The ongoing testing of Minecraft 26.3 (the Third Drop, known as Dappled Forest) brings more new stuff beyond the shelf fungus we already covered. Snapshots 1 and 2 introduced a new exploration structure, abandoned camps, and a full set of poplar wood blocks. It's real content you can try out right now on the snapshot servers.

What are abandoned camps

Abandoned camps are small surface structures added in the first 26.3 snapshot. They look like deserted campsites: a wool tent, a burnt-out Campfire, a Crafting Table, Barrels, Chests and Cauldrons scattered around the camp. As Beebom describes, these structures appear in many Overworld biomes, including forests, taigas and jungles, and each version has a different look to match its surroundings: a different color of wool stairs, different plants, sometimes even a small crop patch.

In the Dappled Forest, the camp is surrounded by the distinctive poplar wood, Leaf Litter and shelf fungi, so you get all the new additions of this drop at once. That makes the biome one of the most visually varied places to explore in the whole update.

What you can find inside

The camps hold three kinds of containers with different reward levels:

  • Barrels - mostly common items, including a good chance of Cobweb.
  • Regular Chests - copper weapons and armor, Buckets, Compasses, Maps and Firework Rockets.
  • Secret Chests - hidden deeper in the structure, they contain iron weapons and armor, Diamonds, gold and Potions.

This is the first exploration structure in a long time added to ordinary land biomes rather than to a specific dimension or underground area. That gives trips through forests and taigas a fresh reason to leave the beaten path.

Poplar wood: three shades of autumn

The second big addition is a complete set of poplar wood blocks. Poplar trees come in three leaf variants, red, orange and yellow, and players can collect saplings to grow any of them in their own garden or farm. The set also includes new wool stairs and slabs in matching colors, which makes it easier to build cohesive autumn-themed structures without dyeing blocks by hand.

Combined with shelf fungi and Leaf Litter, poplar wood gives builders a full palette of materials to recreate the feel of a Polish golden autumn in Minecraft, a theme players are already eagerly testing on the snapshot servers.

When it will reach the release servers

Update 26.3 is still in the snapshot phase, along with the experimental OIT (order-independent transparency) renderer we covered earlier. The full release for all players, on both Java and Bedrock, is expected around mid or late September 2026. Until then, the content may still change in later snapshots, so it's worth keeping up with the changelogs if you're testing development versions.

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