Minecraft 1.20 update first pre-release finally out

Minecraft 1.20 the Trails and Tales update's first official pre-release has arrived. This launch differs from snapshots, betas, and previews — which were being released on a weekly basis. Those are the first stage of rollouts before a major update is offered; pre-releases are the second, and Mojang has officially entered this phase as of today. More such launches will likely appear, but the process has begun for the official patch's release has begun.

This also implies that the full update is on the horizon and coming sooner rather than later. No official date for the Trails and Tales patch has been revealed yet; however, with only a few other pre-releases remaining, fans can feel it coming their way.

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Mojang releasing first official Minecraft 1.20 pre-release

About the first pre-release, the Java Team for Minecraft wrote on their official website the following:

"It is now time for the first Pre-release for Minecraft 1.20: The Trails and Tales update! From now on, you should mostly see bugs being fixed. In addition to that, pre-releases don't follow the regular snapshot cadence of releasing on Wednesdays, so keep an eye out for the next pre-release. As always, a big thank you to the community for your feedback, bugs reported, and awesome ideas throughout the snapshot series. Let the pre-releases commence!"

This means that all the new features have already been tested. If it showed up in the snapshots, like the Sniffer, the Torchflower, Trail Ruins, Suspicious Sand, and more, then it's coming in the full update.

Trail ruins as seen in the snapshot 23w12a (Image via Mojang)

Conversely, whatever was left out of the snapshots and betas will not be available this time around. However, Mojang has added plenty of new content in this pre-release. Some changes in this update include:

• Colored wool, carpets, and beds can now be dyed to any other color
• Random sequences for loot tables are now deterministic
• Fixed a bug where players who reached the other side of a nether portal saw the animation play endlessly
• Fixed capitalization on chiseled bookshelf interaction subtitles. Some of them were incorrect

This pre-release functions the same way a snapshot does, which is to say it's available from the Installations tab on the Minecraft Launcher. Enable it there and try out the latest version. Keep an eye on official channels for an announcement of the official update.