9 replies to this topic

[xCico]

So in summer CDU they are mentioned new engine? Im not so informed so anybody know what engine they will put? And will new engine require higher PC specs?

[Booran]

Not a whole new engine, it's an upgrade to the current CryEngine. It will probably make for better performance across the board, mostly.

[xCico]

Ooh okay then, thanks

[Team Leader]

Engine upgrade in question is DX11, currently we are using DX9 I believe. DX11 has better compatibility with newer graphics cards and runs smoother, supposedly.

[xCico]

Team Leader, on 29 July 2013 - 05:50 AM, said:

Engine upgrade in question is DX11, currently we are using DX9 I believe. DX11 has better compatibility with newer graphics cards and runs smoother, supposedly.

Yep every graphic card with DX11 will get few FPS up

[Farix]

Team Leader, on 29 July 2013 - 05:50 AM, said:

Engine upgrade in question is DX11, currently we are using DX9 I believe. DX11 has better compatibility with newer graphics cards and runs smoother, supposedly.

Eh, no. The engine update is updating CryEngine from 3.4.1 to 3.4.5. DirectX 11 is an entirely separate update.

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

Reference the update to the Cryengine.

The newest version 3.4.5 was released a short while ago and lists the following release notes. Not everything in this notes section will be pertinent to our MWO game but combined with the previous updates we should see some improvement in Pc systems overall graphics load, as well as enabling additional features.

Here's the release notes:
-This is from the "Free" version and not the "Commercial licensed" product, so there are many additional items that you won't see unless you have a licence.-


CryENGINE 3.4.5 Release Notes (Free Version)

Fixed
• Out of memory crash and random snow appearance in levels.
• Remove deprecated "merge static geometry" option.
• Scrolling was sending wrong mouse coordinates which makes the rotate screen flip out.
• Potential crash when a server session shuts down and a client tries to connect at the same time.
• Player profile (no save implementation) uses incorrect SaveProfile signature.
• Animations don't update after player revives.
• Client side collision handling.
• Fixed Mounted Gun pointing to incorrect particle effect.
• ALT-Tabbing from Editor game mode doesn't confine cursor anymore.
• Fixed possible/rare crash with null shader pointer in EF_AddParticle.
• Fire particle needs to be reloaded to turn on/off debug draw.
• Fixed muzzle-flash delay, connect-to-origin particles, and other issues: CParticle.Update() is again called in all cases from CParticle.Init(), handles negative ages.
• FG: The 'Door' Entity Locked/Unlocked function cannot be triggered using flowgraph.
• Vehicle Editor component bound size.
• Making a change to a level, creating a new level and Cancelling when asked if you want to save your current level crashes the editor.
• Wrong set of sound velocity when updating particle sounds (velocity is calculated internally).

Tweak
• Changed SphereRandomPos function algorithm to be single-pass, using parametric phi/theta/z coords.
• Set AreaBezierVolume entity to invisible as it's obsolete.
• Removed destroy vehicle on submerge in DM gamerules.
• Increased flash memory space to 64MB on PC, set to 32MB for console.
• Select Objects tool: realigned elements, fixed elements artifacting from resize, limited minimum window size to ensure all content is displayed.
• Set Gravity entities to use same Editor gravity icon.
• Updated flag entity model and Editor icon.
• Set gravitysphere entity to place icon at pivot, not at top of sphere.
• Increased vegetation sprite texture resolution.
• Tweaked SCAR muzzleflash light to be more orange, added muzzleflash light to single firemode.
• Pressurized object, set to canister model, changed leak particle effect.

New Feature
• Added OffsetInnerScale param, to define inner emission volume.
• Change ca_UseIMG_AIM = 1, ca_UseIMG_CAF = 1.
• Added scroll wheel support for Flash in Launcher.


And as you see from the listings further down the 3 previous versions have a hugh amount of fix's and tweaks that MWO did not get when they started using the original CryEngine 3. So lets hope the update to the engine brings a smoother operation for the engineers and game designers.
After looking at all the updated versions I can understand why MWO was having so many problems with there current engine, so many things where broken or not optimized correctly, this is not a "yea lets just update the engine" easy thing for MWO to do. So many past changes to the code are dependent on the structure of the CryEngine and now require a through review of all the game dynamics when a entire update is compiled.
I so hope this version of the engine allows for further optimisation and reduces the load on most systems. When Ui2.0 arrives this updated engine should be where the game needs to be, (or at least better than it was before) and hoping for an improved interface and graphics.


And as a treat here's one of the images they use for the "cookbook" component advertisement.
(nice light through the trees effect) [Why can't our game look like this!]





All for now,
9erRed

Edited by 9erRed, 30 July 2013 - 01:10 PM.

[General Taskeen]

Wait whut? Why are the CryEngine people using the MW:LL Cougar and Owens for their advertisement lol? Is this a sign of MW:LL 2?

Edited by General Taskeen, 29 July 2013 - 02:29 PM.

[Farix]

You also forgot to include the release notes for 3.4.2, 3.4.3, and 3.4.4.

Release Notes 3.4.2:

Spoiler

Known Issues:

• The compiled Maya Exporter from 3.4.1 should used; rebuilding the Maya exporter using the CryENGINE 3.4.2 codebase will result into inability to export ANM files for CGA objects (currently under investigation).
  
• Possible crash on startup with certain AMD GPU/driver combinations (currently under investigation).

New Features:

• Z-sorting on 2d entity tags.
  
• Added function RigidBodyEx:Event_Reset.
  
• FlashUI reloading in Sandbox loads new UIActions.
  
• Prompt for changes if UIActions have local changes before reloading is issued via Sandbox.
  
• Added support for (Lua) entity IDs and (3D) vectors in UI script bind functions.
  
• UIEvents can have input and output params.
  
• Improves the screen-space reflection. - Do the pass in 32bit buffers instead of HDR buffers - Fix the issue of the SSR blurring entire specular result - Fix the issue of RGBK encoding in TexToTexPS() not working.
  
• Added option to use plane to material editor preview, and set it as default.
  
• Add support for signal variables to group behaviors and pass group signals down to group members.
  
• Extended particle MoveRelEmitter param to provide option for moving tails as well.
  
• Added flownode to call Lua functions on entities.
  
• Set output dir to default tools folder.
  
• Dedicated server runs through LAN/GameSpy Lobby.
  
• Fix for editor start crash when 'terrain editor' window is opened.
  
• Attachments: CharAttachHelper Entity can now be used to attach things to the player character as well.
  
• Module nodes will return instance id.
  
• Allow to update/cancel instanced modules via module instance id.
  
• Helper to map a user id to a module instance id.
  
• Some helper functions for SUIArguments.
  
• Allow LUA script to handle UI Events.
  
• AddArgument will keep type of given TUIData and not change to any type.
  
• Vehicle fatal collision effect.
  
• Shadow/glow/gradient/color adjustment.
  
• Enabled lockless rendering with filters.
  
• Allow to convert float to bool.
  
• JobSystem priorities, allows better control over when a job is executed - Should also spare ~30kb of memory and allows more fine grained control over the job queue sizes.
  
• Input Actions can now choose to go through the actionfilter.
  
• Added runtime check for correct UI parameter names (no whitepsaces allowed!).
  
• Emitter Strength now usable for non-continuous emitters, increases with particle count.
  
• Some autoconversation from ui arg to lua arg to find best mathing conversation on any data types.
  
• LUA debugger loads correct UI folder.
  
• Flowgraph Editor edge highlighting on mouse over.
  
• Add function BasicEntity:Event_Reset().
  
• Introduced LUA UI Actions.
  
• Unregister LUA UI listener.
  
• Added Flownode for disabling ThirdPersonCameraCollision, added Flownode for manual ThirdPersonCameraAdjustment.
  
• AI: 1) If Trace goalop does not Control Speed, just set the target desired speed immediately. 2) Slow down vehicles when slope increases.

Refactoring:

• Renamed source files for greater consistency: partman => ParticleManager, partpolygon => ParticleRender.
  
• Renamed CPartManager to CParticleManager, and use standard Instance() singleton.
  
• Moved MoveRelEmitter and related params from Visibility to Movement section.
  
• Exposed IRenderMesh::DrawImmediately.
  
• Simplified smart_ptr operators, removed many redundant copmare and conversion overloads. Now require manual conversion to bool, like regular pointer; use != 0 or !!
  
• First step to enabling shadows on particles for DX9: Set shader flags for all platforms. Also allow shadows on non-soft-particles.
  
• DXPS: Some cleanup regarding returned error codes for device functions.
  
• Cleanup of unused DXPS_SUPPORT_10HZFLIP.
  
• AI: Renamed COPTrace::ExecutePreamble to CheckIfPathIsEmpty.
  
• Converted obscure FluidTexture option to an enum.

Fixed:

• Make sure one can start a multiplayer game without UI. Console commands use LAN lobby to create and connect to games now.
  
• SAVELOAD: CRASH: The game crashes when using saveload; CActor::PostSerialize().
  
• Make sure entities respect 'collision_proxy' materials.
  
• Changed NormalizeFast to (safe) Normalize, potential 0 vector.
  
• ForceFeedbackSystem console variable renamed.
  
• Fixed assert in CUIManager if AddGameWarning is called too early.
  
• MoveRelEmitter, fixed position and velocity scaling for indirect particles.
  
• Only trigger UIEntityGetTag node it get port is triggered!
  
• Rare LCP solver issue.
  
• Default lighting settings are way too dark.
  
• Make sure outside-the-grid physics collisions are on in character editor mode.
  
• Investigate "dancing" HMMWVs.
  
• Fixed ParticleEffect OnPropertyChange to modify rather than respawn emitter.
  
• Fixed soft particle gradient to be properly size-relative. Removed unneeded particleThickCoef register var. Other minor shader fixes.
  
• Make sure vehicles' InitialPosition and InitialOrientation are set only once, on vehicle spawn.
  
• Fixed touch-bending activation for entities.
  
• Fixed crash if ini files not exist.
  
• Crash on serializing without gamerules.
  
• Prevent non-existing files from trying to load.
  
• More accurate GetMemoryUsage reporting for emitter structures.
  
• Made colliding independent objects (ropes, cloth) respect their timestep caps.
  
• Vehicle Editor omits parameter Vehicle.Seat.View.name when saving the XML file.
  
• Fixed linear constraint serialization.
  
• Made sure nRenderList in render params works for statobjects.
  
• Added missing manage button in the editor preferences which leads to exceptions for the automatic control resizing.
  
• Make third-person view return (like in first-person).
  
• Fixed crash in Emitter.EmitParticle of procedurally broken objects – error in maintaining StatObj reference.
  
• Don't set viewport if ePT_FixedDynTexSize size is used.
  
• Potential deadlocking on collider/contact removal.
  
• Fixed editor hang when creating particle effect with empty group name.
  
• 0ptr check during material overrides.
  
• Third-person camera now casts rays from the goal to current camera position, not the reverse
  
• Button disappears on click.
  
• No wrong warnings if LUA call failed.
  
• Minor fix; call stop on FlowVideoPlayer node in init.
  
• Fixed div-zero crash in particle emission.
  
• Fixed SCA error.
  
• Lua exception when Hazard applied to AI entities.
  
• Hazard.lua: Switched from "entity.actor:IsPlayer()" to "entity == g_localActorId".
  
• Applying a texture to a Layer will add that texture to the preview window of all layers below it. Fix: Texture path was broken.
  
• Allow to use SUILookupTable accross dl boundaries if build in different configurations.
  
• Don't invalidate already returned IUIEventSystem pointers on registering new event systems.
  
• Correct arg check on wchar.
  
• Unregister LUA UI listener fixes.
  
• Ticking/Unticking vegetation boxes is unreliable and doesn't always result in vegetation disappearing/reappearing.
  
• Compile fixes, and removal of Is() function.
  
• Fixed broken lifetime calculation.
  
• FREEZE: Game may freeze in: CrySystem.dll!JobManager::ThreadBackEnd::CThreadBackEndWorkerThread::DoWork()".
  
• FREEZE: Game froze up while gameplay in ( SJobFinishedConditionVariable::Acquire )" - Fixed Issue in jobmanager which can happen during heavy load, which leads to a worker reading an updated pull ptr, but hasn't yet read a updated push ptr, this lead to having the pull pointer overtake the push pointer followed by a freeze due broken internal logic.
  
• Fixes for freezes.
  
• FREEZE: Game may freeze in: CrySystem.dll!JobManager::SJobQueue<512,4096,2048>::GetJobSlot(unsigned int & rJobSlot, unsigned int nPriorityLevel, bool bWaitForFreeJobSlot) " - Ensures that wrap around for previous infoblock round is correctly handled.
  
• Fixes to rope collision filtering and rope-terrain collisions.
  
• Fixed UIEmulator to invoke functions correctly (since they added as string make sure to add them as any type to perform auto conversation).
  
• Restored crack_decals for breakable glass.
  
• Provide a way to figure out if a given action filter is enabled or disabled.
  
• Fixed correct symbol resolving on pc.
  
• Further fix to particle scaling.
  
• Entities with Receive Wind set would not display in editor.
  
• Emulator event log not attached correctly if pane has size 0.
  
• AI: When following a path, make sure lookahead position does not get stuck.
  
• Fixed particle texture variant count.
  
• AreaManager wrong order of calling Leave/EnterArea and settings cached area values.
  
• Adding back teh QuatT operator=.
  
• Cloth serialization issue.
  
• Crash on exiting Launcher (Sound Obstruction Test).
  
• ‘Export Terrain at Marker as Geometry' button removed (deprecated).
  
• Clone functions for FlashUI nodes.
  
• Changed LCGRandom seed from class static to instance, matching MTRand implementation, and allowing independent generators.
  
• Cloth-related fixes un UnprojectSphere for some primitives.
  
• Cannot open Pak file /dds0.pak.
  
• Properly creating a non existing FlowgraphModules folder if it doesn't exist.
  
• Fixed assert in UIInput due to wchar arg.
  
• Fix to position lag on just-emitted particles, especially MoveRelEmitter muzzle flashes.
  
• Fixed serialization of rigidbody breakable glass.
  
• Fixes to emit rate and reserve count: increase reserve count for pulsing, and for extended child particle lifetimes. Increase count for particles rejected previous frame. Mostly eliminates rejected particles.
  
• Particle lifetime code cleanup and opt: GetMaxEffectLife, GetMaxParticleFullLife cleaner, faster, correcter. GetIndirectParent replaces IsIndirect, more consistent. GetEquilibriumAge more correct.
  
• AI: Crash in COPTrace::CheckIfPathIsEmpty.
  
• Fix de-virtualization warning for LocalizedStringManager.
  
• STL Assert and Crash when deleting WAIT GoalOp.
  
• Restored previous offset behavior, changed in version 43: Emit offsets again applied in emitter coords, not transformed by FocusAngle.
  
• Further improvement to soft particle fading, more consistent and compatible setting of OUT.ScreenProj.
  
• Small fix to entity slot local matrices.
  
• Fixed serialization compatibility with AnimCycle bool being converted to enum.
  
• Compiler warning fixes.
  
• Some constraints improvements/fixes.
  
• Crash when attaching pfx to anims in char editor.
  
• Issue with rotated inactive cloth.
  
• Small fix for attached soft bodies.
  
• AreaManager fails to fire LeaveArea for last player leaving an area.
  
• Fixes to statobj skinning multithreading.
  
• Fixed crash in CVehicleClient::OnAction.
  
• Open File Dialog, Updated DialogBrowser.
  
• Vehicle Editor omits some parameters of Vehicle.Seat.View when saving the XML file
  
• Reversed particle Y axis reversed to match texture orientation, fixes flipped particles.

Added:

• Added helper.mtl to prevent console error, affects replaceme balls.
  
• Added ReplaceMeCm.tif to suppress error in console.

Deleted:

• AI: Removed PolygonSetOps

Tweaks:

• Changed some warnings to errors.
  
• Removed unnecessary water options from Terrain Texture Layers menu.
  
• Adjusted Entity Events section in rollupbar. Hid unused buttons (Pick New, Mission Handler, Remove) and moved Send button to top left. Realigned Run, Goto, Add buttons.
  
• Changed Layer "Apply" button to "Save Layer".
  
• Creating proper default folders for level based Flowgraph Modules.
  
• Keep stiffness scale when ragdollizing the actor.
  
• Terrain Layers rollupbar. Upped Altitude limit from 1024 to 4096. Shrunk Layers list and adjusted panel to fit screen better.
  
• Deleting obsolete GameCode solutions.
  
• Separation between global and level based flowgraph modules (in the Flowgraph Editor UI).
  
• Launcher: Quality setting not being saved in attributes.xml.
  
• Changed vehicle health to effect in modification only, added extra exhaust helper.
  
• Shading.cfg reintroduced SSAOQuality = 3. Removed duplicate/unneeded entries.
  
• Gray out Enabled and Tracepoint context menu entries if no breakpoint exists for this port.
  
• Replace "Lighting" button with "TimeOfDay" button.
  
• Removed unneeded setting of stop event in remoteconsole.
  
• Fixing GameCode solutions.
  
• StringHelpers: added many code page converting functions.
  
• StringHelpers: replaced 'new' arrays by std::vector.
  
• Added AscciiUtf16 fucntion to StringHelpers.
  
• Connecting Cancel start and end ports for newly created Flowgraph modules instead of Update and Cancel.
  
• Create string port for wchar data type.
  
• Updated InteractiveEntity object.
  
• HMMWV.lua: 1) Slow down at peaks. 2) Perform collision avoidance more often.
  
• ParticleParams.Connected sub-structure now inherits from bool, toggling expansion of further options.

Optimization:

• Refactored ParticleCollection to use intrusive links rather than separate link array, for reduced memory access, and more re-ordering functionality. (CParticle with links still <= 128 bytes). Additionally, member initialisation behavior is a ParticleCollection template param.
  
• Removed ParticleCollection::full_traverser, no longer need to iterate over reserved members. ParticleCollection is now fully reset and reallocated when needed due to editor param changes.
  
• Removed unneeded Normalize for unit vector.
  
• Improves SSR (screen-space reflection). - r_SSReflections 2 : SSR with blurring - r_SSReflections 3 : SSR with the other blurring - r_SSReflections 4 : 3 + diffuse reflection.
  
• Better EmitParticle handling, simpler and cleaner container structures, using particle pools for memory.
  
• Merged Particle and Emitter memory pools for better mem usage.
  
• Particles now init and allocate storage on construction rather than in separate loop.
  
• Support more complex intersections on PC.
  
• Improvement to particle reserve count allocation; computed per-frame for pulsing and parent particles.
  
• Param spline values now serialized only with required digits of precision.
  
• Improved branches with ropes attached to ropes.
  
• Removed old particle threading code and USE_JOB_SYSTEM_FOR_PARTICLES flag (now always true). Simplified CREParticle memory management, removing many unneeded containers and functions. Now display memory both allocated and used for particle rendering.
  
• Removed CVehicleMovementArcadeWheeled::m_prevAngle.
  
• Improved character ropes/cloth skinning.
  
• Don't update viewport on elements that are not visible.
  
• Added alignment to CTypeInfo. Removed unneeded bUnionAlias field. Removed check for "Inline" attribute, refactored TVarParam to inherit from its data type.
  
• Spline data values now serialized only with significant digits of precision.
  
• Stopped collision raycasts if boid is stationary.
  
• Reduced number of synchronous casts to 1 in 3 frames.
  
• Cloth tweaks (mostly for characters).

Release Notes 3.4.3:

Spoiler

Fixed:

• Thread stays locked on editor exit.
  
• Fixed particle targeting bugs: bShrink behavior, bIgnore flag.
  
• Potential crash due to wrong checks for MAX_SUB_MATERIALS array size.
  
• Fixed ParticleEffect entity Kill event, no longer requires Disable before Enable.
  
• Fixed the vehicleBurnPos was rotated 90 degrees wrong. The effect was pointing forward not up, now fixed.
  
• Fixed lifetime of emitters with ParticleLifeTime = 0: particles last through life of emitter, then die instantly.
  
• Fixed and optimized some bounding box computations.
  
• Clouds don't render correctly.
  
• Launcher crashed on exit. Now shutdown game before renderer.
  
• Animation Graph Layout loading.
  
• Fixed crash when voxel objects flag "ComputeAO" is getting disabled.
  
• Moved Glow pass before Transparent pass, to not occlude particles.
  
• Fixed UISettings to work if some CVars are not defined.
  
• Fixed invalid CVar being called on PerfHUD ().
  
• Sandbox start position at 1024, should be 0.
  
• Ocean height not reset on new level.
  
• Tick render mesh only on the render thread.
  
• Fixed positioning and texture coords of newest particle in ConnectToOrigin mode.
  
• Fixed inefficient repetition of lookahead collision checks when turbulence enabled.
  
• Initialize EmitParticleData fields to fix FPE in debug.
  
• Save/load setting for AlwaysShowAdvancedHelpers in sandbox.
  
• Added fatal error in case Scaleform memory limit exceeded.
  
• Crashfix for Scaleform colorMatrixFilter.
  
• Sending ESYSTEM_EVENT_LEVEL_LOAD_START event twice in Sandbox.
  
• Proper fix for fog volume sorting: Set valid Distance value for RenderObjects for fog volumes and other render types. Fixed FogVolumeRenderNode distance function to return correct distance.
  
• Fixed crash on exit by preventing duplicate D3DSurface frees. Fixed a couple of other on-exit errors.
  
• Panning around in the Preview window cause key-repeat noise.
  
• Fixed RendParams.fDistance < 0 bug in particle geom rendering.
  
• Fix the fog volume render order bug.
  
• Switching away from a weapon with scope_mode = 1 without zooming in will always set your DrawNearFov to 60.
  
• Check against faulty gravity.
  
• Editor startup viewport rendering.
  
• Fixed programmatic EmitParticle function, e.g. muzzle flashes, sometimes ignored first emission. Now always emit in regular update thread, no longer special case in main thread.
  
• Crash: Entity:Attachment flownode doesn't unregister itself as an entity event listener ().
  
• Tessellated object LODs cast shadow on next highest LOD.
  
• The raycast could have failed if the ray was passing through the intersection of several triangles.
  
• The raycast could fail if the start point is exactly on the edge of one triangle. This will make the first intersection returning a distance of 0 that should be excluded.
  
• Fixed level loading error handling.
  
• Potential Crash when drawing number of shadow frustums and allocs (r_displayinfo).
  
• Creating GravityVolume flowgraph node causes crash when going in-game.
  
• Fixed vehicle enter in profile build.
  
• Fixed "Runaway thread" log spam during voxel triangulation.
  
• Voxel editing log spam disabled.
  
• Fixed bugs with moving particle effects between parents; names were wrong, or effects disappeared. Simplified re-parenting APIs.
  
• Library Manager no longer adds unneeded 0 to new item names.
  
• Water is brown in the 'Terrain Editor' Preview window.
  
• Incorrect entity locator position when using animation blending.
  
• Fixed black polygons on Connected particles with ConnectToOrigin (prevent 0 axes).
  
• Corrected calculation of e_ParticlesMinDrawPixels check.
  
• Minimap generation / X-Axis bug.
  
• Problems with chain-linked physicalized entities.
  
• Fixed particle iteration infinite looping – inconsistent checking of sliding state. Removed unneeded ParticleUpdateContext.bHasDeviation.
  
• The else case of PushPointInsideTriangle was still using the locationToCenter instead of triangleCenter value.
  
• (Voxels causes very long surface generation times) disabled too precise computation of terrain normals.
  
• HMMWV Major overhaul damage/health levels and wheels/axle configs. Increased friction mod on the wheels and back/front differences. Reset the max dmg levels back to standard levels and also reduced the bullet dmg modifier back to 0.1
  
• Fix precision issue in ClosestPtPointTriangle (used by navigation system).
  
• Fixing the "canShoot" TPS test. The vWeaponDelta was wrongly calculated.
  
• Car reset broken for clients.
  
• Fix dynamic frozen shader, unify dynamic and static paths.
  
• Fixed some particle pulsing and initialization bugs.
  
• Fixes to emitter lifetime and priming computations.
  
• Fixed array bounds crash in tail rendering.
  
• Support for high resolution environment probes in DX9.

Optimization:

• Streamlined effect serialization functions, removed FStringConversion aggregated struct.
  
• Simplified application of MinPixels particle param. Param now also prevents distance culling.

Refactored:

• Cleaned up IParticles API: Replaced Manager.DeleteEmitter() with Emitter.Kill(); Emitter.GetParticleEffect() with GetEffect(). Removed duplicate and unused functions, fixed const.
  
• Renamed CParticleLocEmitter to more descriptive CParticleSource. Renamed LifeTime and StopAge members to EndAge, for consistency.
  
• Refactoring, saves struct memory and 100 lines of code. ParticleLocEmitter inherits from SParticleMoveState and SParticleTimeState, uses standard QuatTS composite type for location. Particle and Emitter now inherit directly from ParticleLocEmitter, for SubEmitter creation, saving duplicate code. Removed Particle.pChildEmitter.
  
• Simplified vortex and target movement functions.
  
• Changed separate location members in CParticle to standard QuatTS, for better interoperability and simplicity.

Tweak:

• Updated mine entity to use new asset.
  
• Added constants for globally tweaking particle lighting values (= 1 by default). Changed ambient lighting gradient to start at bottom, not horizontal.
  
• Using MNM by default for AI navigation.
  
• Added all rain entity properties to the flowevents + triggering Enabled and Disabled output ports.
  
• Updated advanced door.lua to point to existing asset. Updated localization text to reference "use_door" text.
  
• Enable r_ssdo 2 by default instead of 1, for sys_spec 4. 2 provides additional AO at no performance hit.
  
• Updated localization folder.
  
• Debug tool - v_debugsounds 1 - need modifying.
  
• Updated fan entity to use new model and updated explosion settings.
  
• Updated e_ParticlesDebug help. Made obsolete cvar e_ParticlesEmitterPoolSize invisible.
  
• Particle DebugBounds code now colors particle red when out of static bounds.
  
• Removed duplicate CVars from sys_spec 4.

New Features:

• Game will wait for entered players.
  
• Read XML files from LUA.
  
• Added checkAmmo flownode.
  
• Added gravityInAirMult to arcadeWheeled.
  
• Arcadewheel improvements for stability.
  
• Coop Animation FG node now has a button to directly bring up a dialog with the available animations for the entities. This works the same way as the PlayAnimation and the SynchronizeAnimations FG node. (usability improvement).
  
• New FlowGraph node to set an AnimationGraph Variation Input via FG.
  
• IK FlowGraph Nodes: All IKTarget FG nodes now dynamically update the rotation and position offset - this allows for moving an IKTarget in local space at runtime.
  
• Update macro tooltips / target buttons on file changes.
  
• Ability to rename vegetation groups.
  
• Added "Remove Category" functionality to vegetation panel menu.
  
• Switch consoles to binary xml file format.
  
• Added a FG node to playback facial sequences on an entity.
  
• Added example macros.ini.
  
• Replaced SecondGeneration and SpawnOnParentCollision params with SpawnIndirection, with enums for Direct, ParentStart, ParentCollision, and (new) ParentDeath. Refactored parent container particle allocation, and ParticleCollection freelist management, to support emitting from expired parent particles. Freelist now cycles as a queue, keeping expired data longer.
  
• Added flag to set damage on flipped.
  
• Being able to disable devmode in non-release builds (-nodevmode command line pre-argument) - NON EDITOR ONLY.
  
• Added GlassShards screen effect.
  
• Render 3D model in HUD.
  
• Multiplayer map can be start with gamerules of choice.
  
• Coop FG Node allows optionally for an entity to be set as a target location instead of having to specify position and rotation individually (convenience)
  
• Converted tail history to also use QuatTS, now incorporate size history in tail rendering.

Release Notes 3.4.4:

Spoiler

Fixed:

• PlayerRotation WriteLockCond
  
• Selecting objects behind a frozen Group is buggy
  
• Fixed crash when HMMWV blows up
  
• Problem with cylinder-box unprojection with certain alignments
  
• Fixed particles orientation
  
• Potential crash if SmartObjectManager is already deleted (VehicleSeatActionWeapons)
  
• Misc fixes: printf errors, divide by 0
  
• Fixed bitmask overflows
  
• Fixed Save Game Warning
  
• CryLight skin: Menu check marks do not show
  
• Crash on levelreload if Model3DHud was still active
  
• UI: Don't block input if element is fading
  
• Fixed crash on exit by preventing duplicate D3DSurface frees. Fixed a couple of other on-exit errors
  
• Incorrect lod choosing for multi-mesh static objects
  
• Fixed and greatly improved particle target motion: no longer applies velocity twice; target orbit fraction computed from particle start age; radial motion properly separated from orbital motion; faster average radius for angular velocity computation
  
• MaxCryExport: disabling skin/skel extensions, integrated solution configurations for Max2013
  
• ShapeDeformations not existing were causing a crash on loading an object with morphs
  
• Always reset empty and alloc chunks if we remove the last one in FixedAllocator
  
• Fixed invalid packet structure when there are no joints
  
• Fixed bug with Material Editor and TOD dialog being resizable to almost nothing, minimum now 400x300
  
• Fixed physics debug draw checkbox in rendering panel not enabling
  
• EntityObject now sets correct world-space SRendParams.fDistance (using BB radius for size)
  
• Qhull 64bit issue
  
• Decals on characters (changed decal bbox debug color to red, proper decal spawning on skinned attachments, cleaned up CreateDecalsOnInstance code)
  
• Box-cylinder unprojection issue
  
• Much better precision on MoveRelative feature, prevents particle drift
  
• Force state change to FallAndPlay when an actor falls
  
• Dedicated Server support for custom GameDLL names (would crash otherwise)
  
• Adding entityClass name to the NavigationAreaObject (It also appears as type in the list of the objets available in the level)
  
• Fixed Normalize-0 error for vertical camera angles
  
• If gamerules don't exist default to DeathMatch
  
• Wrong cloning of LogicOnce nodes
  
• Fixed rocketlauncher not spawning impact decal material. Commented out decal/pfx code in ammo scripts
  
• The sphere physics primitive is now correctly voxelized. Added support for the capsule voxelization
  
• Wrong deallocation if it is the last chunk in FixedAllocator
  
• BST Editor wouldn't reload properly due to missing registration
  
• Potential crash if the SmartObjectManager doesn't exist anymore (VehicleDamageBehaviorBurn)
  
• Wrong use of decal texture on Mine Entity (deprecated feature)
  
• Cylinder-cylinder contact normal issue
  
• Wrongly setting entity slot when setting the particle emitter (breaks spawning at random render geometry locations if particle emitter is not linked to another entity)
  
• Pain sounds not working with new localization system
  
• Cheat protected sound CVars error
  
• Don't fill UI stack on disabled and invalid UI actions
  
• Sanity check in UIActions

Optimization:

• Particle stats gathering optimisation and consolidation, 200 lines less code. No longer allocate stats in CParticleEffect; collect dynamically in map
  
• Removed some obsolete negative-age particle code
  
• Brush object no collision switching
  
• Accurate frustum culling for particles, 60% more particles culled than cone culling, approx same speed
  
• Change the default Editor helpers icon size from 1 -> 0.5
  
• Removed complex XML cache in CParticleEffect; now load all effects in lib, and delete unused on level start, saves even more memory
  
• Small buoyancy tweaks for rigid entities

Tweak:

• Disabled force feedback in system.cfg, not needed during development
  
• Removed wrong assert in CreateSound
  
• Refactored stereoscopic window to fit properly in the rollupbar
  
• Increased default min fall angle to 70 degrees
  
• Removed disabling of geometry instancing in system cfg
  
• Added warning for levels with spaces in name. Added warning for heightmaps larger than 4096. Fixed fault with tools configuration dialog cutting off text
  
• Default LAN port is now 64090
  
• Move change texture sector resolution button from Terrain texture painter to Import/Export terrain texture dialog
  
• Lowered min aniso filter to 4, added min aniso 8 to sys_spec 4, added max aniso 16 to all spec
  
• Updated Splashscreen
  
• Unique names for prefabs based on the library name and not the typename only
  
• Tweaked Texture Generation Tool to give cleaner, less cluttered interface. High quality checked by default

New Features:

• Glowpass: Add Tessellation support
  
• Added option to render params FG that entities in slot 0 can be rendered nearest
  
• Deferred snow entity (with deferred snow blending and snow fall effects)
  
• Added menu entry to character editor for reloading the animation list manually if desired
  
• Vehicles now respond to friction of surface
  
• Persistent debug draw of OBB's and AABB's
  
• Added particle fill stat and sort mode to PerfHud ParticleWidget
  
• Added plane restrictions to character ropes
  
• Bending support for entities and brushes
  
• Define lobby port from command line for multiple server instances
  
• New snowfall texture sheet for snow entities and falling snow
  
• Ropes aren't assigned to a category
  
• Material Editor: Reset material to read-only defaults
  
• Refactored and generalised particle emission offsets, replacing PosRandomOffset scalar with Roundness fraction. Can now spawn in line, rect, box, ellipse, capsule, ellipsoid shapes
  
• Added bEmitOffsetDir option
  
• Mousewheel supported for scaleform
  
• Added flownode to launch projectiles in the world
  
• Changed flownode to check for whitespaces
  
• Screen-space displacement for snow + sprite/particle based snow fall
  
• Added the new sdk_player to the lua to use him as a player chr.
  
• Added RainDropSpeed variable and fucntion to rain entity and exposed said function to flow graph

[Booran]

So many words I'll never understand.