Java Edition removed features

Since the beginning of the development of Minecraft: Java Edition, there have been a number of features that were removed from the game. These features may have been replaced, or a developer decided against the feature later on.

Note: that this page only documents game features that were removed; features of a particular game element that were removed are noted in that element's history. See Java Edition unused features for features that are still currently in the game.

Blocks and items

Horse saddle

Horse saddles were items added in snapshot 13w16a during the development of 1.6.1, along with horses. Horse saddles worked just like regular saddles, but for horses instead of pigs. Taming a horse was required before putting a horse saddle on it. The horse saddle was craftable using the following recipe:

Ingredients	[hide]Crafting recipe
Leather + Iron Ingot

The item ID used was 416, which now refers to the armor stand in newer versions.

Horse saddles could stack up to 32.

Texture and crafting taken from the Mo'Creatures mod.

Horse saddle items were later removed from the game in 13w18a, and normal saddles are now used for both pigs and horses.

Infinite water source

File:Infinite Water.png

The infinite water source was a block that would create infinite water, which would replicate infinitely to fill up volumes. Mojang removed this because of problems and glitches when they were placed next to each other. They were added originally in Indev 0.31 (January 24, 2010) to allow for infinite lakes on floating maps.

It was available as block ID 52, prior to being replaced with the monster spawner in Infdev (June 25, 2010, 2) and block was removed. (Plus, it acted like Water in Classic.)

Infinite lava source

File:Infinite Lava.png

Similar to the infinite water source, the infinite lava source was a block that created infinite lava which would replicate infinitely to fill up volumes. It was also added in Indev 0.31 (January 24, 2010).

It was available as block ID 53, prior to being replaced with oak stairs in Infdev (June 29, 2010) and block was removed.

• 

  Infinite water source in the inventory by inventory editing in Infdev and placed.

• Gears do not show up on non-solid blocks, but do on the Infinite Water Source and Infinite Lava Source, proving that they are solid blocks.

  Gears do not show up on non-solid blocks, but do on the Infinite Water Source and Infinite Lava Source, proving that they are solid blocks.

Locked chest

File:Locked Chest Revision 1.png

Locked chests were an April Fools block added in Beta 1.4. They would spawn rarely and emit a light level of 15. Pressing use on the chest would bring up a screen, and clicking on the "Go to Store" button would forward the player to the "Minecraft Store". They were subsequently removed from normal gameplay in Beta 1.4_01, but it remained within the game's code until it was removed entirely in 1.7.2.

It was available as block ID 95, prior to being replaced with stained glass in 13w41a.

Powered comparator

During the development for 1.5, the comparator at first used two separate block IDs to represent its powered and unpowered states, with names unpowered_comparator and powered_comparator, and numeric IDs 149 and 150 respectively. As of 13w05a, the powered_comparator block was removed from use in the game, replaced by a powered block state on the unpowered_comparator block. It is removed completely in the 1.13 snapshot 17w47a, as of The Flattening.

Reverted potions

Before the 1.9 snapshot 15w31a, potions had a form known as "reverted". In the inventory, reverted potions looked identical to their base potion, much like mundane and mundane (extended), and their usage was also identical to their base potions, with the exception of turning into reverted potions rather than base potions. The only difference was data values.

There were two general methods to create reverted potions, one of which involved the addition of fermented spider eyes. Reversion, in general, referenced changing a longer, upgraded potion into its original weaker potion (for example, changing from a potion of poison (extended) into a potion of harming (reverted) by adding fermented spider eye).

• The first method involved adding glowstone (typically) to an already upgraded tertiary potion. Since these tertiary potions have already been modified with redstone (typically), they could be changed to their original (revert) unmodified states depending on which modifier was added previously. Not all potions could be reverted (or react, for that matter) when glowstone powder or redstone dust was added to an upgraded tertiary potion (for example, adding redstone to an already redstone-extended potion did not yield a new potion).
• The second method involved the addition of fermented spider eyes, followed by glowstone (usually). Method two worked by adding fermented spider eye to an extended positive potion (i.e. an extended tertiary potion). In almost all cases, this would corrupt the potion and produce a negative potion of equal strength (in this case, extended). Then, glowstone (depending on the recipe) was added to the extended negative potion. Since these negative tertiary potions (regardless of origin) have already been modified with redstone, the addition of glowstone would revert the potion to a potion of lesser duration.

A good example of this process at work is the reversion of the potion of weakness. A potion of weakness can be made two ways. The first method is by adding fermented spider eye to a mundane potion (water bottle + ghast tear/glistering melon/blaze powder/magma cream/sugar/spider eye), then adding redstone to produce potion of weakness (extended). The second method is by adding (again) fermented spider eye to either a potion of strength or a potion of regeneration. Potions of strength and regeneration, in their base or extended forms, will produce potions of weakness with equal magnitude (for the sake of this example, fermented spider eye is added to potion of strength (extended) to produce potion of weakness (extended)).

Now, there should be two Potions of Weakness (4:00). Glowstone dust could be added to the Potion of Weakness (Ext) which reverted the potion into a normal duration (1:30) Potion of Weakness. The act of reducing the duration from 4:00 to 1:30 was reversion.

Glowstone

Potion	Base	Reagent	Effect	Duration (minutes)
Template:Grid Potion of Fire Resistance (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Fire Resistance (extended)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Gives immunity to damage from fire, lava, and ranged Blaze attacks.	3:00
Template:Grid Potion of Night Vision (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Night Vision (extended)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Makes everything appear to be at max light level, including underwater areas.	3:00
Template:Grid Potion of Slowness (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Slowness (extended)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (extended)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Reduces all melee attacks by 0.5 damage (0.25 heart).	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Water Breathing (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Water Breathing (extended)	Template:Grid Glowstone Dust	Does not deplete the oxygen bar when underwater.	3:00

Redstone

Potion	Base	Reagent	Effect	Duration (minutes)
Template:Grid Potion of Healing (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Healing II	Template:Grid Redstone	Restores per potion.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Harming (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Harming II	Template:Grid Redstone	Inflicts of damage.	Instant

Fermented Spider Eye

Potion	Base	Reagent	Effect	Duration (minutes)
Template:Grid Potion of Harming (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Healing (reverted) or Template:Grid Potion of Poison (extended)	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Inflicts of damage.	Instant
Template:Grid Potion of Slowness (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Fire Resistance (reverted) or Template:Grid Potion of Swiftness II	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Player's movement is slowed to a crouch for the given time.	1:30
Template:Grid Potion of Weakness (reverted)	Template:Grid Potion of Strength II or Template:Grid Potion of Regeneration II	Template:Grid Fermented Spider Eye	Reduces all melee attacks by 0.5 damage (0.25 heart).	1:30

Rose

The rose was removed from the Java edition in 1.7.2 snapshot 13w36a, from the Pocket Edition in Alpha 0.9.0 and from the Legacy Console Edition partially in TU25/CU14/1.17/Patch 1 and fully in TU31/CU19/1.22/Patch 3. In all three editions, the rose was simply replaced by the poppy as a wild flower which had the same function: crafting red dye, though in the Legacy Console Edition it was still named 'rose', until in its versions known as TU31/CU19/1.22/Patch 3.

Blocks previously obtainable as items

for a full list of unobtainable blocks

The game prevents certain blocks from being obtained through normal gameplay methods, such as crafting, the creative inventory, the pick block key, and the silk touch enchantment. It also prevents such blocks from being given through less conventional methods, such as inventory editing, mods, and commands. Until release versions 1.7.2 and 1.8, there had been a wide variety of blocks that could be edited into the inventory; over time, however, the game was developed so that these blocks became entirely unavailable, even through editing.

Currently, the game only accepts name IDs (such as minecraft:dirt) in most commands, and uses only name IDs when assigning blocks to the inventory and save files. The old method of obtaining a block via numerical IDs is no longer an option. In addition, the game automatically removes blocks with illegitimate name IDs from the inventory, so using inventory editors is also no longer an option. Furthermore, certain blocks such as minecraft:cake cannot be obtained in their block form; however, since the game has a corresponding item named minecraft:cake, the item form is given instead.

Obtainable until 1.7.2

In snapshot 13w37a, the /give command was modified so that it would notify the name of the item in chat. Due to this, 26 blocks were made unavailable:

Block	Name ID	Dec	Hex
Bed	bed	26	1A
Piston Head	piston_head	34	22
Piston Extension	piston_extension	36	24
Redstone Wire	redstone_wire	55	37
Wheat	wheat	59	3B
Standing Sign	standing_sign	63	3F
Oak Door	wooden_door	64	40
File:BlockSprite oak-wood-planks.pngWall Sign	wall_sign	68	44
Iron Door	iron_door	71	47
Lit Redstone Ore	lit_redstone_ore	74	4A
File:BlockSprite unlit-redstone-torch.pngUnlit Redstone Torch	unlit_redstone_torch	75	4B
Sugar Cane	reeds	83	53
Cake	cake	92	5C
File:BlockSprite unpowered-repeater.pngUnpowered Repeater	unpowered_repeater	93	5D
File:BlockSprite powered-repeater.pngPowered Repeater	powered_repeater	94	5E
Pumpkin Stem	pumpkin_stem	104	68
Melon Stem	melon_stem	105	69
Nether Wart	nether_wart	115	73
Brewing Stand	brewing_stand	117	75
Cauldron	cauldron	118	76
Lit Redstone Lamp	lit_redstone_lamp	124	7C
Tripwire	tripwire	132	84
Flower Pot	flower_pot	140	8C
Heads	skull	144	90
File:BlockSprite unpowered-comparator.pngUnpowered Comparator	unpowered_comparator	149	95
File:BlockSprite powered-comparator.pngPowered Comparator	powered_comparator	150	96

Air block

The air block was briefly available as an item during 1.7.2 snapshot 13w38b, while Grum had been redefining the code that represented air in-game. This availability only lasted for one snapshot, as it was the focus of several bugs, most notably a bug that made mobs drop air upon death.

Block	Name ID	Dec	Hex
Air	air	0	00

Obtainable until 1.8

In snapshot 14w25a, changes were made to the way the icons of items were rendered, and the way block data was internally represented. Due to this, 12 blocks were made unavailable:

Block	Name ID	Dec	Hex
Water	flowing_water	8	08
Still Water	water	9	09
Lava	flowing_lava	10	0A
Still Lava	lava	11	0B
Double Stone Slab	double_stone_slab	43	2B
Fire	fire	51	34
Nether Portal	portal	90	5A
End Portal	end_portal	119	77
File:BlockSprite oak-wood-planks.pngDouble Wooden Slab	double_wooden_slab	125	7D
Cocoa	cocoa	127	7F
Carrots	carrots	141	8D
Potatoes	potatoes	142	8E

Obtainable until 1.9

In snapshot 15w49a, 1 block was made unavailable:

Block	Name ID	Dec	Hex
Lit Furnace	lit_furnace	62	3E

Crafting recipes

Chain armor

Since shortly after their introduction in Indev, and until snapshot 14w25a for release 1.8, chain armor was craftable using fire. As of that snapshot, fire can no longer exist as an inventory item, even with inventory editing, and the recipe itself was removed from the game's registry of recipes.

Chain armor may still be obtained in other ways.

Ingredients	[hide]Crafting recipe
Fire

Enchanted golden apple

Since their introduction in 1.3.1, and until snapshot 15w44a for release 1.9, enchanted golden apples had a crafting recipe: an apple surrounded by 8 gold blocks.

Enchanted golden apples may still be obtained in other ways.

Ingredients	[hide]Crafting recipe
Block of Gold + Apple

Horse Armor

In the 13w16a snapshot of 1.6.1 a crafting recipe for horse armor was added. In snapshot 13w18a, the crafting recipe was removed.

Leather horse armor was added to the Bedrock Edition just over three years later, and had a still usable but different crafting recipe.

Horse armor may still be obtained in other ways.

Ingredients	[hide]Crafting recipe
Iron Ingot or Gold Ingot or Diamond + White Wool

Generated structures

Brick pyramid

Brick pyramids were large and extremely rare structures that generated randomly in Infdev worlds in Infdev (February 27, 2010) onwards. These pyramids were completely solid; they had no interior rooms. These pyramids generated directly on top of the terrain instead of being a complete pyramid with the bottom underground (such as desert temples). Caves are also capable of generating inside these (only in Infdev (March 25, 2010). Brick Pyramids were removed in Infdev (March 27, 2010).

Indev House

File:Indev House.png

The Indev House was a structure available in Indev versions. It was spawned in when the player first started a world.

When the player started a world in the original Indev version, the house would spawn in as a wooden plank house.

When the player started a world in version Indev 0.31 (January 24, 2010) to the beginning of Indev, a mossy cobblestone house with torches would spawn in and the player would have flint and steel in their hotbar.

These two houses had the floor made out of stone.

Obsidian wall

The obsidian walls in Infdev.

Obsidian walls were used in Infdev to mark the positions of the cardinal directions. This created two intersecting planes extending just above the surface of the solid material that surrounds them. This has long since been removed, as it was only found in Infdev (February 27, 2010).

Far Lands

File:FarLandsCorner.png

Both types of Far Lands.

File:12550821line.png

Comparison of land before and after X/Z of ±12,550,821.

The Far Lands was the area that formed the "edge" of the "infinite" map in Java Edition versions prior to Beta 1.8. They initiate differently depending on the game's version. In Infdev (February 27, 2010), there was a wall of stone that generated 33,554,432 blocks away from spawn. In a later version of Infdev, this changed to where the Far Lands we had till Beta 1.7.3 began at about 12,550,820 blocks from the center of the world (0; 0) These Far Lands had two kinds: Edge Far Lands (The Loop) and Corner Far Lands (The Stack); both feature extremely strange terrain. They are known to have several impacts to the gameplay, including floating-point precision errors and huge framerate/tickrate drops due to excessive coordinates, and the farther from the world center, the worse the effects, until the game freezes and crashes. Beyond X/Z 32,000,000, the chunks are just fake chunks, causing the player to fall through the terrain.

When mods like the "Cubic Chunks" Mod came out, a new set of Far Lands called the Sky Far Lands was discovered. When the height limit is removed completely, the Far Lands continue to generate upward until they eventually collide with the Sky Far Lands 25,101,640 blocks upward or to the Void Far Lands 25,101,640 blocks below the world.

In Beta 1.7.2 (and probably as far back as Alpha 1.2.0), there existed another set of Far Lands called the Farther Lands, which was found very recently after the discovery of the Far Lands, and generate approximately 1,004,065,600 blocks away from the world center. This set combines with the previous Far Lands to create an even more strange mixture. In this set of Far Lands, the terrain is very smooth and hardly changes its shape. This is especially noticeable in the Corner Farther Lands.

The Far Lands were fixed in Beta 1.8.

Trees

Some types of trees can no longer be grown with saplings, and no longer generate naturally in new terrain. They were often the result of the fact that new log and leaves types had not yet been added; new trees subsequently "borrowed" logs and leaves from other trees. For example: acacia trees, when they were first added, used jungle logs and oak leaves.

• 

  An acacia tree with jungle logs and oak leaves.

• 

  A dark oak tree with spruce logs and oak leaves.

Glass Pillars

A glass pillar in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3.

Glass pillars were added in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3. They were used to mark the location of strongholds, as the eye of ender was not yet added. They were removed in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4, due to the addition of the eye of ender.

World generation

Isometric screenshot

In the Indev versions of the game, the player could take a screenshot of the map from an isometric perspective using F7. When the game captures an isometric image it will save the current location of all mobs and show any and all alterations to the map the player has made that would be visible from the perspective of the sun (at sunrise). The player will not be visible unless the player was in third person view before taking the Isometric screenshot.

The Isometric screenshot will save to the player's local user folder as "mc_map_####.png" where #### represents the number of the screenshot ranging from 0000 to 9999.

There are some limitations that existed with the screenshots:

• Can only capture the player's model when in 3rd person mode.
• Due to a glitch the screenshot will only render blocks that are in the player's FOV, and everything else will either be black or show blocks under the ground.

• 

  An example of an isometric screenshot.

• 

  An example of a screenshot displaying the bug of not capturing chunks not in the players FOV.

Indev map shape

A typical normal, small, floating, deep map in isometric view.

The map shape is the general dimensions the level generator uses to create maps. Added in Indev 0.31 (January 6, 2010), it alters the length, width, and height of the map. There are three kinds of shapes:

• Square is a map of equal length and width, with a default height of 64.
• Long is 2× the length and 1/2 the width of the specified map size.
• Deep is 4× height and 1/2 the width and length of the specified map size.

A small, square map is 128×128 blocks wide, a normal square map is 256×256 blocks wide, and a huge square map is 512×512 blocks. All square and long maps are 64 blocks tall.

Width × Length × Height	Square	Long	Deep
Small	128 x 128 x 64	256 x 64 x 64	64 x 64 x 256
Normal	256 x 256 x 64	512 x 128 x 64	128 x 128 x 256
Huge	512 x 512 x 64	1028 x 256 x 64	256 x 256 x 256

Indev map theme

A map theme (comparable to biomes) was the general style that the level generator used to create maps. Added in Indev 0.31 (January 7, 2010), it dramatically affects Indev mode's game mechanics. The Paradise and Woods themes were added in the Indev (February 14, 2010, 2). Themes became non-functional on Infdev (February 27, 2010), and they were later removed at a point between then and March 27, 2010.

There were four map themes:

• 

  Normal.

• 

  Hell.

• 

  Paradise.

• 

  Woods.

• Normal features sporadic trees, clouds and equal length of day and night. Ores can be found and lava is generated near bedrock.
• Hell features less lighting allowing for mob spawning at all times, lava instead of water, dirt instead of grass and grass instead of sand. Mushrooms are abundant on the surface. Farming works at a much slower rate (one plant stage per day cycle). This was later replaced with The Nether.
• Paradise features larger beaches and plentiful flora, the time is always set to "Noon" and hostile Mobs will only spawn underground. Farming works at a much faster rate (from planting to harvestable in 30–45 minutes).
• Woods features constant overcast during the day that reduces light and higher tree density. Additionally, mushrooms are spotty throughout the overground areas.

Indev map type

The floating map type.

The map type was the general format the level generator used to create maps. Added in Indev 0.31 (January 6, 2010), it dramatically affected Indev mode in the availability of water, sand, and gravel. Each map type was bordered by a grass or water flatland which stretched on for several thousand blocks. There were four map types:

• Island is the default map type featuring minor hills and water as the border.
• Floating contains multiple floating islands. Falling from these islands results in death as the surface is covered in solid water blocks. Floating gravel and sand is common, while water is rare.
• Flat is similar to superflat today - it features flat grass with flowers and trees.
• Inland features a slightly hilly landscape, which is essentially the Island map type with grassy flatland at its borders. Sand and gravel are common.

Winter mode

A map with winter mode.

Winter mode was a randomly occurring map type for Minecraft Alpha. It was added in Alpha v1.0.4 and was the first "biome" other than the generic theme to appear in Minecraft, although not a true biome as it made the entire world snowy. It was removed in Alpha v1.2.0. Four different types of snowflakes fell constantly, creating snow tiles on any solid block that was directly exposed to the sky. When a map was generated, all exposed water blocks would be frozen into ice. Also, animals would not spawn as much as in the normal world. It is possible to convert worlds generated before Alpha v1.2.0 into Winter mode by using a NBT editor.

Pre-Beta 1.8 biomes

Biome	Characteristics	Image
Rain Forest	Rainforests are very wet biomes with many trees, which have a 1⁄3 chance of being big. They only generate oak trees, and have a large amount of tall grass, some of which is switched to ferns. They spawn with a temperature greater than 97⁄100, and a rainfall greater than 9⁄10 as referenced in the code. In the world generator, this could be the biome with some of the most cliffs and hills, because the noise octaves base the amount of terrain variation on rainfall.
Seasonal Forest	Seasonal Forests spawn with a temperature of 97⁄100 or greater, and a rainfall value between 9⁄20 and 9⁄10. They are commonly found between forest and rain forests, and near plains biomes. They are identical to forests, except they have less trees and are only capable of spawning oak trees. They have a little bit of tall grass.
Forest	A biome with many trees and a little bit of tall grass. Wolves can spawn here. Forest is the only biome where birch trees spawn. It generates when the temperature is between 1⁄2 and 97⁄100, and the rainfall is 7⁄20 or greater.
Swampland	Identical to shrubland with only the unused color variables and the biome name differing. It generates when the temperature is between 1⁄10 and 7⁄10, and the rainfall is between 1⁄2 and 9⁄10. Because 1⁄2 temperature is snow temperature, the swamp biome can have snow (although it will not regenerate and will rain instead of snow). Despite most of the temperature range of swamplands being below 1⁄2, the way the rainfall is multiplied by the temperature prevents most of this, and most of the swampland does not have snow. Because the rainfall value expected for a swampland to spawn is above 1⁄2, it is most likely that the temperature is higher than 1⁄2 for the rainfall to be in the range required for swamplands.
Savanna	A biome with mostly flat terrain and almost no trees, although some hills do spawn. It seems to be one of the flattest biomes in the game, alongside desert and tundra. The grass color can range from dull orange to blue-ish gray. It generates with a temperature between 1⁄2 and 19⁄20, and a rainfall value of less than 1⁄5.
Shrubland	A biome with some trees and dull colored grass. Usually found at the interface between forest and savanna. No tall grass can be generated here.
Taiga	A snowy biome composed of mostly mountainous terrain and very few tall grass. Spruce and pine trees as well as ice can be found in this region. Wolves also appear more commonly on this biome than others. Snow is a common weather in taiga biomes. In Beta 1.8 and 1.0, taiga biomes generated without ice and/or snow due to a bug.
Desert	A biome consisting mostly of sand, dead shrubs and cacti. Trees do not generate in deserts unless the player brings in dirt. No rain occurs in this biome. Since Beta 1.0 and before Beta 1.4, desert borders were rotated and didn't line up because of a bug.
Plains	A very flat biome with a very large amount of tall grass (more than in any other type of land). The occasional trees do exist, though very rarely.
Tundra	Snowy, barren terrain with very few trees. The occasional trees do exist, though very rarely. Ice can be found over water. Snow is a common weather in tundras. In Beta 1.8, Notch also said that this biome would be left out until Beta 1.9. This is because snow was causing problems with the new biome generator.

Gravel path

Before 1.10, villages used gravel paths as roads; however this was changed and grass paths were added as village roads instead.

Savanna Village

Prior to 1.10, villages that would generate in savanna biomes used oak wood, oak wood planks, oak fences and oak stairs, but this village was later replaced with the acacia village.

Customized world type

Customized was a world type that gave control over many settings that affected terrain generation, such as ores, sea level, biomes, structures, and many variables that govern the random shape of the terrain. It was introduced in snapshot 14w17a for 1.8, and was removed in snapshot 18w06a for 1.13.

Mobs

Beast Boy, Black Steve, Steve, and Rana

Beast Boy, Black Steve, Steve, and Rana were human mobs originally in-game as a test during the Indev phase. They were made by "Dock", Minecraft's past artist, and were removed from the game when Dock left the development team in early 2010. These mobs had no animation and glided around in the same pose. Upon death, all of them except Rana could drop 0–2 string, 0–2 feathers, 0–2 sulphur (this item has since been renamed "gunpowder") and 0–1 flint and steel. Beast Boy, Black Steve, Steve had 5HP HP. Rana had 13HP × 6.5 HP. When hurt, these mobs make The Player's hurt noise.

If the player looks closely at the Indev versions with these mobs, the player will notice that Rana is never in any of the same versions as Beast Boy, Black Steve, and Steve. They are always in separate versions.

• 

  Beast Boy.

• 

  Black Steve.

• 

  Steve.

• 

  Rana.

• 

  Rana Walking Animation.

Trivia

• Beast Boy is a DC superhero and member of the Teen Titans.
• Beast Boy's in a literal translation in to Russian means "The boy is a beast".
• All these mobs couldn't swim. They drowned.
• Rana is an original character of Dock. "Rana" means frog in Latin.

Human

File:Human Attack.png

Humans attacking the player.

Humans were hostile mobs with the default skin. In Classic, humans could be spawned by pressing G.They did not have a punching animation like the player; they only ran into the player like a zombie would.

In classic, humans would just move around the map aimlessly, walking in slightly imperfect circles, flailing their arms and heads, and jumping occasionally. They could not move or destroy blocks, and were not affected by liquids. Changing a player's skin would not change the skin of the human mob.

Zombie drops

Prior to Beta 1.8, zombies dropped feathers. However, this drop was later removed; currently, feathers are not dropped by zombies, and are replaced by rotten flesh.

Zombie Pigman drops

Prior to Beta 1.8, zombie pigmen dropped cooked porkchops. However, this drop was later removed; currently, cooked porkchops are not dropped by zombie pigmen, and were replaced by rotten flesh and gold nuggets.

Trade with Generic villagers

Generic villagers were a type of villager. In 1.3.1, the ability to spawn them was added, though it required external tools or mods. In 1.7.2 and above, they could be spawned using /summon Villager ~ ~ ~ {Profession:5}. They only had one trade:

Buys
Item	Quantity	Price in emeralds	Probability Value	Actual Probability
Gold Ingot	8 – 9	1	N/A	100%

In 14w02a, due to changes in the trading system, attempting to trade with generic villagers will crash the game. In 14w20a, generic villagers fully were removed from the game, as villagers with negative profession IDs become farmers. Despite being removed, the texture still remains in minecraft.jar.

16w32b re-added Generic Villagers, who are now called Nitwits, as Profession 5. However they can no longer trade.

Unused

These features never had any use in game.

Blocks and items

Gear

On January 25, 2010, Notch posted a video of the gears being placed onto the wall of a cliff.

File:Gear-inventory.png

Gear in inventory

In Indev on January 26, 2010, the code for gears was added. It could only be obtained by inventory editing and was initially invisible in the inventory; at some point this was changed to the animated version as seen when placed in the world. When hacked into the game, gears could be placed anywhere, but would only display on the side of any solid block. Placing them in a space where more than one side are next to each other would cause a gear to appear on all of the said sides. Placed gears were almost impossible to destroy; any attempts to destroy a gear would phase through to the block behind it, much like water. If the block a gear was on was destroyed, the gear was not removed, but oddly, ended up becoming invisible. The gear still existed in the map and would show up again if a solid block was replaced. Gears could therefore only be removed using a liquid to flow on them. A gear's sprite consisted of two parts; the center rod and the animated gear itself.

In early Alpha, gears were removed. They had a data value of 55, which was replaced by redstone in Alpha v1.0.1.

Crying obsidian

Crying obsidian was a texture in Minecraft for an abandoned project to implement a spawn-point changing obelisk. It was abandoned after the introduction of beds. It would have been crafted with an obsidian block and lapis lazuli. The version in which the texture was added is not known.

The texture for crying obsidian was removed in Beta 1.5.

On February 9, 2012, Jeb was asked "Can you bring back Crying Obsidian or add some new color/texture blocks?" to which he responded "As soon as I've made preparations for more texture space."

Furniture

File:Chair and table.png

In Indev's terrain.png were two textures which might be interpreted as a chair (side and front). The actual purpose of those textures is unknown. The second texture may be the side view of a table, or possibly the front of the chair. On Notch's blog, The Word of Notch, furniture, and more specifically chairs, are mentioned a few times.

Plate.png

Armor file.

How the plate would look on a player.

In numerous versions such as 0.30, there was a folder called "armor", which contained two files in development, showing only a helmet and chestplate. One was finished and called "chain.png" and resembled chain armor, and the other was unfinished and called "plate.png". Plate.png was used in Survival Test for mobs, and eventually removed in an unknown version. These were presumably added in Classic 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST, however when they were truly added is unknown.

Studded armor

File:LeatherChain.png

Studded armor were several sprites that were added sometime around Indev 0.31​ in items.png. They were taken from Notch's unfinished game, Legend of the Chambered, along with other armor sprites. The armor was implemented into gameplay in early 0.31 and was eventually removed.

Quiver

In Legend of the Chambered (an abandoned RPG that Notch made), there was a quiver item available to be picked up as loot. Notch reused the sprite from that game and put it in Minecraft, albeit flipped horizontally. It was added in early 0.31 and eventually removed.

Although the sprite for the quiver has been in the game files since Indev, almost nothing is known about it. Jeb originally stated that there were no plans to add them. Later, during 1.9 development, Dinnerbone tweeted a 2×204960 image which can be reformed into a 854×480 Minecraft screenshot, containing the quiver. On June 30, 2015, Dinnerbone posted that he removed them again as arrows in the off-hand feel "more natural".

In 1.9, the quiver texture was removed.

Skis

File:Skis.png

A texture known in the game files as "skis.png" was added in 1.4.6 by Dinnerbone as a red herring. It was intended as a joke and only the texture ever existed; it never had an id, item, code in the game, and as confirmed by Dinnerbone, it could not be summoned. The texture was removed in 13w24a (Horse Update).

Paeonia

File:Paeonia texture.png

Paeonias were unimplemented flowers that were replaced by the two-block-tall peonies.

There was only one screenshot of the block released by Jeb. Its texture file was still in the /texture/block folder and was named flower_paeonia.png, but it was later removed in the 17w47a snapshot for 1.13.

Potions

There were 29 potions without effects that were left behind in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2. All unused potions had no effect and appeared to be re-textures of other potions. These potions were later removed in the 1.9 snapshot 15w44b.

These potions could only be obtained by using the command /give @p minecraft:potion 1 <data-value> {CustomPotionEffects:[]}. Adding a multiple of 64 to the value would result in the same potion. As with other potions at the time, adding the value with 16384 would result in a splash version of given potion.

Name	DVs
Uninteresting Potion	2 & 3
Bland Potion	4 & 5
Clear Potion	6 & 7
Milky Potion	8 & 9
Diffuse Potion	10 & 11
Artless Potion	12 & 13
Thin Potion	14 & 15
Flat Potion	18 & 19
Bulky Potion	20 & 21
Bungling Potion	22 & 23

Name	DVs
Buttered Potion	24 & 25
Smooth Potion	26 & 27
Suave Potion	28 & 29
Debonair Potion	30 & 31
Elegant Potion	34 & 35
Fancy Potion	36 & 37
Charming Potion	38 & 39
Dashing Potion	40 & 41
Refined Potion	42 & 43
Cordial Potion	44 & 45

Name	DVs
Sparkling Potion	46 & 47
Potent Potion	48 & 49
Foul Potion	50 & 51
Odorless Potion	52 & 53
Rank Potion	54 & 55
Harsh Potion	56 & 57
Acrid Potion	58 & 59
Gross Potion	60 & 61
Stinky Potion	62 & 63

Mobs

Pigman

Minecraft user Miclee came up with the idea for pigmen. He was given the Bacon Cape as a reward, but when Notch was asked for personal capes by other users, the Bacon Cape was taken away from Miclee to prevent further commotion.

Notch mentioned in April 25, 2011 that he might add pigmen as villages' townspeople, although in the Beta 1.9 pre-releases, a different villager mob was introduced.

In 1.6.2, the texture file was removed.

Other

Play Tutorial Level button

File:800px-DoNotpressButtonPlaytutoriallevelAlpha1.01.png

An unclickable Play Tutorial Level button was added during Indev. It could be found on the main screen. However, there was no tutorial level in the game’s code. It was finally removed during the transition from Alpha to Beta stage.

Textures and particles

Fluff.png

In Infdev, a texture called "Fluff.png" was added. It was used as a texture for clouds in Infdev, but was later removed in early alpha.

waterterrain.png

In Infdev, a file similar to terrain, referred to as "waterterrain.png" could be found, it is unknown when this file had been added, and unknown when it was removed. It appeared to be some sort of arrow system, and it is possible this was used to test water animation.

Door Details

In the Infdev terrain file there could be found two door textures that looked exactly the same except the hinges and the handle were on the opposite sides, but in today's Minecraft only one of the texture is used, and is flipped, when the handles and hinges are on the other sides. The alternate door was overwritten with the iron door texture in Alpha v1.0.1.

Door Entity

File:Door Entity Infdev.png

In the Infdev "item" folder (where signs, arrows, and minecarts could be found at the time), a file named "door.png" could also be found. It was most likely going to be used for the door animation Notch had been wanting to add.

Brick Block Variations

At some point in Classic, there were 4 similar brick textures added with slight differences, hinting it might have been planned to add variations in textures.

Steve Villager Hybrid

After villagers were added, a strange file could be found in the mobs folder (outside of the villager folder) called "villager.png". It appeared to be some sort of Steve villager hybrid. This file was removed in 1.5 during the texture pack reform. It did not match the Villager model. If used for a Villager in a resource pack, would look glitched.

File:Steve Villager before 1.5.png

How the Villager Steve may have been intended to look, re-created with a 3D modeling software.

Steve's hair on 2nd layer of char.png

File:Image.png

Char.png can be found on 0.27 SURVIVAL TEST's texture files and Steve's hair is on the 2nd layer rather than the 1st. It is unknown why this switch occurred. This was possibly a failed hair test.

Another failed skin attempt on char.png

File:Char 2.png

Char_2.png can be found on Indev (February 12, 2010, 1)'s texture files. This was possibly another failed attempt of testing skins in Indev, there are two gold pixels on the top right of Steve's head for unknown reasons and another layer of hair.

"chunkinfo" command

From 1.8 (14w30a) to 1.13 (17w45a), the file en_us.lang contained translation strings for a /chunkinfo command, which never existed in game. The following keys existed:

commands.chunkinfo.usage=/chunkinfo [<x> <y> <z>]
commands.chunkinfo.location=Chunk location: (%s, %s, %s)
commands.chunkinfo.noChunk=No chunk found at chunk position %s, %s, %s
commands.chunkinfo.notEmpty=Chunk is not empty.
commands.chunkinfo.empty=Chunk is empty.
commands.chunkinfo.notCompiled=Chunk is not compiled.
commands.chunkinfo.compiled=Chunk is compiled.
commands.chunkinfo.hasNoRenderableLayers=Chunk has no renderable layers.
commands.chunkinfo.hasLayers=Chunk has layers: %s
commands.chunkinfo.isEmpty=Chunk has empty layers: %s
commands.chunkinfo.vertices=%s layer's buffer contains %s vertices
commands.chunkinfo.data=First 64 vertices are: %s

It is unknown if this command was used by Mojang for development or was simply a dropped feature.

Footstep particle

Footstep particles on sand.

The footstep particle was introduced, but never used in the game. It was removed in snapshot 17w47a, as part of the The Flattening.

Other

calm4.ogg

File Calm4.ogg.

calm4.ogg was a music file (alongside the other tracks) that was beta-tested and created by Notch himself. The song is 3:13.

It consists of an up-beat synth, battle-like tune. At 1:36 in the song, the player can hear Notch saying "Mojang Specifications" in slow-motion.

The track was released around Alpha v1.1.1 (Seecret Saturday 10). As such, players who had the game while the song was still in it will continue to hear it being played, as the game will play any song in the .minecraft/resources/music folder. In Alpha v1.1.2 this track was omitted from the downloaded game files.

With the introduction of the 1.6.1 launcher, playing older versions with the track Calm4.ogg will not allow the track to be heard, since music is downloaded separately from the .jar files.

Player stats

The removed player stats.

In an early Indev version, the player could open the inventory screen and view their name and three stats: "ATK", "DEF," and "SPD". These only existed for a very brief period of time - when asked, Notch stated he could not remember exactly why they were implemented and subsequently removed, and he assumed they were placeholders for "vague plans".

On-screen version number

The version display in Beta 1.6 Test Build 3.

The exclusive all-text display, only shown in the Beta 1.3 PC Gamer Demo.

Starting with Classic 0.0.9a, all subsequent versions until RC2 had text displayed in the top left corner of the screen which told what version the player was on. Versions between Beta 1.6.4 and Beta 1.7.3 did not have this text. From 0.0.9a to the last Indev 0.31 release (Indev 0.31 (February 5, 2010)), only the version number was displayed. But after Indev switched from being 0.31 to being called Minecraft Indev (Indev (February 6, 2010)), the word "Minecraft" was shown before the version number. In the Alpha development stage, the text read Minecraft Alpha v#.#.#(_#). In the Beta development stage, the text read Minecraft Beta #.#(_#). This feature was only partially removed, for, among other things, the version number can now be shown by opening the debug screen while in-game. Before Alpha v1.2.2, the version number did not display on the main menu screen.

Old-Style Patch Numbers

The version numbering system was implemented in Classic, and has continued to this current day. However, how patch updates are numbered has changed. From Classic 0.0.12a_01 to Beta 1.5_01, patch numbers were always shown after an underscore. However, Beta versions that were developed by Jeb displayed patch numbers after a decimal point, the first example being in Beta 1.0.2. All of Beta 1.6's patch updates used decimal points for patch numbers. The final version to have an underscore patch number was Beta 1.7_01, which was the last version developed solely by Notch.

Unlicensed copy message

The Unlicensed Copy message as seen in Beta 1.7.3.

In the Beta stage of Minecraft's development, a message reading "Minecraft Beta #.#.#(_0#) Unlicensed Copy :( (Or logged in from another location). Purchase at minecraft.net," was shown. This message can only be seen in versions between Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 and Beta 1.7.3, as proved by a bytecode editor. The bytecode for the message was removed in Beta 1.8.

Loading screen

File:Loading Screen.png

Loading screen as seen from Infdev (June 29, 2010) to Alpha v1.0.3.

From Infdev (June 29, 2010) to Alpha v1.0.3, a screen that read "Loading..." could be seen in the bottom left corner when launching the game. This was replaced in Alpha v1.0.4 with the Mojang logo splash screen.

Spawn Nether Portals with the button F4

In Alpha v1.2.2a players had the ability the spawn Nether Portals with F4, however, later this was removed in Alpha v1.2.2b.

Time management button F6 and F7

In Beta 1.8-Pre release players had the ability to use the time management buttons F6 and F7. In Beta 1.8 Pre release 2 F6 and F7 working as a result of left-in debug code was removed.

Achievements

Achievements were available between Beta 1.5 and 1.12 (17w06a). They were ultimately replaced by advancements, though editions other than the Java Edition still have achievements instead.

Texture pack

Texture packs were added in Alpha v1.2.2, and were replaced with Resource packs in 1.6.1 (13w24a).

3D Anaglyph

3D Anaglyph before 1.13.

3D Anaglyph is an option in video settings that applies an red-cyan stereoscopic effect, and when wearing 3D glasses, can actually see different parts of the game in varying depths, making the world "pop out". In the 1.13 snapshot 17w43a, 3D Anaglyph was removed for unknown reasons.

Void fog

File:VoidFogBeta1 8.png

Void fog as depicted before its removal in the 1.8 snapshots.

The Void, covered in void fog.

The limit of the player's view would reduce with depth.

In Beta 1.8, black void fog and the depthsuspend particle were introduced. As the player descended below Y=17 in The Overworld, the void fog and particles would start to appear. As the player traveled deeper, the fog at the edge of the render distance would become closer until the player reached bedrock, where visibility was reduced to just a few blocks, beyond which was complete darkness. The gray void particles appeared at and under layer 16, as well as in the void.

The void fog was removed in snapshot 14w34c, the main reason being to improve perfomance. The depthsuspend particle was also removed from the void, but stayed in the game until snapshot 17w47a when it was removed as part of The Flattening.

Minecart changes

In snapshot 14w11a during the development of 1.8, the physics of minecarts were changed. Their collision and position handling was improved, and they could go faster and farther, derail at corners if going too fast and refuse to go uphill. However, these changes were reverted in 14w17a after the developers decided that the behavior was too buggy.

Dispensing command blocks

From 1.8 snapshot 14w07a, dispensers had the ability to place a command block that it contained, when activated. This feature was removed as of version 1.8.6 to solve a security issue.

Mobs running from creepers

In 1.8, mobs ran away from creepers that were about to explode. In 1.8.1-pre1, this feature was removed because every mob that had the ability to run from a creeper was looking for an exploding creeper every tick, degrading performance.

Water evaporates on magma blocks

In 1.10 (16w20a), water evaporates on top of magma blocks when randomly ticked. In 1.13 (18w07a), whirlpool bubble columns is produced on top of magma blocks instead.

Game sounds

Game sounds	Track	Description
Arrow Contact		Old arrow sound; played when the arrow landed on a block or hit an entity. Used before version 1.0.0.
Explosion		This sound was used before the Sound Update, and it was also used in Pocket Edition before 0.12. The sound would be played by TNT and Creepers.
Splash		This sound was used before version 1.4.2, and Pocket Edition before 0.12, in different tonalities. At the moment, when a fish was caught with a fishing rod, it would play this sound. It is not unused, however, because it is the sound made when throwing an item into water, or another mob (e.g. villager) swimming.
Bow		This old sound was used for arrows, snowballs, chicken eggs, and when casting a fishing rod. Used before Sound Update.
Leveling up		This sound would play before version 1.6.1; it would play every time a player gained five levels.
Door opening		The sound of a door opening, used before version 1.0.0.
Door closing		The sound of a door closing, used before version 1.0.0.
Lava		Lava sounds, used before 1.3.1.
Flint and Steel		This sound would play when using Flint and Steel. Used before version 1.4.2.
Old Hurt		This sound would play when players, humans and giants took damage. Used before version 1.0.0.

Splashes

When a splash is removed, the line it occupied in splashes.txt is deleted, meaning the line number of all subsequent splashes lowers by one. (Note: the file containing splashes in Bedrock Edition is splashes.json.)

Main splashes

Splash text	Explanation	Version added	Version removed	Pre-removal line number
Pre-beta!	Alpha version of Minecraft.	Indev or earlier	Beta 1.2	1
Alpha version!	Alpha version of Minecraft.	Indev or earlier	Beta 1.2	30
9.95 euro!	The pricing of the Alpha version of Minecraft, which was less than half that of the final price.	Indev or earlier	Beta 1.2	48
Half price!	The pricing of the Alpha version of Minecraft, which was about half that of the final price.	Indev or earlier	Beta 1.2	49
Check it out!	Duplicate of "Check it out!" on line 21.	pre-Halloween Update	Beta 1.8-pre1	47
Notch <3 ez!	Most likely because of Notch's departure from Mojang.	Indev	1.8.5	100
SOPA means LOSER in Swedish!	SOPA was a highly controversial anti-piracy bill that made its way through the United States House of Representatives before it was rejected. In Swedish, "sopa" is a verb meaning "to sweep" and also commonly used as a slang insult (comparing someone or something to the dirt that someone would sweep up). Prior to the 1.3 Pre-release, this splash read "SOPA means LOSER in Swedish", without an exclamation point. The specific bill SOPA had not been a current issue for several years, by the time of the splash's removal. However, the Splash still exists in Legacy Console Edition.	1.1	1.9 (15w42a)	304
Better than Prey!	Prey is a first person shooter that was well received by critics. The splash was most likely removed to avoid legal issues with ZeniMax Media, in which Bethesda published the 2017 video game of the same name.	Indev	1.12.1 (17w31a)	5

Special splashes

Splash text	Explanation	Date/version displayed	Version removed	Pre-removal line number
Happy birthday, ez!	Shown on ez's birthday.	November 9	1.8.5	???
Happy birthday, Notch!	Shown on Notch's birthday.	June 1	1.8.5	???

Super Secret Settings

The "Super Secret Settings", added in 1.7.2 snapshot 13w38a, were removed in 1.9 snapshot 15w31a for an internal rewrite. It was a button under the options menu that, when pressed, would blare a random game sound with a lower pitch, and activate a shader.

Native Twitch.tv integration

Native Twitch.tv integration, added in 1.7.4 snapshot 13w47a, was removed in 1.9 snapshot 15w31a. Twitch chat was integrated into the game.

entity.hanging.place and entity.hanging.pop

entity.hanging.place and entity.hanging.pop were two sound effects added in 15w49a and removed in the next snapshot, 15w49b.

Old conduit particle

File:Old Conduit Particles.png

Old Conduit Particles.

The Conduit was added in the 18w15a snapshot with particles, but those particles were changed in the next snapshot 18w16a.

Tags

The water_hacked and waterlogged was added in 1.13 snapshots 18w07a and 18w07b respectively and removed in 18w10c. Before the removal, these tags functions follows:

Tag name	Values	Usage
minecraft:water_hacked	#minecraft:stairs, #minecraft:waterlogged, #minecraft:slabs, minecraft:chest	Blocks in this tag will render in water as if any non-filled space in the block model was water.
minecraft:waterlogged	#minecraft:coral_plants, minecraft:bubble_column, minecraft:kelp, minecraft:kelp_top, minecraft:sea_grass, minecraft:tall_sea_grass	Used in the 'water_hacked.json' block tag file.