Horizon 2026.10.22: Dynamic lights, shader Packs page, shader packs and 61 more changes — release notes

Binaries removed (licence cleanup, see #6741); tags and source remain.

New

• Far terrain: chunk summaries and mesh inputs on the worker (#1029)
• Launcher and horizon-server update: install only releases whose signed checksums match (#1014)
• Collision scans: a counting cursor, and fewer lookups and allocations per block (#659)
• Structures: Repurposed Structures' waterlogging fix, as horizon:waterlog_in_world_water (#1032)
• Content mods: shared tags merge like a data pack's, replace honoured with a warning (#1021)
• Stars: build the star buffer once, as vanilla does (#1079, fixes #1054)
• Video settings: cost tags from measured frame times, and Saves time for cave culling (#1089, fixes #897)
• Weather: rain heights from a cached MOTION_BLOCKING heightmap (#1084, fixes #899)
• Cave culling: vanilla's graph rules (every entry face, distant ray test) (#1094, fixes #629, fixes #782)
• Items merge with their neighbours; falling blocks land in their own tick (#1110, fixes #996)
• Loading screen: fill the chunk map square by square, as vanilla (#1112, fixes #770)
• Cave culling: see the world from above or below its height (#1111, fixes #1037)
• Sky, fog and water fog colours blend across biomes (GaussianSampler) (#1118, fixes #797)
• Terrain particles: the model's particle sprite and vanilla tint (grass blocks break into dirt) (#1115, fixes #1034)
• Extras: classic buttons two to a row; each extra's settings nest under its switch (#1122, fixes #812, fixes #815)
• Book title: Select All's highlight and vanilla's centring (BookSignScreen EditBox) (#1123)
• Station shift-clicks follow vanilla's quickMoveStack; the brewing stand runs on the menu engine (#1125, fixes #275)
• End crystals spin and bob in every dimension (#1116, fixes #1051)
• Boats: the water patch hides water inside the hull; the riding camera turns smoothly (#1119, fixes #1016)
• Ender dragon: runs on server levels, fights every player, vanilla damage rules (#1137)
• Other players' block cracks are drawn (#1149, fixes #1096)
• Loot tables apply set_potion (a piglin's barter potions hold fire resistance) (#1134)
• Other players are drawn lying in their beds (#1144, fixes #1045)
• A new world knows its world spawn before its first save (#1135)
• /summon reports primed TNT, falling blocks and projectiles it spawned (#1136)
• Ominous item spawners are saved with their chunk (#1143, fixes #462)
• Locator bar: one waypoint manager per level (#1150, fixes #843)
• Advancement triggers test only the criteria that can pass; the log writes on its own thread (#1152)
• Thrown potions: drawn as their item, facing the camera (ThrownItemRenderer) (#1117, fixes #818)
• Audio: pan like OpenAL Soft's stereo output (explosions were ~6 dB too loud) (#1133, fixes #488)
• Particles: 26.3's sulfur bubbles over wet potent sulfur (closes the #63 particle audit) (#1156, fixes #63)
• Axolotl: free water paths, flat walk targets and the attack sound (idle swim and play dead match vanilla) (#1159, fixes #64)
• LAN fixes: land the eight rebased B5 PRs together (#1138 #1139 #1140 #1142 #1146 #1147 #1148 #1151) (#1160)
• Client of a server: abilities from the server, flight sent back (creative flight on the server thread) (#1108)
• Run single player on its server thread by default (#1114, fixes #1072)
• Shader packs: Steadfast, Bloop and Noble get past the preprocessor; a compatibility table (#1157, fixes #616)
• Shader Packs page: the folder's path, Open Folder, a switch per pack (#1158, fixes #925, fixes #941)
• Dynamic lights: held, dropped and burning light sources (Horizon Extras, off by default) (#1162, fixes #814)

Fixed

• fix: reset spectator fly speed when changing game modes (#1039)
• Fix creative and spectator hunger exhaustion and starvation (#1036, fixes #1033)
• fix: prevent spectators from dropping hotbar items (#1059, fixes #1053)
• Fix section headings in classic video settings search (#1064, fixes #894)
• Fix creative barrier block markers (#1062, fixes #1057)
• Prepare startup handoff CPU resources off the UI thread (#1042)
• Mods: capability storage, a quota'd per-mod key/value folder (#1044, fixes #1040)
• Restore missing accessibility settings (#1061, fixes #1058)
• Centre the cursor when a screen opens from gameplay (#235)
• fix(gfx): Stop the swapchain washing colours out (#1075)
• Structures: Repurposed Structures' air fix as horizon:close_off_air_sources (#1020)
• fix(hud): Apply legacy formatting codes to action bar and titles (#1077)
• Keep the loading UI responsive during local world initialization (#1041)
• Keep world saves and exit responsive while preserving durability (#1043)
• Shears carve pumpkins (PumpkinBlock.useItemOn) (#1081, fixes #1067)
• Blocks can't be placed into mobs and other entities (Level.isUnobstructed) (#1085, fixes #1052)
• Cobwebs slow falling blocks (WebBlock.entityInside) (#1082, fixes #933)
• Firework tooltips: flight duration and explosions (Fireworks.addToTooltip) (#1083, fixes #1047)
• Creative pick block in inventories: full stacks and drags (AbstractContainerScreen cloning) (#1086, fixes #1048)
• Title backdrop: build its generator on a worker (#1087, fixes #896)
• Prepare: accept Mojang's republished 26.3 asset indexes (no sound, no panorama) (#1091)
• Prepare: import the Unifont glyphs from the asset index (#1092, fixes #1076)
• /tick on a server thread: sprint, query, step and a smooth frozen camera (#1088, fixes #1038)
• Prepare finds installed JDKs; the launcher shows the preparation error up top (#1093, fixes #666)
• Elytra: a glide that isn't diving keeps the fall distance at 1 (no landing damage) (#1103, fixes #1046)
• Combat: attribute swapping (attack damage and speed from last tick's main hand) (#1105, fixes #505)
• No block placing or item use while an item is in use (shield, bow, food) (#1102, fixes #1050)
• Elytra: a landing glide lasts one more tick, so elytra hops keep their speed (#1104, fixes #1056)
• Combat: sprint knockback and knockback along the attacker's yaw; vanilla knockback on players (#1106, fixes #504)
• Explosions: two Blast Protection pieces cancel the knockback (explosion_knockback_resistance, per-slot enchantment modifiers) (#1101, fixes #1049)
• Beehives: nests on trees grown in the world get their bees (#1107, fixes #1097)
• fix(benchmark): create the world folder before writing its marker (#1120)
• horizon-server update: version 0.2 counts as newer than the dated releases (#1127)
• Draw and collide blocks while a piston moves them (#1113, fixes #935)
• A release says its version: horizon-server, horizon-prepare, crash reports and user agents report 0.2.x (#1131)

Thanks to @ItsPotatoTime, @Yvonne-Aizawa, @feeldev12, @rdbtCVS.

This is a beta build: launchers with Beta builds turned on in Settings install it now; everyone gets it once it has been out 6 hours without a release-blocker.

Install or update it from the Horizon launcher: it installs new versions by itself. New here? Get the launcher at https://playhorizon.dev. You need your own copy of Minecraft: Java Edition.

Not an official Minecraft product. Not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft.