Arctic Launcher 0.3.3

What's new#

A required update: on slower connections, downloading a new Minecraft version could fail with "timeout: receive body".

Fixed#

• Downloads no longer fail on ordinary home connections. The launcher downloads many files at once and gave up on any that weren't fast enough on their own; now a file only fails if its connection really stops, and each one gets more tries.
• New versions are ready sooner: about 260 MB is downloaded before the game starts instead of about 640 MB. Music, music discs and other languages arrive in the background while you play.
• The Arctic snowflake now shows on players who just joined (it could stay hidden for 10 minutes).
• Settings sharing no longer brings back notices you already dismissed (the "Third-Party Online Play" warning kept returning).
• 1.8.9 to 1.12.2: the scoreboard is no longer faded with the smooth font, and "Invalid session" is fixed by renewing your session and joining again, without restarting the game.
• Minecraft 1.16.5 and older can reach today's websites again (skins, OptiFine capes: "Cannot contact authentication server").

Smoother games#

• Fewer FPS drops. Games now use a better garbage collector: on 1.21+ (with 8+ CPU threads and 3 GB+ for the game) far fewer frame-dropping pauses, at no FPS cost; on 1.8.9 to 1.20 about a third of the hitches. Collectors you set in your own JVM flags are kept.
• 1.8.9 to 1.12.2 run faster.

Emotes#

• 17 new emotes: Hello Wave, Respect Bow, Triple Clap, No Way, Over There, Quick Salute, Hmm, Side Shuffle, Wake-up Stretch, Heartfelt Thanks, Showboat Spin, Take a Seat, Achoo!, Zen Hover, Twerk, Facepalm Act and Victory Hop. They move the whole body: bending elbows and knees, sitting down, spinning, hopping.
• Emotes now work on every version, 1.8.9 to 26.3, and the emote wheel has pages (scroll for more).

Instances#

• Move an instance to another Minecraft version with its mods. In an instance's settings, pick a version and "Check mods": you see which mods have a version there (they're updated) and which don't yet (they're turned off, not deleted).
• Drop a mod file on any tab of an instance to add it.
• Start the game maximized (Settings, next to fullscreen), on Windows, macOS and Linux.
• "Use the gaming graphics card" now works on Linux laptops too.

Arctic Client on more versions#

• Zoom, Freelook, Fullbright, chat options, crosshair, weather and time, scoreboard options, hit color, minimap, in-game account switching, duels, motion blur, item physics, block outline color and Arctic-style buttons now work on 1.15.2 to 1.19.4 too.
• Replays on 1.15.2; the Arctic backdrop in menus before 1.20.6; the smooth font reads better on 1.20.5 to 1.21.11.

Download#

Windows: arctic-launcher-windows-x64.exe · macOS: arctic-launcher-macos.zip · Linux: arctic-launcher-linux-x64. The Windows files are signed (Open Source Developer Leyla Barlak, Certum).

SHA-256#

Check a download: Get-FileHash <file> (PowerShell) or sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt (Linux).

Full Changelog: https://github.com/brksfrb/arctic-launcher/compare/v0.3.2...v0.3.3 (opens in a new tab)