• Fixed : Unable to exit application until configured. Corrected so can exit at any time.

Updated MineBack to support version 1.9.4.

• Fixed : Version 1.9.4 uses a version string instead of a short value. Reading it as short caused MineBack to error.
• Fixed : Version 1.9.4 uses a float health value, but read as short for display. Reading it as short caused MineBack to error,

• Fixed : Bug where corrupted world level data could prevent backups.
• Fixed : Minor Settings UI issues where some settings only persisted if the setting was set and the settings menu closed and reopened.

• Added : Ability to search in world data quickly
• Added : Clone / Copy World
• Added : Rename World
• Added : Delete World
• Enhanced : Confirmation prompt on Application Exit
• Fixed : Bug that could have potentially associate backups of similarly named worlds together. This would require two worlds named exactly the same but the first having shorter varient (e.g. orld and World).

• Correct Tooltip for %apppath% setting.
• Fixed bug which prevented closing application if a backup failed.

Fixed bug preventing Shunt map augmentation, added shunt augmentation direction to Region Map Level. Fixed coordinate system bug (forgot about X, Z, Y and coded some functions X,Y,Z leading to obvious issues).

Resolved Windows XP issue when attempting to open Save folder from MineCraft: Unable to cast COM object of type 'System.__ComObject' to interface type 'Shell32.Shell'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{866738B9-6CF2-4DE8-8767-F794EBE74F4E}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE)). Resolved issue when first entering the Settings Screen on new system: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Added the Fishing rod enchantments (as recognised enchantments): Lure of the Sea and Draw Thanks to PG for letting me know :D.

Changed 'Add Mob' to use Floats for Rotational coordinates instead of double values (I believe that MineCraft went through this change also?).

Added Export to XML feature for NBT files.

Added Import XML feature

Added confirm box on closing editor when changes are outstanding

Fixed bug with dirty Detection .

Updated health reset to reset using the attributes (e.g. generic.maxHealth)

Improved NBT editor with visual feedback for invalid field entries.

• Added: Potion Names
  
  Updated the Inventory editor to correctly name potions. All potion inventory items use a single item data code. The type of the potion is determined by the items Damage field (another MineCraft bad programming / no-design classic) and the damage value defines what potion you will get.
  
  
• Added: Entity Type Tag
  
  In versions of MineBack Ultimate prior to v11.1.0.2 in order to discover the type of entity it was necessary to expand the entity item and inspect the ID tag. In new version of MineBack Ultimate the type of the entity is summarised against the container.
  
  To put that another way, new field for quick inspection of items and mob types in NBT editor without needing to expand each branch.
  
  
• Updated: Block and Item Codes

• Added: Inventory Initialisation Menu
  
  When using the Level Data editor (aka "Edit (Level Properties)"), right clicking on the "Inventory" compound will produce a new menu (pictured here:
  
  ).
  
  I have added three ways to initialise the inventory:
  
  
  • Clear Inventory
    This simply clears the entire player inventory
    
    
  • Give Item Range
    Initialise and setup the inventory with a range of items using their data codes (item identifiers).
    
    I wished to have a way of checking I had accounted for all the possible items a player might acquire in the game, so I added these options primarily for testing but figured anyone might enjoy experimenting with them.
    
    I've colour coded the menus to help. Menu items appearing in red include no valid items in MineCraft version 1.6.2. Ones coded in orange have at least one valid item to be given (as of version 1.6.2) and entries coloured green will fill the inventory will valid items. As MineCraft evolves, and new item identifiers are used what these menus give you may change (which is where the interest lies).
    
    
  • Give Potion Range
    Since there are more potions than inventory space, I've split the give potions into the following groups:
    
    
    • Connoisseur (Drinks Cabinet)
      This option give you all the Named Potions with 'No Effects'. These potions are purely for vanity (though a bottle of water is always welcome ;)).
    • Novice (Backpack)
      This option gives 64 of each of the basic potions along with their time extended variants.
    • Master (Supply Cupboard)
      This option gives you 64 of all the time extended and level II potions.
    • Splash Master (Party Supplies)
      This option gives all the splash variants of the 'Master (Supply Cupboard)' potions.
    
    
  • Redstone Engineers Toolbox
    I wanted to make some redstone circuits but was tired of scrabbling about for all the components in creative mode and organising my inventory in survival so I have added this option which replaces the players inventory with all the redstone related components.
  
  
  

• Added: Option to cull only certain backup types
  
  MineBack now allows you to choose what type of backups you wish to cull. You can select between culling Automatic and Manual backups only (or any backup). Thanks to ChodaBoy for this great suggestion.
  
  

• Added: Backup Age Column
  
  This column will give the age of the backup in the lowest number of units. So, for example, if the backup is less than a day it will give the age in minutes and if its less than a year old but more than a month it will give the age in months. Handy for helping to choose the right cull period.
  
  
• Fixed: Cross section map rendering
  
  I have finally the fixed the problem with the map renderer not rendering chunk map cross section view(s).
  
  

• Improved: World backup list refreshed after Cull.
  
  Thanks for pointing this out.
  
  

• Added: Automatic Backup Disabled Warning
  
  For new users it was easy to accidentally untick the Automatic Backup checkbox and not notice backups where not being taken. Now, if Automatic backup is not enabled the window title will say "Backup Disabled" and the main interface background will pulse red.
  
  
• Improved: Backup list automatic refresh
  
  The backup list will keep itself up to date as backups are made. Previously, the list only refreshed when a world was selected or the F5 key was pressed. Thanks ChodaBoy for pointing this out.
  
  
• Fixed: World Name Reading
  
  Updated the simplified level data parser (separate from the powerful parser found in MineBack Ultimate) to recognise the newer tag types (e.g. World Name parsing from level data working in MineBack Free again).
  
  

• Added: Launcher command line options
  
  Since the release of 1.6.2 (or possibly before as I've been very busy lately) there is a new standard MineCraft front end (main launcher). This launcher's reported purpose is for game version management, and it does have some features around this *.
  
  I have added a drop down selector on the settings page where you may choose how you wish to launch MineCraft. I've added presets for the following launch commands:
  
  
  • 1.6.5 Java Direct Launch (default)
    This is the command line the current standard MineCraft launcher ultimately uses to launch the game.
  • Java Direct via MincCraft.jar
    This is the older launch command used by prior versions of MineCraft.
  • Java Direct via Game Executable
    This is the older launch command but it uses the MineCraft executable version.
  • Standard MineCraft Launcher
    This will execute the standard launcher in the same way you would by double clicking on MineCraft.
  
  
  As always you can entirely customise any of these commands to suit you, and you can add your own variants to the drop down list. To further enhance the launcher the new command lines allow the use of MineCraft specific variable values (which work like Environment Variables), for example to specify using the MineCraft data store folder use the variable %datapath%. There are a number of variable values you can use, I have noted next to each setting what its variable value is in square brackets.
  The new distribution mechanism of MineCraft passes the Java library files as parameters into the Java runtime. I've enhanced the MineBack launcher to automatically gather the required information and pass it to the launcher.
  
  * My personal view is that this new launcher is there for two reasons, firstly its to try to combat the spate of 'alternate' launcher providers who have been behaving massively unethically and providing an alternate avenue to MineCraft which goes against the interests of MoJang (so I can sympathise on that front) but secondly its been used as a opportunity to force MineCraft users into a more profitable usage footing for MoJang by forcing them to go online at start-up (there's no option not to have this! Whilst you may play offline, the only way to truly play offline is to block the launcher or turn off your internet. Something I am very much less happy about, because I feel its forcing their customers.
  To me customers are a privilege not something exploited (a view I will never change, even if it does mean I stay 'not well off' lol).
  
  
• Improved: Initial loading time for people with many worlds
  
  In versions of MineBack Ultimate prior to version 11 the world list loading was performed synchronously on start-up. This generally worked well for up to 10 worlds. However, now I have over 30 worlds (including test and scratch worlds) I was beginning to be a little slow ;). Now the UI will appear first and the worlds list will load after that.
  
  
• Corrected: Hideous misspelling of the word configuration
  
  Configurtion.. sounds like a robot name ;). hehe.
  
  
• Updated: Reset Health Level
  
  A new field was added for recording health, it appears the lowest value of the two fields is used to determine the current player health. I have added the new field to the health reset operation.
  
  

• FIXED: Restoring from archive failed with version 10.5.0.0
  
  This is a critical bug fix. Anyone using v10.0.0.5 please update as soon as possible! NOTE: Your backups made using 10.0.0.5 will be correct. It was only the restore process that was effected.
  
  
• Fixed: Closing MineBack during the backup process caused error
  
  This did not pose a serious issue but resulted in an error dialog.
  
  
• Corrected: Automatic Addition of Mod Related Files
  
  When toggling this option, the mod related files where no longer added / removed from the list in real time. This has been corrected.
  
  
• Improved: Handling of invalid file names
  
  Added code to more elegantly handle the Windows-invalid filenames inside MineCraft.jar
  
  
• Improved: Handling of META-INF
  
  Added code to neatly handle the META-INF folder.

Mod'ing Update

• Added: Modding Helper Utilities
  
  I have added a set of utility functions to aid modders in managing the MineCraft.jar update process. The toolset allows you to:
  
  
  1. Extract MineCraft.jar (Prepares for Changes)
  2. Presents the MineCraft Files for modification in Explorer (Graphics, Sound, Text Files, Java Bytecode files etc)
  3. Updates MineCraft.jar using your changes (Applies Changes)
  4. Provides an option to revert to the original MineCraft.jar (Undo Changes)
  
  To perform a modification (for example to change the game fonts) you can click the 'Extract MineCraft.jar' which will extract the content of the MineCraft.jar (game core) into a file system folder then open the folder for you in Windows Explorer. You may then modify / replace any and all files you wish to (e.g. open the \font folder and update / replace default.png with your modified font) and then click 'Update MineCraft.jar' to apply your changes to the game (as always with any modification to the game, please make sure you are not running any copy of MineCraft before beginning). Please further note, all modifications will be unsupported by MoJang and I do not take any responsibility for any damage you might do to your game (though obviously, correct use of the backup process will protect you from most possible issues that may be caused).
  
  PLEASE NOTE: decompilation of the java class bytecodes is beyond the scope of this project. If you wish to make code modifications to MineCraft you will also need to acquire the appropriate Java Decompiler and toolsets (which may be used in conjunction with MineBack and its Modding Helper tools). MineBack is not a replacement for a good mod-loader utility, but is a great companion tool for any mod-loader.
  
  In this authors observations (since I did decide to look for a good quality commercial Java Decompiler to consider licensing for MineBack use before arriving at my decision of this being out of scope) authors of Java Decompilation utilities appear to be largely on the shady side (not providing contact details, location or professional credentials which would always make me think twice and look else-where) I therefore recommend you are very cautious when selecting a decompiler (and be sure to use an up to date anti-virus solution). To give the benefit of the doubt, it is possible that the potential illegality of decompilation necessitates this based on regional laws. However, Notch originally stated that he was not against those with sufficient knowledge decompiling the code base (a very realistic view point that has won him many devotees). Please remember though to check in with the licence terms for the game to make sure what your considering is legal and allowed.
  
  
• Improved: Archive Backup Process
  
  In previous versions of MineBack (Professional and Ultimate) the archive process was performed synchronously. This was fine for the majority of worlds. However, for very large worlds long delays during the backup archive process where unacceptable. Now the archiving process runs asynchronously on a separate thread that re-synchronises with the UI thread for progress updates.
  
  
• Fixed: Archiving Issue
  
  When attempting to backup an empty Superflat world it was possible for MineBack to quit or hang. This wouldn't effect 99% of users because it did not effect automatic backup and normally a world does not remain so small for any significant length of time (running 5 blocks in any direction is enough).
  
  Background: There is clear indication that Microsoft do not wish developers to have the same level of access or indeed a professional level of access to system utilities in an easy to use and reliable fashion. This is evidenced in many ways, but none more clearly than when coding for simple shell operations. To keep this story short, it is not possible to reliably track the progress of Windows Compressed Folders without a level of effort which is entirely disproportionate to the amount of benefit and reward obtained. Secondly, the level of performance given to any non Microsoft application is far inferior to the level of performance obtained by default from the Windows shell (for example). These factors have required me to make some pretty unsatisfactory workarounds to achieve what is required and gain the benefit of built in operations. Since (due to this) there is no simple way to detect when a shell compression action has completed it has been necessary to use workarounds checking on the file content. In previous versions (as a simple and quick indicator) a minimum file size for compressed files was assumed based on an empty world. As MineCraft has been improved, the storage required for a world has gone down, especially for the new Superflat world type. I have updated the code to account for this fact now but the honest truth is I should never, ever have had to account for it in the first place!

• Added: World Detail Summary Page
  
  There is a lot of interesting and useful meta-data held with each world. I decided to add a summary document panel which gathers the meta data and presents a text based overview of each world, information includes:
  
  
  • General Properties (World Name, Game Mode, File Name, Spawn Coordinates etc)
  • Environmental Summary (Time, Weather etc)
  • Installed Mod Summary (FML/unofficial)
  
  
  
• Improved: Updated time changing so as not to reset the total days played counter
  
  When the MineCraft time system was updated a new DayTime value was added along side Time. In my first version of the time set code (Day, Night, Morning etc) there was only ever a single effective day. The updated code will still reset the effective time of day not but will not reset the total days passed.
  
  
• Improved: Improved User Interface Layout
  
  The main user interface now intelligently resizes as the user adjust the window pane proportions; This allows the window to be sizes with few restrictions and still maintain useful readability. The main window dimensions and the pane sizes (set by dragging gripper bars) are saved with the other user preferences.
  
  

• Added: End Cascading Event
  
  Using this new command you can end, explosion chain reactions, collapsing sand sculptures, lava eruptions, flooding and fire. The idea behind the command to stop the spread of the damage.
  
  
• Added: Optional Mirror Backup
  
  Recently one MineBack's users was unfortunate and had a their HDD unit fail. I considered this situation and felt that I could add further optional backup redundancy into MineBack by adding the option to 'Mirror' all backups to a secondary / external drive. So, I have added a new option on the settings page 'Mirror Backup' which (when set to any folder) will make a duplicates of all future backups at the location specified as well as in the primary backup folder. I have set mine to copy backups onto my Flash Drive so should my primary device fail for any reason I will still have backups on the secondary device.
  
  
• Fixed: Corrected bug that could cause chunk changes not to be saved after a region augmentation
  
  When MineBack was checking to see if a chunk in a region needed rebuilding it was inspecting the dirty flag against the chunk data before hand (to avoid redundant NBT rebuilds). Unfortunately, I only checked the outermost dirty flag and did not perform a recursive dirty test each chunk. This meant that sometimes an augmentation would complete correctly but not all of the chunk updates would be saved. This did not cause any map problems but could lead to inconsistent results (for example one chunk not changing). It went unnoticed because for most chunk augmentations the changes effect the entire chunk so the outermost dirty flag is usually set (so worked as expected). This only seriously effected the Mob Clearing code (previously leaving some chunks containing mobs; Corrected)
  
  

• Added: File / Folder Exclusion Lists (including wildcards)
  
  I have added an additional list of files and folders, any file or folder added to this list will not be included in any backups (will be excluded from backup) whilst remaining in the exclusion list! It is also possible to add wildcards to this list (so, for example if you wanted you could exclude all the locking files *.lock from future backups).
  
  
• Added: Open World Save folder / Backup Folder in Windows Explorer
  
  To accompany the addition of file exclusions, I have added context menu shortcuts to open world save folder and the backup folder in Windows Explorer. Right click on the world or backup and choose the Open in Windows Explorer option. This is already proving handy if you just want to grab some single file from an old backup rather than restore the entire backup.
  
  
• Fixed: Browse for folder mangled folder name by removing last slash =(
  
  Sorry, I didn't notice this bug because it doesn't effect me directly and only effects when adding or removing additional files, exclusions or browsing for folders. Which isn't often required. This has been resolved, my apologies to anyone this has frustrated.

• Fixed: Very silly bug with loading arbitrary NBT files
  
  The fact is, I forgot the call to actually load the file. I setup all the data and then jumped straight to displaying the interface which of course reported quite correctly "failed to load" for any file. Still, it was never a core feature lol. Backups have never failed and that is the goal.

• Added: Quick choice alternate Save and Backup Folders
  
  Since I've been playing MineCraft for a long time now, I have a large number of worlds and I don't always want to be concerned with every world. I didn't want to just ignore those worlds either. So, I moved some worlds into different locations and would copy them back and forth to the main MineCraft folder. This proved tedious if I decided I wanted to change world sets a lot, so I have added direct support for alternate world save paths and alternate backup paths with a combo box to quick change between sets.
  
  
• Adding MobSpawner and Setting Type: Added ability to simply add Mob Spawners of any type
  
  I've updated the "Add Known Compound" menu to allow adding to "TileEntities" (which is what holds the type of the MobSpawner) and further added another menu when right clicking on "TileEntites" entry to add a mob spawner of a specific type. Once added you can tweak the parameters as desired.
  
  I've further added a new "Mob" drop down in the editing window. If you select a mob then paint a Monster Spawner (Mob Spawner) it will quickly create a spawner of that type in that location. Similarly, if you remove a mob spawner its mob type information will be removed also.
  
  
• Improved Tool Tip Display: Added X, Z and Y markers against coordinates in tooltips
  
  I sometimes forget, having followed MineCraft development from the early days that not everyone is aware of the Z, X, Y ordering chosen by Notch.
  
  
• Improved: Improved error handling for MineCraft process locked Map Chunks
  
  In previous versions, if you try editing a map running in MineCraft you would be warned but allowed to continue. If you then opened a chunk locked for updating by MineCraft you would receive load errors and a malformed editing window. In this version and forward, if Map Editing cannot occur for a chunk, a single visually pleasing notification will appear.
  
  
• Workaround: Added code to work around .NET 4.0 bug in Windows 8
  
  The error received is a UCEERR_RENDERTHREADFAILURE and it occurred when map rendering was in progress or had been completed and the MaxHeight value of the form was adjusted to ANY VALUE.
  
  My previous attempt to fix the Windows 8 crash issue, was only partially successful (it transpired, thanks again Chris for letting me know it was still an issue). I think this time I have found a way to avoid triggering the bug (although it means the map editor is will no longer 'smart size'). I found the following thread which details the cause. From what I can gather changing any aspect of the sizing specifics of the map window during or after map rendering caused the render thread to enter a race condition bug. leading to an unrecoverable application crash. I hope this workaround will see this bug off once and for all. Its irritating Microsoft's comments to the bug "fixed in .NET version 4.5" when .NET version 4.0 is still in its support cycle.
  
  

Next Release Plan
In the next release I plan to add backup exclusions requested by one of the registered users. I wanted to release it in this set, but I am not sure how much additional work / testing will be involved yet, so wanted to get these tasty treats out to everyone first.

• Nether Editing: Fixed broken nether editing
  
  Thanks for Chris and Brandon for pointing this one out. Whilst I was looking into this, I found and corrected a few potential annoyances with the way the augmentation works.
  
  As a test I ran a block replacement augmentation on two nether regions simultaneously. It all went "swimmingly" which is surely the right word to use since I replaced the lava with water ;).
  
  

I would particularly like to thank Chris B for his really helpful approach and for providing everything I needed to get things fixed as quickly as possible! It's people such as yourself who help to make MineBack the best!

• Windows 8 Fixes: Added Patch to avoid Windows 8 .NET Bug
  
  After a two day slog, I've identified the Windows 8 problem. In versions of .NET prior to Windows 8, if you set the MaxHeight value of a WPF form to be larger than available screen space this does not cause any problems. In the Windows 8 release of WPF .NET setting the MaxHeight to larger that the available space causes an exception to occur in the PresentationCore module. This exception is not caught by and ignored in standard WPF exception handlers! Repeated incorrect setting of this value leads to application termination.. This was a nasty one to track down without a copy of Windows 8.
  
  
• Bug Fix (applies to Windows 8): Fixed automatic Java Runtime Folder identification
  
  MineBack searches for your Java install location based on registry settings if you have installed only the 32bit Java client on a 64bit Windows operating system MineBack failed to check the 32bit registry location. MineBack now checks both locations.
  
  

• Improved: Increased the error checking during map editing
  
  There appears to be some Windows 8 specific map editing bug. This issue is only effecting Windows 8 users. In an effort to try to track this bug I have added additional (stronger) error checking around the UI portion of the map editing.
  
  

• Fixed: Startup 'Java runtime browse prompt' fixed
  
  When launching MineBack; If MineBack failed to locate the Java Runtime it attempts to prompt for you to provide its location. Due to an oversight (my bad), this prompt attempts to display before WPF is fully initialised and therefore fails to display. This issue has been resolved! Much thanks to Matt for helping to identifying this issue!
  
  

• Improved: Added additional check points to the Java Runtime search code
  
  MineBack Ultimate and Professional attempt to automatically locate the Java Runtime using the Java registry settings (with a final fallback of asking); Since there have been many versions of Java there are multiple different possibly ways to identify the runtime folder (varying per version); MineBack tries each method to locate the Java runtime. I have added code checks to each search method so, should there be an unexpected failure (generally shouldn't happen) you will receive an appropriately specific message.
  
  

• Added: Ability to disable skinning (option to use your chosen Microsoft Windows Theme styling)
  
  I won't personally be using this feature, but I can very much understand those who do desire it. If you want your version of MineBack to fit right in on your desktop and look alot like all those other Microsoft applications, then this is the update for you.
  
  To use the Microsoft Windows theme, click the 'Settings' button and tick the box 'Use Microsoft Windows Theme' couldn't be simpler!
  
  
• Added: Ability to turn off color coding
  
  Further more; If you really, seriously, want MineBack to look exactly the same. You can even turn off the backup/world colour coding and have the list views look like they do in explorer.
  
  

• Bug Fix: Quick world-name-reading failed
  
  When MineBack makes a world backup it has code which quickly parses the world name from the level data. In versions prior to 10.0.0.1 it was possible for the level.dat to grow bigger than the quick parse buffer allowed for. This issue has been resolved and now the quick parser allocates its buffer dynamically in the same manor as the world editor.
  
  

Happy New Year!

• New Feature: Game Mode Quick Changer
  
  In prior versions of MineCraft the game mode could be easily switched by toggling just one variable inside the level data file. So in the past this was easily accessible from the 'Edit Level Data' world menu option. However, now there are several places where settings need to be toggled to move into creative mode, so I have added a menu option to toggle any world between creative and survival modes.
  
  
• Added: Enchantment Editing
  
  Added specific support for editing enchantments on items in the player inventory.
  
  To Enchant a previously unenchanted item. Right click on an Inventory compound entry in the Level Data Editor (for any item) and on the popup menu choose, 'Add Known Compound' and then 'Add Enchantment Tag'.
  
  To add Enchantments (either to an existing enchanted item or a newly enchanted item via the above method) expand the 'Tag' entry under the item to Enchant and then right click on the 'Ench' child (compound list) and choose 'Add Known Compound Type' again and then choose 'Add Enchantment'.
  
  
• Improved: Added Wool Colours to Map Rendering
  
  I don't bother much with wool, but now anyone who does can see their map in all its colourful glory :).
  
  
• Update: Changing how setting the time of Day works.
  
  It seems the MoJang team have altered how day and night works. It now appears that Time (which used to effect time of day) is now used as a general time and DayTime is used to track the time of day. I've updated accordingly.
  
  
• Update: Updated Item ID's to match latest release (All Change)
  
  Updated MineBack Ultimate Block ID list so:
  
  
  • Brick Slab becomes Piston
  
  Added the following as recognised block types:
  
  
  • Anvil
  • Beacon
  • Flowerpot
  • Monster Egg
  • Redstone Lantern
  • Skull
  • Tripwire Hook
  • Wall
  • Wooden Button
  
  Also, added the block code to the drop down name in the editor.
  
  
• Fixed: Quick Map Editing
  
  Switching quickly between map editing screens sometimes lead to application exceptions. Greatly improved the stability of multi-tasking around map editing.
  
  
• Fixed: Naming Bug
  
  Fixed a bug which occasionally caused a block name to be shown instead the enchantment name.
  
  
• Fixed: Cross Sectional Map Rendering
  
  I must have broken the map cross-section view when I made changes to cache the map load. I have now corrected this so the map renders correctly in all views.
  
  
• Fixed: Region Augmentation working again
  
  This one caught me out in my testing! I had broken the Region augmentation but not the Chunk augmentation. When I ran my tests all the Chunk augmentations passed correctly, which usually would mean that the region would pass also (because its repeated Chunk augmentations). However, I didn't recall that I had updated the code so that blocks at the chunk edge can have the same rules as ones in the middle, in other words I forgot I added cross Chunk checks. This is what broke the region augmentation. It must have been especially annoying / confusing for everyone as it ran through the process without error message, but just didn't make any map changes =/. Sorry everyone. Good news is, its back now and all working (its a bit slow though, but how often do you want to change every single Chunk in a region?).
  
  

• Improvement: UI/CPU Balance Option
  
  After the CPU reduction update, I noticed that the trade off with reducing the CPU usage was that the MineBack UI (specifically the time to backup progress bar) was much less responsive. I prefer to have visual indicators that the backup progress is operational so made adjustments but could not get a satisfactory UI / CPU usage trade-off.
  
  Therefore, I've set the UI / CPU trade off to a sensible value, those who value less the visual indicators can drag the slider to the right to minimise MineBack's CPU usage in sacrificing regular visual updates. Those who do this will probably wish to also turn off the archive backup option which will drain additional CPU during archive.

• New Feature: Machine Migration Backup (Export and Import All).
  
  I've been planning to do this for a while now, and Duckman33's request spurred me to get it completed. Right clicking on the backup button gives you two options now, the first performs the backup action on each world (see v8.2.1.4) the second "Export All" collects together all the key files in your current PC's MineCraft configuration (including the game executable) and archives them ALL into a single file.
  
  This file can then be simply restored to another machine running MineBack (this makes it very straight forward to transfer your settings between your laptop and your desktop PC).
  
  To restore your settings, right click the restore button and choose "Import All". Please be VERY careful using the restore option, you will only be prompted once and once you have agreed all your MineCraft files will be overwritten with the ones found in the Export All archive.
  
  
• Fixed: Fixed bug causing unnecessary CPU usage when running.
  
  Apologies to everyone for this an thanks to Marc for pointing this issue out. MineBack Ultimate and Professional now runs mostly at less than 1% usage. It seems I made a typing error whilst declaring a timer so instead of it running once per second, it was running once per microsecond =/ *ick*.
  
  
• Fixed: Fixed a very rare bug occasionally ZIP archiving to fail.
  
  This error did not pose a problem as, if MineBack cannot complete, the ZIP backup it keeps the folder based backup. It was a tricky one to track as in only happened occasionally.

• Fixed: Fixed bug where sometimes World Name and World Folder became confused.
  
  I didn't notice this until recently since mostly my world names and world folders matched up.
  
  
• Fixed: Fixed bug where backup was incorrectly flagged as having failed because MineBack tried to delete temporary files too early.
  
  MineBack used Windows Compressed folders for its archive functionality. A limitation of the architecture Microsoft supply is that it is not immediately easy to determine when the background archive process completes. I have added some code to compensate which should have resolved this issue.
  
  
• Enhanced: Added additional backup menu, right click on the backup button for additional backup options.
  
  I added a backup all option for Duckman33, the backup all option makes a backup of all worlds regardless of need for backup. I plan to also add a migration backup (backup all worlds and MineCraft to a single file for transfer to another PC).
  
  

• Improved: Settings dialog now dynamically sizable to support any screen resolution.
  
  Thanks to Duckman33 for letting me know there where accessibility problems on some screen resolutions :).

• Fixed: Error when loading the second chunk of any map for editing.
  
  Sorry about this strange error, I missed out a NULL condition check =/. Found this when my brother was using MineBack Ultimate to search villages.

• Added: New settings tab to allow adding of any arbitrary files or folders to be included in the backup / restore process!
  This one should prove popular with modders. I've even added a specific checkbox to automatically add MineCraft.jar into to the backup process. The big advantage of this is that it ensures the backup is saved with the specific version of MineCraft running at the time the backup was made (ensuring backup may be always be played in future). This option is turned off by default.
• Improved: Changed the settings screen, grouping related settings under appropriately named tabs.

• Fixed: Cull feature not functioning against Archive Backups.
  The Cull feature has been updated to correctly recognise archive backups.
• Improved: Launcher will now intelligently choose between launching via the MineCraft executable and via the Java runtime (as configuration changes are made).
• Added: Automatically finds the install location of Java runtime environment.

• Fixed: Removed backup failure message received for very small worlds.
  The archive backup feature makes a number of checks to verify the integrity of the archive. One of the checks is a size check. This size check was sufficient for all ordinary worlds. However, an Anvil Superflat world map is incredibly small and it tripped this alert. This issue has been resolved.
• Fixed: Augmentation process broken by new map chunk caching. Augmentation process now works again correctly.
• Added: Automated Mob Clearing, removes all mob types from a designated area (annoying over-spawning slimes, slimes where great when they where a 'rare' mob).

• Improved: Faster Map Editing (Map Chunk Caching).
• Added: Block details summary in tooltip. Has details of Block Light, Sky Light, Block ID.

• Improved: Player Location Restore now restores the direction being faced.
• Improved: Error handling to try to catch any errors resulting from miss-configuration.
• Added: Ability to create arbitrary new NBT tags
  
  Right clicking on the NBT tree to add a tag to the tree.
• Added: NBT Search and Replace
  
  Right clicking on the NBT tree will summon new menu.
• Added: Adding Inventory Items to Empty Inventory
• Addressed: Empty compound lists now default to byte lists (this is a MineCraft feature, MineBack now accounts for it).

• Fixed: Rendering Map when player is located at bottom edge of chunk.
  
  When rendering the map, a tiny cross is rendered at the player location. If the player was parked at the very corner of a chunk, then the map rendering prior to v7.1.5.3 would try to render outside of the chunk bitmap leading to an application hang. This has been fixed.
  
  

• Added: Username and Password.
  
  Added option to store your Username and Password to be passed to the MineCraft game launcher. The username and password are stored in an encrypted form.
  
  
• Added: Quick Xms and Xms Parameter setting
  
  Some users prefer to pass custom heap settings to the Java engine. Most users won't need these settings but will be handy for power users (Placed in Advanced settings section). Thanks go to MW for suggesting this feature.
  
  
• Fixed: Quotes in Command Line.
  
  I have renamed the option "Game Client File Spec" to be "Game Launch Command Line" to clarify this settings purpose. I have also identified and fixed a bug with the processing of quoted strings in the command line.

• Added: Map Cross Section Views.
  
  The region map now features a 'cross section' option. You can select any orientation (Top, Left, Right etc) to view the map from that orientation and you will see a cross section at the selected height / depth.
  
  
• Added: Map view transparency.
  
  The region map now renders the surface map with transparencies, so for example you can get an idea what blocks are under water and ice.
  
  
• Fixed: Map Editing Orientation.
  
  Editing the map from any orientation is now working again. In the previous release, only the top down view rendered correctly. Fixed.

• Fixed: Launch game button being disabled if the game client was not located in Documents folder.
  
  Thanks go out to Darth68 for helping me identify this issue!
  
  
• Fixed: Location Restore.
  
  I was playing MineCraft today and fell right out of the Nether, so I went to use MineBack Ultimate to restore Steve back to somewhere sensible and I found I'd introduced a bug during the Anvil update preventing location restore. Fixed this!

• Added: Added a new 'verbose' feedback mode.
  
  When enabled MineBack Ultimate and MineBack professional will report more minor issues (for example, if MineBack cannot locate the Game Client Executable).

• Added: Anvil File Format Support.

  This has been where the effort of the last few weeks has gone, making sure that both Anvil and pre-anvil worlds are fully supported.

  Added: Optional automatic removal of pre-anvil backups post conversion.

  When MineCraft 1.2+ converts your worlds from pre v1.1 format it very sensibly leaves a full copy of the pre-anvil format world in your save folder. However, if you already hold a backup of your pre-anvil save this is unnecessary extra bulk added to future backups. MineBack Ultimate and Professional will ask you once how you want to handle this extra data and if you choose will automatically remove it from future backups (after first ensuring its definitely got a copy to restore).

• Added: Anvil format world editing.

  MineBack Ultimate now fully supports map editing in Anvil!

  Added: New 'mood lighting' Augmentation

  This was added just for a bit of fun. If you apply the "mood lighting" augmentation to a map region or chunk it will add a dapple lighting effect to the area. Its not tremendously useful because MineCraft will eventually recalculate the lighting variables and restore "expected" lighting but it lasts long enough to see and might give you some ideas about lighting.

  Added: New version column in world list

  The version column reports the version found in the level.dat file. It also reports the version of MineCraft it associates with the version (as of this time either 1.1 or 1.2).

  Added: Section and Height Indicator / selectors to Map Editor

  With the new Anvil format, the world data can hold maps as high as you like! However, MineCraft will only render to its maximum height of 257 blocks (and seems to delete any sections which fall outside this range e.g. 0 to 15). The Section selector can be used to quickly jump to a Section for editing.

• Improved: Archive backup handling.

  The archive backup feature had added extra potential for delay when switching between backup worlds lists views. I have now accounted for these extra delays.

  Fixed: Manual Backup Disabled for new Worlds (automatic backup uneffected)

  In my rush to correct the previous issue, I inadvertently disabled Manual Backup for new worlds. It is a good job I've been working on updating ready for Anvil otherwise I may have missed this issue. Apologies to all users, please download version 6.0.0.2.

• Fixed: Teleport to backup Location and Inventory Restore Menu

  Right click menus on backups now available again. My apologies to MineBack Ultimate users for this temporary loss of functionality, I thoroughly tested Archive Backup functionality but forgot to test this menu. All fixed now. Version 6.0.0.0 Ultimate users should download the update to regain full functionality (v6.0.0.1).

  NOTE: Other than those missing features version 6.0.0.0 functions normally.

• Added: Archive Backups

  Well, I have had a few requests for this now, so here it is!

  There is a new setting 'Archive Backup' when ticked it causes all backups to be automatically compressed into a single file using Windows Compressed folder functionality. Everything works exactly the same whether compressed folders are used or not (though obviously the CPU used to compress your worlds is a consideration).

  Since compressing your worlds during backup results in extra CPU usage. This feature is initially disabled by default.

• Added: Restore from Backup when original world folder is missing

  If you somehow managed to accidentally delete your world, the backups for that world became inaccessible via the MineBack user interface. Now, even if you where to delete your world from the MineCraft UI you can still restore from a backup.

Happy New Year!

• Added: World Map View

  Right click on a world and choose either Edit (Nether) or Edit (World) and it will generate a Region Mapping of the regions you have explored in your world.

  Clicking on a Region in the map will render the region as a surface map (in a view similar to that found on in game maps).

• Added: World Map Editing

  Well, MineBack has evolved so much it just did not make sense to not include this feature.

  The new map editor is just packed with editing features:

  • Scalable Map view of Region (surface level).
  • Teleport Player to any location (including underground. Explore those exciting looking caves without ruining your landscape).
  • Block Painting tool to quickly place blocks (Per Chunk).

  Clicking on any area (Chunk) in the region surface map will load the relevant chunk into the block editor for manipulation.

• Added: Teleport Anywhere (Nether Included)

  Right clicking anywhere on the region surface map or from within the block editor will present an option to teleport to that location (a warning will be given if teleporting to that location will be immediately unsafe/harmful to the player).

• Added: Quick Environmental Controls (aka Weather Control, Time Control)

  Right click any world and select from a range of Environmental Conditions, including:

  • Sunny Dawn - Sun rise on a perfect day
  • Perfect Day - The sun is high in the sky.
  • Stormy Night - Night has fallen and a storm is swirling
  • Rainy Afternoon - Sun is just about to set and the rain (or snow) is falling

  NOTE: Rain, Snow etc are subject to biome / cloud cover.

• Added: many automated map augmentation features:

  Since there are already powerful in game map editing features, and well established third party editors (aka MCEdit) MineBack map editing focuses on eliminating repetitive tasks or providing editing ability which is just not possible in the normal game (placing Water in the Nether, placing blocks underground without disturbing the surface, random block placement and so on).

  • Clear Area (Destructive)

    Sets the entire blockable area to Air (removes bedrock)

  • Clear Halves (Destructive)

    Based on the Augmentation direction clears precisely half the chunk(s) selected.

  • Shunt Chunk (Friendly)

    Based on the Augmentation direction rotates/moves all blocks in the specified direction (per chunk)

  • Mine Entire Area (Very Very Destructive)

    BACKUP FIRST!! This augmentation places TNT randomly throughout the selected area and a single stone pressure plate which will trigger a chain reaction (surpisingly fun).

  • Make Walk Safe (Friendly)

    This ensures their is a layer of bedrock at the very bottom of the map for the area selected.

  • Make Walk Safe (Friendly)

    This ensures their is a layer of bedrock at the very bottom of the map for the area selected.

  • Burry Blocks (Use with Care)

    This will quite literally burry blocks of the brush types randomly throughout the area.

  • Burry Blocks (Use with Care)

    This will quite literally burry blocks of the brush types randomly throughout the area.

  • Hollow Chunk(Destructive)

    This turns all non-player visible areas of the map into air. Think eggshell.

  • Surround Chunk(Destructive)

    This outlines the entire chunk using the two selected block brushes (think of this as giving chunk edge guides). Think eggshell.

  • Edge Chunk(Destructive)

    This surrounds the entire chunk using the two selected block brushes

  • Replace Block(Use with Care)

    This replaces blocks of the first block brush type with blocks of the second block brush type over the entire area.

  • Random Blocks (DANGEROUS)

    This places random blocks across the entire chunk. This is not really that useful, but you never know what you will get..

  • Ordered Brush Drop (Friendly)

    This will place the selected brush block at an ordered interval where there is space to put the brush (e.g. unobstructed).

  • Ordered Brush Drop (Friendly)

    This will place the selected brush block at an ordered interval (defined by the spacing value) where there is space to put the brush (e.g. unobstructed, or replacing air).

  • Quick Dry (Friendly)

    Removes all water from the selected area.

  • Remove Lava (Friendly)

    Removes all lava from the selected area.

  • Bright Light (Friendly)

    Lights every block to its maximum light level

• Improved: Server Side Backup

  Prior versions of MineBack expect/require a user to be playing MineCraft on the same machine for smooth operation (since all errors where notified, with forced acknowledgement).

  Play testing with MineBack running on a remote machine, I found this behaviour to be most inconvenient (as conditions such as Anti-Virus scans can cause a momentary file locking causing itermittent issue).

  The latest release of MineBack does not forcefully alert the first couple of errors encountered, it now displays a message within the main window without forcing focus, if not acknowledged and more errors occur a focus forced error will be displayed (this is to avoid serious error going unalerted and continued operation in repeating error conditions).

Merry Christmas! :)

• Added: NEW configuration option to either turn off or be prompted for automatic backup upon restore.

  The Mineback paid version is designed to be very-very safe indeed, for some users just a bit too safe! If you need to do alot of world restores one winds up with alot of "precaution only" backups (easily deleteable). In order to make MineBack paid just that bit better, I have included a new setting which allows you to choose to either not have automatic backup on restore, always have it or to be prompted each time (my personal favourite).

• Added two NEW partial restore modes:
  
  
  • Location Restore (Teleport)

    Sometimes a backup just isn't enough. Let me paint a picture: You've been exploring for days and days and your ready to head home.. but, wait.. where IS home? All I remember is that massive Skeletal attack last night! I know I backed up at my home last week, but I don't want to go back a week. Not a problem, just choose a suitable backup, right click on the backup and choose "Restore Player Location (only)" (whilst not playing the game). Next time you enter the world you will have been returned to the place you where when you made the backup, but, most importantly nothing else has changed since you last exited the world.

  • Inventory Restore

    No excuses here. This is plain cheating. So, you remember having a clock, but now you can't fathom where the heckers its gone? No problem. Just use this handy "Inventory Restore" to reset your entire inventory to the inventory you had at the time of the backup (again nothing else will change).

• Added NEW configuration option to customise the backup sonar sound.

  The Mineback Ultimate backup sonar feature can now be configured to play any Wave format sound file whenever a backup is created.

• Improved the World List to default to displaying the worlds in order of latest use.

  In the previous release worlds where sorted in "oldest backup first" order. I found this tended to mean the world you where interested in was displayed last so changed the default sort order appropriately (click the column headers to change the sort).

• Tested with MineCraft Release tested and working for MineCraft (release) v1.0.0

  MineCraft is final out of Beta and MineBack is all tested and working.

• Improved Levels Reset (aka Hunger Reset)
  
  The Levels reset now resets all of the following:
  
  • Oxygen
  • Fire
  • Health
  • Hunger
  • Food
  • Death

• Improved Automatic Backup so it is no longer necessary to select the correct world.
  
  MineBack now monitors all worlds (shown listed); If any world is played a backup is made (seriously, its amazing! It now really is fire and forget, previously you had to make sure the correct world was selected and that it had been backed up at least once).

• Changed Behaviour so that all worlds are considered for automatic backup, not just those worlds previously receiving manual backups.
  
  In previous versions the logic only tried to automatically backup worlds which had previously been the target of a manual backup. This behaviour became confusing as I created new worlds so I changed the backup behaviour so I did not need to consider this either.

• Fixed bug unable to change backup interval
  
  MineBack had a setting for backup interval which was not being correctly saved and was therefore fixed at 5 minutes regardless of reconfiguration.

• Fixed bug (Ultimate) preventing resetting hunger levels with empty inventory
  
  If you had tried to reset the hunger level when playing the game with an empty Inventory in version 4.2.7.1 (very rare). Incidentally, the new patch now supports resurrection from the dead (no need to run back for your stuff, just come back to life using the 'Reset All Levels' context menu option).