NOTICE: Due to a severe memory leak in the game, The release date is set for October 25, 2012! http://www.mojang.com/2012/10/minecraft-1-4-2-pre-release/
Note: Very few references are provided here since most of this content has been directly released in weekly snapshots 12w32a–1.4pre.
General
[ul][li]Improved server list [list]
[li]Server IPs can now be hidden individually when editing or adding a server[/li]
[li]Server version is now displayed left of the connection bars[/li]
[li]Server ping tooltip now shows if the server and client have mismatching protocol versions[/li]
[li]Mismatching servers can’t be joined[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Improved settings menu [list]
[li]Renamed Chat Settings to Multiplayer Settings[/li]
[li]Added an option for cape-owners to hide their capes in-game[/li]
[li]Added Fullscreen and VSync toggles[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Improved F3 mode [list]
[li]The piechart is now shown when using shift+F3 instead of vice versa[/li]
[li]Added the cardinal direction and the degree value to the f value indicating the direction the player is facing[/li]
[li]Now shows which chunk and where in that chunk the player is in on X and Z values[/li]
[li]Pressing [size=0.85em] P while holding [size=0.85em] F3 will toggle the auto-pause when the Minecraft window loses focus[/li]
[li]Pressing [size=0.85em] H while holding [size=0.85em] F3 will toggle detailed item descriptions, which additionally show item id, damage value, color code, tool/armor/weapon damage and map zoom level and scale on the tooltip[/li]
[li]Pressing [size=0.85em] T while holding [size=0.85em] F3 will reload the texture pack[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Updated language files[/li][/ul]
[edit] Gameplay
[ul][li]Improved Multiplayer [list]
[li]Spawn protection now is disabled if there’s nothing in ops.txt[/li]
[li]Spawn protection radius can now be changed in the server.properties file[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Improved inventory management [list]
[li]Items can now be cloned by using Pick Block on them - An item stack with the highest amount of items possible in it will be created[/li]
[li]Pressing the 1-9 hotkeys while hovering over an item will exchange that item with the one from the corresponding hotbar slot[/li]
[li]Items can now be shift-clicked around on the survival inventory screen in Creative mode[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Added & improved a few commands [list]
[li]Added /difficulty command to change difficulty[10] [list]
[li]/difficulty 0 = peaceful[/li]
[li]/difficulty 1 = easy[/li]
[li]/difficulty 2 = normal[/li]
[li]/difficulty 3 = hard[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Toggling PvP[11][/li]
[li]Added /spawnpoint to change your own or other players’ spawnpoint to where you are standing or to specified coordinates [list]
[li]/spawnpoint [/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Added /w, an alias for /tell[/li]
[li]Added /weather to change the current weather and optionally set the duration for the new weather [list]
[li]/weather [clear | rain | thunder] [/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Added /gamerule <true/false> to look up and change gamerules regarding Command Block output [list]
[li]/gamerule doFireTick - Whether fire should spread[/li]
[li]/gamerule doMobLoot - Whether mobs should drop items[/li]
[li]/gamerule doMobSpawning - Whether mobs should naturally spawn[/li]
[li]/gamerule doTileDrops - Whether blocks should have drops (does not work for paintings)[/li]
[li]/gamerule keepInventory - Whether the player should keep items in their inventory if they die.[/li]
[li]/gamerule mobGriefing - Whether creepers, endermen and withers should be able to change blocks.[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Added /clear to clear a specified player’s entire inventory or remove only one block/item from it[/li]
[li]Changed /xp so it can be used to give and take entire experience levels by appending “L” to the number[/li]
[li]Changed /tp to work with relative coordinates[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Added command target selectors[12][13][14] [list]
[li]Available selectors: [list]
[li]@p - Closest player[/li]
[li]@a - All players[/li]
[li]@r - Random player[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Can have arguments specified in [] using the syntax x=0, where x is the argument[/li]
[li]Available arguments: [list]
[li]x,y,z - Coordinates[/li]
[li]r - Range[/li]
[li]m - Gamemode[/li]
[li]l - Minumum experience level[/li]
[li]lm - Maximum experience level[/li]
[li]rm - Minimum range[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Special argument only usable with @a: [list]
[li]c - the maximum count of players to return. Numbers below 0 will make it return the last x amount of entries[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Updated the sound engine [list]
[li]Added sounds for placing Wood-, Stone-, Plant-, Sand- and Gravel-like blocks[/li]
[li]Added sounds for walking on Sand, Gravel, Soulsand, Grass and Stone[/li]
[li]Added sounds for zombies, skeletons, cows, pigs, spiders, endermen, ghasts, silverfish, magma cubes, wolves, the ender dragon, bats and the anvil.[/li]
[li]Added sounds for curing a zombie, infecting a villager and a remedy sound.[/li]
[li]Added sounds for setting things on fire and shearing sheep[/li]
[li]Added sounds for climbing ladders and riding minecarts[/li]
[li]Added a sound for levelling up which is played every 5 levels[/li]
[li]Added constant noise to liquids[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Improved Portals [list]
[li]Mobs, items and projectiles now pass through them, preserving momentum[15][16][17][/li]
[li]Entities will pass through instantly, but at a longer “cooldown”[18][/li]
[li]Portals will allow fire burning entities like blazes to leave the Nether and potentially burn things[19][/li]
[li]Portals will teleport an entity relative to where it entered[20][21][/li]
[li]Players are now positioned correctly when going through Nether Portals[/li]
[li]Nether Portals are now instant for players in Creative mode[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Improved Adventure mode [list]
[li]Blocks can now be mined with the proper tools[/li]
[li]Blocks can now be placed[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]Improved Breeding [list]
[li]Chickens now use seeds instead of wheat to breed[22][/li]
[li]Pigs now use carrots instead of wheat to breed[/li]
[/list] [/li]
[li]You can now restore a desolate village or create a completely new village[23][/li][/ul]