Minecraft 1.18: What Happens To My Old World?

In the ever growing landscape of video games, updates have become more and more commonplace. This is obviously great for those people who commit themselves to one game. However, when it’s a game like Minecraft, where countless hours go into building one home, updates can sometimes be a bit of a burden. This is especially true in many early access games, where entire save slots and hours of progress can be lost with each major iteration. 

Minecraft recently underwent one of those major changes. Caves & Cliffs Part 2 released earlier this week, bringing with it a number of significant changes. Leading the update is the introduction of several new cave and cliff biomes, all adding better variety to the game world. World generation has also been improved, with smoother transitions between biomes, and more realistic mountains. 

A number of smaller improvements also landed in the update, along with new music and a few changes to ore veins as well. The update was the second part of an update that released earlier this year. Caves & Cliffs Part 1 added new animals, plants, blocks and craftable items. With so many new additions in Part 2, it’s worth asking the question… 

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So, What Will Happen To My Old World?

Okay, so don’t panic. Your world is most likely going to be fine. When logging into the Bedrock edition for the first time since installing 1.18, you’ll be asked to update your world. You’ll have the option at this point to back up the world if you are particularly attached to it, just incase anything goes wrong in the conversion process.

The most noticeable change is that the world height has changed. The game world now goes far deeper, so where there was previously bedrock, there is instead deep slate and potentially caves. For most players, this shouldn’t affect any builds as most of the change is happening above and below where most houses and buildings sit. It is worth backing up your world just to be on the safe side though. 

Players who own the Java Edition of Minecraft can upgrade their existing worlds by opening those built in 1.17 and earlier. Java will work similarly to Bedrock, changing much of the world around the player, but not any houses or buildings which have been created. 

Credit: Mojang

When Is The Next Major Update?

Even though Caves & Cliffs Part 2 has only just launched, there’s already another major update in the world. The Wild Update is set to release sometime next year. While details are still relatively scarce, we know that the Warden and the Deep Dark will be added. The Warden is a new mini-boss that haunts the depths, building Deep Dark cities filled with sculk growths. 

There are some cuter additions in The Wild Update. A community voted mob known as the Allay will also join the world. Present the cute creature with an item, and it will search for it in the overworld and bring it back in a nice, tidy stack. Frogs and fireflies are also planned for the update, adding much needed life to ponds and swamps. Speaking of swamps, a new biome called Mangrove Swamps is also planned. As you likely guessed from the name, these swamps will be dominated by the mangrove tree.

There’s also lots of other changes coming in The Wild Update, including new blocks, improved biome diversity and boats with chests – yay! With no release date in sight though, it could be some time before we see The Wild Update. It’s probably best to focus on Caves & Cliffs Part 2 for now. 

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Featured Image Credit: Microsoft