Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.17.40.21 lands with more features and experimental changes

What do you want to know

• While the first half of the “Caves and Cliffs Update” continues to see new releases, Mojang is working on the second part.
• The latest Minecraft: Bedrock Edition beta has arrived and includes something for both halves of the major update.
• Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.17.40.21 includes new experimental features for world generation and flat worlds.
• On the less experimental side, we’re getting lots of bugfixes and technical updates, including for the global generation.

Yesterday, Mojang Studios released a new patch update for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition with a host of improvements across the board. However, work isn’t being done on the more experimental side, as today marks the release of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.17.40.21. Today’s build continues to iterate on the first half of the Caves and Cliffs update, while adding to the set of experimental features relating to the second part which will arrive later this year.

There’s nothing terribly exciting about this release, with the world generation update for flat worlds and copper becoming more prevalent on the experimental side. On the other hand, players can expect plenty of bug fixes and technical updates across the board, touching on things like elytra, world generation, and more. The beta is available now to download and test on Xbox, Windows 10, and Android devices.

Normally, Mojang usually releases Minecraft: Bedrock Edition betas and Minecraft: Java Edition snapshots around the same time, but an unforeseen issue prevented a snapshot from being released today. If you prefer to play the legacy version of Minecraft on PC, maybe a snapshot will arrive tomorrow.

Minecraft is often considered one of the best Xbox games you can play, and that’s backed up by a wide selection of toys and gifts suitable for any Minecraft fan. Part of this success can no doubt be attributed to Mojang’s constant drive to improve Minecraft with these betas and snapshots. If you’re interested in the future of Minecraft, be sure to tune in to Minecraft Live 2021 next month.

The full changelog for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Beta 1.17.40.21 includes:

Experimental features

• Added new world/cave generation when upgrading chunks saved below Y=0 using the experimental Caves and Cliffs toggle
  • Songs previously upgraded with Bedrock underneath will not see this change

Flat world generation

• Upgrades old flat worlds to the new extended heights available with the experimental Caves & Cliffs toggle
• New flat worlds using the experimental Caves & Cliffs toggle will be generated from “y=-64”

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue in Betas where it was forbidden to fly above the world limit (255 for non-Caves & Cliffs experiences, 319 for experimental Caves & Cliffs)

copper ore

• Copper ore now generates up to y=96 instead of y=64

Features and bug fixes

General

• Holding Top Snow in hand while hovering over grass blocks no longer causes incorrect behavior
• Honeycombs now generate correctly in the world
• Non-fireproof mobs now avoid going through fire

Gameplay

• Vanilla Parity: Players can now activate Elytra’s glide while moving up
• Using Dye on Signs containing formatted colored text will overwrite formatted colored text

World Generation

• Fossils are now much less likely to spawn and destroy structures
• Dungeons are no longer misplaced or missing outside of the Caves & Cliffs experimental toggle

Freak

• Iron golem now only spawns on solid blocks
• Wielded weapons now display correctly on looters and vindicators

User interface

• Riding an animal now shows the correct button prompt when playing with non-touch controls

character creator

• Rear appearance parts will no longer cover the left and right arrows in the profile screen
• Fixed featured items in profile screen not opening featured catalog in Dressing Room
• Fixed default clothing changing color if another item’s color was previously changed
• Sidebar options can now be selected in expanded view after navigating from the previously selected sidebar option while using the controller
• Sidebar no longer opens when expanding one of the classic skin packs in the Dressing Room
• Improved the navigation flow for the character creator so that it always jumps to the selected character creator profile
• Skins equipped from Marketplace during gameplay now apply to the character

Technical updates

Animation

• Fixed a bug that caused animations to restart when switching render controllers

Chart

• Fixed text on panels losing formatting when newlines or line breaks are encountered. Formatting will now persist until the reset code or a priority code is found. This is not retroactive and previously created signs will not be modified

Chart

• As part of ongoing testing, removal of the RenderDragon engine on Android devices (ARMv7)

Molang

• Molang expressions that contain capital letters are now correctly evaluated
• query.get_equipped_item_name will now recognize Sea Lantern
• Add new compilation errors for expressions like 1 + (9 10), which were previously ignored (this is a release change from engine version 1.17.40)

GameTest Framework

• Updated GameTest Framework interface and added new SimulatedPlayer feature:
  • Added SimulatedPlayer class at GameTest. This class allows GameTest to simulate a variety of player behaviors such as movement, using objects, and interacting with blocks and entities.
  • Added function spawnSimulatedPlayer(blockLocation: BlockLocation, name: string): SimulatedPlayer
  • Added function removeSimulatedPlayer(simulatedPlayer: SimulatedPlayer): void
  • mojang-gametest.Test type
  • Changing the function signature assertEntityInstancePresent(entity: Entity, blockLocation: BlockLocation, isPresent: boolean = true)
  • mojang-minecraft components
  • Making up inventorynow works with player inventories