Minecraft’s third game drop of 2026 has entered testing, and the first Java snapshot for version 26.3 leans hard into autumn. The headline addition is the Dappled Forest, a rust-toned biome packed with Poplar trees in red, orange, and yellow, plus Shelf Mushrooms, Red Shrubs, and a fresh wood set. The same build adds Abandoned Camp structures across a long list of biomes and gives every wool color its own stairs and slabs.
Quick answer: Enable Snapshots in the Minecraft Launcher’s Installations tab, then create a new installation set to 26.3 Snapshot 1 to explore the Dappled Forest biome, Poplar trees, Shelf Mushrooms, Red Shrubs, Abandoned Camps, and wool stairs/slabs in Java Edition.
Dappled Forest biome and Poplar trees
The Dappled Forest generates near cold biomes, which is what gives it that crisp, fall-in-the-mountains look. It is the first time the base game has carried autumn-colored leaves without mods, slotting in next to the pink Cherry Grove and the white Pale Garden as a biome built around a single seasonal palette.
Poplar trees are the centerpiece, and they come in three leaf colors. Each variant drops its own colored falling-leaf particles, so a red Poplar sheds red leaves, an orange one sheds orange, and so on. Poplar Leaves drop Poplar Saplings, and any sapling can randomly grow into any of the three colors when planted. If you would rather skip the gamble, a Wandering Trader can sell you Poplar Saplings directly.
The trunks are made of Poplar Logs, which craft into a full Poplar wood set for building. Fallen Poplar trees also generate here, and Leaf Litter scatters naturally around the trees. Passive and neutral mobs spawn in the biome too, including sheep, chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits, and foxes, using their cold variants where those exist.
Shelf Mushrooms and Red Shrubs
Shelf Mushrooms are a new fungus that grows on standing and fallen Poplar trees. They appear in two sizes. A small one can be grown into a large one with Bone Meal, and breaking a large Shelf Mushroom drops two Shelf Mushroom items. You can also buy them from a Wandering Trader.
They behave like other mushrooms in recipes and have one unusual trait. Stepping on a Shelf Mushroom gives a slight bounce, similar to a Bed, and it plays a bouncing sound when a living entity lands on it.
Red Shrubs are a decorative plant that grows in small patches throughout the Dappled Forest. You can compost them, and using Bone Meal on one grows another Red Shrub in a random open space nearby. They keep their red color even if you replant them elsewhere in the Overworld.
Where Abandoned Camps spawn
Abandoned Camps are the snapshot’s new structure, and they are not limited to the Dappled Forest. Each listed biome gets its own version of the camp, themed to match its surroundings, while some structure pieces stay the same across every variant. Inside, you will find Chests and Barrels holding loot left behind by whoever set up the camp.
| Biome group | Where Abandoned Camps generate |
|---|---|
| Forests | Forest, Birch Forest, Old Growth Birch Forest, Flower Forest, Windswept Forest, Dappled Forest |
| Taigas | Taiga, Snowy Taiga, Old Growth Spruce Taiga, Old Growth Pine Taiga |
| Jungles | Sparse Jungle, Bamboo Jungle |
| Other | Meadow, Cherry Grove, Swamp, Savanna, Wooded Badlands, Pale Garden |
Wool stairs, wool slabs, and recipe changes
Every colored wool block now has a matching stair and slab. They work like full wool blocks for redstone purposes, meaning they dampen vibrations, which makes them useful for keeping a Warden from hearing you while still adding color to roofs, furniture, and interiors.
A couple of cooking recipes opened up as well. Both Suspicious Stew and Mushroom Stew can now be made with two of any mushroom, including the new Shelf Mushroom. Spruce trees also lost their falling-leaves particles, and sherds dropped from breaking a Decorated Pot now keep their data, such as a custom name.
How to install Minecraft 26.3 Snapshot 1
You will know the build loaded correctly when the launcher reports the new installation and the world generates a Dappled Forest near cold terrain. If you run a server, note that the Data Pack version is now 108.0 and the Resource Pack version is 89.0, so older packs will need updating to match.
Technical and command changes for data pack creators
Beyond the visible content, the snapshot reworks several commands and data formats. The /item command now takes a slot source anywhere a slot was previously used, and it gains fill and override sub-commands alongside the existing replace. The /execute command adds a slots condition, and its items condition now accepts a slot source as well.
Pottery sherds are now data-driven, with a new minecraft:provides_pottery_pattern component and an updated minecraft:pot_decorations component that stores four optional item stacks named back, left, right, and front. The worldgen/configured_feature registry has moved to worldgen/feature, and a new shelf_mushroom tree decorator places Shelf Mushrooms on logs by probability. Several commands, including /give, /unpublish, and /tick, now properly signal errors instead of quietly returning 0. If a server event you relied on disappeared, the recommended path is the Server Management Protocol, now at version 3.1.0, with feature requests handled through the official Minecraft feedback site.
The Dappled Forest, Abandoned Camps, and Poplar set were first teased at Minecraft Live in May 2026 as part of the fall drop, and this snapshot is the first playable look at them. Mojang has not confirmed a final release date for the 26.3 update, so treat everything here as test content that can still change before launch.
