Virtual Paradise news

Virtual Paradise 0.3.20

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:25:26 +0100

Virtual Paradise version 0.3.20 has been released, it can be downloaded from the downloads page. This release has support for user created per pixel lights, alpha to coverage in the OpenGL graphics modes and some fixes.

The full list of changes in version 0.3.20:

Support for user created point lights
Alpha to coverage option(can be enabled using alpha_to_coverage=1 in the configuration file, requires multisampling)
Option to disable distance sorting of objects(disable_distance_sort=1 in the configuration file, for use with the alpha to coverage option)
Improved sorting and merging of RWX render groups
Query cells further away when using higher view distance
Crosshair cursor when using the mouse to control the camera
Fixed objects animations not resetting after the object has changed.
Fixed avatar names not working
Fixed incorrect scale if only 2 scale factors are given in the scale command

Virtual Paradise 0.3.19

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:04:09 +0200

Virtual Paradise 0.3.19 has been released. This version has some nice new features like the move command, rotate command and a selection menu that lets you select objects that are behind other objects. There are also some performance improvements.

The complete list of changes:

64-bit build for Windows
Selection menu. Hold alt/option when right-clicking to select any object under the mouse pointer, even if it's behind another object
Move command, animate the position of an object
Rotate command, animate the rotation of an object
Added world option to swap the left and right faces of the skybox
Merge and sort RWX mesh groups, improves rendering performance for many models
Improved sorting of which cells to query first
Sort objects by vertex buffer to reduce switching vertex buffers
Downloads on Linux and Mac OS X can now be interrupted when switching worlds
Mac OS X: Support for multisample anti-alias
Mac OS X: Support for V-Sync
Mac OS X: Show error in chat when entering a world failed
OpenGL mipmap generation using GL_ARB_framebuffer_object, GL_EXT_framebuffer_object or GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap(tried in that order)
Sign textures no longer load halfway through rendering a frame
Don't render MD2 mesh when updating the animation failed
Fixed memory leaks in MD2 mesh loader
Fixed memory leaks in texture mask loader

You can get it from the downloads page

Virtual Paradise 0.3.18

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:51:12 +0200

After 2 months the new version of VP is finally here. I'm sorry it took this long, I just haven't had as much time as I had before. Here is the list of changes for version 0.3.18:

Don't reopen model files that are already loaded
Made some changes to the Direct3D 11 renderer that may help fix device creation errors some people were having
Removed object space normal mapping code, it was broken anyway
Added frame time indicator, enabled by adding show_performance_indicators=1 to the configuration file
Don't reopen model files on every use just to check the file type in the zip file
Added commands for setting MD2 animation("animation [start frame] [end frame]" and "framerate [frames per second]")
Better text alignment of chat on Mac OS X
Added field of view world option
Added near and far clipping planes world options
Added timeout to login
Ignore joint transform commands in RWX files, they were treated the same as the other transform commands in earlier versions
MD2 loader now works on big endian platforms, but there aren't any where VP is used right now(except the Wii! )
Use less render commands for RWX models in some cases
Fixed crash changing model ambient/diffuse/specular when the model isn't loaded
Fixed crash creating collision shape after MD2 model failed to load
Fixed parts of objects without texture coordinates being invisible when using normal maps
Fixed bug where previously hidden objects(create visible no) would not reappear after editing the object

If you have good ideas for new features or think I should work on a particular feature/bugfix first, feel free to leave a comment

Virtual Paradise 0.3.16

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:40:22 +0100

A new version of Virtual Paradise is now available for download. This version has an improved Direct3D 11 renderer, better depth/transparency sorting, an opacity command and lots of smaller changes.

Changes in 0.3.16:

Support for greyscale colors in color command and sign command
Opacity command
Fixed cloth rendering when using Direct3D 11
Faster camera rotation
Vertex buffers for static objects now marked as immutable in Direct3D 11 renderer, this makes rendering faster
Downloaders stop faster when switching worlds
Fixed Direct3D 11 renderer not working if an older version of DirectX is installed
Direct3D 11 renderer no longer depends on d3dx11_43.dll
Use precompiled shaders for Direct3D 11
Fixed memory leaks in Direct3D 11 renderer
Fixed problems resizing and moving windows
Added missing 2x multisample option to settings dialog
Direct3D 9 and 11 renderers now support multisampling, vertical sync and anisotropic texture filtering
Fixed objects with masks appearing black when using texture compression(OpenGL)
Fixed bug that could cause a crash when the resolution of a cloth object is set too low(reported by cube3)
Fixed invisible selection boxes
Improved alpha/depth sorting
Width and height options for cloth objects
Max cloth resolution set to 100
Some small collision fixes

Virtual Paradise 0.3.15

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:44:59 +0100

Virtual Paradise version 0.3.15 is now available for download. The new version has some new features and fixes. The frame rate while the world is loading should be improved now that more things moved to background threads.

Here is the list of changes for this version:

The resize_textures configuration option now works again
Run action commands on background thread when loading
Generate sign textures on background thread(reduces lag while loading)
Reduced downloader CPU usage on non-Windows platforms
Lower frame rate when the application is inactive
Increased timing precision on Windows(smoother movement)
Changed character height to 1.75m
Use a sphere as the collision object for tiny objects
Don't distance sort objects in zones that are too far away to be seen with the current visibility
Support for cloth simulation, but it's not really usable right now and doesn't interact with other objects. This is still experimental and shouldn't/can't really be used for building.
Added max_texture_level configuration option
Added texture_lod_bias configuration option
Added auto_view_distance_min_fps and auto_view_distance_max_fps configuration options
Tools window moved to collapsible sidebar on Mac OS X
Fixed incorrect current height on teleport dialog
Fixed selection boxes not working on Direct3D 11 renderer
Fixed multisampling always being enabled after using the settings dialog
Fixed mask textures not loading when using Direct3D 11 renderer with Direct3D 9 hardware
Fixed crash that occurs when running action commands if the model hasn't loaded

Virtual Paradise 0.3.9

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:31:10 +0200

Version 0.3.9 is now available for download. This version has some improvements in texture loading and support for normal mapping. It is now also possible to start typing a chat message by pressing the return key with the 3D view in focus.

This is the full list of changes for version 0.3.9:

Support for normal mapping when using pixel shaded OpenGL render mode
Added ambient, diffuse and specular action commands to set the material values for an object
Create less groups when loading RWX models with tags specified per face
Improved normal generation on RWX models
Load masks as alpha only textures instead of RGBA textures
Load textures without alpha as RGB textures instead of RGBA
Made sign font size smaller on Mac OS X
Fly and move objects using plus and minus keys without holding shift
Read minimum and maximum view distance from configuration file
Return key moves keyboard focus to chat input
Fixed mask bitmap loading
Fixed bug where you would not receive any updates from the server on the Mac OS X version after someone left

Virtual Paradise 0.3.8

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:04:29 +0200

A new version of Virtual Paradise has been released, version 0.3.8 has some fixes for crashes and support for MD2 files. Using MD2 files you can create animated models. Right now you can only use one animation for the whole file but it can already be used for repeating animations like a waving flag.

Here is the full list of changes for version 0.3.8:

Support MD2 models(inluding animation)
Resize textures to power of 2 sizes on Mac OS X
Work around a crash in the Mac OS X OpenGL stack by using a different vertex format for placeholder meshes(black triangles)
Fixed skybox vertex buffer memory leak
Fixed crashes when loading objects before OpenGL or Direct3D is initialized
Fixed most crashes when switching worlds
Fixed missing ground object when loading before OpenGL or Direct3D is initialized
Fixed texture mask files not being closed after loading

Virtual Paradise 0.3.7

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 12:33:02 +0200

Version 0.3.7 of Virtual Paradise is now ready for download :-)

The most noticeable changes are the status bar on Windows and Linux, the shorter download time when first entering a world and more of the texture masks working properly.

This is the full list of changes in 0.3.7:

Use HTTP Keep-Alive for downloading objects if available(much faster downloads)
Support for loading masks from Gzip files
Support for SOCKS4A proxy
Move sideways when holding shift key
Support for Data Execution Prevention(DEP) on Windows
Added timeout for connecting and entering world
Added loading indicator on status bar of Qt GUI(Windows/Linux)
Added frame rate indicator on status bar of Qt GUI
Added view distance indicator on status bar of Qt GUI
Fixed uninitialized variable that made the client send object changes even when the objects didn't change
Fixed possible crash parsing incorrectly formatted message from the server
Fixed possible buffer overflow when connecting to world server
Fixed incorrectly recognizing certain textures as animations
Fixed inability to select non-RWX models
Fixed extra arguments to picture command being included in the URL

As always, the changes in this and earlier versions can also be found on the changelog page of the wiki.

Virtual Paradise 0.3.6

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:48:02 +0200

A new version of Virtual Paradise is now available from the downloads page. Version 0.3.6 has some welcome improvements for building as well as some other changes. A few of the most important changes are better object rotations, object scaling and freelook mouse mode.

Here is a full list of changes:

Faster loading(especially for very large models)
View distance menu on Mac OS X version
Object moving relative to object rotations
Correctly rotate multiple objects
Use axis/angle instead of Euler angles to store rotations
Free look mode
Added application icon on Mac OS X
Show axis of last selected object instead of first selected object
Removed unnecessary texture mirror in texture loading code
Rotate objects with scroll wheel
Added color name 0 as black
Added support for color command
Don't use non-power-of-two textures as that seemed to cause a slowdown on most systems
Support for object scaling
Add http:// to picture URLs if it is not included yet
Fixed last used mask visible on avatars
Fixed slowdown after activating or selecting objects
Fixed seams on skybox mesh
Fixed physics meshes being left in scene when they are too far away, causing slowdown after exploring larger worlds for some time
Fixed possible crash when loading RWX files
Fixed crash when using buttons on object properties window while not in building mode
Fixed crash when using scroll wheel when not in building mode on Mac OS X
Fixed possible crash because of uninitialized variable
Fixed incorrect translation on some RWX models
Fixed keys / and * for rotation not working
Fixed incorrect parsing of object change message

The changes in this version and earlier versions can also be found on the changelog wiki page.

Virtual Paradise 0.3.5

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:53:08 +0200

A new version of Virtual Paradise is available for download now
The new version has a lot of small changes and a few bigger changes. One of the more noticeable changes is the addition of a rendering mode using shaders. In the new render mode objects near the view distance limit fade in and out when you walk around.

Here is the full list of changes:

Removed unnecessary error checking in OpenGL renderer(speedup)
Removed unnecessary texture bind in OpenGL renderer(also possible speedup)
Support for double sided faces from RWX files
Removed unnecessary texture bind in RWX renderer
Disable texture masks when rendering skybox
Send object clicks to world server
Loading indicator for Mac OS X version
Set 24 bit Z-buffer in Direct3D renderer
Fixed Direct3D transparency issues
Users list on Mac OS X version
Physics mesh generation on background thread
Selecting placeholder objects(black triangles) now possible
Ground object updates when changing worlds
Add messages in chat box when connection to universe or world server is lost
Fixed race condition that could result in a crash
Added b and x for black as color names
Fix partly transparent object placeholders(black triangles)
Removed unused material calls for specular lighting
Added check to prevent crash when object is not found in object change event handler
Better normal generation for RWX models
Support avatar model RWX files
Don't load texture if it doesn't have any references left after downloading
Added OpenGL renderer using shaders
Fade objects in distance for OpenGL renderer with shaders
Gradually change view distance
Added support for mask= and tag= in texture command
Read configuration file to select renderer
Read configuration file to get frames per second limit
Less format conversions when loading images