I've just tested the attached "World1" on 1.8.8. The bug is still present, it is NOT fixed. Please reopen this issue.
Video: https://youtu.be/-R3NcdsBY0g
Snippet of the game output log:
[21:10:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Starting integrated minecraft server version 1.8.8
[21:10:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Generating keypair
[21:10:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Converting map!
[21:10:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Scanning folders...
[21:10:04] [Server thread/INFO]: Total conversion count is 4
[21:10:05] [Server thread/INFO]: Converting... 20%
[21:10:06] [Server thread/INFO]: Converting... 25%
[21:10:08] [Server thread/INFO]: Converting... 55%
[21:10:09] [Server thread/INFO]: Converting... 66%
[21:10:10] [Server thread/INFO]: Converting... 88%
[21:10:10] [Server thread/INFO]: Preparing start region for level 0
[21:10:10] [Server thread/WARN]: Wrong location! (3, -10) should be (3, -11), uq['Painting'/52, l='World1', x=58.50, y=80.00, z=-159.97]
[21:10:11] [Server thread/INFO]: Changing view distance to 12, from 10
If someone wants to try the script written by Gargaj, I'm attaching a compiled version. I used Visual Studio Community 2013 to compile both Substrate and Gargaj's script into a .NET 4 executable.
I also made a video showing this bug in the World1 level attached to this issue: https://youtu.be/BZoom0KzE9g
Mojang developers: it would be great to have this fixed, if not for 1.8, at least for 1.9.
Attaching a world that was first created years ago, last played also years ago. Steps to see this issue:
1. Upon selecting this world, it will convert to the newer format.
2. When the game starts, it takes about 10 seconds to the world actually start rendering.
3. When it finally renders, the player is stuck (this is another bug!). The player needs to break the two blocks in their feet to get unstuck and start moving.
4. Right where you start there should have been a lot of chests, but there are none. Also, if you walk forward in the same floor, you will see a downwards stair leading to a double door, but the door on the left will be glitched (this is the "half-door" has also been mentioned earlier in this issue report).
Opening in 1.7.2, 1.7.4, 1.7.10 seems to work fine.
Opening in 1.8 or 1.8.1 is broken, and has the behavior described by this issue.
Opening in 1.7.x and then opening in 1.8 also reproduces this bug.
So, this bug is related to the conversion to 1.8 format.
I did a comparison of opening "World1" in several Minecraft versions: https://youtu.be/-ck2NcqBIPA
Opening it in 1.0 or 1.1 works fine, besides some lighting issues.
Opening it in 1.2 will convert the format to Anvil. There will be some lighting issues as well, and the doors will be placed in the wrong orientation (i.e. using a different logic than in earlier versions). However, the orientation of the chests is correctly fixed during the conversion.
Opening it in 1.3, 1.4, or any version up to 1.7 has the same results: the conversion will not correct the orientation of the chests. The door conversion seems to be the same as 1.2 (i.e. wrong orientation).
Opening it in 1.8 has disastrous results. All chests will be gone, several doors will be glitched, and the paintings will be dropped from walls. Also note that I had 3 paintings hanging on walls, but only 2 were to be found inside the room. I suspect the third one was dropped elsewhere, at the wrong location, possibly behind a wall.
If I first convert the world in 1.2 (the only version the corrects the chests orientations), and then open the 1.2-converted world in later versions, at least the chests will be preserved. The doors will still have the wrong orientation, and 1.8 will still have the same issues (glitched doors, dropped paintings, spawning inside a block).