Details on the Minecraft Exploration Update

Last month, Minecraft released its latest major update — known as the Exploration Update. Moving up to version 1.11, players can now get Explorer Maps to lead them to Woodland Mansions and Oceanic Monuments. In addition, a number of notable changes in this major update include the following:

Additions

• 3 new splashes
• 2 new villager professions:
  Cartographer
  Nitwit
• 2 new particles:
  spit
  totem
• 3 new NBT tags:
  LocName
  CustomPotionColor
  ColorMap
• 2 new gamerules:
  doWeatherCycle
  maxEntityCramming
• 1 new command:
  /locate
• Curse enchantments
• 4 new mobs:
  Vindicators
  Evokers
  Vexes
  Llamas
• 2 new blocks:
  Observer
  Shulker Box
• 8 new spawn eggs
• 4 new items:
  Shulker Shell
  Totem of Undying
  Exploration Maps (x2)
  Woodland Mansions

Changes

• Entity IDs, block IDs, block entity IDs, and item IDs are no longer case sensitive. Some names have had underscores added or been rewritten.
• Lots of changes to NBT tags.
• Chat messages are now 256 characters long.
• Various items, such as signs and wooden doors, can now be used as fuel for a furnace.
• Shields now block 100 percent of damage dealt in melee combat.

Source: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Exploration_Update

The Exploration Update is available free to all Minecraft users. Updating your Minecraft server from the command line is a painless and easy process.

During installation of your initial Minecraft server, you downloaded and ran a .jar file. All you need to do to download version 1.11 is stop your server and download the Minecraft 1.11 server .jar file and run that instead.

(You can find a link to the latest Minecraft server .jar file here: https://minecraft.net/en-us/download/server )

If you do this from the same directory you already set up in your original Minecraft server, the new server will load all of the files generated in earlier versions, such as your world and user files.

It’s best to make a full backup of your Minecraft directory before upgrading, as some upgrades can cause unforeseen issues. Some syntax between files may change slightly, sort of like what you saw in the changelist above.

If you encounter issues with your stored data when running the new server version, I recommend you revert back and find what files need to be changed to work properly with the new version.

With many new additions, several important changes, and downloading simplicity, Version 1.11, the Exploration Update, should be on your Linode soon and helping you explore the latest worlds from Minecraft.