Vanilla RTX v1.21.80 (Release)

Hey there folks! Back with a new Vanilla RTX update which brings full RTX support for the latest additions in Minecraft Preview, along with a batch of improvements and tweaks across numerous items!

Vanilla RTX & Vanilla RTX Normals v1.21.80 / Release Notes:

• Added complete support for the following items:
Resin Clumps, Resin Block, Resin Bricks, Chiseled Resin Bricks and Eyeblossom

Note:
Newer previews revealed that creaking heart is made of Resin! in this update, creaking heart has been completely revamped to reflect this fact, but don't ask how the resin somehow manages to turn itself 'off', nobody knows.
It also packs much more detail while staying consistent with other resin or wood blocks.

• Improved all log top and side heightmaps as well as their stripped variants

• Fully revamped all log top and side normal maps and their stripped variants
Note: While new textures are a significant improvement, the reason this was done was largely to open room for stablishing a consistent logic between the new pale wood blocks, the creaking heart and older wooden blocks. As such, the creaking heart normal maps and heightmaps have also been revamped to stay consistent with other wooden logs

• Improved water textures with an updated conversion formula, with slightly more vivid water color.

• Revamped vines and waterlily
- New MERs to stay consistent with other leafy materials
- Vine normal maps now tile properly, improved heightmap
- Waterlily normal map and heightmap now follows texture's intended shape
- Improved weeping vines normal maps and heightmaps

• Updated Cauldron and Hopper
- Gave cauldron and hopper distinct characters with new normal maps and heightmaps
- Adjusted Hopper MERs based on Cauldron for consistency

• Performed Full Texture Parity Check (November 2024)
- Several textures were found with variations in game files, with only one being used in-game, removed unused files
- Brick texture was found to be altered, PBR textures have been updating accordingly
- Corrected Weeping Vines texture names (two sets of textures are present in vanilla files but only one set is used in-game)
- Updated creaking heart texture

• Other Changes:
- Fixed active ominous vault front states emitting the same color of light as inactive state
- Adjusted bamboo mosaic heightmap
- Improved clay heightmap and normal map
- Updated pale garden client biome
- Many other micro-adjustments to various textures

▣ Enhanced (Option) Changelogs:

• Added particle enhancements for new Pale Garden particles (falling leaves, creaking particles, etc...)

• Improved rendering of the Creaking with ray tracing, added workaround for black texture issue of the Creaking mob, as well as an enhancement to make its eyes appear bright with ray tracing

• Added a workaround for non-colored states of cauldron water appearing rough and not using the cauldron water texture set in the vanilla game.

• Fixed End Portal's vantablack material
Note: Hard-coded pixel responsible for normal/height value and the one responsible for MER value have been relocated to 3rd and 5th pixel of the End Portal image respectively.
This is has been continuously getting changed in Previews for no bloody reason at all, it may break again.

• Fireworks rocket no longer appears invisible without ray tracing, this was previously a side effect of black firework texture bug workaround, fireworks rocket model has also been minified so it overrides less of rasterized areas

• Updated Black Enchanted Trident Workaround:
- Eliminated all unintended side-effects at the cost of a black tint over enchanted trident, so while this workaround is now worse than before, it comes with no unintended bugs while making enchanted tridents appear more visually appealing.

• Due to an issue with Enderman-held blocks appearing too bright, Enderman eyes no longer ignore light and react to vanilla light levels instead. Ender man eyes will still standout by appearing slightly brighter with light level of zero to four (fully dark or moonlight)

Personal Notes:

Initially, this update was going to be a full wood revamp. But when a big Minecraft Preview dropped, it caught my eye and steered this update into more of a good ol' quality update.

Anyway.

Looking ahead, I'm planning to generally scale back the scope of future updates. To give some context, let’s look back at my plans for versions 1.21.60, 1.21.70, and now 1.21.80:

1.21.60 was supposed to be a complete glass overhaul, which while it is mostly achieved, it took nearly two months and even then it still didn’t reach the full extent of what I had planned. (A part two is still in the works to wrap it up.)

1.21.70 was planned as a complete fog overhaul. I managed to lay the foundation, but it only scratched the surface.

1.21.80 aimed to unify all wooden blocks across Vanilla RTX and Vanilla RTX Normals. While that didn’t fully happen, I got to give wooden logs a touch up!

These 3, and especially these 3, are absolutely huge for Vanilla RTX, they are the biggest remaining bits towards completing this project and it turns out it is unrealistic to get them done in one go; I had significantly underestimated the amount of time I'd need. Glass rework was possible only because I truly stressed myself to make it happen (and again, even then it fell short of what I considered ideal)

This all leads to the conclusion that I’m just one person trying to tackle big ideas which is simply not enough -- it also becomes challenging to stay on course with such extensive plans over long development cycles. Updates aren’t just about delivering changes to you; they also serve as important checkpoints for me to stay organized and avoid burnout.

Moving forward, I’m aiming for more frequent, manageable updates. This approach should keep the process smoother, less stressful, and allow me to experiment more freely while keeping up with Minecraft Preview changes.

Now, don’t get me wrong – the last three updates got a lot done, just not those specific, resource-heavy items. So, expect updates to be a bit more frequent, and I’ll keep chipping away at those larger rework plans incrementally!

Also a heads-up: the minimum Minecraft version for Vanilla RTX is now 1.21.40, so if you’re using an older Minecraft version, it’s time to update.

That is it for now. I’m aware of a new Preview update which dropped hours ago as I'm writing this, and while it doesn’t break anything, it will be Vanilla RTX v1.21.90 to address some additional changes.

See you all soon!