Minecraft v1.3 Patch Combines Single-Player, Multi-player
The single-player portion will be ripped out and serve as a shell on top of the multi-player mode.
Mojang said on Thursday that our favorite block-building game on the PC, Minecraft, will be updated to v1.3 on August 1, 2012. The big deal here is that the single-player portion will no longer be stand-alone, but will instead serve as a shell on top of the multi-player portion. This allows for bug fixes to be applied to both aspects of the game simultaneously, and to prevent multiple implementations of every user-made mod.
"The single/multi-player merge has added the possibility to share your single-player worlds with friends who are on the same local network," Mojang said. "It has also enabled players to use multi-player-like commands in single-player (such as /gamemode and /give), but only if cheats are enabled."
The drawback to combining the two modes is that rendering will be far more taxing on the system. Because the single-player mode is a shell on top of a background server, the game emulates and simulates the world simultaneously even when playing solo, thus possibly taking many more CPU cycles. This may not be good news for machines already struggling with the game as is, and Mojang doesn't expect to release rendering optimizations until v1.4.
"A couple of problems and expected features have been pushed to Minecraft 1.4," Mojang added. "The most notable problem is the lighting issues causing black regions in the terrain. We’re looking into ways to solve this, but lighting is a very expensive calculation and we are struggling with finding a solution that doesn’t hurt framerate."
The modding API was also pushed back to v1.4 so that the team could release v1.3 in August -- throwing out single-player was the first step towards the API's launch. As for other features in v1.3, the patch will include a basic "Adventure Mode," a smoother and more stable experience in multi-player, the addition of emeralds, emerald ore and a trading system for buying items from villagers, an updated chat screen, the ability to write in books for leaving stories for other players to read, the addition of a bonus chest for beginners and more.
"The time between Minecraft 1.2.5 and 1.3 has been the longest update interval yet, and that was because we changed so much in the game engine. I (jeb_) was a little scared to push it to the public, but waiting even longer is not a solution," Mojang said.
To get the full report on the upcoming update, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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mouse24 Why is Mr. Parrish always reporting what most of the community that cares about said game already knows.Reply
We have known about combining single player and multiplayer for a few months now. -
A Bad Day mouse24Why is Mr. Parrish always reporting what most of the community that cares about said game already knows.We have known about combining single player and multiplayer for a few months now.Reply
Since when has Tomshardware been up to date? -
lahawzel "Mojang doesn't expect to release rendering optimizations until v1.4."Reply
Just fucking hire the Optifine devs. -
blader15sk8 mouse24Why is Mr. Parrish always reporting what most of the community that cares about said game already knows.We have known about combining single player and multiplayer for a few months now.Reply
As someone who hasn't played much minecraft since before the 1.0 patch (end of beta?) and just getting back into it, this was news to me. -
alidan LaHawzel"Mojang doesn't expect to release rendering optimizations until v1.4."Just fucking hire the Optifine devs.Reply
there is no reason minecraft should be
1) so hard to apply mods
2) take up so much resources
as far as im concerned the whole game needs a ground up recode. -
elcentral its built on java it is java ho needs a ground up rebuild. but im not sure why sharing a single player map on a multiplayer server is such a problem i`we done it for years now.Reply -
Elwenil Looks like I won't be updating to the new version in August. My poor little Pentium 4 Minecraft rig probably won't be able to run it with the new changes since it's pretty taxed as it is.Reply -
Horhe My 2.2 GHz single core Athlon64 rig has difficulty running Minecraft smoothly too. Optifine improves frame rate a lot, hopefully I will be able to play Minecraft 1.3 on this rig.Reply -
Cryio Because the single-player mode is a shell on top of a background server, the game emulates and simulates the world simultaneously even when playing solo, thus possibly taking many more CPU cycles. This may not be good news for machines already struggling with the game as is, and Mojang doesn't expect to release rendering optimizations until v1.4.Reply
General:
Improved overall stability and performance
Reduced CPU, RAM & bandwidth usage.
Yeah. -
bildo123 A Bad DaySince when has Tomshardware been up to date?Reply
And yet *that guy* chimes in to constantly remind us of this fact. As if it needed to be mentioned.