Heightmaps are maps to store the Y-level of highest block at each horizontal coordinate. They are stored in chunk files and used for various game calculations. This page describes currently only heightmaps in Java Edition.
Types[]
Several different heightmaps check and store highest block of different types, and are used for different purposes. In Java Edition, there are five heightmaps:
WORLD_SURFACE[]
Stores the Y-level of the highest non-air block.
WORLD_SURFACE_WG[]
Stores the Y-level of the highest non-air block. Used only during world generation, and automatedly deleted after carvers are generated.
OCEAN_FLOOR[]
Stores the Y-level of the highest block whose material blocks motion. Used only on the server side.
OCEAN_FLOOR_WG[]
Stores the Y-level of the highest block whose material blocks motion. Used only during world generation, and automatedly deleted after carvers are generated.
MOTION_BLOCKING[]
Stores the Y-level of the highest block whose material blocks motion or blocks that contains a fluid (water, lava, or waterlogging blocks).
MOTION_BLOCKING_NO_LEAVES[]
Stores the Y-level of the highest block whose material blocks motion, or blocks that contains a fluid (water, lava, or waterlogging blocks), except various leaves. Used only on the server side.
Usages[]
Heightmaps are used for various in-game calculations. For example, a lightning rod can only be triggered when there is no non-air block above it. Therefore, the game compares the Y-level of lightning rod with heightmap WORLD_SURFACE to know if there are non-air blocks above it.
Heightmaps of both server side and client side can be seen in debug screen. The "CH" line is the value in client side heightmaps at the player's current X/Z coordinates. The "SH" line is the server side value in heightmaps at the player's current X/Z coordinates. In the two lines:
- S means WORLD_SURFACE
- O means OCEAN_FLOOR
- M means MOTION_BLOCKING
- ML means MOTION_BLOCKING_NO_LEAVES
/execute position over can change the execution position of the command to one block above the Y-level stored in the specified heightmap. WORLD_SURFACE_WG and OCEAN_FLOOR_WG cannot be used in this command.
