5.2.0

1.21.4 client support and mostly config-related changes and fixes to older server versions!
Important note: Please make sure to update your Java version to Java 21+, as ViaVersion will require it in a future release!

• Greatly reduced netty byte buf (memory) allocation
• The sword-blocking emulation for 1.20.5+ clients on 1.8 servers can now be disabled via sword-blocking-via-consumable (by EnZaXD)
• The fix-1_21-placement-rotation config option is now enabled by default (by Pro4D)
• Fixed reading of equippable (by DavyCraft648)
• Fixed reading of armor trim override materials
• Fixed regression in tag sending for 1.20.2 to 1.20.4 clients on older servers
• Fixed recipe book recipe ingredients for newer clients on 1.12 servers and older (by valaphee)
• Fixed block action block id handling across multiple protocols (by valaphee)
• Fixed 1.12->1.13 block connections on snowy grass, mycelium and podzol (by lowercasebtw)
• Fixed dropped items being invisible until entity data is sent in 1.10->1.11 (by EnZaXD)
• Improved 1.21 client enchantment handling on legacy servers (by Pablete1234)
• Fixed fix-1_21-placement-rotation not working after changing its value and running /viaversion reload (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed fix-1_21-placement-rotation causing some issues with with anti-cheats (by EnZaXD)

Additional notes:

• Custom model data no longer exists in its previous form. If you can, use the item_model data component, else make sure your resource pack is updated to use the new custom model data format and its first range_dispatch float
• Picking blocks will not work for 1.21.4 clients on servers older than about 1.12. Picking entities does not work on servers older than 1.20.4. Both are Paper specific platform fixes and require certain API to be present

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.1.1

Lots of fixes, mostly to edge case data handling, and some more to older versions!

• Fixed items with block predicates causing disconnects for creative mode clients in 1.21->1.21.2 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed errors from level 0 enchantments in 1.21->1.21.2
• Fixed painting entity data in 1.21->1.21.2
• Fixed opening chest boat inventories causing disconnects in 1.21->1.21.2
• Fixed boat types in 1.21->1.21.2 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed item_name<->default name priority for items in 1.21->1.21.2 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed some issues with item hover event displays in 1.20.5 and 1.21.2 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed handling of empty lock codes in 1.21->1.21.2, usually sent by older servers (by valaphee, EnZaXD, kennytv)
• Fixed possible anticheat issues by dropping idle packets where only horizontal collision changed in 1.21->1.21.2 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed empty custom data tags sometimes being removed with creative clients on 1.20.5/1.21 (by EnZaXD)
• Send enabled features packet in config phase for clients that have it in 1.19.1->1.19.3 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed handling of block entity custom names in 1.12->1.13 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed chunks possibly being invisible on 1.8 servers and older (by RK_01)
• Fixed some edgecase area effect cloud particle errors on older servers
• 1.21.2+ clients on 1.8 servers now get proper sword blocking animations through consumable item data (by RK_01)

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.1.0

1.21.2 client support

• Fixed a possible crash on older servers (thanks to EnZaXD)
• Note that disabling strict-error-handling no longer has any effect on 1.21.2+ clients, affected errors include:
  • scoreboard related plugins that remove players from invalid teams, or try to add players to duplicate teams.
  • enchantment related plugins registering their custom enchantments/other registry entries multiple times.
• Known issue: Boats visually lose their wood type for 1.21.2+ clients. The fix for this is a bit more complicated and has been postponed to the next release.

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.0.5

• Fixed a regression from 5.0.4 where tags weren't updated correctly

5.0.4 Changelog:

On top of a few smaller fixes, this update also comes with various small performance and memory allocation optimizations

• Added hide-scoreboard-numbers config option to hide scoreboard score numbers in 1.20.2->1.20.3 (by Pablete1234)
• Added fix-1_21-placement-rotation config option to fix slightly behind block placement rotation when turning quickly in 1.20.5->1.21. Disabled by default as it may trigger anticheats (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed sound id rewriting in custom item instrument and jukebox data in 1.20.5->1.21
• Fixed bad conversion of can place on/can break in item hover events in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed possible errors with entity equipment in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Added missing written book component handling in newer protocols for nested item data (by EnZaXD)
• Re-added "Invalid book tag" view in 1.20.4->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed bossbar issues in 1.8->1.9 (by EnZaXD)
• Improved 1.8->1.9 sound mappings (by RK_01)
• Fixed handling of various non-standard data across protocols (by EnZaXD)

If you want to get larger version updates early, including 1.21.2, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.0.4

On top of a few smaller fixes, this update also comes with various small performance and memory allocation optimizations

• Added hide-scoreboard-numbers config option to hide scoreboard score numbers in 1.20.2->1.20.3 (by Pablete1234)
• Added fix-1_21-placement-rotation config option to fix slightly behind block placement rotation when turning quickly in 1.20.5->1.21. Disabled by default as it may trigger anticheats (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed sound id rewriting in custom item instrument and jukebox data in 1.20.5->1.21
• Fixed bad conversion of can place on/can break in item hover events in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed possible errors with entity equipment in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Added missing written book component handling in newer protocols for nested item data (by EnZaXD)
• Re-added "Invalid book tag" view in 1.20.4->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed bossbar issues in 1.8->1.9 (by EnZaXD)
• Improved 1.8->1.9 sound mappings (by RK_01)
• Fixed handling of various non-standard data across protocols (by EnZaXD)

If you want to get larger version updates early, including 1.21.2, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.0.3

• Partially fixed 1.20.5->1.21 enchantment handling on older/non-Paper servers (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed fast switching armor cancelling sprinting in 1.20.5->1.21
• Fixed handling of custom armor trim patterns and materials in 1.20.3->1.20.5
• Fixed erronous area effect cloud particle handling in 1.20.2->1.20.3
• Fixed an edge case with custom item frame rotation handling in 1.16.4->1.17 (by EnZaXD)

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.0.2

• Fixed horse and llama inventory issues in 1.20.5->1.21 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed issues with attributes in 1.20.5->1.21 (by kennytv and EnZaXD)
• Fixed possible kicks from out-of-order-chat in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by Gegy)
• Fixed shulker box tooltips in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed filtered book page handling in 1.20.2->1.20.3 (by EnZaXD)
• "Message not delivered" messages no longer appear in 1.20->1.20.2
• Improved the 1.20.3 crossbow max damage and 1.8 sword blocking fixes for 1.21+ clients (by RK_01)
• Tridents and banner pattern items show the correct 1.20 rarity in 1.20.5->1.21 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed splash/lingering potions being invisible in 1.19 protocols (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed attribute keeping on respawn for <1.14 clients in 1.16->1.15 (by RK_01)
• Fixed show_item in translation components in 1.11->1.12 (by EnZaXD)
• Slightly improve on 1.10->1.11 fishing hook position desync
• The 1.9 cooldown indicator is now completely hidden in 1.8->1.9 (by lowercasebtw)
  • The minimize-cooldown has been removed
• Fixed wither and ender dragon bossbars not working in 1.8->1.9 (by EnZaXD)
• Added cancel-block-sounds config option to toggle the 1.8 block placement sound fix (by EnZaXD)

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.0.1

• Add handling for some movement related enchantments in 1.20.5->1.21. This requires ViaVersion to be placed on a Paper server (also for efficiency to properly work)
• Fixed entity effect colors for world particles in 1.20.3->1.20.5
• Improve item comparison in some cases when the item tag was empty in 1.20.3<->1.20.5 (by Camotoy, AJ-Ferguson)
• Fixed handling of the hardcore/not set gamemodes in 1.8->1.9 (by LeonTG, EnZaXD)
• Backup original book pages for creative mode clients in 1.8->1.9 (by EnZaXD)

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

5.0.0

1.21 client support!

Java 17 requirement

• See https://docs.papermc.io/misc/java-install on how to update your Java version
• Even Minecraft 1.8 is mostly able to run on Java 17, although for a better experience you should use a fork that fixes smaller issues
• Some older versions require the Paper.IgnoreJavaVersion system property to be set (-DPaper.IgnoreJavaVersion=true as a startup flag), but run perfectly fine using Java 17
• If all else fails, use the Java 8 compatibility builds we provide at risk of not receiving support for issues it could cause - you should not make yourself depend on these too much, they will generally only be updated on releases

Other important changes

The main ViaVersion jar no longer supports Bungee and Sponge, they have been moved to separate plugins. Sponge has seen almost no usage and the current Bungee platform is pretty broken due to missing injection points, + Bungee has generally been unusable for weeks after every recent Minecraft update.

• Bungee/Waterfall is no longer available
• Sponge support has been moved to: https://modrinth.com/plugin/viasponge
  • ViaVersion (and other Via plugins if wanted) need to be put into config/viaversion/ for ViaSponge to load them
• ProtocolSupport compatibility has been moved to an addon, since PS has been dead for a while and VR+VB are generally more usable across versions now

The config option checkforupdates has been changed to check-for-updates; you will need to toggle the new value manually if you had toggled the old one.

API changes

• Type instances are now held in Types to prevent classloading issues
• Packet sending/receiving related methods are no longer spammed with throws Exception
• Packet type names, among others, have changed to reflect vanilla names
  • For automated mass-replacement of such renames and package changes (mostly for platforms implementing ViaVersion), see https://gist.github.com/kennytv/5bc5bd6efb4c0a07e8a2020f2f2131b7
• Removed a number of deprecated methods

Fixes and other changes

• Added handle-invalid-item-count config option to gracefully handle items with invalid stack sizes in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Added viaversion player <*/playername> subcommand to view protocol info of a specific player (by EnZaXD)
• Ignore invalid chunk entities in 1.20.3->1.20.5
• Fixed issues with thrown projectiles for 1.20.5 clients on 1.19 servers and older
• Fixed various issues due to missing tags (by RK_01)
• Fixed various block entity tags in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed conversion of firework tags without explosions in 1.20.3->120.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed positionless lodestone tracker conversion (by EnZaXD and Pantera07)
• Fixed painting items with specific variant tags in 1.20.3->1.20.5
• Fixed villager trade handling when they contain empty items in 1.20.3->1.20.5
• Fixed various issues in show_item conversion in 1.20.3->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed items with custom names not being italic sometimes in 1.12.2->1.13 (by EnZaXD)
• Changed logs/warnings to include the relevant version (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed book signing in 1.8->1.9 (by EnZaXD)
• Fixed block place sounds playing twice in 1.8->1.9 (by EnZaXD)
• Small fixes to edge cases in data parsing in various versions (by EnZaXD)
• Backup negative item amounts in 1.10->1.11 for creative mode clients (by EnZaXD)
• Changed viaversion displayleaks subcommand to be able to set detection level (by EnZaXD)

... and more

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.

4.10.2

Remember, the release for 1.21 will require Java 17!

• Fixed entity effect particle and tipped arrow colors in 1.20.4->1.20.5 (by EnZaXD and kennytv)
• Fixed block entity data in items if the id was missing (by EnZaXD and kennytv)
• Fixed incoming 1.20.5 banner handling
• Fixed incoming 1.20.5 player head handling

If you want to get larger version updates early, consider supporting me via https://viaversion.com/donate. See the previous update notes for more info.