s&box News

[p]Grab yourself these Community-made cosmetics! Brainy BRN -101, Short Parted Hair, Punk Helmet, OG Pants, and Crossbody Bag & Tshirt.[/p][p][/p][p]Sale ends March 1st 2026, after which it'll only be available on the Community Marketplace. Sales proceeds go towards the cosmetic item's creators, the playfund and engine development.[/p][p][/p][p]Playfund data is public. Learn more about the playfund and track how much money we pay out to s&box cosmetics and game creators here: https://sbox.game/metrics/finance[/p][p][/p]

[p]A new update has been released, you can view the full changes on our blog post.[/p][p]https://sbox.game/news/update-26-01-28[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Indirect Light Volumes[/h3][p]We've released our first iteration of indirect light volumes, these offer a form of baked global illumination giving games and maps much more depth. We want to see if we can offer a good replacement for Hammer baking, in a way that is more iterative and less intense - for example this only takes a few seconds to bake, compared to the half a day Hammer takes to bake.[/p][p][/p][p]( My Summer Cottage by Small Fish )[/p][p][/p][h3]Foliage Update[/h3][p]Trees and foliage have received a well deserved makeover.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Changelog[/h3][p]🎁 Added[/p]

• [p]Indirect Baked Lighting - DDGI[/p]
• [p]Project settings window, accessible from project bar in the top right of the editor window[/p]
• [p]GameObjectSystems can have confgiurable properties, accessible in the project settings window[/p]
• [p]Networked local instances now have a unique SteamID for testing persistence[/p]
• [p]Networked objects can now be "detached" meaning they're no longer networked[/p]
• [p]Snap To Frame option for particle sheet sequences[/p]
• [p]Popup.PositionModel.Right[/p]

[p]🧼 Improved[/p]

• [p]Binaries (exes, dlls) are now code signed by Facepunch - makes Windows trust them more[/p]
• [p]Foliage shader has been improved in many ways, adding new options, fixing dithering, and more[/p]
• [p]Mapping tool hotspot matches Hammer's hotspot[/p]
• [p]Mapping selection enhancements[/p]
• [p]Mapping face selections[/p]
• [p]Active material is remembered with a cookie when you restart the editor[/p]
• [p]Profiler post processing removes dead threads[/p]
• [p]Console output gets forwarded to attached debuggers[/p]
• [p]Unspawned networked objects do nothing when Network.Refresh() is called[/p]
• [p]Lots of micro optimizations for networking CPU performance[/p]
• [p]Dedicated servers use Steam Networking's SendMessages API[/p]
• [p]Codegen lambdas are cached[/p]
• [p]Optimize Json.Diff.ReorderAddedObjects[/p]
• [p]Vector3 micro optimizations[/p]
• [p]Reduce smoothdamp usage in audio components[/p]
• [p]GroupButtonControlWidget Enabled/ReadOnly handling[/p]
• [p]Movie Maker Maintenance[/p]
• [p]BlobDataSerializer is now stack based[/p]
• [p]Enabled VK_EXT_robustness2, adding extra safety and allowing null[/p]
• [p]When creating a new asset, it is named before being created instead of renamed[/p]
• [p]GenericControlWidget will pick the parameterless ToString method @766974616c79[/p]

[p]🪛 Fixed[/p]

• [p]Potential crash with PoseContext::TryTakePose and PoseContext::GetPose[/p]
• [p]Potential crash with AsyncResourceLoader accessing the resource system during shutdown[/p]
• [p]Crash on shutdown when the main loop throws an exception[/p]
• [p]Crash when rendering envmaps during an active render pass[/p]
• [p]Crash when closing dock tabs by the context menu[/p]
• [p]Crash with Qt widgets getting deleted too soon in event callbacks[/p]
• [p]Crash with exclusive fullscreen in editor mode (disabled it)[/p]
• [p]Error with ReferenceMaterial not being found when loading the fast texture tool[/p]
• [p]Error when using dump_scene command[/p]
• [p]Trying to ConVarSystem.AddAssembly the same game assembly twice[/p]
• [p]Video generation for batch upload by making sure ScreenSize is set[/p]
• [p]ScreenRecorder not respecting framerate cvar[/p]
• [p]Rubber surface being way too bouncy[/p]
• [p]Certain tools eating shortcuts because the ViewportToolbar was taking focus[/p]
• [p]Fast texture tool UV's not being frames to the preview[/p]
• [p]Fast texture tool world scale having confusing extra options[/p]
• [p]Missing large network files on local networked instances[/p]
• [p]GameObjectSystems not existing on clients (older version) erroring when connecting to servers[/p]
• [p]ConsoleWidget trying to parse arg: anchor as uri[/p]
• [p]Cloud assets not persisting between sessions @trende2001[/p]

[p]🚯 Removed[/p]

• [p]SceneTrace.UseRenderMeshes are now editor only[/p]
• [p]GPU crash diagnostics which had some performance overhead[/p]

[p]A new update has been released, you can view the full changes on our blog post.[/p][p]https://sbox.game/news/update-26-01-21[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Pressable Tooltips[/h3][p]In Rust we have this system that shows you tooltips when you look at something. This has two nice effects.. first of all they know they can interact with something instead of just spamming E at everything hoping.. and secondly you can tell them exactly what it's going to do.[/p][p][/p][p]This is now built into the IPressable interface, so anything that implements it can also provide context sensitive help describing what it is going to do.[/p][p]I don't think this was ever in Half-Life or Half-Life 2 because Valve comes at it from more of a "show don't tell" point of view, where if something looks like it can be interacted with, it will be interactable. We don't have that ability, really, because interacting with things can do unexpected stuff.. so this feels like a pragmatic choice.[/p][p][/p][h3]More Entities[/h3][p]Much like Garry's Mod, we want a bunch of options for our wheels, thrusters and chair entities for Sandbox mode. [/p][p]Thankfully, we already have a lot of options that work well in our asset library, so you should start to see more options when building your mad contraptions in the coming days[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Changelog[/h3][p]🎁 Added[/p]

• [p]Clustered Culling[/p]
• [p]EnvmapProbe baking[/p]
• [p]SCSS Mixin Support[/p]
• [p]GameObject/Component Tree Picker[/p]
• [p]Editor gizmo selection[/p]
• [p]BlobData API which will serialize as a binary file blob[/p]
• [p]IPressable Tooltips[/p]
• [p]Added Copy+Paste to Mapping Face Tool[/p]
• [p]Mapping tools apply hotspot[/p]
• [p]Edge arch tool[/p]
• [p]Expose MinImpactDamageSpeed, ImpactDamage in ModelPropData[/p]
• [p]Added "thrill" parameter to the player animgraphs[/p]
• [p]Added "eyes_closed" override to the "face_override" list in the player animgraphs[/p]
• [p]Add custom texture filtering/address mode to line renderer @wheatleymf[/p]
• [p]Allow for getting and setting of static properties and fields in TypeLibrary @Kicks[/p]
• [p]CodeGen supports C# 14's `field` keyword @badandbest[/p]
• [p]Restrict client object destroying option (Networking) @jusvit[/p]
• [p]Custom filtering/address mode for line renderers @wheatleymf[/p]
• [p]Add custom texture filtering to BeamEffect too[/p]

[p]🧼 Improved[/p]

• [p]Editor: Better widget feedback[/p]
• [p]Launcher & project creation window styling fixes[/p]
• [p]GameObjectSystem can now serialize properties[/p]
• [p]Managed Skybox Pipeline + Skybox Tiled Rendering[/p]
• [p]Fast Texture Tool preview update[/p]
• [p]Vertex, Edge, and Face tools all save their last Selection[/p]
• [p]Mapping gizmo & helpers[/p]
• [p]Crash reporting reports C# stacks when C++ crashes[/p]
• [p]Edge cut tool & pivot picker updates[/p]
• [p]Dedicated Server Improvements[/p]
• [p]Audio Optimizations[/p]
• [p]Reduce Some Network Allocations[/p]
• [p]Humans now blink the same as citizens[/p]
• [p]Updated mimalloc to 3-rc2[/p]
• [p]Show resource generator descriptions as menu option tooltips @Zontax[/p]
• [p]Node Editor API changes @QuackCola[/p]

[p]🪛 Fixed[/p]

• [p]Having to restart after purchasing a new Clothing Item[/p]
• [p]Crash in video recorder with double mutex unlock[/p]
• [p]Crash when closing ModelDoc Shutdown called before hide[/p]
• [p]Crash when joining via New Instance[/p]
• [p]Crash when rendering lines with an invalid LPV[/p]
• [p]Crash in animation code out of bounds[/p]
• [p]Crash catching EnqueueResourceManifest in managed[/p]
• [p]Crash with managed exceptions in Qt callbacks crashing native engine[/p]
• [p]Crash with IES being disposed at end of function[/p]
• [p]Assets recompiling just because of search path changes (menu assets primarily)[/p]
• [p]"Discard Changes" option not working, make sure we're updating the scene source when saving a session[/p]
• [p]Editor Viewport Fixes (DPI scale, multiple viewport box select)[/p]
• [p]Cubemaps messed up in scenemaps with 3D Skyboxes[/p]
• [p]UpdateActivity Exceptions[/p]
• [p]Selection breaking after model reloads (recompiles)[/p]
• [p]OnNavigationOpen not being called on panel you switch to[/p]
• [p]Editor tools not being ticked if mouse is not focusing a viewport[/p]
• [p]Press events on child GameObjects being sent to the parent if it has a rigidbody[/p]
• [p]WorldPanels `overflow: hidden` not working[/p]
• [p]Hammer block tool exceptions[/p]
• [p]Hammer GameObject components being unable to be edited[/p]
• [p]DropDown initial display when using Value:bind with Options[/p]
• [p]Clean up editor tools when entering play mode, notably camera preview doesn't stick around in play mode anymore @boxrocket[/p]
• [p]NRE when clearing graph on GraphView @fishy[/p]
• [p]ActiveScene.Name @766974616c79[/p]
• [p]CheckValidationAttributes call within ReviewWizardPage not outputting all error messages @TrvsF[/p]
• [p]Broken hover styles, add missing tooltip & relevant localization files for "Notifications" @matt944[/p]
• [p]update model drop object gizmo scenemodel, no longer gets stuck @boxrocket[/p]
• [p]UseInputControls disabling lookat controls on PlayerController @LeDernierPoisson[/p]
• [p]Localized Particle Velocity Fixes @Fortune[/p]
• [p]Asset Browser clearing on asset recompile @trende2001[/p]

[p]A new update has been released, you can view the full changes on our blog post.[/p][p]https://sbox.game/news/update-26-01-14[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Sandbox Hydraulics[/h3][p]With everything I'm doing with Sandbox Mode I'm trying to innovate in some way. I've been trying to re-imagine hydraulics this week. Trying to add something more controllable and more useful.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h3]Changelog[/h3][p]🎁 Added[/p]

• [p]Workshop items can now have a category[/p]
• [p]Nvidia Aftermath is now enabled by default and uploads GPU crash dumps to Sentry[/p]
• [p]Shader sources that were in our open source repo are now pushed to Steam too[/p]
• [p]Editor console links can open files (like videos)[/p]
• [p]Rubber Surface Type[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Fast Bevel Tool[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Fast Texturing Tool Undo/Redo[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Select Faces/Objects using Material[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Merge Meshes By Edge[/p]
• [p]Joint has an advanced AnchorBody property[/p]
• [p]GameObjectSystem supports INetworkSnapshot[/p]
• [p]AssetTypeAttribute.FindTypeByExtension[/p]

[p]🧼 Improved[/p]

• [p]SpriteRenderer: Alpha Cutoff is allowed in all circumstances[/p]
• [p]ModelPhysics behaves better when enabling and disabling[/p]
• [p]Many IDisposable objects are now disposed properly with a using scope, reducing GC pressure[/p]
• [p]Many materials and shader references have been statically cached, reducing GC pressure[/p]
• [p]Dont break prefabs on networkspawn[/p]
• [p]GameResourceEditor windows are child of main editor (they no longer hide behind it)[/p]
• [p]Inspector now resolves SceneEditorSession from it's target[/p]
• [p]ByteStream now uses ArrayPool as it's backing storage[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Double click faces selects contiguous faces, not all of them[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Compute vertex tangents the same way hammer does[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Gizmos no longer eat inputs when double-clicking[/p]
• [p]Make DEBUG define constant controlled by ReleaseMode[/p]

[p]🪛 Fixed[/p]

• [p]Duplicate files when publishing a package, preventing publishing[/p]
• [p]Texture.Load and other media loads now obey the same rules as Http.Get[/p]
• [p]Terrain texture streaming not working[/p]
• [p]SkinnedRenderer add null check when accessing go parent[/p]
• [p]GlobalContext getting dropped in async tasks causing naked avatars in the main menu[/p]
• [p]Corrupt shader cache preventing the game from opening[/p]
• [p]VSCode workspace files failing to write when projects contained unittests[/p]
• [p]VSCode workspace sets slang.workspaceFlavor to vfx enabling shader intellisense[/p]
• [p]Texture Cube Fixes[/p]
• [p]Wheel suspension gizmo goes along Y[/p]
• [p]Handle HttpRequestException on package get[/p]
• [p]Label IsRich not applying font size, scaling properly[/p]
• [p]Game Controller Vendor Fix[/p]
• [p]BuiltIn game projects (menu) aren't dependent on libraries[/p]
• [p]Inspector selection lag[/p]
• [p]ComponentEditorWidget ignoring derived types @badandbest[/p]

[p]A new update has been released, you can view the full changes on our blog post.[/p][p]https://sbox.game/news/update-26-01-07[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Sandbox Mode Entities[/h3][p]I wanted to provide a bunch of built in entities in Sandbox Mode. I think in GMod things were automatically made into tools, when they didn't need to be. Like lights for example.

In Sandbox Mode we have a bunch of built in entities, and you can use entities from the workshop too in the same way. Here's an example of lights, fog and NPCs being created.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h3]Sandbox Mode Controls[/h3][p]Entities in Sandbox Mode are controllable now. This is early stages, but right now you can bind them to your in game inputs. The controls only work if you're in a chair connected to them somehow.[/p][p][/p][p]What this means is that when you make something, anyone can control it. You can duplicate it and you and a friend can control their own copies.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h3]Changelog[/h3][p]🎁 Added[/p]

• [p]Physics: Updated Box3D[/p]
• [p]Physics: Added Rigidbody.EnhancedCcd which is useful for fast-moving objects like bullets or rockets[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Clipping Tool[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Pivot Picker[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Thicken Faces[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Nudge mesh selection with arrow keys[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Can save mesh selection as a model[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Active material drag drop[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Mesh collision uses per triangle physics materials (like Hammer)[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Attempt to retain selection switching between modes[/p]
• [p]Editor: Searchable context menus[/p]
• [p]Editor: Advanced properties[/p]
• [p]Networking: NetworkFlags + Transform Sync Flags[/p]
• [p]TextRenderingScope supports font smooth & 1px aliased outlines[/p]
• [p]Standard thumbnail texture loader e.g thumb:entities/sents/npc/scientist.sent[/p]
• [p]SpriteRenderer Alpha Cutout[/p]
• [p]Prop inherits Rigidbody properties like mass that were set in ModelDoc[/p]
• [p]CameraComponent treats CustomSize as an override instead of being used as a fallback[/p]

[p]🧼 Improved[/p]

• [p]Animation optimizations of up to 50%[/p]
• [p]UI Panel animations use double precision time[/p]
• [p]Simplified WheelJoint creation - placed on the wheel, axis and suspension is logical, gizmos display axis and suspension[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Fast Texturing Tool supports tiling, world mapping, and more[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Fast Texturing Tool support blendable materials[/p]
• [p]Component context menu tidy[/p]
• [p]New Pause Menu[/p]
• [p]Main Menu cleaned up styles[/p]
• [p]Many BaseControls now SupportsMultiEdit[/p]
• [p]Renderer: Tiled culling layer ported from C++ to C#[/p]
• [p]Volume is formatted as a percentage % in the settings menu @DrakeFruit[/p]

[p]🪛 Fixed[/p]

• [p]CrashReporter still reports even if Sentry fails[/p]
• [p]Mapping: Bevel tool steps match closer to Hammer, added smooth normals[/p]
• [p]Scope last selected SceneViewportWidget to SceneViewWidget[/p]
• [p]Video recording: pass the muxer options[/p]
• [p]UI/Panel Eyedropper tool works with recent changes[/p]
• [p]Wheel joint steering axis[/p]
• [p]Fallback to shortcut without modifier if the shortcut doesn't exist with modifier (allows things like tool switching while modifier is down) (#3653)[/p]
• [p]Sound previews start at playhead position[/p]
• [p]Editor camera sticking in place at very low speeds[/p]
• [p]Sprite editor origin[/p]
• [p]Opaque & non-opaque sprite sorting[/p]
• [p]Unduck headroom check failing[/p]
• [p]Don't discard normal in line compute shader when there's 2 points - fixes not being able to rotate points of line when there's only 2 objects[/p]
• [p]Physics aggregate data causing crashes[/p]
• [p]Only draw meshes in highest lod for Graphics.DrawModel etc.[/p]
• [p]Mapping move mode gizmos initial state[/p]
• [p]Actiongraph editor regressions[/p]
• [p]ByteStream memory leaks[/p]
• [p]Editor shortcuts[/p]
• [p]LargeNetworkFiles requesting non-existant files would crash the server[/p]
• [p]Crashing connections by sending invalid data or JSON[/p]
• [p]WorldInput state being stomped[/p]
• [p]Gizmo selection crash when TypeLibrary lacks a component type[/p]
• [p]Transition background-image-tint[/p]
• [p]Editor command line argument parsing[/p]
• [p]SceneLineObject loading Materials & ComputeShaders on non main thread causing a crash[/p]
• [p]"Apply to Scene" shortcut[/p]
• [p]ALT input not working in the editor[/p]
• [p]CodeGen Preprocessor Defines Fix[/p]
• [p]Compiler: get rid of "library" assembly prefix when publishing[/p]

[p]🚯 Removed[/p]

• [p]Obsolete vertex attribute array[/p]
• [p]Obsolete WorldInput class (Use the component)[/p]