Top 5 changes in Minecraft's 1.18.10 update

Despite being a bug-fixing update, Minecraft 1.18.1 has a few implementations that players may want to be aware of.

Minecraft 1.18 was a massive update, wrapping up the Caves & Cliffs update with plenty of content. However, such a large implementation of content left the game with more than a few issues, from bugs to one particularly significant security flaw.

Other fixes in this patch included those involving players with low bandwidth and the removal of a fatal error that caused the program to crash. Although most of these fixes go unnoticed, some of the more important adjustments are visible to players.

---

Most notable changes in Minecraft version 1.18.1

5) Realms Screen Optimization

Loading of the Minecraft Realms menu has been accelerated (Image via Mojang)

After Minecraft 1.18's implementation, some players were filing bug reports pertaining to how long it took to load the menu for Minecraft Realms. Some players reported a loading time of a few seconds, but others were remarking that loading the menu in could take as long as 10 seconds or more.

Naturally, this wasn't ideal, as slow-loading menus can slow or prohibit play in some regards. Fortunately, after 1.18.1's fixes, this issue appears to have been resolved, and players are once again reporting near-instantaneous loading of the Realms menu.

---

4) Low-Bandwidth Players Timing Out on Servers

Timeout errors typically occur when a player remains inactive for a certain amount of time (Image via Mojang)

Timeout errors have likely struck every player at one point or another, often when remaining idle on a server or realm for a determined amount of time. This is often utilized to keep server bandwidth free to avoid congestion from multiple concurrent connections.

However, some players have recently been reporting that they were unable to connect to Minecraft servers due to a timeout error. This appears to have been linked to players with non-ideal internet connections attempting to log in to a server. However, as part of update 1.18.1's pre-release, Mojang announced that the issue had been resolved.

---

3) Render Distance Tweak

Render distance dictates how many chunks are visible to the player (Image via Mojang)

Render distance, a setting in Minecraft that decides how many generated chunks are visible is a resource-heavy setting that can significantly affect performance and framerates.

Regardless of the setting, the distant terrain that is not yet visible is blended into the sky, effectively creating a fog effect. Version 1.18.1 re-tooled how both fog and the render distance operates, and the changes should please many players.

Recent complaints referenced an issue where render distance was visible at roughly two chunks shorter than what the player's setting dictated. This issue has persisted since at least version 1.15.1 but has finally been resolved according to most player accounts.

---

2) Fixed RCE Security Exploit Issue

Most players won't notice this security fix, but it's a huge win for server admins (Image via Mojang)

On December 10, 2021, Mojang announced a security vulnerability that could be exploited via Minecraft's Java client through the manipulation of the Java logging library Log4j.

Suffice to say, this created a significant amount of worry within the game's community, as this security flaw could have potentially led to players having their machines compromised, putting their personal information at risk.

Fortunately, Mojang quickly amended this issue, and it has been addressed as of version 1.18.1's third pre-release.

For players who have not yet received the update, it is best to stay away from public servers, as players can easily prey upon this security exploit via in-game messaging.

---

1) World Fog is Now Further Away

More of the game world is visible thanks to fog changes (Image via Mojang)

A subtle change that not every player may notice right away is that Mojang has partially reworked fog mechanics in update 1.18.1. More specifically, fog now appears further away from players, meaning that players will be able to see more chunks at a distance without any alterations to fog or render/view distance in their settings.

Fog has also been changed with respect to how it is "shaped," changing from its volume being spherical to a more cylindrical form. This will also change the way fog appears to players visually while still allowing for more of the world's vistas to be seen.