Minecraft 1.8.1 Pre-Release 1-5 & Release Date
1.8.1 will be released on Monday (if everything works fine)
To get the pre-release, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “pre-releases” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in the dropdown at the bottom left corner of the launcher.
(Download link for the latest (pre 5) multiplayer .jar is at the bottom of the post)
Fixed some bugsFixed the fire charge not playing a sound
Fixed /execute particle producing some particles at 0,0,0
Fixed the highlight button in spectator mode turning the entire screen black
Rendering performance improvements
fast/fancy now only controls leaves and rain particles, as well as the vignette effect
Dropped items on fast graphics now rotate again
Fixed the Anvil GUI truncating long item names and showing garbage at the end
Fixed villagers ignoring data tags in trading
Fixed /summon ignoring rotation
Fixed /execute detect giving false positive when in different dimension
Fixed mineshafts generating air blocks at wrong location
Fixed the beacon rotating very slowly on old worlds
Fixed experience orbs being invisible for one second after spawning
Fixed withers trapped in barriers attacking the barriers and killing itself
Fixed pets not teleporting to players properly
Fixed the /help text for /worldborder not being updated
Fixed Pigs and Villagers with NoAI set to 1 losing this tag if transformed when hit by lightning
Fixed tab list headers and footers staying even when switching servers
Fixed entities losing scoreboard scores when in unloaded chunks
Fixed player orientation changing when using portals
Fixed a wooden log generating at 0,0,0
Fixed /stop executing the shutdown sequence twice
Fixed being unable to place buttons on top of redstone blocks
Fixed falling blocks not animating properly
Fixed being unable to hit the ender dragon
Fixed being unable to play LAN while offline
ArmorStands can now be made completely invisible using the Marker tag
Mobs no longer run from exploding creepers
Compatible with 1.8 servers
Fixed some map colors
Performance improvements
Jump Boost potions can now be extended
New gamerule: doEntityDrops
Works like doTileDrops, but for entities
doTileDrops no longer affects entities
Ryan Holtz (TheMogMiner) and Michael Stoyke (Searge) are now mentioned in the credits
Newly generated witch huts can spawn witches on Y 64 to 71
This allows for three spawning floors in witch farms
Fixed chunks corrupting/their location being moved and becoming unaccessible under certain circumstances
Fixed the shader applied when entering a mob's view in spectator mode not changing if world is changed
Fixed glowstone crystal formations missing their bottom layers
Fixed levers popping off when placed above a non-solid block
Fixed ctrl+Pick Block on player heads not retaining the skin texture
Fixed the creative search tab text becoming offset when inventory is moved because of potion effects appearing/disappearing
Fixed the resource pack folder not automatically being created when starting the game
Fixed thrown enderpearls disappearing when relogging
Fixed the air bubble bar re-appearing after death in water
Fixed "Sprint" being in the wrong category in the controls screen
Fixed the bottom outline of buttons missing in the controls screen
Fixed large resource packs crashing the game
Fixed the block breaking animation remaining when eating or blocking with a sword
Fixed the game crashing when trying to connect to a server with an address longer than 63 characters
Fixed certain invalid items crashing the game when rendering
Fixed the inside of the second skin layer not rendering on your own player in first person view
Fixed player orientation not being preserved when using portals - blocking off one side will align players the other way - Animations: one, two, three
Fixed a ghost End Portal being displayed in the distance in the End
Fixed items held by witches being too small and being held wrongly
Fixed a crash relating to multiplayer
Fixed tools with CanDestroy set to allow the breaking of certain blocks not displaying proper block names on the tooltips
Fixed being unable to place buttons on top of upside-down slabs/stairs
Fixed items being displayed too high up the arm in 3rd person mode while sneaking
Fixed black particles when breaking a block and torch particles being dark
Fixed ender dragon experience drops not being cancelled by the doMobLoot gamerule
Fixed the /fill replace command not tab-completing the block id argument
Fixed the "Overpowered" achievement having a misleading icon
Fixed resizing the window while in Customized World Settings snapping the UI back to page 1
Fixed /setblock referring to blocks as items
Fixed the interface triggered by clicking web links not displaying the URL to be opened
Fixed being unable to build iron golems and snow golems using jack o'lanterns
Fixed baby horses looking like adult horses
Fixed creepers and iron golems fighting each other, causing terrain damage without interaction of a player
Fixed tall flowers dropping two items when block below is broken
Fixed placing a banner and breaking it in Survival causing it to not stack as they have NBT data
Fixed the per-player enchantment seed being reset on death
Fixed /worldborder, /scoreboard and /debug with invalid arguments not printing any error messages
Fixed items with CanDestroy / CanPlaceOn having missing translations for all languages
Fixed /particle tab-completing an argument one position too early
Fixed the bow texture being rendered upside-down
Fixed the ender dragon ignoring the NoAI tag
Fixed snow layers placed against the side of blocks being placed one block too far out
Fixed blocks held by enderman looking weird when invisible
Fixed the /clone syntax help not being updated
Fixed /kill not tab-completing player names
Fixed players killed with potions shot by dispensers producing erroneous death messages
Fixed /entitydata suggesting players for the entity argument
Fixed the syntax help for /effect not mentioning the 'clear' option
Fixed being able to place banners and signs against cacti
Fixed the beacon beam disappearing when looking upwards from it
Fixed the a scroll bar in the creative inventory changing without scrolling at a certain position
Fixed /effect and /enchant not properly tab-completing effect/enchant names
Fixed the mob AI considering daylight sensors full blocks, causing them to jump while trying to get off it
Fixed snow layer placing behavior being buggy and inconsistent
Fixed certain commands not allowing tab completing coordinate arguments
Fixed the /debug help text being wrong
Fixed the Multiplayer Settings being named wrongly
Fixed the "Defaults" popup on the customized world generation options screen not disable hovering over stuff behind it
Fixed debug worlds generating one column twice
Fixed rabbits not following players holding golden carrots or dandelions
Fixed /achievement take taking too many achievements
Fixed mobs glitching through the ground under certain conditions
Fixed the 'Defaults' button on the customized world screen not disabling itself after use
Fixed resizing the game making buttons on the "Defaults" popup on the customized world GUI disappear
Fixed /say not showing villager entity data if 'CustomName' is provided
Fixed two block tall flowers generated in previous versions losing their top block
Fixed chicken jockeys riding inside the chicken
Fixed an exploit involving signs
To get the pre-release, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “pre-releases” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in the dropdown at the bottom left corner of the launcher.