Quite a bit has been going on behind the scenes lately as we prepare 6.5 for open beta. Here is a quick rundown of a few major items that have been added to the engine since the last update. (I have not listed every update, as there have been hundreds, only the major items are listed here, many more things have been added as wel.)
- New AI System using A*, including pathfinding using Node or Grid-based systems
- Command line converter update, allowing automatic conversion of MDL to TVA, 3DS to TVM, and OBJ to TVM
- Many updates to the plugins, for stability, and ease of use
- Integrated lightmap generator
- ParticleEditor released, along with a few sample particle systems
- Physics-based explosion method added, making for easy explosions that react to the entire environment
- Manual mesh creation using SetGeometry is now working
- Updates to many of the internal shaders
- All of the 6.2 atmosphere functions are now ported and working
- CPU-based transformations added for actors, in case the card does not support T&L
- Point mesh and line mesh types added
- Added ability to lock internal shaders to a max shader version
- TVPackage added, including fast encryption and streaming extraction direct into any TV class
- Texture splatting added to landscape, allowing for very pretty landscape textures to be generated on the fly
- Landscape LOD added
- Added GenerateUV to create UV maps for meshes that are created on the fly. Great for normalmaps, PRT, or lightmaps.
- Added Per-Pixel PRT
- Many new additions in the physics engine, including new joint types, and speed enhancements.
- Added ragdoll support, and upgraded the physics vehicle support.
- Added an internal "smoothed timer" to make animations and particles run smoother, even in choppy FPS environments
- Fixed bugs with ALT-TAB and switching between windowed and fullscreen, should work all of the time now rather quickly
- Ability to disable the Windows key (useful for fullscreen apps)
- Added ability to edit textures in TextureFactory. Get/SetPixel, and more.
- Added bumpmaps and more params to the internal water shader, making the build-in water much more pleasing to the eye
Some of the tools now available for beta users include:
ModelView - Undergoing updates to increase productivity in the art pipeline
ParticleEditor - For creating and editing particle systems with ease
PackageBuilder - Allows users to create unencrypted and encrypted packages
I will let Sylvain post more updates later on. We'll attempt to keep these more frequent for our non-beta users. (Beta users see updates on a weekly basis, one more reason to purchase a license and join the beta users!)
DS
