Generated structures

Every specific group of blocks purposefully formed in Minecraft based on coding is part of a natural structure.

The Overworld

The Overworld contains numerous generated structures, at a wide variety of scales.

Terrain

Biomes dictate the shape and height of the world. At this stage, the ground is made entirely of stone, with water filling in most empty spaces below layer 63, with exception for structures.

Mountain

Mountains are hills with extreme slopes and cliffs. Mountains can sometimes have caves through them. On an amplified world, mountains are extremely common in all biomes except ocean and swamp biomes.

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  A picture of an extreme hills biome

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  A large overhang, occasionally found in extreme hills biomes

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  A mountain overhang with a floating island

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  A large stack of land generated on top of mountain

Floating "island"

Floating "islands" are structures that float in midair that are not connected to the ground, the sea, hills or cliffs. Floating "islands" are normally just random pieces of floating dirt and stone found near cliffs, but on rare occasions they can be large, floating structures that even have springs and trees on them. Floating Islands are most frequently found in the extreme hills, ice plains, ice mountains and mushroom island biomes, but can be found anywhere. Floating Islands are very common in an amplified world.

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  It is rare to see a naturally occurring, large, floating "island"

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  A Large Floating "Island"

Hollows

Hollows are the opposite of floating islands. They look like caves, but they have nothing to do with cave generation (although they may intersect with them). When there are many overhangs, they close together and create a hollow. They have exactly the same floor as the terrain above, depending on the biome that they are located in, unlike caves. Hollows have no specific floor. Grass can generate inside too, and interestingly will survive without light. When they generate under the sea level, they are filled with water. They are extremely rare in the default world, but can be found in the customized world.

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  A hollow in a customized world.

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  Another hollow connected to a cave.

Hill

Hills are randomly generated pieces of land in the map. Like stairs, hills are always traversable to their lowest point by virtue of the algorithm which generates them; there is almost always a place on each level from where the next level can be accessed, meaning that the player can climb a hill one level at a time until they reach the top. Cases where this is not true are rare.

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  A randomly-generated hill with some tall grass and trees.

Beach

Beaches usually generate next to oceans and cover all nearby shorelines. They come in two different varieties: sand beach and stone beach. Sandstone is located below sand in sand beaches. Stone beaches are usually steep cliffs that lead straight into the water.

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  Beach with a large pond in it

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  Vines creeping down beach with a mini-jungle

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  A mushroom biome next to a beach

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  A stone beach with steep cliffs

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  A "peninsula"

Surface

Surface layer

The uppermost layers of the terrain are converted to a biome-dependent material: usually grass blocks and dirt, or sand in deserts and beaches. Podzol is found in mega taiga, mycelium in mushroom island biomes, and red sand is found in the mesa biome. Sandstone is generated under sand.

Basin

Occasionally, instead of being converted to dirt or sand, the top layer is stripped away, leaving a 'basin' of bare stone. They bear some resemblance to a geological 'shield' (an area of tectonically stable rock that has been exposed to prolonged erosion due to its very old age; it is distinct from the geological term "basin"). They seem to be more common in forest or plains, and are occasionally seen filled with water. Commonly, minerals can be found in these, generally coal ore and iron ore. If generated in a Mesa biome in the PC version or the Pocket Edition, gold ore can also be seen.

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  A naturally generated basin landform

Water bodies

Ocean

Main article: Biome § Ocean

Oceans/Seas are huge bodies of water with every single water tile being a source block. The ground can rise high enough to produce small, relatively barren islands. Prior to the Adventure Update, oceans were generated as part of the terrain generation algorithm, but since then, they are part of the ocean biome.

Ocean monuments have a chance to generate within deep oceans.

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  A picture of an ocean biome

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  A deep ocean, with an ocean monument in the background.

River

Rivers are long "strands" of water that cut through or separate biomes. They do not have a current. Patches of sand and gravel are seen commonly dotting the banks of the rivers, and clay settled at the very bottom. In some cases, rivers will generate higher than normal, producing a dry riverbed, sometimes with occasional small water patches.

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  The first image of a river released by Notch

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  A narrow river

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  A long river with extreme hills and taiga biomes nearby

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  A river that splits off into two rivers.

Lake

Lakes are small bodies of liquid. Water lakes, which are small pools of water springs, can generate above sea level or inside caverns. They can also generate isolated underground, connected to no other structures whatsoever. When in a winter biome, these small lakes are never initially frozen but will turn to ice if exposed. The lakes can also be composed of lava; however, lakes of lava are much rarer. Lava lakes found at the surface are surrounded by stone (which can be replaced by ore veins such as dirt, gravel and coal). Both types of lake generate with a small air pocket above them, which may result in floating sand, floating snow cover or even the top 2/3rds of trees above the lake. Lava lakes may cause trees to burn away.

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  A lake in a plains biome.

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  A lake in a taiga biome, which is freezing

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  A lava lake in a mesa biome

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  A waterfall naturally generated on top of a lava lake, turning it into obsidian.

Large structures

Cavern

Main article: Cavern

Caverns are caves and tunnels that are automatically generated under the ground in various places. Caverns are composed mainly of stone, and expose large amounts of ores and igneous stones. When caves are generated so their entrances are located in a mesa or desert biome, some of the sand around cave entrances can be found compressed into the biome's respective sandstone.

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  A dark cave with a zombie

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  A large underground cavern. A tree grew with the light provided by the lava.

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  A circular cavern that generated exposed to the sky.

Ravine

Ravines are tall, long cracks of air, usually measuring around 30 to 50 blocks in height, 84 to 112 blocks long and no more than 7 blocks wide. Ravines can have small ledges along the top. They can be found at levels 20 to 68, sometimes appearing on the world surface or underwater, forming canyons and trenches. They can go very deep underground, sometimes spawning slimes or exposing diamond ore. If they reach deep enough, they may also be floored by the lava lakes at level 11. In the Amplified world type, ravines can reach from surface level to bedrock. Ravines can also be found in oceans or rivers having a waterfall from the river/ocean falling into them.

Ravines can connect to caves, dungeons, abandoned mineshafts, and any other generated structures. Due to the large surface area of their walls, ravines often have water and/or lava flowing down them (from springs in the walls, underground lakes, or even openings to the sea).

In Pocket Edition, ravines are upcoming to 1.2

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  A ravine with a lava river and waterfalls.

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  Two ravines joined together underground

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  A ravine that is open to the sky

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  A ravine generated under another ravine

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  A jungle temple over a ravine, with a stronghold and mineshaft in the ravine.

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  Two ravines open to the sky that generated next to each other, with a River biome between them.

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  Three ravines intersection underground.

Abandoned mineshaft

Abandoned Mineshaft

Biome	Any
Consists of	Wooden Planks Fence Torch Rail Cobweb Monster Spawner Minecart with Chest

Main article: Abandoned mineshaft

Abandoned mineshafts are structures generated underground which consist of branching mining tunnels with wooden supports and broken rails passing through it. Cave spider spawners can be found in mineshafts. Open areas generate with oak wooden bridges instead of leaving floating platforms. They contain minecarts with chests that may have rare items such as diamonds and horse armor. They may also contain iron ingots, coal, pickaxes, and other useful items. They are likely to expose veins of coal, iron, lapis lazuli, gold ore, and rarely, emerald and diamond ore. Abandoned mineshafts will also generate partially above ground in mesa biomes.

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  An abandoned mineshaft with a minecart and a chest.

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  A cave spider spawner surrounded by cobwebs found within a mineshaft.

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  An abandoned mineshaft with wooden bridges crossing over a ravine.

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  A large cubic dirt room found in a mineshaft.

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  An exposed mineshaft in a mesa biome.

Stronghold

Stronghold

Biome	Any
Consists of	Stone Bricks Cracked Stone Bricks Mossy Stone Bricks Water Monster Spawner Iron Bars Lava End Portal Frame Eye of Ender Torch Oak Fence Chest Stone Brick Slab Cobblestone Stone Brick Stairs Oak Wood Planks Ladder Stone Slab Stone Button Iron Door Oak Door Cobblestone Stairs Bookshelf Cobweb Stone Brick Monster Egg

Main article: Stronghold

Strongholds are structures that contain multiple rooms, doors and other aspects (some of these rooms include libraries, fountain rooms, dungeon-like rooms, etc.). There are 128 per world. Stone brick, mossy stone brick, cracked stone brick, doors, iron bars, monster eggs and stone slabs are the materials that make up the strongholds. They also contain silverfish, which one should be careful of when digging around in strongholds. Portals to The End are found in specific rooms in strongholds. Chests may be found containing items such as books, redstone, ender pearls, apples, bread, compasses, iron tools/armor, and diamonds. Strongholds can be found by right clicking an eye of ender, which will be thrown into the air and point the direction where the End portal is, showing the way to the stronghold.

In Pocket Edition, strongholds have a chance to generate under village wells.^{[Pocket Edition only]}

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  The end portal room located within a stronghold.

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  A pillar room in a stronghold, intersecting with other tunnels, notice that one of them is a dead end.

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  A library inside a stronghold.

Small structures

The quantity of most of these features (aside from dungeons, mineral veins, and springs) is biome-dependent; not all features can be found in every biome.

Dungeon

Dungeon

Biome	Any
Consists of	Cobblestone Moss Stone Monster Spawner Chest
Can generate post-generation	No

Main article: Dungeon

Dungeons are small, mostly underground, one-room spaces bordered by moss stone and cobblestone, and typically contain chests with rare items, and a hostile monster spawner in the center. Dungeons generate with either a zombie (50% chance), skeleton (25% chance), or spider (25% chance) spawner. Occasionally a player may find that the spawner is covered with gravel and will be harder to reach, yet the mobs can still spawn with the gravel around it. The chests may contain rare valuables, such as music discs, enchanted books, saddles, horse armor, and golden apples. Rarely, multiple dungeons can generate next to each other. Dungeons generated in a desert can sometimes be visible from the surface due to the sand falling down.

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  A dungeon with a monster spawner in the center, and two chests. The torch was placed by the player.

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  A desert dungeon, exposed to the surface, and mostly covered with sand.

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  The loot found in a dungeon chest.

Mineral vein

Mineral vein

Biome	Coal, iron, gold, redstone, diamond, lapis lazuli: Any in the overworld Emerald: Extreme Hills Nether quartz: the Nether
Consists of	Stone Dirt Gravel Granite Diorite Andesite Coal Ore Iron Ore Gold Ore Redstone Ore Diamond Ore Lapis Lazuli Ore Emerald Ore Nether Quartz Ore

A mineral vein is a natural deposit of ores. Players can come across these veins in caverns or anywhere where there is natural stone. Underground deposits of dirt and gravel are generated in this step, followed by the more precious ores: coal, iron, gold, redstone, diamond, emerald (in extreme hill biomes) and lapis lazuli. They can only form in stone, and do not replace each other or any other block. However, there is one exception: other ores can replace andesite, diorite and granite. Note that two or more mineral veins can form next to each other and make it look like a mineral vein made of more than one material.

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  Multiple ores generated above an underground lava lake.

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  A coal vein generated underwater.

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  Multiple ore veins in a cave. Diamond ore and redstone ore as well as coal ore and gold ore are visible in the distance.

Tree

Tree

Biome	Any (but not deserts or mesas (except for mesa plateau Fs))
Consists of	Wood Leaves Vines Mushroom

Main article: Tree

Trees are common structures created both during world generation and by players (grown from saplings). They are made of wood and leaves, and in Pocket Edition might have vines or mushrooms (as dying trees and fallen trees respectively). Tree sizes range from small trees that can be fully harvested from ground level, to large trees that may require several minutes to harvest.

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  A variety of tree types: From left to right, oak, birch, spruce, and jungle

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  A snowy spruce forest on the right.

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  Two types of giant trees

Huge mushroom

Huge mushroom

Biome	Mushroom Island, Roofed Forest or the Swamp[Pocket Edition only].
Consists of	Huge Mushroom

Main article: Huge mushroom

Huge mushrooms are structures that only naturally occur in mushroom island biomes, roofed forest biomes, and in Pocket Edition, swamp biomes. They are composed of mushroom stalks and either red or brown colored blocks for the cap. They can be grown outside mushroom islands by fertilizing red or brown mushroom with bone meal, or can be generated with mycelium.

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  Red and brown huge mushrooms seen on a mushroom island

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  Huge mushrooms generated in a roofed forest biome

Spring

Springs are randomly generated blocks of either lava or water that act as a source of their respective material. While both can be found on the vertical side of stone blocks above the surface, lava springs are more often found underground beneath layer 32 in caverns and mineshafts.

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  A water spring falls from a cliff

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  A lava spring fall from a mountain side

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  A double lava stream fall (The tree fire is on the left.)

Desert well

Desert well

Biome	Desert
Consists of	Sandstone Sandstone Slab Water

These well-like structures built of sandstone blocks and slabs generate only in the desert biome. They have a 1/1000 chance to be generated in any desert chunk, which makes them a rare sight. It is possible for a well to generate around a cactus. The well structure will still generate with the "Generate Structures" option disabled. In Pocket Edition, it is common to find two desert wells spawning in the same chunk.

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  The well structure

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  The well structure found near a caved-in dungeon

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  An excavated well

Moss stone boulder

Moss stone boulder

Biome	Mega Taiga
Consists of	Moss Stone

These structures are meant to represent boulders, made entirely of moss stone. The arrangement of these structures varies greatly. They can be found dotted around areas of the Mega Taiga biome. Moss stone boulders are quite rare, due to the mega taiga biome's rarity.

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  The first image of the mega taiga featuring moss stone boulders.

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  A moss stone boulder generated in a ravine.

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  Many moss stone boulders in water.

Ice spike

Ice spike

Biome	Ice Plains Spikes
Consists of	Packed Ice

Ice spikes are tall spires made of packed ice that can only be found in the ice plains biomes. There are two variants of ice spikes: one is short and thick, and the other is extremely tall and thin.

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  An ice plains largely covered by ice spikes. Both types of ice spikes are visible.

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  A small group containing only short spikes.

Fossil

Fossil

Biome	Desert and Swamplands including "Hills" and "M" Variants
Consists of	Bone Block Coal Ore

Fossils represent the remains of giant extinct creatures, and are composed of bone blocks, with random blocks removed and some of them replaced with coal ore. They were made with NBT structure block format and they have NBT files of different types of fossils in minecraft.jar/assets/minecraft/structures/fossils. Fossils randomly generate 15-24 blocks (i.e. at y coordinates ranging from 40 to 49) below the surface in deserts and swamplands, including the "Hills" and "M" variants. Each chunk has a ¹⁄₆₄ chance to generate a fossil. They may generate as one of four different variants of skull or one of four different variants of spine.

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  A fossil that generated inside a cave.

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  Excavating the fossil.

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  All skull and spine structures, excluding those made of coal ore.

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  Fossil generated on a superflat world. Some bone blocks are removed/replaced with coal ores.

Buildings

Buildings are naturally generating structures that form above ground. They can contain valuable treasure, but traps and puzzles as well.

Village

Village

Biome

Plains, Desert, Savanna, Taiga

Consists of

Chest Cobblestone Moss Stone Cobblestone Stairs Furnace Glass Pane Iron Bars Lava Water Wood Fence Wooden Planks Wood Stairs Stone Slab Double Stone Slab Wooden Pressure Plate[Java and Console editions only] Brown Carpet[Pocket Edition only] Sandstone Sandstone Stairs Smooth Sandstone Dirt Wooden Door Torch Ladder Farmland Crops Black Wool Bookshelf Grass Double Tallgrass Gravel Grass Path Villager Zombie Villager

Main article: Village

Villages are generated in desert, plains, taiga, and savanna biomes, and are a site for villagers, with whom the player can trade. They are composed of a random selection of various buildings and farms. The village will always generate with one well, along with other buildings that can be any of several different houses, single or double farms, blacksmith's shop, library, butcher's shop, or church. Villages are built with different materials depending on their biome; villages in plains biomes are comprised of oak wood, oak planks and cobblestone, and villages in deserts are built with varying types of sandstone. Taiga villages are made of spruce and savanna villages are made of acacia. Villages may generate partly submerged in water. This results in some of the path being made of wood. The villagers move about in the area around the village, retreating indoors at night and during storms. Villages have three-block wide paths to join all houses.

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  An overhead view of an old plains village

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  An old village generated on water

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  An old village generated on a Superflat map. Note that it is larger and more ordered than villages on default

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  A desert village in 12w21a

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  A zombie savanna village

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  A taiga village

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  A zombie village that generated in an ice plains biome.

Desert temple

Desert temple

Biome	Desert
Consists of	Chest Blue Terracotta Orange Terracotta Sandstone Smooth Sandstone Chiseled Sandstone Sandstone Stairs Sandstone Slab Stone Pressure Plate TNT

Main article: Desert temple

Desert temples, also known as pyramids, are found in deserts. They mainly consist of sandstone and stained terracotta. In the middle of the temple is a block of blue terracotta, which if destroyed, reveals a deep, hidden chamber underneath, where players can find 4 chests, which can contain valuable loot, and a stone pressure plate trap connected to a 3×3 grid of TNT. Treasures found in the chests include emeralds, diamonds, iron ingots, gold ingots, rotten flesh, enchanted books, and bones. While rotten flesh, bones and gold ingots are found frequently, other treasures are not as common.

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  The front side of the temple

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  The inside of the temple

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  The treasure room.

Jungle temple

Jungle temple

Biome	Jungle and jungle M
Consists of	Chest Chiseled Stone Bricks Cobblestone Moss Stone Cobblestone Stairs Dispenser Lever Redstone Redstone Repeater Sticky Piston String Tripwire Hook Vines

Main article: Jungle temple

Jungle temples are found in jungles, and mainly consist of cobblestone and mossy cobblestone. There are three floors, the bottom floor containing treasure chests, tripwire-activated traps and a puzzle consisting of three levers that must be pulled in the correct combination to reveal one of the chests.

Witch hut

Witch hut

Biome	Swamp
Consists of	Spruce Planks Spruce Stairs Oak Wood Oak Fence Crafting Table Empty Cauldron Potted Red Mushroom Witch

Witch huts generate in swamp biomes. Among all hostile mobs, only witches spawn in the 7×9×7 area inside and around the hut, and a witch spawns in each hut during world generation. There is one empty cauldron, one crafting table and one flower pot inside each hut. In Pocket Edition, there is a red mushroom in the flower pot, and the cauldron is filled with one random potion or splash potion.

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  A closeup of a witch hut.

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  A witch hut that generated directly above another one.

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  A witch hut with multiple mushrooms of both types generated naturally inside of it, even on the crafting table.

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  A witch hut that generated in the middle of an ocean.

Ocean monument

Ocean monument

Biome	Deep Ocean
Consists of	Prismarine Prismarine Bricks Dark Prismarine Sea Lantern Block of Gold Wet Sponge Water Elder Guardian Guardian

Main article: Ocean monument

Ocean monuments are underwater structures that generate in deep oceans. They generate in the shape of a pyramid with many randomly-generated rooms. They are composed of all three variants of prismarine and lit by sea lanterns. Eight gold blocks encased in dark prismarine can be found inside as treasures. Also, a random assortment of sponges may generate inside. Guardians and elder guardians spawn here.

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  A view of the monument from above.

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  The treasure room of the monument.

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  An Elder Guardian roaming around the monument.

Igloo

Igloo

Biome	Ice Plains, Cold Taiga
Consists of	Snow White Carpet Light Gray Carpet Ice Redstone Torch Furnace Bed Crafting Table Wooden Trapdoor Ladder Torch Stone Bricks Monster Eggs Chest Red Carpet Cobweb Iron Bars Sign Cauldron, 2⁄3 full Spruce Stairs / Slab Brewing Stand Potted Cactus Villager (Priest) Zombie Villager (Priest)

Main article: Igloo

Igloos are structures that generate in snowy biomes. They were made with NBT structure block format and they have 3 NBT files of 3 parts of the structure in minecraft.jar/assets/minecraft/structures/igloo. The structure consists of the igloo house, as well as a basement sometimes. In the basement there is a villager and a zombie villager, both priests, locked up underground. The basement also contains brewing paraphernalia, with items that the player can use to cure the zombie villager. The basement is accessible by removing one of the carpets to reveal a hidden trapdoor.

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  An igloo from the outside.

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  An igloo from the inside.

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  A view of the secret basement.

Woodland mansion

Woodland mansion

Biome	Roofed Forest
Consists of	See Structure in Woodland Mansion

Main article: Woodland mansion

Woodland mansions are massive house structures that generate in roofed forests. Inside the mansion is a wide variety of different rooms, the exact layout varying from mansion to mansion. Woodland mansions are the only place where evokers, vindicators, and vexes spawn naturally (but only once). The mansion can be located with a woodland explorer map.

The Nether

Main article: The Nether

The Nether, though equally vast, contains far fewer types of generated structures than the Overworld.

Lava sea

Lava seas are found at and below level 30 in the Nether. They make a large portion of the Nether, and are extremely common. They can stretch for hundreds of meters in any direction, and are usually bordered by netherrack (or more rarely soul sand). Even on far render distance, the player is rarely able to see the other side of the seas due to their vastness.

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  A lava sea with ghasts taking a dip in it

Nether fortress

Nether fortress

Biome	Hell (The Nether)
Consists of	Nether Brick Nether Brick Fence Nether Brick Stairs Soul Sand Nether Wart Chest Blaze Spawner Lava Blaze Wither Skeleton Skeleton Magma Cube

Main article: Nether fortress

Nether fortresses are very large complexes made mainly of nether bricks (with added nether brick fences and stairs to be found). Nether fortresses can often tunnel through netherrack, and the inside of the tunnels will be cleared of netherrack by the terrain generator. Blaze spawners and nether wart farms are only found in nether fortresses. Blazes, zombie pigmen and wither skeletons can spawn anywhere in the fortress. Nether fortresses have loot chests generated in indoor corners.

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  A nether fortress generated in the Nether

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  A nether wart room with nether wart growing on soul sand located within a nether fortress.

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  A blaze spawner located inside a nether fortress.

Glowstone clusters

Glowstone cluster

Biome	Hell (The Nether)
Consists of	Glowstone

Glowstone clusters are typically veins of glowstone that can be among the hardest natural materials to harvest that don't require digging. They form in coral-like structures on the underside of hanging Netherrack, so they are often found on the ceilings of the Nether, where they provide light along with the ever present lava.

Glowstone is renewable in the Console Edition of Minecraft, as there's an option to reset the Nether in the world options.

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  A naturally occurring vein of glowstone.

Other things located in the Nether

There are areas of soul sand and gravel around layer 64, veins of nether quartz ore, large "veins" of magma blocks and "hidden lava", which is a single block of lava generated randomly between netherrack.

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  A patch of soul sand.

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  Hidden lava and nether quartz ore

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  A magma vein

The End

Main article: The End

The End is the final and most barren dimension, with very few types of significant structures, until after defeating the Ender Dragon, which will open gateways to more structures.

The Central Island

The center of the End is a large, asteroid-like island composed entirely of end stone, floating in the void. At a distance of 1000 blocks away, an endless expanse of more islands begins, away from the main island. These consist of large islands, about the size of the main island, and smaller ones, which are usually very thin and small.

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  The central island with a lone enderman.

Obsidian pillar

Obsidian Pillar

Biome	The End
Consists of	Obsidian Bedrock Iron Bars End Crystal
Can generate post-generation	Yes, while the Ender Dragon is respawning

Main article: Obsidian pillar

Obsidian pillars, also known as obsidian spikes or obsidian towers, are tall, tower-like structures that generate in The End. Y level of pillars are 76, 79, 82, 85, 88, 91, 94, 97, 100, and 103. Also, bottom of pillars' Y level is 0, means that pillars are generated through the island. Ender crystals will spawn on top of each one to heal the Ender Dragon.

10 pillars are generated in a circle around the fountain. Ender crystals of second and third shortest pillars are surrounded by iron bars, which must be destroyed before the crystal can be taken out.

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  Obsidian Pillars in The End before Ender Crystals were added. Endermen are also visible.

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  Several obsidian pillars surrounding the exit portal.

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  A square obsidian pillar. (Prior to 1.9)

Obsidian platform

The obsidian platform is a 5 by 5 square of obsidian that is generated once a player enters the End. (Note that if the obsidian is destroyed, or if a block is placed on top of it, when the player enters the End, the obsidian will be restored and any blocks on top of it will despawn.) Obsidian platforms generate at X, Y, Z = 100(100.5), 48, 0(0.5), mostly far away from the island, making it tough to get there. Players who enter the end will spawn at X, Y, Z = 100, 49, 0 and the other entities that enter the end will spawn at X, Y , Z = 100.5, 50, 0.5, the middle of platform and 1 block higher than the platform.

• Sometimes the platform generates inside a case of end stone. It will remove enough end stone so that the player can walk around.
• Occasionally the platform will generate in midair.

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  The obsidian platform, generated underground.

Exit portal

Exit portal

Biome	The End
Consists of	Bedrock End Stone End Portal Torches Dragon Egg

Main article: Exit portal

When the player first comes to the End, an exit portal in the shape of a fountain is found generated in the middle of the pillars. The Ender Dragon will fly to the fountain from time to time, and spew Dragon Breath (Ender Acid in the Console Edition). Additionally, in the Console Edition, the dragon will defend the fountain from endermen every 3 minutes or so. Upon defeating the Ender Dragon for the first time, the Dragon Egg will be set atop it like a pedestal, and the portal back to the overworld will activate.

After entering the fountain, the Minecraft credits come on the screen, implying that you have "beaten the game" (despite the fact that the game never ends). You can skip these credits by pressing Esc. After the credits have finished (or after you skipped them), the player returns to the last bed they slept in (or their original spawn spot if the bed was obstructed).

The fountain is made of bedrock, making it indestructible. Also, this fountain includes 16 hidden end stones to proof empty spaces.

End gateway portal

End Gateway Portal

Biome	The End
Consists of	Bedrock End Gateway
Can generate post-generation	Yes, when an ender dragon is killed.

Main article: End gateway portal

The end gateway portal is a portal to the outer islands of the End. It is a fast way to get there without bridging over or flying, and is generated after you kill the Ender Dragon. You can get a new one with each new dragon you kill, with up to 20 created. It consists of the end gateway and two bulbs of bedrock. It is only accessible through ender pearls, breaking the bedrock in creative mode, or by gliding into it with elytra.

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  A gateway portal emitting a magenta beam.

End city

End City

Biome	The End
Consists of	End Stone Bricks Purpur Block Purpur Pillar Purpur Slab Purpur Stairs End Rod Magenta Stained Glass Chest Ender Chest Magenta Banner with Black Chevrons Shulker
Can generate post-generation	No

Main article: End city

End cities are structures that are naturally generated in the outer islands of the End. They were made with NBT structure block format and they have NBT files of different parts of the structure in minecraft.jar/assets/minecraft/structures/endcity. They are tall castle or tree-like structures constructed primarily of end stone bricks and purpur blocks and their variants. They are lit up by End rods. They are also the only places where shulkers can be found.

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  The end city structure, including the end ship.

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  Inside the structure.

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  The treasure room of a city.

End ship

End Ship

Biome	The End
Consists of	End Stone Bricks Purpur Block Purpur Pillar Purpur Slab Purpur Stairs End Rod Magenta Stained Glass Chest Item Frame with Elytra Obsidian Brewing Stand Dragon Head Shulker
Can generate post-generation	No

Main article: End city § End ship

End ships have a fair chance of generating outside of end cities. They were made with NBT structure block format and they are a part of end city structures and the NBT file is located in minecraft.jar/assets/minecraft/structures/endcity and the file is called ship.nbt. Although difficult to reach, they are filled with extremely valuable loot, and are the only place where elytra and a dragon head can be legitimately obtained.

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  An end ship.

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  The end ship, viewed from the bow.

• 

  The treasure room of the ship.

Chorus tree

Chorus Tree

Biome	The End
Consists of	Chorus Plant Chorus Flower
Can generate post-generation	Yes, when a chorus flower is planted on end stone and left to grow.

Chorus trees generate on the outer islands of the end. They are formed in tall, coral-like patterns.They consist of chorus stems and chorus flowers. A chorus flower will generate at the top of each branch. They are the only source of chorus fruit and chorus flowers. You can grow a new chorus tree by planting a flower on a block of endstone.

• 

  A chorus tree, next to a freshly planted flower. Enderman for scale.

• 

  Four chorus trees, each at different growth stages.

• 

  A chorus tree generated in a cliff face.

• 

  A chorus tree whose growth was halted by an end city wall.

• 

  Half of a chorus tree generated inside of an end city room.

Return portal

These portals generate randomly throughout the outer End islands. They appear similar to normal End gateways, but will teleport the player back to the center island's spawn platform, providing a quick method of escaping the End if one becomes lost.

Technical details

Structures are generated for a given chunk after the terrain has been formed. The chunk format includes a tag called TerrainPopulated that indicates whether structures whose point of origin is in that chunk have been generated. If it is false or missing, they will be generated again. Structure generation is based on what is already in the chunk, so (for example) flagging a chunk that has already been populated for repopulation will approximately double the amount of ore in it.

When structures are generated, they can spill over into neighbouring chunks that have been previously generated. Thus, a tree at the edge of the generated world (and probably only visible using external tools) may be overwritten by a lake before you reach it. It is also theoretically possible for two worlds generated with the same seed, from the same version of Minecraft, to differ slightly depending on the players' travel routes, because the order in which chunks are generated may determine which of two conflicting structures will overwrite or suppress the other.

Videos

Main article: Generated structures/video

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History

Pre-classic
Pre 0.0.0					Development on "Cave Game" started; caverns added.
Classic
0.0.12a					Added ocean around map.
0.0.14a_01					Added trees. At this point they were simply stumps covered with a thin leaf layer.
0.0.15a					Trees have a new shape.
0.24_06					Changed cavern generation; longer and narrower caverns, and bigger caves the deeper you travel.
					Surface lava lakes possible but unlikely.
Infdev
March 20, 2010					Re-added trees.
June 25, 2010					Added dungeons.
Alpha
1.0.1					Caves can be far bigger and more expansive.
1.2.0			Halloween Update		Added the Nether and all Nether-related generated structures, except for nether fortresses and magma veins.
1.2.6					Added small lakes and rare lava pools, both on the surface and randomly in caves.
Beta
1.8			pre1		Added abandoned mineshafts.
			Adventure Update		Added villages.
					Added strongholds.
					Added huge mushrooms.
					Sand and gravel beaches removed due to the changes in the terrain generation algorithm.
Official release
1.0.0			Beta 1.9-pre1		Added nether fortresses.
			Beta 1.9-pre4		Added the End and End-related generated structures, including the End island, the obsidian platform, the obsidian towers and the end fountain.
1.1			12w01a		Sand beaches have made a return, but the way they look and generate are not the same as before.
1.2.1			12w04a		Desert wells were added.
			12w07a		The generation of beaches has been greatly improved.
1.3.1			12w21a		Added desert temples.
			12w22a		Added jungle temples.
1.4.2			12w40a		Added witch huts.
1.6.1			13w17a		Water oases no longer generate in deserts.
1.7.2			13w36a		Gravel beaches have been returned to the terrain.
					Mountains now generate as part of the "M" biome variants.
					The desert oases appear in the desert M biome.
					Moss stone boulders were added.
1.8			14w25a		Added ocean monuments.
1.8.1			pre1		New witch huts can spawn witches Y 64 to 71. This allows for three spawning floors for witches.
1.9			15w31a		Added the outer islands of the End.
					Added the end city dungeon.
					Added chorus trees.
					Added the end gateway portal.
			15w43a		Added igloos with a 50% chance of having a basement.
1.10			16w20a		Added bone and coal ore fossils.
			16w21a		Blacksmiths now generate with cobblestone in all biomes, rather than acacia logs in savannas and sandstone in deserts.
			1.10-pre1		Zombie villagers generated in zombie villages no longer despawn.
					Wooden fences are now substituted with the correct wood type for the biome.
					Paths no longer replace most blocks, instead considering the blocks underneath, preventing them from generating in treetops or bridging ravines.
1.11			16w39a		Added woodland mansions.
					Added /locate command that shows the coordinates of the nearest structures.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.9.0			build 1		Added villages, caves, lava pools, rivers, abandoned mineshafts, huge mushrooms, moss stone boulders, strongholds, ice patches, ice spikes, dungeons and desert wells.
0.10.0			build 1		Abandoned mineshafts generate above ground in mesa biomes.
0.11.0			build 1		Added desert wells.
0.12.1			build 1		Added the Nether along with lava oceans, glowstone clusters, Nether Fortresses, soul sand beaches, hidden lava, gravel beaches, and Nether quartz veins.
0.13.0			build 1		Added desert temples.
0.14.0			build 1		Added witch huts.
					Cauldron generates with random potion.
0.15.0			build 1		Added jungle temples.
					Added savanna and taiga village variants.
					Villages can generate in cold taiga and ice plains biomes. Buildings are made out of spruce wood like taiga villages.
					Villages have a 2% chance to generate as village zombies. Buildings in zombie villages include cobweb and moss stone.
0.16.0			build 1		Added ocean monuments.
Pocket Edition
1.0			build 1		Added the End and End-related generated structures, including the End islands, the obsidian platform, the obsidian towers, the end fountain, end cities, end gateways and chorus trees.
					Added igloos.
1.1			build 1		Added woodland mansions.
1.1.3			build 1		Added fossils.
Upcoming Pocket Edition
1.2			build 1		Added ravines.
Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	Patch 1	Added villages, abandoned mineshafts, strongholds and ravines.
					Sand and gravel beaches removed due to the changes in the terrain generation algorithm.
TU9					Added the End along with End related structures such as the End island, the obsidian platform, the obsidian towers and the end fountain.
					Sand beaches have made a return, but the way they look and generate are not the same as before.
TU12					Desert wells were added.
TU14		1.04			Added jungle and desert temples.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Added witch huts.
					Water oases no longer generate in deserts.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Added ocean monuments.
TU43	CU33	1.36	Patch 13		Added fossils and igloos.
TU54	CU44	1.52	Patch 24	Patch 4	Added woodland mansions.

Trivia

• In previous versions, before snow cover was solid, a lava lake with floating snow cover above it could be a deadly trap before the snow melted.
• The smallest possible fully-grown chorus tree (assuming the growth is not obstructed) would have 5 chorus plants.
• Internally, witch huts, jungle temples, desert temples, and igloos are all the same structure, but they appear different depending on the biome. This means that they cannot be distinguished when using /locate.

See also

• Biome
• History of biomes and generated structures
• Generated structures data file format

Environment

View at: Template:Environment/content [edit]