Minecraft (partially found previous versions of sandbox game; 2009-present): Difference between revisions
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|''Alpha v1.0.4''||July 9 2010||<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>||'''[https://youtu.be/tDpvnFL-jKY Video]'''||Two versions are archived, the original jar and the one found in the launcher which has the same files when extracted but different hashes meaning it has different compression. Fourth Seecret Friday Update. | |''Alpha v1.0.4''||July 9 2010||<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>||'''[https://youtu.be/tDpvnFL-jKY Video]'''||Two versions are archived, the original jar and the one found in the launcher which has the same files when extracted but different hashes meaning it has different compression. Fourth Seecret Friday Update. | ||
|- | |- | ||
|''Alpha | |''Alpha v1.0.5-1''||July 13 2010||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>||No proof||The timing of the blog post for this version being before the .jar currently found indicates that it may have been reuploaded. | ||
|- | |- | ||
|''Alpha v1.0.5-2''||July 13 2010||<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>||'''[https://youtu.be/Yl-O-hUXnMY Video]'''||No notes. | |''Alpha v1.0.5-2''||July 13 2010||<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>||'''[https://youtu.be/Yl-O-hUXnMY Video]'''||No notes. |
Revision as of 18:35, 14 April 2020
An example of a previously lost version known as Classic 0.0.22a_05. It has now been recovered from an old player.
Status: Partially Lost
Minecraft is a PC Java sandbox game, now available on many different platforms, first developed in May 2009 by Markus Persson (Notch) and later by various different developers at Mojang. It has since become one of the best selling video games of all time. The game was originally developed as a Java applet to be played in a browser, with a few private releases followed by the first publicly released version being shared by Notch to the tigsource forums and other sites such as the java-gaming.org site on May 17th, 2009.[1] From this point onwards Minecraft went through many stages of development, with the first version of what is called the Release development cycle of the game being released on November 2011, after which Notch officially left the development team. [2]
Unfortunately, as with many large video game franchises, there are many different early builds from the early development cycles of the game that are now missing entirely, both from Mojang's official launcher and from the internet altogether. This is likely due to the nature of the game as an in-browser Java applet when first developed. This meant that without knowledge of how Java applets worked, a user would not know to back up the files, including the minecraft.jar file, found in the AppData/Local/Temp/www.minecraft.net folder where these files were stored. This was also worsened by the sheer amount of updates in a short space of time during the early builds of the game, sometimes many in a single day, which when played would overwrite the files from the previous update. As the game did not become popular until later on and Notch was the sole developer, he also seemingly did not keep backups of every version released.
Classic
Classic was the first public development cycle of Minecraft. Originally called "Alpha" (not to be confused with the later development cycle by the same name) it was only referred to as Classic after the development cycle had ended. Any private versions made beforehand such as the "rd (RubyDung) versions" in the official launcher and the version "0.0.9a" (often grouped with Classic versions, depending on how they're grouped) are generally referred to as pre-Classic. Classic started with version "0.0.11a", released on May 17, 2009 and ended with version "0.30", released on November 10, 2009. Within Classic, there were a few other development cycles, including Multiplayer Test and later Survival Test. As Classic was played in the browser, the files for it were stored at the AppData/Local/Temp/www.minecraft.net/Minecraft folder. There are a lot of different versions of Classic missing, and only 3 versions of it are featured in the official launcher. Luckily, a few other versions have been recovered from various older players over the years, and there is a reasonably good historical representation of most of Classic, other than early Multiplayer Test versions.
Below is a table of Classic versions, with notes for each version as well as download links for found versions. Proof of existence for all versions is included where possible, with an effort having been made to find proofs from 2009-2010. Only a single proof of existence is included perversion, but for most versions, many are available in the form of screenshots, videos and from Notch's Tumblr blog. If proof for a version is missing it is either due to the proof not existing or having been found, or it may be because the version was a silent update (unannounced by Notch) but is now found so we know of its existence. A -1, -2 etc. next to a version indicates there were multiple different versions of the same version released publically, or a version that was reuploaded, usually to attempt to fix a bug.
Version Name | Release Date | Status | Proof of Existence | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
0.0.9a | May 16 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | Was a semi-private release. |
0.0.10a | May 17 2009 | Lost | #LWJGL IRC Logs | Crashed upon startup. |
0.0.11a | May 17 2009 | Found | Video | The copy present in the launcher is likely a development build of 0.0.12a. |
0.0.12a | May 19 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.0.12a_01 | May 19 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | First version to use _x naming scheme. |
0.0.12a_02 | May 19 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.0.12a_03 | May 19 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.0.13a | May 21 2009 | Found | Video | Found in the launcher, but may be modified. |
0.0.13a_01 | May 21/22 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.13a_02 | May 21/22 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.13a_03 | May 22 2009 | Found | Video | We have an original copy of this as well as the launcher version. The original is from the video uploader. |
0.0.14a | May 28 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | Multiple test versions of this such as the offset test were shown on Notch's YouTube, but these were likely just development versions. |
0.0.14a_01 | May 28 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.14a_02 | May 28 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.14a_03 | May 28 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.14a_04 | May 28 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.0.14a_05 | May 28 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.14a_06 | May 28 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.14a_07 | May 28 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.14a_08 | May 28 2009 | Found | Video | Last version before Multiplayer Test. |
0.0.15a-1 | May 31 2009 | Found | Video | First version of Multiplayer Test. Multiple versions of this version existed, seemingly 3. |
0.0.15a-2 | June 3 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.0.15a-3 | June 3 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.0.16a | June 8 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | The proof does not mention 0.0.16a specifically, but it is likely proof for it due to the date. |
0.0.16a_01 | June 8 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.16a_02-1 | June 8 2009 | Lost | Forum Thread | A screenshot of 0.0.16a_02 posted to the linked forum thread predates the recently found client by about 10 hours, proving that a reupload had occured. |
0.0.16a_02-2 | June 8 2009 | Found | Video | No notes. |
0.0.17a | June 10 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.0.18a | June 14 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | The proof is the changelog for 0.0.18a_02 which mentions fixing a bug from 0.0.18a. |
0.0.18a_01 | June 14 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.0.18a_02 | June 14 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.0.19a | June 20 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.19a_01 | June 20 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.19a_02 | June 20 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.19a_03 | June 20 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.19a_04 | June 20 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.19a_05 | June 20 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.19a_06 | June 20 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.0.20a | June 20 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.0.20a_01 | June 20 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.20a_02 | June 20 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.0.21a | June 22 2009 | Found | Video | No notes. |
0.0.21a_01 | June 23 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.0.22a | June 29 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.22a_01 | June 29 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.22a_02 | June 29 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
0.0.22a_03 | June 30 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.22a_04 | June 30 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.22a_05 | June 30 2009 | Found | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.0.23a | July 7 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.0.23a_01 | July 7 2009 | Found | Screenshot | Last creative version before Survival Test. |
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST | September 1 2009 | Lost | Video | First Survival Test Version. Various examples of versions labelled 0.24 can be seen on Notch's blog and YouTube channel, however these seem to be unreleased development versions. This version also simplified the version numbering scheme, removing the 0.0 at the start and the 'a' at the end. |
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST_01 | September 1 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST_02 | September 1 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST_03 | September 1 2009 | Found | Video | No notes. |
0.25 SURVIVAL TEST | September 3 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.25_01 SURVIVAL TEST | September 3 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as versions weren't usually skipped. |
0.25_02 SURVIVAL TEST | September 3 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as versions weren't usually skipped. |
0.25_03 SURVIVAL TEST | September 3 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as versions weren't usually skipped. |
0.25_04 SURVIVAL TEST | September 3 2009 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as versions weren't usually skipped. |
0.25_05 SURVIVAL TEST | September 3 2009 | Found | Video | No notes. |
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST | October 24 2009 | Lost | Video | No notes. |
0.27 SURVIVAL TEST | October 24 2009 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
0.28 | October 27 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr and Notch's Tumblr | This version changed back to creative mode, although 0.27 was not the last Survival Test version. |
0.28_01 | October 27 2009 | Found | Screenshot | No notes. |
0.29 | October 29 2009 | Lost | Screenshot | Had a graphical bug, as seen on the colour of the version tag in the screenshot. |
0.29_01 | October 29 2009 | Partially Lost | Notch's Tumblr | Similar to infdev-20100321, the jar that was found had some edited textures but the only difference being is some thumbs.db files included. However this has been fixed as well with the textures being replaced but the jar is still not exactly the same as it was originally before. |
0.29_02 | October 30 2009 | Found | Archive.org listing | No notes. |
0.30 | November 10 2009 | Partially Lost | Searge's list of MD5s, proof of 0.30_01a | 3 versions are found, 1 is lost. One is the original creative version, one is the Survival Test version and the third is the one found in the launcher, labelled 0.30_01c in the launcher but this is not the original name and it is not labelled as such in game, this is a repackage of the one found on the classic website from 2011 until its shutdown. A fourth version of 0.30 was discovered through a list of MD5s sent to Omniarchive by Searge. |
Indev
Indev (standing for In Development), sometimes stylized as /indev/, was the development stage of Minecraft which introduced crafting along with many other features such as mining, smelting and farming. The first Indev version was released on December 23, 2009, and the last Indev version was released on February 23, 2010. Indev was originally creative mode for only the first couple of versions and then later survival mode for the rest of the development cycle. Indev was originally labelled 0.31 in-game until the February 6th version onwards where it was labelled Minecraft Indev in-game. Much like Classic it had a limited map size and was played in the browser, meaning the files were stored in the AppData/Local/Temp/www.minecraft.net/Minecraft_sneakpeek folder. Surprisingly, there are absolutely no Indev versions in the launcher but despite this many have been found, once again from old players. There is even one extremely rare creative version of Indev (December 23 2009-2) archived that was recently recovered by an archivist player known as RidgeX. Unfortunately, there are also many missing versions of Indev too, mainly from its earlier versions.
Below is a table of Indev versions, with notes for each version as well as download links for found versions. Proof of existence for all versions is included where possible, with an effort having been made to find proofs from 2009-2010. Only a single proof of existence is included perversion, but for most versions, many are available in the form of screenshots, videos and from Notch's Tumblr blog. If proof for a version is missing it is either due to the proof not existing or having been found, or it may be because the version was a silent update (unannounced by Notch) but is now found so we know of its existence. Because Indev did not have a numbering scheme for the separate versions, the numbering scheme used is based on the release date of the version in the Year-Month-Day format. A -1, -2 etc. next to a version indicates there were multiple different versions of the same version released publically, or a version that was reuploaded, usually to attempt to fix a bug.
Version Name | Release Date | Status | Proof of Existence | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
indev-20091223-1 | 23 December 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | First Indev version released. It was Creative mode. |
indev-20091223-2 | 23 December 2009 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | Was also Creative mode, but this was the last version before Indev switched to Survival mode. Added torches to the game. |
indev-20091231-1 | 31 December 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | First Survival mode version of Indev. |
indev-20091231-2 | 31 December 2009 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100105 | 5 January 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | META-INF dates to a few minutes before midnight, though it's proven to be released on January 5th 2010 as it has the new sound system mentioned in the proof of existence. |
indev-20100106 | 6 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100107 | 7 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100109 | 9 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100111-1 | 11 January 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100111-2 | 11 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100113 | 13 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100114 | 14 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100122 | 22 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100124 | 24 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100125-1 | 25 January 2010 | Found | To be added | No notes. |
indev-20100125-2 | 25 January 2010 | Found | To be added | No notes. |
indev-20100128 | 28 January 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100129 | 29 January 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | First version with working crafting. The crafting menu itself using the B hotkey was added on the 28th but it did not function properly until this update. |
indev-20100130 | 30 January 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100201-1 | 1 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version was actually compiled late at night on January 31st and the blog post is labelled as Sunday night, which was the 31st. However the post announcing the release was technically posted on February 1st so the version is being listed as this. |
indev-20100201-2 | 1 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version seems to correspond with the blog post as it was compiled at around the same time. |
indev-20100201-3 | 1 February 2010 | Found | No proof | Seems to have been a silent update as there were no other version posts on the 1st February. |
indev-20100203 | 3 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | Many thought that Feb 2nd also existed but it seems that it didn't by looking at the tumblr pages from the time. |
indev-20100204-1 | 4 February 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100204-2 | 4 February 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100205 | 5 February 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | Seems to be the last version labelled as 0.31 in the corner. |
indev-20100206 | 6 February 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | First version with farming and seemingly the first version that's labelled as Minecraft Indev in the corner. |
indev-20100207-1 | 7 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100207-2 | 7 February 2010 | Found | No proof | Found but there isn't any proof on Notch's blog so was probably a silent (unannounced) update. |
indev-20100212-1 | 12 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100212-2 | 12 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100214-1 | 14 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100214-2 | 14 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100218 | 18 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100219 | 19 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
indev-20100223 | 23 February 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | Last version of Indev. |
Infdev
Infdev, which stands for Infinite Development, was the development cycle that immediately followed Indev. Sometimes stylised as /infdev/, it is named after the infinite worlds that it introduced, a now-famous feature of Minecraft. The first version of Infdev was released on February 27, 2010 and the last version was released on June 30, 2010. Infdev was Survival Mode throughout the whole development cycle. The same as Classic and Indev, it was played in the browser and the files were stored in the following folder: AppData/Local/Temp/www.minecraft.net/Minecraft_infdev . Infdev was the last development cycle to be played in the browser but thanks to the archival efforts of many old players, amazingly almost every single known released version of Infdev has been recovered, apart from a single version: infdev-20100616. Almost half of these versions were recovered from the archivist 2009-2010 player RidgeX. There is only one version of Infdev in the official launcher which is from June 18, 2010.
Below is a table of Infdev versions, with notes for each version as well as download links for found versions. Proof of existence for all versions is included where possible, with an effort having been made to find proofs from 2010. Only a single proof of existence is included perversion, but for most versions, many are available in the form of screenshots, videos and from Notch's Tumblr blog. If proof for a version is missing it is either due to the proof not existing or having been found, or it may be because the version was a silent update (unannounced by Notch) but is now found so we know of its existence. Because Infdev did not have a numbering scheme for the separate versions, the numbering scheme used is based on the release date of the version in the Year-Month-Day format. A -1, -2 etc. next to a version indicates there were multiple different versions of the same version released publically, or a version that was reuploaded, usually to attempt to fix a bug.
Version Name | Release Date | Status | Proof of Existence | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
infdev-20100227 | 27 Feb 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | First version of Infdev released. |
infdev-20100313 | 13 March 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100316 | 16 March 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100320 | 20 March 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100321 | 21 March 2010 | Found | [1] | The existence of this version was only recently discovered when it was sent to an archival group by RidgeX. |
infdev-20100325 | 25 March 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100327 | 27 March 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100330 | 30 March 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version was found with an old texture pack meaning the texture files were modified. In the jar provided they have been replaced with the textures from 0327 which are the same as the original 0330 textures so it should not affect gameplay. |
infdev-20100413 | 13 April 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100414 | 14 April 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100415 | 15 April 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100420 | 20 April 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100607 | June 7 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | |
infdev-20100608 | June 8 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100611 | June 11 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100615 | June 15 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100616 | June 16 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100617-1 | June 17 2010 | Found | No proof | This version is not 20100616 as it is compiled after the tumblr blog for 20100616 was posted. |
infdev-20100617-2 | June 17 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100618 | June 18 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | First Seecret Friday Update. This version is in the launcher and it is identical to the original. |
infdev-20100624 | June 24 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | Had a completely unique level save format that was added in this version and removed in the next. |
infdev-20100625-1 | June 25 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | |
infdev-20100625-2 | June 25 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | Second Seecret Friday Update. |
infdev-20100627 | June 27 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
infdev-20100629 | June 29 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version was known as the offline client tech test, and was released as a downloadable offline java executable the day before the first official launcher was released. |
infdev-20100630-1 | June 30 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | Two versions were released on this day but one seems to have been a silent update. This version seems to have been the first version released in the first official launcher. |
infdev-20100630-2/Alpha v1.0.0 | June 30 2010 | Found | No proof | The last infdev version released. Once Alpha 1.0.1 was released this version was retroactively named Alpha 1.0.0 by Notch, but this is not evident in game where it is labelled Minecraft Infdev like the other Infdev versions. |
Alpha
Alpha was the development cycle that immediately followed Infdev. Sometimes stylized as /game/, it is the first version to have an offline client/launcher. The first true version of Alpha was released on July 2, 2010 and the last version was released on December 3, 2010. Alpha was also Survival Mode throughout its entire development cycle. However, unlike previous development cycles that came before it, Alpha was stored in a different folder, thanks to the at the time new launcher. The files were stored in this folder: AppData/Roaming/.minecraft/bin. This folder is also used all the way up until Release 1.5.2, as after Release 1.5.2 a new launcher was made with which versions are now stored in the "versions" folder. Unfortunately, many versions of Alpha are lost, but not as many as previous versions before it, likely due to the versions being played with a launcher and the files being more known about and accessible, as well as due to the game's popularity increasing at the time of Alpha. There are 25 versions of Alpha in the launcher, however some of those are mislabelled, such as a1.2.0 actually being a1.2.0_02. Many have also been recovered from old players as with development cycles before, with only 11 alpha versions being missing if versions without proof are counted.
Below is a table of Alpha versions, with notes for each version as well as download links for found versions. Proof of existence for all versions is included where possible, with an effort having been made to find proofs from 2010. Only a single proof of existence is included perversion, but for most versions, many are available in the form of screenshots, videos and from Notch's Tumblr blog. If proof for a version is missing it is either due to the proof not existing or having been found, or it may be because the version was a silent update (unannounced by Notch) but is now found so we know of its existence. A -1, -2 etc. next to a version indicates there were multiple different versions of the same version released publically, or a version that was reuploaded, usually to attempt to fix a bug.
Version Name | Release Date | Status | Proof of Existence | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alpha v1.0.1 | July 3 2010 | Lost | Video | Third Seecret Friday Update. |
Alpha v1.0.1_01 | July 3 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.2 | July 3/6 2010 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.2_01 | July 6 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.2_02 | July 6 2010 | Found | Screenshot | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.3 | July 7 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.4 | July 9 2010 | Found | Video | Two versions are archived, the original jar and the one found in the launcher which has the same files when extracted but different hashes meaning it has different compression. Fourth Seecret Friday Update. |
Alpha v1.0.5-1 | July 13 2010 | Lost | No proof | The timing of the blog post for this version being before the .jar currently found indicates that it may have been reuploaded. |
Alpha v1.0.5-2 | July 13 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.5_01 | July 14 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.0.6 | July 16 2010 | Found | Video | Fifth Seecret Friday Update. |
Alpha v1.0.6_01 | July 17 2010 | Found | Screenshot | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.6_02 | July 17 2010 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.6_03 | July 17 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.7 | July 19 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.8 | July 20 2010 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.8_01 | July 20 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.9 | July 21 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.10 | July 22 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.11 | July 23 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. Sixth Seecret Friday Update. |
Alpha v1.0.12 | July 26 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.13 | July 28 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.13_01-1 | July 29 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.13_01-2 | July 29 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This reupload version has the 1k in 24h logo on the title screen to celebrate 1000 purchases in 24 hours. |
Alpha v1.0.14-1 | July 30 2010 | Found | No proof | Seventh Seecret Friday Update. |
Alpha v1.0.14-2 | July 30 2010 | Found | Video | Two versions of 1.0.14-2 are archived, the original jar and the one found in the launcher which has the same files when extracted but different hashes meaning it has different compression. |
Alpha v1.0.15 | August 4 2010 | Found | Video | This was the first Alpha version with public multiplayer software, it was misspelled on Notch's Tumblr as 1.0.14. |
Alpha v1.0.16 | August 12 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.0.16_01 | August 12 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.16_02 | August 13 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.17 | August 20 2010 | Lost | Screenshot | Eighth Seecret Friday Update. |
Alpha v1.0.17_01 | August 20 2010 | Lost | Screenshot | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.17_02 | August 20 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.0.17_03 | August 23 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.0.17_04 | August 23 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.1.0-1 | September 10 2010 | Found | Video | Two versions are archived, the original jar and the one found in the launcher which has the same files when extracted but different hashes meaning it has different compression. Ninth Seecret Friday Update. |
Alpha v1.1.0-2 | September 13 2010 | Found | Video | No notes. |
Alpha v1.1.1 | September 18 2010 | Lost | Screenshot | Final Seecret Update and first and only Seecret Saturday Update. |
Alpha v1.1.2 | September 18 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.1.2_01 | September 23 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.0 | October 30 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | The version labelled 1.2.0 in the launcher is in fact 1.2.0_02, as seen if the jar in the launcher is played. |
Alpha v1.2.0_01 | October 31 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.0_02 | October 31 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.1 | November 5 2010 | Lost | Notch's Tumblr | The version labelled 1.2.1 in the launcher is in fact 1.2.1_01, as seen if the jar in the launcher is played. |
Alpha v1.2.1_01 | November 5 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.2-1 | November 10 2010 | Found | To be added | This version is in the launcher, called 1.2.2a and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.2-2 | November 10 2010 | Found | To be added | This version is in the launcher, called 1.2.2b and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.3 | November 24 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.3_01 | November 24 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.3_02 | November 25 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.3_03 | November 25 2010 | Lost | No proof | Likely existed as version numbers weren't usually skipped. |
Alpha v1.2.3_04 | November 26 2010 | Found | Video | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.3_05 | November 30 2010 | Found | Archive.org listing | Accidentally labeled as Alpha v1.2.4 in Notch's blog post. It is unknown if Alpha v1.2.4 exists. |
Alpha v1.2.4_01 | November 30 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.5 | December 1 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Alpha v1.2.6 | December 3 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version is in the launcher and the jar is identical to the original. |
Beta and Onwards
After Alpha, the next development cycle was Beta, with the first version being released on December 20, 2010 and the last version being released on November 11, 2011. The popularity of Minecraft increased perhaps the most during this development cycle and the following Release cycle and due to this every full beta release has been archived. There are however some versions of Beta that are not in the launcher, and there are some pre-releases that were reuploaded to fix a bug, with one of these not having the pre-reupload version archived.
Following Beta, Minecraft entered its final Release development cycle with Version 1.0.0 released on November 18, 2010, although Release Candidates for this version were released on November 13. Notably, Release 1.0.0 was the last version that the original creator, Notch, worked on before leaving Mojang. Unlike Beta, every full Release of Minecraft is in the official launcher or on Mojang's servers that host versions. Despite this, some pre-releases are missing, and also some Snapshot versions were re-uploaded, and the pre-reupload versions are missing from the launcher and for some versions completely missing.
Below is a table of all Beta and Release versions, pre-releases and snapshots not featured in the official launcher or on Mojang's download servers, with notes for each version as well as download links for found versions. Proof of existence for all versions is included where possible, with an effort having been made to find proofs from the release time of the specific version. Only one form of proof is included, but in some cases, more may be available in the form of screenshots, videos and official announcements on social media or minecraft.net. A -1, -2 etc. next to a version indicates there were multiple different versions of the same version released publically, or a version that was reuploaded, usually to attempt to fix a bug.
Version Name | Release Date | Status | Proof of Existence | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Beta 1.1-1 | December 22 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version had no working text due to the font.txt being missing from the jar file. |
Beta 1.1-2 | December 22 2010 | Found | Notch's Tumblr | This version was a reupload of the previous one that aimed to fix the no text bug but also had no working text due to the missing font.txt. |
Beta 1.3-1 | February 22 2011 | Found | mc-dev Bukkit Repository | This is a debug version that will give the player 64 torches, 64 beds, a diamond pickaxe, a diamond shovel and a diamond axe when a world is created. The version in the launcher is labelled b1.3b further indicating that a b1.3a or b1.3-1 using this naming scheme existed. |
Beta 1.4-1 | March 31 2011 | Found | Archive.org listing | This version has unused stats-related code. There was a comment in it, which was removed cleanly to produce a bit-perfectly original JAR. |
Beta 1.3-demo | April 19 2011 | Found | PC Gamer Site | This version was a demo released officially by PC Gamer that is based upon Beta 1.3 and features an exclusive cow texture. |
Beta 1.6 Test Build 1 | May 25 2011 | Lost | No official release | Likely exists, especially as users in the #minecraft IRC channel at the time mentioned there being multiple test builds of 1.6. |
Beta 1.6 Test Build 2 | May 25 2011 | Lost | No official release | Likely exists, especially as users in the #minecraft IRC channel at the time mentioned there being multiple test builds of 1.6. |
Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 | May 25 2011 | Found | No official release | This version was a test build that was placed on Mojang's public download servers to be sent to certain users for testing. It is unknown how many users got this version. |
Beta 1.7 Prerelease | June 30 2011 | Lost | mc-dev GitHub | A decompiled server version with the name "Beta 1.7 PRERELEASE" was discovered on a Git repo run by the Bukkit team. It is unknown if this was released publicly or how the Bukkit team managed to get it. |
Beta 1.7_01 | June 30 2011 | Found | Video | Breaks the naming convention. 1.7.1 doesn't exist. |
Beta 1.8 Pre-release-1 | September 8 2011 | Found | Forum Post | This version was originally publically leaked by the users it was privately distributed to. The reupload of this version released a day later is available on Mojang's download servers. |
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3-1 | October 6 2011 | Found | Twitter Post | This version was reuploaded to remove some ender dragon related code. The reupload is available on Mojang's download servers. |
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4-1 | October 13 2011 | Lost | Twitter Post | This version was reuploaded to fix the version number still being Prerelease 3. The reupload is available on Mojang's download servers. |
Minecraft RC1 | November 13 2011 | Found | Twitter Post | This was the first release candidate for version 1.0.0. |
Minecraft RC2-1 | November 13 2011 | Found | Twitter Post | This was the second release candidate for version 1.0.0 and it was reuploaded to fix the version number still being RC1. The reupload is available on Mojang's download servers. |
12w05a-1 | February 2 2012 | Found | [Archive.org listing to be added.] | This version was reuploaded to fix a crash bug and some griefed translations. The reupload is available on Mojang's download servers. |
1.2-pre | February 29 2012 | Found | Archive of Mojang Site | This version was labelled as a prerelease on the site but as 1.2 ingame. 1.2 therefore never had a full release. |
12w21b-1 | May 25 2012 | Lost | Archive of Mojang Site | This version contained griefed translations and was reuploaded to fix these.[3] The reupload is available on Mojang's download servers. |
1.4.5-pre | November 16 2012 | Found | Archive of Mojang Site | This version was a prerelease for 1.4.5 but unlike many prereleases around this time, there was an actual separate release of 1.4.5 that came after which fixed a bug, meaning this version is distinctive. The actual 1.4.5 is available in the launcher. |
13w03a-1 | January 17 2013 | Lost | Twitter Post | This version featured a inventory corruption issue so it was reuploaded to fix this. The reupload is available on Mojang's download servers. |
13w05a-1 | January 31 2013 | Found | Archive.org listing | It is currently unknown why this version was reuploaded. |
13w06a-1 | February 7 2013 | Found | Mojang site | Contains a crash bug that is fixed in the reupload version.[4] The reupload is available on Mojang's download servers. |
13w12~-1 | March 19 2013 | Lost | Archive of Mojang site | This was a silent public release on the Mojang bug tracking site released to try to fix a bug but the attempt did not work. It was reuploaded and the bug was fixed the second time around.[5] The reupload is still available on Mojang's download servers. |
Minecraft 2.0 (April Fools) | April 1 2013 | Found | Archive of Mojang Site | This was the second April Fools version released. Originally only given to select YouTubers and other users, the download links to 3 separate versions, blue, red and purple were leaked. The red and blue versions contain separate features and the purple version contains all of the features from the other two. All 3 versions are archived. |
13w16a-1 | April 18 2013 | Found | Archive.org Listing | It is currently unknown why this version was reuploaded. |
13w16a-2 | April 18 2013 | Lost | List of MD5 hashes for various Minecraft versions. List sent to Omniarchive by Searge. Note: Some early versions listed are Luigi versions. | It is currently unknown why this version was reuploaded. |
1.6.2-pre | July 5 2013 | Lost | Archive of Mojang Site | This version, similar to 1.4.5, was a prerelease for 1.6.2 but the actual release of 1.6.2 featured a bug fix meaning this was a distinctive version. The actual 1.6.2 is available in the launcher. |
1.6.2-1 | July 8 2013 | Found | Archive.org listing | It is currently unknown why this version was reuploaded. |
13w36a-1 | September 5 2013 | Lost | Twitter Post | This version was reuploaded to fix some bugs involving language selection and mesa biomes and the reupload version is available in the launcher. |
13w36b-1 | September 6 2013 | Lost | Twitter Post | This version contains issues with inventory keys and as such it was reuploaded to fix these issues. The reupload, however is not available in the launcher as this version was once again reuploaded after this. |
13w36b-2 | September 6 2013 | Lost | Twitter Post | This version was once again reuploaded, this time control changes were rolled back to their previous state. Said reupload (13w36b-3) is available in the launcher. |
1.6.3-pre-1 | September 12 2013 | Found | Archive.org listing | This was a prerelease for 1.6.3 that was reuploaded and this reupload is available in the launcher, listed as 1.6.3 although technically the version was never fully released and was prerelease only. |
13w41b-1 | October 11 2013 | Found | Twitter Post | This version featured a crash bug and was reuploaded to fix this. The reupload is available in the launcher. |
16w50a-1 | December 15 2016 | Found | No proof | This version was accidentally released being labelled 1.11.1 and was reuploaded to fix the label in game. The reupload is available in the launcher. |
1.14.2-pre4-1 | May 24 2019 | Found | No proof | This version was reuploaded to remove the splash "Woo, minecraftforum!", as the Minecraft Forums were to be shut down. The reupload is available in the launcher. |
Common Fakes/How to Recognize Them
Sadly, as with a lot of popular game series, Minecraft also suffers from a large amount of fake versions, particularly of older versions of the game. Even more, unfortunately, many of these are distributed around online and believed to be real by most and are in most cases easier to find than the real versions. It is therefore important that these versions can be recognised and identified as fake so that they are not labelled as being legitimate and luckily there are a few ways to identify fake versions. It is also important to note that the internet has been scoured almost entirely for versions, which means that it is highly likely that if a "missing" version is found online that it is fake, particularly if it was found with ease or uploaded fairly recently.
Common Fakes
There are some websites that are known for distributing fakes; the most well known of these is Luigi2600's site which can be found here. Most of the versions found on this site are fake, often modified versions of versions that are actually found, in many cases just the version number has been edited. Any that are legitimate are available in Omniarchive and other trusted places, so there is no need to download any versions from this site. Due to most believing these versions to be real they are often distributed on sites such as YouTube and in various Minecraft communities. Additionally, if a link is found to any zip known as the "Hidden Versions" it is likely from Luigi2600's site.
How to Recognize a Fake
Despite the worrying amount of fakes, it is actually very easy to distinguish a fake from an original version. To do this, a person must have a program that is able to open .zip (and by extension .jar) files such as 7zip or WinRAR. Upon opening a minecraft.jar with one of these programs, said person should be able to see a folder that reads 'META-INF.' For example here is an image of in-20091223-2 opened in WinRAR with its META-INF folder circled.
If the .jar features no folder labelled 'META-INF' then it is almost certainly fake. Next, the person should open the META-INF folder and check the date of the files inside. They should all feature the same date and time, and if this is not the case, then the .jar has definitely been modified. Also, the date of the files should correspond (although under certain circumstances it may be a small amount of time before) with the release date of the version in question, which can be found on the tables above. This is because the date and time listed on these files is the exact time that the .jar was compiled and the certificate was issued. An exception to this is the rd- versions featured in the official launcher which feature dates from 2013. This is because they were compiled in 2013 and added to the launcher, likely from very old source code that was recovered from before Minecraft was even public, it's also possible that they are recreations. For example here is an image of the META-INF folder from in-20091223-2 showing the date of the files which corresponds to the release date on December 23rd, 2009.
In addition below is a screenshot showing the dates from the META-INF folder of the supposed 0.24, a version that was never actually released, on Luigi2600's site. Note that the dates differ from each other and that they are not in 2009 as should be expected from a Survival Test version.
Sources and How to Play
Many of the versions listed above were found/contributed by members of the Omniarchive community, who have documented their progress in a Google spreadsheet.[6] Within the spreadsheet is a credit list of version contributors and researchers etc.
Due to many of the versions listed above being created for earlier versions of Java, many of them do not function with current versions of Java or feature other bugs. This can be completely fixed by utilizing the retrocraft proxy created by Zuriki, which also fixes sounds in versions where the sound resource servers have been shut down. The retrocraft proxy can be utilized by adding the following arguments to the JVM arguments to the version the player wants to play on: -Dhttp.proxyHost=classic.retrocraft.net -Dhttp.proxyPort=80 -Djava.util.Arrays.useLegacyMergeSort=true
References
- ↑ Original post to the tigsource forums. Retrieved 15 May '18
- ↑ Notch's blog post announcing his departure from the development team. Retrieved 23 Oct '18
- ↑ A Twitter post from Jeb announcing 12w21b-1. Retrieved 25 Feb '19
- ↑ A Twitter post from Dinnerbone about 13w06a-1. Retrieved 25 Feb '19
- ↑ Archive of the Minecraft bug tracker post which details 12w12~-1. Retrieved 25 Feb '19
- ↑ The Omniarchive Google Spreadsheet where it tracks all the games builds. Retrieved 31 Oct '18