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Joel, and Jonny recap the details of the nautilus, parched, spear, and more in the now released Mounts Of Mayhem drop, then answer listener email about trapping sound, tapping into maps, and comparing Minecraft to other open world games that have more narrative structure.

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FROM: Violine1101
SUBJECT: Multi-threading And Sound Swallowing

Hi Pix and Joel,

First off, a small correction: In Episode 371, you mention that Java Edition supposedly still runs on only one CPU thread and the current performance improvements are due to rendering being split off into a separate thread.

This is a very common misconception: Java Edition is already running on multiple CPU threads and has had a separate rendering thread for a very long time already! Mojang is not “adding multi-threading”, because that’s always existed: since at least Java Edition 1.3 in 2012 when client and server code were split up.

The currently ongoing changes just improve on the existing rendering engine; I’m not exactly sure about the details myself, and it may or may not involve adding more threads to speed up the rendering pipeline. This doesn’t sound as exciting and flashy, but that’s how it is with most performance improvements – small steps at a time 🙂

Regarding your discussion about the Extreme Sound Muffler mod: Its ability to muffle sounds only in a specific area sounds very interesting (pun intended). That made me wonder: You get immersed in the game much more if you don’t have to go into a UI to tweak your game’s sounds. What if there is a block that muffles sounds nearby?

There happens to be a sound-related set of blocks in the game already as well: Sculk! Sculk sensors, shriekers, and wardens, all can hear and process sounds. I’m imagining a block made of sculk that “swallows” any sounds in its vicinity. Perhaps its crafting recipe could be another use for the echo shard!

Violine1101 was muffled to death by a silently screaming Warden.

• The Road To Vibrant Visuals On Java Edition (Minecraft.net)
  • Published October 22nd, 2025.
• Sound Controller (Modrinth.com)

FROM: Mungo
SUBJECT: Mini Map Musings

Hi guys,

Listening to your discussion a few weeks ago about maps, I had a few thoughts about how to implement a mini-map in vanilla. I’d much prefer to use an in-game solution rather than mods, but end up just using coordinates because it’s easier and less intrusive than in-game maps. 

So what about a new slot in the inventory for a map? It could go next to the shield slot, and if you put a map in there it could appear as a mini map, maybe where the F3 information is already, or anywhere really. If it was in a bottom corner it would almost be like you’ve strapped the map to your arm, which would help with the immersion of having a map always on screen.

In the mini-map, you would always be in the center, and if you went off the edge of the minimap in the corner it could just go grey, and disappear after a while. If you lose yourself completely, there’s no reason a map in your hand wouldn’t work the same as they do now, so you could look at the map in your hand to get your orientation, then once you are close, you get your minimap back. 

Any other options like increasing the zoom or the position of the map on screen could be in the options menu, so there’s no worries about extra key binds for console editions or anything. 

What do you guys think? 

Mungo fell into the void after walking off the edge of the map.

• Xaero’s World Map (Modrinth.com)
• Xaero’s Mini Map (Modrinth.com)
• Antique Atlas (Modrinth.com)

Digging For More Minecraft Narrative