Release Notes

2.0.5.4

• Added Search Results limit in Options.
• Added Grid Snap Size in Options.
• Added menu item in File menu to open Start Window.
• Added menu item in Help menu to check for updates.
• Improved text entry and Nudge features in Range Sliders.
• Direction arrows added to Navigate menu for better cognition.
• Mutate command added to Node menu.
• Experimental Expression editor added to all Sliders via the editor menu. Use formula x to refer to the current value, for example x * 0.5.
• Graph Toolbar menu commands now available via Graph menu as well.
• FIX: Mixer masks would not be accessible except via Data Extractor.
• FIX: Normals node could contaminate previous node.
• FIX: Clip adjustment was broken.
• FIX: Show/Hide graph was broken.
• FIX: Critical bug that could mark multiple nodes as underlays when loading older file.
• FIX: Hotkeys could intercept typing in the Build panel.
• FIX: Build tab would not show the savable filename.
• FIX: Ignore sub-elements of a group when snapping to items.
• FIX: Autolevel Masks or Save in 2D viewport could cause a crash.
• FIX: Toggle Engine menu command was broken.
• FIX: MultiMix could suspend engine if only one node was selected.
• FIX: Reset command in Node menu now accepts multiple selected nodes.
• FIX: Autolayout would not create an undo entry.
• FIX: Replacing node with a Preset could cause a crash.
• FIX: Node context menu revised for multiple node selection.
• Added asynchronous logging for improved performance.
• Several internal fixes.

2.0.5.3

• Insert node command added to Connection context menu.
• Classic Wizard node ported from Gaea 1 (Experimental).
• Option to include existing Snow in Dusting node when connected to Snow node.
• New draft Documentation now available via the Help menu.
• FIX: Reset Node did not work.
• FIX: Regression in Snow node's Directional Melt.
• FIX: Labels in Editor could become empty.
• FIX: Corrupt thumbnail could crash Start screen.
• FIX: Range Slider did not accept entry in meters.
• FIX: Rare graph setup error when opening a file.
• FIX: Color nodes could misbehave if expected heightfield was replaced with a color map.
• FIX: Automation Command Line preview improved.
• FIX: Autosave menu has a dropdown glyph for consistency.
• FIX: Rare crash could occur when node creates an undo revert point.
• FIX: Solved a resolution limitation issue in Houdini.
• Several internal fixes.

2.0.5.2

• Added Passive Caching when Engine is Idle.
• Added Repair File command to the File menu. It can attempt to recover files with minor issues.
• Added shortcut V to toggle flat preview of current node.
• FIX: Lock Preview and Underlay buttons in Data View Build Tab did not select node.
• FIX: Underlay icon would not refresh in the Data View Node Tree.
• FIX: Rare crash when a node connection was dragged and dropped on the node itself in a specific way.
• FIX: Internal color conversion code could fail to render color maps in some situations.
• FIX: Gamma (color), HSL, and other color nodes were affected by the aforementioned issue.
• FIX: Duplicated node with Modifiers could fail in some situations.
• FIX: Corrupt or missing Baked Data should not prevent files from being loaded.
• FIX: Invalid nodes should not be allowed to be baked.
• FIX: Improved error-handling for how Baked Data is loaded and validated in rare situations.
• FIX: Added redundant checks to prevent failed Bakes from being saved to disk in partial form.
• FIX: Error during baking process should invalidate.
• FIX: Error saving PNG or TIFF with Alpha channels.
• FIX: Splat node would force Alpha channel use even when the Alpha channel port was not connected.
• FIX: Rare crash when using Search if a Preset was corrupted.
• FIX: Potential crash in Whorl fixed.
• FIX: Water nodes would not render if there was no water generated.
• FIX: Build Time readout on Node surface would conflict with other icons.
• FIX: Failure to open a valid file with the error "The given key was not present in the dictionary."

2.0.5.1

A small but important build with some useful new features and bug fixes.

• Nodes now show build time on the surface. Can be disabled in Options.
• Updated Statistics dialog in Project Menu with expanded graphs to find bottlenecks.
• Proxy options for license server.
• Added option to securely share diagnostic logs publicly via Log Codes.
• FIX: Rare crash could occur when connecting nodes.
• FIX: Crash diagnostics improved.
• FIX: Sporadic license activation issues.
• FIX: Sporadic License Server communication issues.

2.0.5.0

• Height Picker and Measurement Tools added to 2D viewport.
• Added Automatic Resolution option to Unreal node.
• Added option in Diagnostics to run Gaea in verbose mode.
• FIX: Some users were prevented from accessing all properties of a node.
• FIX: HSL node would not recognize color input.
• FIX: Perlin and Voronoi gizmos would not behave correctly.
• FIX: DistanceRT node could show incorrect results sporadically.
• FIX: Some RGB files would be loaded incorrectly with 4 channels.
• FIX: Snap to Ports improved.
• FIX: Verbose command line argument would not be honored.
• FIX: Improved hardware loading and validation at startup.
• FIX: Dependency package with security vulnerability upgraded.
• Improved diagnostics collection to understand the system state.
• Several internal improvements and optimizations.

2.0.4.2

We're introducing a new RAM management system that will help Gaea run more efficiently on systems with limited memory. This feature is still in preview, so you to have to enable it in the Options dialog. You can switch back to the classic system at any time.

The new RAM management should help Gaea run more smoothly on systems with limited memory, or if you are created extremely large graphs. It will also help prevent crashes due to memory exhaustion.

• Preview: New RAM management system.
• Added Explicit Output filename option to Export nodes.
• Added option to load variables through an INI or JSON file.
• Improved Memory Management dialog.
• Improved how command lines are processed.
• FIX: Some Primitives would not generate correctly, or ignore Input ports.
• FIX: Rare crashes could occur due to memory access violations.
• FIX: LineNoise was processing some modes incorrectly.
• FIX: Filtered Node Tree would not updated when nodes build.
• FIX: Minor internal issues.

BREAKING CHANGE

The way variables are loaded in the command line has changed.

Each variable much be precented with a -v. For example, to load a variable foo with value bar, you would use -v foo=bar. You can load multiple variables by separating them with a space. For example, -v foo=bar -v baz=qux. Use the Show Command Line button to get an exact output. Wrap filenames in "double quotes" to protect the path.

The former argument -vars is now deprecated and will be ignored. Please update your scripts accordingly.

2.0.4.1

• Draw node has been improved under the hood to provide smoother operation.
• Draw node will also be more predictable in production scenarios.
• Groups improved to allow normal node selection by dragging.
• Groups can only be dragged using the header.
• Groups have selection state for better cognition.
• Portal menu improved with icons to signify current state of ports.
• Combine has 10 new preview-versions of Blend Modes to try.
• FIX: Critical file corruption issue when saving files with Draw nodes.
• FIX: Opening Options window cause cause a crash for a small set of users.
• FIX: F8 could crash Gaea if no node was selected.
• FIX: Ctrl + F8 would always crash Gaea when creating a Mixer node.
• FIX: Draw node data could be corrupted when working with complex shapes.
• FIX: Mesh LODs would not export when using Tris or Quads.
• FIX: Ridge and Terrace nodes could crash in rare instances.
• FIX: Shift-dragging range sliders would drag the Modifier instead.
• FIX: Transform gizmo was rendered below the terrain.
• FIX: Gaea2Houdini plugin would not accept other TCP ports.

2.0.4.0

This is an important release that delivers major improvements and stability fixes. It is recommended that all users update to this version, although we recommend testing it first.

See https://blog.quadspinner.com/ for more details on this update.

• Major stability updates throughout Gaea.
• Mixer gets a significant update.
  • Supports up to 15 layers.
  • Improved interface.
  • Toggle individual layers.
  • Simplify individual layers.
  • Masks generated by Mixer are now saved as outputs.
  • Drag layers to re-order.
  • Multiply height and slope with custom mask.
• Modifier Stack updated for better visibility.
• Modifiers can now be reordered by dragging.
• Node Tree improved.
• New Node Tree filters added.
• Nodes in Graph View are highlighted when filtered.
• Aperture Node (Preview Version).
• Lazy Menu (F1) editor in Options dialog.
• Gaea2Unreal Plugin updated with World Partition support.
• Drag-drop .terrain files into Gaea to open.
• Shortcut List added to Help Menu for easy reference.
• Gaea Update notifications improved.
• Added option to omit adding Port suffix _Out to filenames.
• Added non-Uniform scaling to Transform node.
• Allow Q/E key flipping in Navigation options.
• Zoom shortcuts changed to industry standard.
• FIX: Older Gaea files that used SqRt Blend Mode would not open in newer builds.
• FIX: Prevent multiple overlapping windows from stealing focus.
• FIX: Insert mode in Transpose was behaving incorrectly.
• FIX: Note font size balanced.
• FIX: Occlusion output was inverted. Old files will not be modified but new ones will have it corrected.
• FIX: Collapsed notes would not show contents as tooltips.
• FIX: Mask ports would not preserve connections, especially in new files.
• FIX: Variables would not clear when changing files.
• FIX: Unreal node would emit incorrect filename prefixes.
• FIX: Unreal node would incorrectly have tiled filename suffixes.
• FIX: Failed node would not show error message in node tooltip.
• FIX: Prevent clearing viewport when preview is locked.
• FIX: Bitmap nodes could break visualization when connected to Export nodes.
• FIX: Major issue with Underlay node being downstream and unbuilt.
• FIX: Overlapping Pixel setting was not being honored.
• FIX: Humanized gRPC errors.
• FIX: Emergency recovery file would be overwritten in new session.
• FIX: Portal would draw off-center.
• FIX: Open Folder and Copy Terrain settings would not load in Build Settings window.
• FIX: Deleting a node while processing could cause a crash.
• FIX: Graph could not zoom out far enough.
• FIX: Intermittent crashes could occur in rare circumstances in some nodes.
• FIX: Baked data would not be accessible after changing resolutions.
• FIX: Changing resolutions could destabilize cached data.
• FIX: Autosave would create copies of baked cache.
• FIX: Autosave files that relied on baked data could not be opened normally.
• FIX: Added missing Terrain port warning to Mixer node.
• FIX: Viewport compass was broken.
• FIX: Graph would slow down when working with large networks.
• FIX: Bookmark shortcuts removed to avoid conflicts.

As usual, there are lots of other smaller, unlisted tweaks and improvements throughout the engine that will result in smoother, faster, and more stable experience going forward.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support and sharing diagnostics logs.