Server addresses stopped being displayed in the multiplayer server list since 13w41a

Before 13w41a, the multiplayer server list displayed the saved server address below the server name and MOTD. This was an explicit feature rather than incidental information: the client had both a global hideServerAddress option and a per-server hideAddress setting controlling whether the address was displayed.

This behavior has been verified in 13w39b.

Starting with 13w41a, server addresses are no longer displayed in the multiplayer server list. This behavior persists in current versions.

As a direct consequence, the hideServerAddress option also stopped having any practical effect on the multiplayer server list: there is no longer a displayed server address for the option to hide or reveal.

13w41a substantially redesigned the multiplayer server list, including the addition of server icons and support for multi-line MOTDs. The server address line disappeared during this redesign.

There does not appear to be a documented reason for removing the address display. Furthermore, the settings and data associated with controlling the visibility of the address were not removed at the same time.

The per-server hideAddress tag remained in servers.dat after 13w41a and was only removed later in 1.7.6-pre1. The global hideServerAddress option also remained after server addresses ceased to be rendered, despite no longer affecting the visibility of server addresses in the server list.

Steps to reproduce

1. Launch 13w39b.

2. Open Multiplayer.

3. Add a server to the server list.

4. Observe the server entry.

5. The saved server address is displayed below the server name and MOTD.

6. Toggle the server-address hiding functionality and observe that it controls whether the address is displayed.

7. Launch 13w41a or a current version.

8. Add the same server and open the multiplayer server list.

9. Observe that the saved server address is no longer displayed.

10. Change hideServerAddress and return to the multiplayer server list.

11. Observe that the setting can no longer hide or reveal the server address because the address is never rendered.

Observed behavior

Starting with 13w41a:

• Saved server addresses are not displayed in multiplayer server entries.

• hideServerAddress no longer has a practical effect on server-address visibility because server addresses are always absent from the list.

• The previous per-server address visibility behavior likewise became unusable.

Expected behavior

Saved server addresses should be displayed in server entries when address hiding is disabled, as they were in 13w39b and earlier versions.

hideServerAddress should control whether those addresses are displayed rather than having no observable effect because the addresses are unconditionally absent.

First affected version

13w41a

Last known working version

13w39b

Additional information

The behavior has been directly verified across the 13w39b → 13w41a boundary.

Before 13w41a, displaying the address was explicitly supported by the server-list UI. Older server-list code renders the server address as a separate line and conditionally replaces or hides it according to the relevant address-hiding settings.

The existence of hideServerAddress is particularly relevant because its purpose depends on server addresses being renderable. Once the address-rendering code disappeared in 13w41a, this option ceased to perform its intended server-list function.

There was also a per-server hideAddress value stored in servers.dat. It had been added in 12w42a to store whether an individual server's address should be displayed. Despite addresses no longer being rendered beginning with 13w41a, hideAddress was not removed until 1.7.6-pre1.

The sequence is therefore:

13w39b:

• Server addresses are rendered.

• Address visibility controls have a function.

13w41a:

• The server list is redesigned.

• Server addresses are no longer rendered.

• hideServerAddress consequently loses its practical server-list function.

• Per-server hideAddress data still exists.

1.7.6-pre1:

• The now-unused per-server hideAddress data is removed.

The disappearance coincides with the substantial server-list redesign in 13w41a, which added server icons and multi-line MOTDs. In the older layout, the server entry effectively contained:

Server name
MOTD
Server address

The redesigned layout uses the corresponding space for the server icon and additional MOTD text, while the address-rendering behavior is absent.

I could not find an announcement or documented change explaining that server address display, or the functionality controlled by hideServerAddress, was intentionally removed.

This report is therefore about two directly related regressions beginning with 13w41a:

1. The loss of the existing server-address display in the multiplayer server list.

2. The resulting loss of the practical functionality of hideServerAddress.

This is not a request to introduce a new server-list feature. Both the address display and the controls governing its visibility existed before 13w41a.