Invalid Data Value Wool

This page describes content that exists only in outdated versions of Minecraft.

This feature used to be in the game, but has ever since been removed.It may or may not return in a future update.

Invalid data value wool is a specific item form of wool with damage values outside of the usual range which wool can usually be obtained in, resulting in an unusual appearence.

Obtaining[]

Invalid data value wool is currently not known to be obtainable without the use of commands, inventory editors or other such tools, in any version.

Properties[]

Invalid data value wool is particularly notable due to its use of block textures in unexpected ways. From Beta 1.2 to Beta 1.8.1, as well as in early versions of Xbox 360 Edition, the item used the block placeholder texture, a texture only very rarely encountered in the unmodified game without the use of texture packs. From Beta 1.9 Prerelease to 13w01b, the item used the texture of newly-planted nether wart.

This bizarre texture usage can be easily be explained via analysis of terrain.png, a texture atlas used to store the texture of all blocks in the game prior to 1.5. All 15 textures used by colored wool blocks can be found in a 2×8 rectangle at the bottom left. This rectangle, however, contained a sixteenth texture that was initially unused. Wool with a damage value of 0 is white, and white wool's texture is located above this rectangle somewhat, and the game's code regards a damage value of 0 as a special case. However, if a wool item with a metadata value of ±16, ±32, ±48, ±64, ... is obtained as an item, which cannot be done in normal Survival gameplay or in Creative without commands, the game does not special-case these values due to them not being intentionally obtainable, resulting in this sixteenth texture in the rectangle being selected as the item's texture.

In Beta 1.9's development, the then-new nether wart required a texture to be used in-game. Where exactly a texture is in terrain.png is ultimately arbitrary, as the game's code can be made to point at any desired region. Ultimately, the textures used by nether wart were placed at a position in terrain.png which resulted in the first stage's texture being within the 2×8 rectangle used by most wool items, resulting in the invalid cases using the newly-planted nether wart texture as if it were any other texture.


The `terrain.png` used in Beta 1.8.1	The `terrain.png` used in Beta 1.9 Prerelease

Placement[]

When placed, invalid data value wool will place normal white wool blocks. As these placed blocks are proper white wool, they will drop white wool when broken, rather than invalid data values of wool.

History[]

Java Edition Indev
0.31		20100131			Durability has been introduced. It can be assigned to cloth items via an inventory editor, but is functionally meaningless in this case. A durability bar will be displayed on the item.
		20100201-2227			All 3D items now appear slightly darker on the left.
		?			All 3D items now appear much brighter.
Java Edition Infdev
Minecraft Infdev		20100611			All 3D items now appear slightly darker.
Minecraft Infdev		20100624			15 IDs relating to prior cloth/wool colors have been removed. Numeric ID 35, the only remaining wool block, has been changed from light gray to white.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1					All 3D items now appear very slightly darker.
Java Edition Beta
1.2					Values for damage on wool are now processed as variants. The durability bar has been removed. As a result, the item now uses the famous placeholder texture.
1.6		Test Build 3			All 3D items now appear much brighter and are rotated 90 degrees clockwise from their previous positions.
1.8		Pre-release			All 3D items now appear even brighter than previously, with almost no shading.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Nether wart has been introduced. The texture used for the lowest growth state occupies the position in `terrain.png` that invalid data value wool uses, resulting in invalid data value wool now using the nether wart texture on all sides.
1.0.0		RC2			All 3D items are now shaded more reasonably.
1.3.1		12w22a			All 3D items in the inventory have been rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise.
1.4.2		12w34a			Items appeared slightly darker in the player's inventory than in chests prior to this version.
1.5		13w02a			Texture handling has been overhauled. As invalid data value wool does not have a texture to point to, it causes a game crash immediately when the game attempts to render it.
1.5.1		13w12~			Invalid data value wool no longer causes the game to crash.^[1] It now uses the white wool texture.
1.8		14w07a			Invalid data value wool now appears as a 2D black wool texture.
		14w10a			Invalid data value wool now appears as 3D-rendered white wool again.
		14w25a			With the introduction of data-driven item models, any item with a data value outside of what is accepted by the game has no model to point to, resulting in use of the missing item model.
		14w30a			Invalid data value wool, alongside other invalid data value items, now appears the size of a full block when held in third person or by another player or mob.
1.9		15w31a			The missing model's inventory appearance has changed, resulting in the appearance of invalid data value wool also changing.
1.9		15w31a			The items also appear the size of a full block when held in first person and when dropped on the ground, and also appear larger than before in an item frame.
1.13		17w43a			The missing texture has changed, resulting in the appearance of invalid data value wool also changing.
1.13		17w47a			Numeric IDs for blocks and items have been completely removed from the game. As a result, invalid data value wool has been "removed" as they now convert into white wool.
Legacy Console Edition
0.66.0054.0	?	?	?	?	Invalid data value wool exists and uses the placeholder texture.
TU2					3D item shading has changed very slightly.
TU3					The game now points to a more modern copy of `terrain.png` which results in use of the nether wart texture.
TU5					3D item rendering has changed again.