How to download Minecraft 1.18 Experimental Snapshot 2 with new mountain biomes, cave generations and more

Another experimental snapshot for the upcoming Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs update Part 2 has been released by Mojang for players to test. In this snapshot, players will see many new world generation changes compared to the previous snapshot.

Players can also explore the new lush caves and dripstone cave biomes that will generate underground and inside mountains. Along with these cave biomes, five new mountain biomes will also be generated in the snapshot. Interested Minecrafters can read more about the snapshot here.

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How can players download the Minecraft 1.18 experimental snapshot 2?

Since the snapshot has been released globally for all players, it can be played on any computer with the official Minecraft Java edition launcher installed.

Players will have to create new worlds to test the new features, as worlds created in previous versions cannot be opened in experimental snapshots. The performance of this version may be laggy and unstable on certain systems.

You can find the full Minecraft Skindex here.

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Installing the experimental snapshot

First, players need to download the experimental snapshot from here or the official website. Once downloaded, the "1_18_experimental-snapshot-2" folder needs to be extracted from the downloaded zip archive, and players need to move this to the "versions" folder present in the Minecraft application data folder.

How can players find the application data folder?

• Windows users can locate the folder by pressing WIN+R and typing "%appdata%\.minecraft" in the box that appears.
• Mac OS users need to navigate to the Go menu in finder and select "Go to Folder". Once there, players need to enter ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
• Linux: ~/.minecraft or /home/<your username>/.minecraft/

Steps to install the snapshot:

Step 1: Once the extracted folder has been moved to "versions" in the application data folder, players need to open the Minecraft launcher.

Step 2: Under the installations tab, the "Modded" option needs to be checked by the player.

The detailed Minecraftwiki is available here.

Step 3: Players then need to click on "new installations" and write a version name. Under Version, select the line containing the downloaded zip file name and click on "create". Restart the launcher if the file name is not present there.

Once the player has followed the steps above, a new experimental version will appear in the launcher and can be played from there.