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Minecraft snapshots allow players to beta test new Minecraft features before they’re rolled out to the main game. This is great for both serious Minecraft fans and Mojang developers… Players get to be among the first to play with new mechanics, while bugs and glitches get fed back to devs.
If you want to be able to play with the latest features yourself, then this step-by-step guide will tell you everything you need to know about loading into a Minecraft snapshot.
What is a Minecraft Java Edition Snapshot?
Before we get started on how to play with a Minecraft snapshot, you might still not quite know what one is. If you do, skip ahead to the guide. If not, then a Minecraft snapshot is a full, playable version of the game that you can load into completely separately from the main version. This allows the team at Mojang to get feedback on new features, while the full, current version of the game continues alongside, untouched. Then, once all features have been tested and all most bugs have been worked out, the main version gets updated in a full, official rollout.
Snapshots are released regularly in the lead-up to a new major Update; think the Nether Update and the Caves and Cliffs Update for examples. Downloadable Experimental snapshots start the process, before in-game snapshots, pre-Releases, and Release Candidates iron out the big issues. Once we get to the Release Candidate stage, we know we’re close to the official Update launch.
Snapshots, pre-releases and Release Candidates are all exclusive to Java Edition, the PC-only version of Minecraft. Java Edition and Bedrock Edition both work slightly differently, and so this guide only applies to those playing Java Edition on PC. If you play Minecraft on console, a mobile device and/or the Windows PC version of the game, then you can still test out early features, but this is via the new Preview app, a completely separate program to your Minecraft game. Find out if you can play Minecraft Preview, and how, in our Minecraft Preview guide.
How to play a Minecraft Snapshot on Java Edition
Open Minecraft Launcher
To the good stuff. How to get started in a Minecraft snapshot. Firstly, you’re going to need to start from the Minecraft Launcher, so if Minecraft is already open on your computer, close it down, and reopen Minecraft.
Select Java Edition
Once you’re in the Launcher, double check you are in Java Edition from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
Choose the Latest Snapshot
At this point, you’ll be able to play any installation you want, including older versions of Minecraft. However, we’re here to play the new stuff, so all you need to do is select the “Latest snapshot” from the drop down menu highlighted below.
Play!
Hit Play, and you’ll be taken to the game, where you can create a new world. If you try and launch an existing world in a new snapshot, the game will prompt you to either turn back or create a backup of your world.
This is because you could experience a corruption, and you don’t want to lose a world you’ve spent hours working on. Having said this, we’d usually recommend just creating a new world in a Minecraft snapshot anyway. New features will most likely only be found in brand-new chunks, i.e. chunks that have never been rendered before, therefore you might have to travel a very long way in your existing world to find any new features naturally.
Once you’re in your new world, just play! The new features should be ready and waiting for you – depending on what and where they are. Keep up to date with what’s new and check out the latest Minecraft news, guides and snapshot information in our growing Minecraft hub.
More Minecraft guides
And head over to our Minecraft hub for even more news, guides and how-tos!
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