type , places a set of features at the same location; all features are placed regardless of individual success. Format: features (non-empty list of Placed Feature IDs or tags).
• Added minecraft:projectedrandompatchysquare Feature Type , generates a square where blocks are placed randomly with probability based on distance from the center. Format: block, projectthrough, size (1-16), maxprojectionheight (non-negative integer).Placement Modifiers
• Changed minecraft:offset Placement Modifier (renamed from random_offset). Format now includes x, y, z fields (integer providers, -16 to 16).Noise Settings
• Spawn Target , The spawn_target field now allows any Density Function. Suitability is determined by squared Euclidean distance to target hypercubes in n-dimensional space. Format: list of target hypercubes, each a map between Density Function ID and a range (float, array of two floats, or object with min/max).Block Predicates
• Added minecraft:heightrange , checks height against a given range. Format: mininclusive and max_inclusive (Vertical Anchors).Vertical Anchors
• Added relativetosea_level , specifies an offset to the dimension’s sea level.Carvers
• Renamed worldgen/configured_carver registry to worldgen/carver.Int Providers
• Added minecraft:verybiasedtobottom , picks a random value with quadratic bias toward the minimum. Format: mininclusive and max_inclusive.Block Tags
• Added #turnsintodirt_path , blocks that turn into Dirt Path when shoveled.Item Tags
• Added #dowses_campfires , items that can extinguish a lit Campfire.Resource Pack Version 90.0
• The Shelf Mushroom texture has been updated.Shaders & Post-Process EffectsDeveloper’s Note: Overriding Core Shaders in Resource Packs is considered unsupported and may change anytime. We understand this is used for cool features, and we aim to provide better supported alternatives in the future.OIT-Related Shader Changes
• Added new shaders for OIT: core/oitcomposite.fsh, include/oit.glsl, include/oitaddtransmittance.glsl, include/oitcommon.glsl, include/oitdepthbounds.glsl, include/oitdepthsample.glsl, include/oit_sample.glsl.Fixed Bugs in 26.3 Snapshot 2
• MC-161885 , Transparent objects not rendering behind slimesGet the SnapshotSnapshots are available for Minecraft: Java Edition. To install, open the Minecraft Launcher and enable snapshots in the “Installations” tab.Testing versions can corrupt your world, so please back up your worlds and run snapshots in a separate folder.Cross-platform server jar:Report bugs here:Want to give feedback?