S2ENGINE HD News

Hi to all,

Today we have released the version 2020.3 of S2ENGINE HD.

As anticipated in this version there is an important new feature that will be one of the biggest assets in the future:
The support for multiple gameMachine in a single object.

Starting from this version you will be able to attach more than one gameMachine to an object.
This will allow you to compose behaviours putting together multiple simple logics as showed into the following gif:


The great thing about this approach is that these small logics can be shared among different objects with different combinations of them that generates different behaviours saving a lot of time and simplify things a lot.
We have planned to produce many small gameMachines to be combined together in the near future, some of them will be published on the upcoming Marketplace, some of them will grouped in new DLCs, some of them will be introduced into EasyGamePack DLC or Basic Engine installation.

We have also updated the new Manual with new information about GameMachine:
S2ENGINE HD 2020 manual BETA - Using Game Machine

This could be the beginning of a new era in the evolution of s2engine :D.

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As always we have fIxed other bugs and added some minor features.

Following is the complete RELEASE NOTES list:
[h2]CORE[/h2]

• [NEW] Added "Copy Layer" and "Paste Layer" options in GameMachine
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Now, additional physics shapes don't modify the total mass of the rigidbody.
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added possibility to set parameter "targets" of the spawnObjects GameMachine action using a variable.
  
• [BUGFIX] When setting a source skeleton into the model editor retarget tool the controllers table isn't updated.
  
• [NEW] Added SetMaterialSingleLayerAlpha action in GameMachine
  
• [NEW] Added GetFreeGlobalAudioChannel action in GameMachine
  
• [NEW] Added GetFreeMusicChannel action in GameMachine
  
• [NEW] Added parameter "sleepWhenDie" to Trigger object classes
  
• [NEW] Added parameter "sleepWhenDie" to Switch object classes
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added possibility to set parameter "maxDistance" of the "ObjectIsVisible" GameMachine action using a variable.
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Now AwakeObjects action can be used also to sleep the gameMachine onwer.
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added possibility to set parameters "channel","music",and "fadeTime" of the "CrossFadeMusic" GameMachine action using a variable.
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Improved terrain brush elevation painting.
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Improved terrain brush color painting.
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added shortkey for resizing terrain brush.
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Now you can highlight submesh of an object clicking on one of materials in the material list of the object. It is useful to recognize what part of the object is assigned a given material.
  
• [BUGFIX] Some Terrain configurations do not appears into dynamic reflection cubemap.
  
• [NEW] Added Parameters "LayerID" and "ColGroupID" in Terrain properties
  
• [NEW] Added Parameter "Origin" in Terrain props
  
• [NEW] Multiple GameMachwingle object
  
• [BUGFIX] Sometime engine crashes when creating new road points from segments having sides.
  
• [BUGFIX] When you create an awakeswitch from scratch the value of the open_Sleep and close_Sleep parameters are undefined.
  

[h2]EGP[/h2]

• [NEW] Added "receivers" and "event" parameters to ItemTAG object class.
  
• [NEW] Added "receivers" and "event" parameters to DocumentTAG object class.
  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF YOU WANT TO REVERT TO PREVIOUS VERSION
simply choose the beta: S2ENGINE HD 2020.2.3 beta
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoy and Stay Tuned
PROFENIX STUDIO

• [BUGFIX] If autosave folder doesn't exists it isn't created
  
• [NEW] Added AutosaveFolderPath parameter into editor preferences
  
• [NEW] Added Comment action in GameMachine
  
• [NEW] Added parameter "High Quality Atmosphere" in Configuration dialog.
  

Enjoy,
PROFENIX STUDIO

[h3]CORE[/h3]

• [NEW] Added "leftHanded mouse" option on engine configuration.
  
• [BUGFIX] Graphics Gitches on some INTEL integrated cards.
  
• [BUGFIX] GetEventInfo action sometines gives wrong information about event sender.
  

Enjoy
PROFENIX STUDIO

Hi guys,

We have just discorvered that the files of the ZombiesForS2Engine DLC aren't correctly uploaded since 2020.1 update.
We apologize for the inconvenience and today we have fixed the problem.
Now the Zombie pack should be imported correctly into your newly created project.

[h2]RELEASE NOTES[/h2]

[h3]CORE[/h3]

• [BUGFIX] ZombiesForS2Engine DLC directory is missing (all files of the pack are exposed)
  
• [BUGFIX] AngularSmooth and LinearSmooth parameters of AISetCharacterMaxSpeed action don't work correctly
  
• [BUGFIX] In PrefabViewport collision meshes aren't scaled with the object
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] In FirstPerson basic package the EmptyPlayer now can interact also by sending ACTION event
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] When inserting the first key in a track of a cutscene Now another key is automatically inserted at the end of the track for avoiding interpolation problems.
  

Enjoy and Stay tuned,
PROFENIX STUDIO

Hi to all,

Today we are proud to announce we have released the update to version 2020.2.

[h2]WHAT'S NEW[/h2]
As usual for standard updates, we have fixed some bugs you can find below in RELEASE NOTES.
In addition we have started to work with new multithreading C++ standard libraries.
Thanks to these we have:

• Increased the speed of Voxel Lightmaps computation that now is scalable on the number of CPU cores.
  
• Increased the speed of a small portion of the occlusion culling system that is now scalable on the number of CPU cores.
  

These are very small improvements but they are only the beginning and, at the same time, they proves that new C++ code functionalities can improve the things a lot if used in a certain way.

[h3]Inverse Kinematics[/h3]
We have started to implement an Inverse Kinematics system.
In this version we have added a new action in GameMachine called FootIK.
It can be used for foot placement.
Thanks to FootIK you can write a GameMachine that lets character to procedurally place foots on the ground taking into account ground elevation and slope.
In addition, using FootIK, we have improved the soldier GameMachine in the EasyGamePack DLC with a new solution for making characters to maintain still the foots when they are placed on the ground during walking/running independently from the animation speed. This increases the realism of locomotion and it avoids character to "slide" on the ground.



[h3]Screen Space Shadows[/h3]
We have also added a new shader that, basing on depth map, computes sun shadows in screen space.
It compensates the lack of precision of the sun shadowmap, due to shadowmap resolution limits.
This has 2 consequences:

• It enhances the effect of shadows on small details like character faces, vegetation, etc... expecially when shadows affect translucent / subsurface scattered materials (like human skin)
  
• It highly reduces the "peter pan" artifact of the shadowmap (objects seem to fly on ground)
  

It is of course limited to a small range (infact it is also called "contact shadows" shader) and requires "a bit" of additional computation on GPU, but the results are effective and, once applied, you won't be able to do without it...


[h2]RELEASE NOTES[/h2]

[h3]CORE[/h3]

• [BUGFIX] Lights Clipper doesn't allow more than one clipper
  
• [BUGFIX] RemoveFromLayerMask action do not remove layer if the mask has value "everything"
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added parameter node into RotateTo action in GameMachine
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Now RigidBody accepts mesh collision if it has mass=0
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Now also convex collision meshes can be scaled (for static and dynamic rigid bodies)
  
• [NEW] Added cliff rocks into nature package
  
• [BUGFIX] When importing heightmap the terrain collision mesh isn't updated
  
• [BUGFIX] Ocean heights used for buoyancy aren't computed well for negative coordinate values
  
• [BUGFIX] If sizeVariance parameter of a decalObject ia set to a value < 1 engine crashes
  
• [BUGFIX] If Clone button is pressed in the daytime track panel and no keyframe is selected the engine crashes
  
• [BUGFIX] If you try to drag n drop something into the editor while game is running it should happen that import dialog appears freezing the program.
  
• [BUGFIX] When creating a particle system from scratch it is not visible (you have to reset the Dims parameter)
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Now GameMachine string parameter accepts also nodes
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Now Voxel Lightmap Building is parallelized, so it is faster scaling on number of processors
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Optimized Software occlusion culling (up to 20% faster now, expecially in indoor environments like in HELLSEED)
  
• [NEW] Added Screen Space Contact Shadows shader
  
• [BUGFIX] When PrefabViewport is visible and a prefab is updated from Prefab Editor the GMS parameters of the prefab aren't showed in the prefab editor.
  
• [NEW] Added ObjectIsSleeping action in GameMachine
  
• [BUGFIX] When you pause an animation into model editor animationTrack panel and move the timeline the model in modelviewport collapses.
  
• [NEW] Added RayCastSync action in GameMachine
  
• [BUGFIX] the "speed" InputBox inside the blend2d animation control box doesn't work.
  
• [NEW] Added animation rate parameter into modelscripts for controlling the playing rate for animations inside blend1d and blend2d animation types (splits).
  
• [BUGFIX] When you insert a prefab with an object with a voxelLightmap attached, the voxel lightmap isn't attached to the object.
  
• [BUGFIX] When you click on the trash button into the input map configurator without selecting an action or axis the engine crashes.
  
• [NEW] Added GetDistanceFromCurrentCamera action in GameMachine
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added linearSmooth and angularSmooth parameters into AISetCharacterMaxSpeed GameMachine action
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added parameter maxDistance to ObjectIsVisible action in GameMachine
  
• [BUGFIX] When creating terrains TileRes parameter in CreateTerrainDialog always returns 32 value.
  
• [NEW] Now it is possible to use erase terrain ambient occlusion brush by pressing LControl + mouse button
  
• [NEW] Pressing LSHIFT + mouse button you are able to pverwrite the current terrain ambient occlusion value of a terrain with the one you are painting, otherwise a MAX operator is used (as before)
  
• [BUGFIX] Sometimes engine crashes at start (crash caused by occlusion culling viewport resizing)
  
• [BUGFIX] If you leave engine running a scene with characters, after some minutes the framerate drops.
  

[h3]EGP[/h3]

• [BUGFIX] PlayerCharacter vibrating when approaching to 3d ocean and buoyancy is enabled
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Improved soldiers animations (added foot IK)
  
• [IMPROVEMENT] Added parameter "SleepWhenTaken" to ItemTAG object class
  

[h2]WHAT'S NEXT[/h2]
We are continuing to write the new manual and we hope it will be available soon.
We have planned another standard update, before focusing on the major 2021.1 version, in which we will insert a very interesting new feature:
Per Object Multiple GameMachines


Hope you enjoy this new version,
Stay tuned!
PROFENIX STUDIO