Minecraft Bedrock 1.20.40 update patch notes: Villager trade rebalances, improved in-game sounds, and more

An exciting update has just arrived for Bedrock Edition. The Minecraft 1.20.40 update is now available for all devices, bringing a host of exciting changes and much-needed improvements that developers have been diligently working on in recent weeks. In the Minecraft Bedrock 1.20.40 update, villager trade rebalances have been introduced as experimental features.

Additionally, Mojang has implemented several fixes and improvements related to in-game sounds, including splash sounds when entering and leaving the water.

Coupled with that, this update includes tweaks to various elements such as zombified villagers, witches, camels, golems, and more. If you're curious about these changes, continue reading for the complete patch notes of the Minecraft Bedrock 1.20.40 update.

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Minecraft 1.20.40 update patch notes for Bedrock Edition

Vanilla Parity

Gameplay

• Changed the default value of the Respawn Radius in the Advanced Settings to 10
• Falling from a great height while in a Boat no longer deals fall damage
• Fall damage is now absorbed by the entity that lands on the ground when mounted and passed on to passengers if the mount dies
• Goat Horns can now be heard up to 256 blocks away
• Tweaked the boss bar HUD color
• Flowing Lava and Water mixing mechanics now match Java Edition
• Closing the inventory of Boat, Raft, or Minecart with Chest now emits vibrations

Mobs

• Zombified Villager curing time is now randomized between 3 and 5 minutes, to match Minecraft Java Edition
• Zombified Villagers now have the correct biome overlays
• Witches now target players within a 16 block distance
• Sheep that have been sheared previously and have since grown back wool will now drop wool on death
• Camels can no longer dash while in Lava or Water
• Iron Golems no longer spawn naturally in 2-block-high spaces where they would start suffocating
• Iron Golems and Snow Golems now have a crumbling-like particle effect when they are created
• Cartographers no longer offer exploration maps as a trade item when not in the overworld

Audio

• Guardians and Elder Guardians now make flopping sounds when on land
• Wither Skeletons now have their own unique sounds
• Updated the sound that’s played when Wither Skeleton Skulls are placed on top of Note Blocks
• The sound for picking up items is now played when using the ‘/give’ command
• Stray Cats now play a sound when begging for food
• Changes to Bottles
• Bottles now emit sounds when filling from Water Blocks
• Pouring water or potions from a Glass Bottle into a Cauldron emits the appropriate sound
• Filling a Glass Bottle with Water or Potion from a Cauldron now emits the appropriate sound
• Drinking from a Glass Bottle now emits the appropriate sound
• Changes to water splash sounds
• The ambient sounds for entering exiting water is now played only when actor is submerged below eye-level in water, matching Minecraft Java Edition
• The splash sound for entering water has been updated to match Minecraft Java Edition

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Experimental features in Minecraft Bedrock 1.20.40 update

Minecraft Bedrock 1.20.40 update adds experimental villager trade changes (Image via Mojang)

All experimental features related to villager trading have been added to Minecraft Bedrock Edition with the 1.20.40 update. These changes can be tested by creating a new world with the Villager trade rebalancing feature turned on. This will change the trades of cartographers and armorers.

Both cartographers and armorers have undergone significant changes. Cartographers have gained access to new explorer maps leading to various unique biomes and structures, while armorers have been severely nerfed in Minecraft.

In addition to the changes affecting armorers and cartographers, some Minecraft structures have also featured adjustments to their loot tables. They now have a higher chance of containing these items:

• Ancient Cities: Mending
• Mineshafts: Efficiency (I to V)
• Pillager Outposts: Quick Charge (I to III)
• Desert Temples: Unbreaking (I to III)
• Jungle Temples: Unbreaking (I to III)

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Fixes and changes in Minecraft Bedrock 1.20.40 update

There are many new changes and tons of bugs fixed in the new Minecraft update:

Performance / stability

• Fixed several crashes that could occur during gameplay
• Fixed a crash that could occur when running in the Archold room in the Spellrune Marketplace map
• Fixed a crash related to the tessellation of water blocks
• Fixed an issue where the game would lock up if a mob would move on a block with 0 friction

Gameplay

• Players are no longer affected by Arrow effects if the Arrow is blocked
• Villages in the End and Nether are no longer saved to the Overworld
• Players can no longer sometimes clip through blocks when gliding with Elytra into blocks
• Buckets can no longer pick up liquids for a few ticks after they've been placed
• This should help make placing and retrieving liquid in a quick succession far more consistent, as well as help players that are using a water bucket to quickly avoid fall damage
• Fixed an issue where moving slowly on Soul Sand would sometimes cause the player to not receive the Soul Speed movement speed
• Players can no longer sometimes clip through blocks when flying in Creative Mode and spamming the sneak button

Mobs

• Fixed a bug where the Sniffer ended digging as soon as item was created, not at the end of the specified dig duration
• Camels no longer appear to slide when walking
• Camels no longer move their legs when standing still
• Camels no longer dash indefinitely when in Lava
• Mobs no longer receive fall damage when falling into a 1-block deep water pool
• Rabbits can once again eat partially and fully-grown Carrot crops

Blocks

• Fixed a bug where the wrong side of Signs would sometimes be edited
• Fixed an extremely rare bug (~0.000003% chance) that could cause Item Frames to not drop their item when hit or destroyed
• Third person camera no longer phases through the lower part of Cauldron
• Falling in Powder Snow no longer causes any damage, no matter the height fallen from
• Lightweight mobs and entities wearing Leather Boots once again sink into the top layer of Powder Snow when falling from a height of more than two and a half blocks
• Sculk Block no longer drops XP when mined with Silk Touch

Items

• Diagonal Banner patterns no longer get inverted when applied to a Shield
• Placing invalid items into offhand slot will no longer cause them to drop
• Warped Fungus on a Stick is no longer held backwards in first person view
• Updated structure icons on Explorer Maps sold by Cartographers

Accessibility

• Fixed an issue where text-to-speech did not say how to open chat or use emotes
• Text-to-speech message for popup title/description is now played properly

User Interface

• Added a sprint button for Camels when "sprint using the joystick" option is turned off
• Fixed Sneak button partially blocking the D-Pad Up button when using touch controls
• Smithing Table no longer shows double overlapping tooltips for some slots
• Item names no longer overlaps with the absorption health bar
• Item names no longer overlaps with the mount health bar
• Item names no longer overlaps with the oxygen bar
• Updated Brewing Stand interface to always stay within its background when scaled
• Improved disconnect message when trying to join a Realm when not a member
• Autocompleting text now moves the caret to end of the line

Graphical

• Equipped enchanted armor now has an overall weaker glint, however its intensity more noticeably increases and decreases over time
• Random lights no longer appear in the world without a source
• Splash particles are now emitted at an actor's waist instead of above their head\

Along with these changes, there are also many technical changes in the Minecraft Bedrock 1.20.40 update. Interested players can check out the official patch notes shared in the above tweet.