Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack

The Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack is an official data pack that was released periodically by Mojang Studios from April 2021 to May 2021.^[1] It contains several experimental and work-in-progress features, most of which were eventually released in Java Edition 1.18. Its first release coincided with the announcement that Caves & Cliffs would be split into two major updates.^[2][3] The data pack was eventually superseded by experimental snapshots as changes that are too large for a data pack were introduced.^[4]

Items

• Bundles can be crafted once again.

General

• The height limit has been expanded 64 blocks up and 64 blocks down to a total of 384 blocks, with Y=319 being the limit upward and Y=-64 being the limit downward.

World generation

• Deepslate blobs no longer generate above Y=0.
• Diorite, granite, and andesite blobs are larger and more spherical, but less common.
• Underground generation has been extended 64 blocks down to go along with the downward height expansion.
  • Deepslate makes up a majority of the expanded area, with the stone above gradually transitioning to it from Y=-1 to Y=-7 until it is completely replaced by deepslate at Y=-8.
    • Certain types of ores and structures still generate in the deepslate layer, as well as tuff.
    • Dirt, gravel, diorite, granite, and andesite do not generate in this layer.
  • Lava replaces air below Y=-53 instead of below Y=11.
  • The bedrock layer has been moved down to Y=-64.
• Fossils are able to generate at any height instead of just between Y=40 and Y=49.
  • Fossils below Y=0 generate with deepslate diamond ore instead of coal ore.
• Caves have been completely overhauled.
  • Now stretch down to Y=-59.
  • New noise caves, coming in three forms: cheese, spaghetti, and noodle.
    • Cheese caves have large stone columns stretching from the bottom of the cave to the top.
      • Very large, often large enough to fly through with elytra.
      • Abundant with springs, aquifers, and ores.
    • Spaghetti caves are long, thin caves that have small aquifers and are more similar to original caves.
    • Noodle caves are thinner, squigglier, and more claustrophobic variants of spaghetti caves.
  • Contain aquifers, bodies of water with different heights, independent of sea level (Y=63).
    • Only used below Y=31, meaning any noise caves between Y=31 and Y=63 are flooded with water.
    • Aquifers below Y=0 sometimes generate with lava instead of water.
  • The original carvers still exist with their generation slightly tweaked to add more variation and to better blend in with noise caves.
  • New crevice carvers, which are deep, long cracks in the ground that are thinner and straighter than canyons.
• Ore veins, long and rare formations of ore and rock, have been introduced.

• Changed the generation of all ores, making them have a spread value like lapis lazuli ore. Some still retain a linear generation alongside a spread generation.
  • Copper ore generates between Y=0 and Y=96, and uses spread like all other ores. It peaks at Y=48.
  • Emerald ore generates above Y=32 as a spread, peaking at Y=256 and decreasing in quantity as the altitude decreases.
  • Coal ore attempts to generate twice: once, evenly between an altitude of Y=136 and Y=256; and as a spread, peaking at an altitude of Y=96 and generating between an altitude of Y=0 and Y=192.
  • Iron ore attempts to generate three times: once as a spread peaking at an altitude of Y=256, generating above Y=128; another as a spread peaking at Y=16 and generating with a minimum height of Y=-24 and a maximum height of Y=57, and a smaller one spreading evenly between the altitudes of Y=-64 and Y=64.
  • Gold ore generates between the altitudes of Y=-64 and Y=32, peaking at Y=-16. The extra gold that generates in the badlands biome was left untouched.
  • Lapis lazuli ore attempts to generate twice: once, as a spread between the altitudes of Y=32 and Y=-32, peaking at an altitude of 0; and evenly between the altitudes of Y=64 and Y=-64, generating buried like ancient debris.
  • Redstone ore attempts to generate twice: once, evenly between an altitude of Y=15 and Y=-64; and as a spread, peaking at an altitude of -64 and generating below an altitude of Y=-32.
  • Diamond ore generates below Y=16 as a spread, peaking at Y=-64 and decreasing in quantity as the altitude increases.

• Tutorial:Importing a data pack
• Java Edition 1.18 experimental snapshots