Java Edition:Full Block Chest
From Indev 0.31 20100124-1 (first available version with chests) to Beta 1.7.3, the chest was a solid, opaque block. The chest was made transparent in Beta 1.8 Prerelease to accompany its new model. It remained a full cube until Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5. These changes allow for many invalid block and light configurations.
Obtaining
Chests Supporting Blocks
As chests were a full cube from Indev 0.31 20100124-1 through Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5, many blocks requiring support could be placed against them. The action of "shift clicking" was not implemented in these versions, so to place the blocks onto the chest, they must be placed on a block next to them that cannot support them. For example, placing a rail on a block next to the top of the chest will place the rail on the chest. For blocks that can be placed on sides of blocks, for example, a torch, placing a torch on a torch next to the chest will place the torch on the chest, as the torch cannot be supported the other torch.
Invalid Light Configurations
As chests were opaque blocks before Beta 1.8 Pre-release, they would block light from passing through them. Chests themselves would appear black upon upgrading because previously there was no light in the opaque block. Chests also could be used to block light from entering rooms. This works for sun light and block light. Updating any block around the chest will cause a lighting update. The chest can be in a combination with any of the other features that were available in Beta 1.7.3 and earlier. However, as the game will randomly select a block for a light update in an 11x11x11 box centered on a random player every tick, one cannot be close to these chests if they wish to preserve the invalid light level. Updating to 1.7[test] or beyond will force the light to update for unknown reasons regardless of player range.
An updated chest with darkness inside the block
An updated double chest with darkness inside the block
A pillar of chests that was used to block light from entering a room
Redstone Powered
As chests were a full cube from Indev 0.31 20100124-1 through Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5, redstone could power through a chest. This includes soft powered and hard powered. To show that the redstone was applied through the chest, there must be some component being activated through the chest. This can be a dispenser, iron door, note block, piston, redstone dust, repeater, sticky piston, trapdoor, or wooden door, but most of these can be recreated via BUD-powering in later versions, except for redstone repeaters.
Redstone wire and repeater activated through a chest
Chunk Savestating
Blocks requiring support on the side of a chest and various redstone powered configurations can be created on a chunk boundary using chunk savestating. First, a chunk must be saved with a chest on the boundary and savestated. The chest can then be replaced with a full block, and a support block placed on it. When the savestated chunk is reloaded, block updates are not sent, and the full block is replaced with the previously saved chest. The supported block has now been "placed" on a chest.
Update Suppression
As with almost every block discontinued feature, most of these can also be created using update suppression. However, update suppression cannot suppress updates in the west direction, so it is impossible to "place" blocks requiring support on the west face of a chest.
Available Chests
Any chest orientation or placement may be used, including invalid chest configurations. However, a major bug[1] exists when updating chests from Beta 1.7.3 to versions 14w26c (1.8 snapshot) to 19w36a (1.15 snapshot). 1.8 changed blocks to store their variations in specific state enumerations instead of pure data values, and no chest direction enumeration was created to handle DV 0 chests (all chests placed in Beta 1.8 Prerelease and onwards are DV 1-4). As a result of this, the game simply deletes these chests when upgrading older worlds unless one keeps them in unloaded chunks and does not optimize their world (force all chunks to be upgraded instead of doing it on the fly) until 19w37a (1.15 snapshot).
These chests may contain any item available in versions before 13w01a (1.5 snapshot), as 13w01a changed chests such that they send out block updates when opened, which will update any blocks supported by the chest. Hoppers may be used to insert and remove items from these chests in 13w01a and later, but they cannot insert overstacked items. As a result, any items inside these chests are semi-observable discontinued features as opening the chest will update the surrounding blocks.
Available Support Blocks
Rail
The normal rail can be placed in many different positions onto the chest. They can be straight, curved, or sloped. Straight rails can be parallel to x or z-axis. By default, all placed rails will be parallel to the z-axis so to make one parallel to the x-axis another rail must be placed to force it into that direction, this rail can be removed after. Curved rails come in 4 states: north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west. These directions tell the two directions in which the rail points to. Once again, the rails that were placed to curve it can be removed once it is in the state. A rail can also be sloped onto or on top of a chest. Rails sloped onto the chest will require a rail ontop to get them facing that direction. Rails on top of a chest will require another solid block to lean onto. An entire roller coaster can be made on chests though a chest cannot be placed next to a double chest without using a multiple chest method.
rails on the x and z axis on a chest
rails on the x and z axis on a double chest
all 4 curved rails on chests
4 curved rails on double chests
4 sloped rails going onto a chest
4 sloped rails going onto a double chest
4 sloped rails on top of chests
4 sloped rails on top of double chests
Powered Rails
Powered rails can be straight or sloped and be powered on. Straight powered rails can be parallel to x or z axis. By default, all placed powered rails will be parallel to the z-axis so to make one parallel to the x-axis another rail must be placed to force it into that direction, this rail can be removed after. A sloped powered rail can go onto or be on top of a chest. Powered rails sloped onto the chest will require a rail ontop to get them facing that direction. Rails on top of a chest will require another solid block to lean onto. Finally, the powered rail can be either on or off. Each straight and sloped powered rail can be turned on. The rails can be powered through the chest as well through the chest.
Powered rails parallel to the x and z axis on a chest
Powered rails parallel to the x and z axis on a double chest
On powered rails parallel to the x and z axis on a chest
On powered rails parallel to the x and z axis on a double chest
4 sloped powered rails going onto a chest
4 sloped powered rails going onto a double chest
4 sloped on powered rails going onto a chest
4 sloped on powered rails going onto a double chest
4 sloped powered rails on top of chests
4 sloped powered rails on top of double chests
4 sloped on powered rails on top of chests
4 sloped on powered rails on top of chests
Detector Rails
Detector rails can be straight or sloped and be powered on. Straight detector rails can be parallel to x or z axis. By default, all placed detector rails will be parallel to the z-axis so to make one parallel to the x-axis another rail must be placed to force it into that direction, this rail can be removed after. A sloped detector rail can go onto or be on top of a chest. Detector rails sloped onto the chest will require a rail ontop to get them facing that direction. Rails on top of a chest will require another solid block to lean onto. Finally, the detector rail can be either on or off. A type of minecart must permanently be on the rail in order to not update it to the unpowered state.
Detector rails parallel to the x and z axis on a chest
Detector rails parallel to the x and z axis on a double chest
On detector rails parallel to the x and z axis on a chest
On detector rails parallel to the x and z axis on a double chest
4 sloped detector rails going onto a chest
4 sloped detector rails going onto a double chest
4 sloped on detector rails going onto a chest
4 sloped on detector rails going onto a double chest
4 sloped detector rails on top of chests
4 sloped detector rails on top of double chests
4 sloped on detector rails on top of chests
4 sloped on detector rails on top of chests
Trapdoor
In this version, trapdoors required a support block. This was recontinued in 15w31a (1.9 snapshot) which allowed trapdoors to be placed anywhere including floating. The trapdoor can be placed on the north, east, west, and south directions. The trapdoors can't be placed directly onto the chest. The way to get the trapdoors onto a chest works in version Beta 1.7 until Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5. To get it on first you must place the trapdoor on a temporary full block next to the chest and then use a piston to push the trapdoor from that block onto the chest. Once pushed the temporary block and piston can be removed. It is possible to get 4 trapdoors on a chest using this method by pushing from above or below (because temporary block will get in way of other trapdoors otherwise).
3 trapdoors on a chest
4 trapdoors on a double chest
Torch
Torches can be placed on the top of a chest and on the north, east, west, and south side of a chest. Attempting to place the torch on a block they can't be placed on next to the chest will put them on the chest instead.
All 5 types of torches on a chest
All 5 types of torches on a double chest
Redstone Torch
Redstone torches can be placed on the top of a chest and on the north, east, west, and south side of a chest. Attempting to place the redstone torch on a block they can't be placed on next to the chest will put them on the chest instead. Redstone torches can be on or off. Powering the chests will cause the redstone torches to become unlit.
All 5 types of redstone torches on a chest
All 5 types of redstone torches on a double chest
All 5 types of unlit redstone torches on a chest
All 5 types of unlit redstone torches on a double chest
Redstone
Redstone can be placed on top of chests in these versions. The redstone can be in any of 16 power strengths including 0. If the redstone isn't connected then it's power strength must be either 0 or 15, nowhere in between. The redstone's connections can be north, east, west, and south set to true, false, up (climbing up a block), or down (climbing down a block). The blocks that the redstone climbs up or down onto can be any full block that existed including another chest and can be changed later in some cases using update suppression. This allows for 15 * 4^4 - 14= 3826 different redstone blocks. Entire redstone circuits could be built on top of chests but changing the power strength of the redstone once it becomes discontinued causes a chain reaction of the redstone popping off. Some circuits are especially difficult to build though due to the fact that no chest can touch a double chest at the same height.
A single unconnected piece of redstone on top of a chest
A single unconnected piece of redstone on top of a chest at power strength 15
Two pieces of redstone on top of a double chest
Two pieces of redstone on top of a double chest both at power strength 15
Redstone on a chest connected down all 4 sides of it
Redstone on a chest connected down all 4 sides of it with a power strength of 15
Two pieces on a double chest connected down all 4 sides of it
Two pieces fo a double chest connected down all 4 sides of it both at power strength 15
Redstone on a chest connected up all 4 sides of it onto iron blocks
Redstone on a chest connected up all 4 sides of it onto iron blocks with a power strength of 15
Two pieces of redstone on a double chest connected up all 4 sides of it onto iron blocks
Two pieces of redstone on a double chest connected up all 4 sides of it onto iron blocks with a power strength of 15
Two straight redstone line over a chest
Two straight redstone line over a chest with power strength 15
4 L-junction redstone lines over a chest
4 L-junction redstone lines over a chest all with power strength 15
A T-junction redstone line over a chest
A T-junction redstone line over a chest with a power strength 15
A set up used to get a redstone of power strength 1 on a chest
An XOR gate built entirely on chests
Redstone Repeater
Redstone repeaters can be facing north, west, east, or south. They can also be set to 1, 2, 3, or 4 ticks. Redstone repeaters also have an on and an off state. This allows 4x4x2=32 possible combinations. Additionally, the repeaters can be an unlocked repeater.
1 tick off repeaters on chests
1 tick off repeaters on double chests
2 tick off repeaters on chests
2 tick off repeaters on double chests
3 tick off repeaters on chests
3 tick off repeaters on double chests
4 tick off repeaters on chests
4 tick off repeaters on double chests
1 tick powered repeaters on chests
1 tick powered repeaters on double chests
2 tick powered repeaters on chests
2 tick powered repeaters on double chests
3 tick powered repeaters on chests
3 tick powered repeaters on double chests
4 tick powered repeaters on chests
4 tick powered repeaters on double chests
Wooden Pressure Plate
Wooden pressure plates can be placed on top of chests. They can either be pressed or unpressed. Once they become discontinued any toggle between the two states will result in an update and then the pressure plate pop off. For unpressed pressure plates, there must be some Protection to stop a mob from pressing it and updating it. For pressed pressure plates, some entity must constantly be on the pressure plate. Two ways to achieve this is keeping a sitting wolf on the pressure plate (won't despawn) or to have a 5-minute timer hooked up to a dispenser to keep items on the plate at all times.
A wooden pressure plate on a chest
Two wooden pressure plates on a double chest
A wooden pressure plate on a chest that is constantly being pressed down by a tamed sitting wolf
Two wooden pressure plates on a double chest that are constantly being pressed down by two tamed sitting wolves (can be 1 in between both)
Stone Pressure Plate
Stone pressure plates can be placed on the top of chests. They can either be pressed or unpressed. Once they become discontinued any toggle between the two states will result in an update and then the pressure plate pop off. For unpressed pressure plate there must be some Protection to stop a mob from pressing it and updating it. For pressed pressure plates there must be a mob on it at all times, for example, a tamed wolf (won't despawn).
A stone pressure plate on a chest
Two stone pressure plates on a double chest
A stone pressure plate on a chest that is constantly being pressed down by a tamed sitting wolf
Two stone pressure plates on a double chest that are constantly being pressed down by two tamed sitting wolves (can be 1 in between both)
Lever
Levers can be on the side or on top of the chest. They can also be flipped on or off. Levers can be placed on top of a chest until Beta 1.2_02. The levers could be directly placed on the chest by trying to place it on a transparent block next to chest until Beta 1.3 changed this. Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 removed the ability to place levers on transparent blocks all together. Placing levers on the sides of chests was reintroduced in Beta 1.8 Pre-release when vines were added. If the vines grow onto the sides of chests the player can use them to place levers on the sides of the chests.
5 lever directions on a chest
5 lever directions on a double chest
5 lever directions on a chest that are powered on
5 lever directions on a chest that are powered on
Button
Buttons on the side of a chest can only be directly placed from Alpha v.1.0.1 (buttons added) till Beta 1.5_01. Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 and later versions require the button to be placed on the block so the method of attempting to place it on a non-full block next to a chest will not work. A new method to get the button on chest comes in Beta 1.8 Pre-release with the introduction of the vine. If a vine grows down onto the side of a chest, the player can right-click the vine to place the button in that location. During the period buttons on chests can't be obtained, it can be updated like the other support blocks. The only block data about buttons is that they can be placed on all 4 cardinal directions of the chest. In this version, there was no wooden button nor could buttons be placed on the top/bottom of a block.
all 4 button orientations on a chest
all 4 button orientations on a double chest
Ladder
Ladders can be placed on any of the 4 sides of the chest. North, east, west, and south directions. The ladders can be put on a chest by attempting to place them on a block like torches or glass next to the chest. Ladders on chests are briefly recontinued due to a bug from 1.12-pre7 to 17w49b.[test][2] This bug allowed for ladders on any full block meaning they could be placed on chests once again as well as ender and trapped chests. However, since the ladders will be non-updatable immediately upon being placed they cannot be stacked without updating one another. Also, this ladder must be facing north.
4 different facing ladders on a chest
4 different facing ladders on a double chest
A full climable ladder on chests
Wooden Door
There is currently no known way to get a full door on a chest but tests are ongoing [test]. A half-door can be put on a chest. This requires the debug door items from Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 Debug Chests. While normal doors have a check that requires them to be place on the top of a block, not the side, the debug door does not. However, the half door cannot be updated. This means that whatever block used to place the half door cannot be removed without update suppression. Additionally, without update suppression two half doors cannot be placed on the same double chest. Powering the wooden door will result in it updating but right-clicking will not. The door will always be facing the -x direction and the hinge will always be in the -z direction but it can be open or closed using the hand player's hand.
An open and closed wooden door on a chest with an iron block next to them
An open and closed wooden door on a double chest with an iron block next to them
Iron Door
There is currently no known way to get a full door on a chest but tests are ongoing [test]. A half-door can be put on a chest. This requires the debug door items from Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 Debug Chests. While normal doors have a check that requires them to be place on the top of a block, not the side, the debug door does not. However, the half door cannot be updated. This means that whatever block used to place the half door cannot be removed without update suppression. Additionally, without update suppression two half doors cannot be placed on the same double chest. Powering the iron door will result in it updating as well. The door will always be facing the -x direction and the hinge will always be in the -z direction.
An iron door on a chest using an iron block
An iron door on a double chest using an iron block
Vines
Vines can be on the side of chests even presently but still require a full block above them for support. In this version, vines could use the side of chests as the support block to grow down from. The chest could also support a vine on the underside of it. Vines were available from Beta 1.8 Pre-release (vines added) to Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5.
Vines underneath a chest
Vines underneath a double chest
Vine hanging from a chest
Vine hanging from a double chest
See also
- Chunk Savestating
- Invalid Block on End Portal Frame
- Multiple Chest
- Update Suppression
- Vanishing Blocks