Dev snapshot: Godot 3.2.4 beta 3

While development keeps going at full speed towards Godot 4.0 (see recent devblogs on GDScript typed instructions and Complex Text Layout), a lot of work is also being done on the 3.2 branch for the upcoming Godot 3.2.4.

This new beta 3 build comes shortly after last week’s beta 2 to fix some of the regressions and bugs reported against that release.

The only big change is that the classical build for macOS is now a universal binary, with both x86_64 and arm64 architectures included (to support the new ARM-based Apple M1 chip natively). This update also re-adds UWP templates which we missing in beta 1 and beta 2 due to a temporary buildsystem issue.

Highlights

The main changes coming in Godot 3.2.4 and included in this beta are:

• Android App Bundle and subview embedding support.
• 2D batching for GLES3 (it was implemented for GLES2 in 3.2.2), and improvements to GLES2’s batching.
• A new software skinning for MeshInstance to replace the slow GPU skinning on devices that don’t support the fast GPU skinning (especially mobile).
• Rewritten and greatly improved FBX importer.
• Improved Web editor prototype and AudioWorklet support for multithreaded HTML5 builds.
• New option to snap 2D transforms to whole coordinates, helps prevent jitter on pixel art camera motions.
• Configurable amount of lights per object, now defaulting to 32 instead of 8.
• macOS ARM64 support in official binaries for Apple M1 chip (new in 3.2.4 beta 3, only classical build for now).

And there’s even more in the works that will be included in future beta builds.

Changes

The main new features in need of testing are highlighted in bold. Refer to the linked pull requests for details.

• Android: Add support for the Android App Bundle format (GH-42185).
• Android: Add support for emedded Godot as a subview in Android applications (GH-42186).
• Android: Fix splash screen loading (GH-42389).
• Android: Add notch cutout support for Android P and later (GH-43104).
• Android: Add support for mouse events (GH-42360).
• Android: Add support for keyboard modifiers and arrow keys (GH-40398).
• Android: Fix screen orientation settings and API (GH-43022, GH-43248), GH-43511).
• C#: Official builds now use Mono 6.12.0.111.
• C#: Re-work solution build output panel (GH-42547).
• Core: Optimize octree and fix leak (GH-41123).
• Core: Disable decayment of freed Objects to null in debug builds (GH-41866).
• Core: More fixes to Variant and Reference pointers (GH-43049).
• Core: Add append_array method to Array class (GH-43398).
• CSG: Various bug fixes.
• Editor: Fixed renaming/moving of nodes with exported NodePaths in the editor (GH-42314).
• Editor: Improve 3D rotation gizmo (GH-43016).
• Editor: Add a dynamic infinite grid to the 3D editor (GH-43206).
• Editor: Use 75% editor scale on small displays automatically (GH-43611).
• Editor: Require Ctrl for switching between editors, bind F2 to Rename Node (GH-38201).
• FBX: Rewritten and improved importer (GH-42941).
• GDScript: Fix leaks due to cyclic references (GH-41931).
• GLES2/GLES3: Fix buffer orphaning on desktop (GH-42734).
• GLES2/GLES3: Fix flipped normal mapping in 2D with batching and nvidia workaround (GH-41323, GH-41254).
• GLES2: Various improvements to 2D batching (GH-42119).
  • See GH-42899 for instructions on how to test the improved 2D batching and report your results.
• GLES2: Fix glow on devices with only 8 texture slots (GH-42446).
• GLES2: Use separate texture unit for light_texture (GH-42538).
• GLES3: Add 2D batching support, unified architecture with GLES2 (GH-42119).
  • See GH-42899 for instructions on how to test the new GLES3 2D batching and report your results.
• GLES3: Fixes to Screen Space Reflections (GH-38954, GH-41892).
• GLES3: Ensure that color values in Reinhard tonemapping are positive (GH-42056).
• glTF: Use vertex colors by default (GH-41007).
• glTF: Fix parsing base64-encoded buffer and image data (GH-42501, GH-42504).
• HTML5: Synchronous main, better persistence, handlers fixes, optional full screen (GH-42266).
• HTML5: Move audio processing to thread when threads are enabled (GH-42510).
• HTML5: Merged code for web editor prototype (GH-42790).
• HTML5: Add AudioWorklet support in multithreaded builds (GH-43454).
• Input: Add mouse event pass-through support for the game window (GH-40205).
• Input: Add support for buttons and D-pads mapped to half axes (GH-42800).
• iOS: Fix multiple issues with PVRTC import, disable ETC1 (GH-38076).
• iOS: Add touch delay value to project settings (GH-42457).
• Linux: Fix issues related to delay when processing events (GH-42341).
• Linux: Implement --no-window mode (GH-42276).
• macOS: ARM64 support in official binaries.
  • Currently only for standard builds, Mono ARM64 builds are still a work in progress.
• macOS: Fix mouse position in captured mode (GH-42328).
• macOS: Fix get_screen_dpi for non-fractional display scales (GH-42478).
• macOS: Implement --no-window mode (GH-42276).
• MeshInstance: Add option for software skinning (GH-40313).
• Physics: Various bug fixes for 2D and 3D.
• Rendering: Add fast approximate antialiasing (FXAA) to Viewport (GH-42006).
• Rendering: Disable lights for objects with baked lighting (GH-41629).
• Rendering: Add option for snapping 2D transforms to whole coordinates, for pixel art motion (GH-43554).
• Sprite3D: Use full float UV for better precision (GH-42537) [regression fix].
• TextEdit/LineEdit: Support Ctrl+Alt as alias for Alt Gr on Windows (GH-37769).
• Windows: Fix debugger not getting focused on break on Windows (GH-40555).
• YSort: Make rendering order more deterministic (GH-42375).
• Thirdparty library updates (freetype 2.10.4, tinyexr 1.0.0, zstd 1.4.5).
• API documentation updates.
• Editor translation updates.
• And many more bug fixes and usability enhancements all around the engine!

See the full changelog on GitHub (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4), or the changes since the previous beta 2 build.

This release is built from commit b9b773c3f0e7d895b2aaf2c8712b7d55ad0a05dd.

Downloads

The download links for dev snapshots are not featured on the Download page to avoid confusion for new users. Instead, browse our download repository and fetch the editor binary that matches your platform:

• Standard build (GDScript, GDNative, VisualScript).
• Mono build (C# support + all the above). You need to have MSBuild installed to use the Mono build. Relevant parts of Mono 6.12.0.111 are included in this build.

Bug reports

As a tester, you are encouraged to open bug reports if you experience issues with 3.2.4 beta 3. Please check first the existing issues on GitHub, using the search function with relevant keywords, to ensure that the bug you experience is not known already.

In particular, any change that would cause a regression in your projects is very important to report (e.g. if something that worked fine in 3.2.3 or earlier no longer works in 3.2.4 beta 3).

Support

Godot is a non-profit, open source game engine developed by hundreds of contributors on their free time, and a handful of part or full-time developers, hired thanks to donations from the Godot community. A big thankyou to everyone who has contributed their time or financial support to the project!

If you’d like to support the project financially and help us secure our future hires, you can do so on Patreon or PayPal.