Download Minecraft 12w34a Snapshot - Paintable Armour, Cloneable Maps, Flowerpots

As we expected, the latest Minecraft 1.4 snapshot has been released on time. 12w34a is packed with new features including flower pots, item frames, cobblestone walls, better lighting, dye-able armour and much more. You can download the snapshot here using the official links.

If you want to learn more about some of the new features including flower pots, item frames and cobblestone walls then see our 12w34a predictions. For all other new features including paintable armour, portal changes and Cloneable maps, continue reading..

Other new features in 12w34a

Wither Boss (mob)

There is a new boss mob called the Wither. It’s slipped through into the snapshot and you can view the skin in the jar file for yourself. The mob shoots black fireballs at you and it itself has three heads. It’s coated in black and has white eyes, similar to Endermen. The mob is currently disabled but you can unlock it with the help of a mod and a mob spawner.

Nether Portal Changes

Mobs may cross through portals now. This includes passive mobs such as sheep and chickens who can cross from the overworld to the nether, but it also includes aggressive mobs like the Blaze who will travel in the opposite direction. Nathan explained that you better tighten those defences close to portals or you might have a nasty surprise when a Blaze pops its head through!

Mobs can't travel through all types of portals though. The theory doesn't apply to The End because End portals (or Ender Portals) do not have a receiver. So, you won't see an Endermen popping through the portal.

Fire and Jungle Biome Changes

Fire won't spread so quickly in humid biomes such as the Jungle. Starting a fire will be possible but it will be isolated and unlikely to spread. This is the opposite of the woodland or desert biomes where fires will still spread rather quickly.

Paintable Armour

Players can now paint their armour by combining armour items with standard dyes. Minecraft contains 16 dyes which consist of 7 primary colours (red, yellow, blue, green, white, black and brown), 7 secondary colours and 2 more tertiary colours. Historically, dyes were used with wool to create coloured wool. This same principle now applies to armour.

Players just need to place their armour item in the middle of the crafting grid and then surround the item with any combination of dyes to create their new dyed item. As usual, you drag the new item into your inventory to accept the new dyed item.

It's also possible to re-dye an item even after the initial dye process.