[SirKnightly]

Change log: (chronologically ordered)

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Big Feature: VR

• Thanks to Lafiel’s immense efforts, FSO now supports VR. More information here: https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Virtual_Reality

Game

• Allow to Capture Mouse in FSO window
• Add command line option for window resolution
• Only untarget jumpnode if we're in a mission
• Provide a way to account for timer padding in the mission log
• Fix for ets changes when engines are <15%
• Fix incorrect setting of disabled/disarmed flags when cheating
• Fix warp time durations
• Ensure medal information is correctly assigned
• Pause the UI properly based on user settings
• Move -no_unfocused_pause

Animation

• Add animation Drivers, which allow animations tied to ship values, such as an animation whose speed is proportional to the ship speed, or an animation that is animating over the ETS value instead of time. More information here: https://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Animation_Drivers
• Controls
• Mainhall ignores input

Graphics

• Fix hiDPI Windows Scaling
• Allow an asymmetric FOV / Frustrum
• Fix glare shining through cockpits in free-look
• Fix near z planes for the cockpit rendering
• Add deferred lighting as an in-game option
• Fix lightshafts and bloom in-game options
• Force MSAA in-game toggle to require restart
• Account for Glow and Spec maps for alpha-multiplied ships
• Fix for particle culling
• Fix faulty / missing optimization for AMD shader compilation
• Properly check if we're running in a windowed mode
• Fix MSAA for some graphics drivers
• Deferred light mesh submission optimizations
• Remove redundant batching_render_all calls

HUD

• Add feature to always display the damage gauge
• Bugfix HUD target direction triangle
• Fix HUD slewing

FRED/QTFRED

• Fix change-soundtrack after <No Music>
• Add mission custom strings
• Add Message notes feature
• Add mission custom data
• Check for out-of-range persona
• Fix “New Object Type” popup
• Refine numeric error checking in FRED
• Fix crash in QtFRED
• Add Fred cutscene dialog
• FRED on mission load hook
• Reenable QtFred building for Linux CI builds
• FRED checkbox upgrade
• Fix loadout dialog updating in FRED
• FRED missionsave updates
• Campaign error message improvement 
• Add more autosaving

SEXPs

• Add set timer padding sexp
• Add support for predicting arrival warp distance
• Add nebula-fade-poof SEXP
• Fix change-soundtrack after <No Music>
• Add Message notes feature
• Add mission custom data
• Fix and upgrade ai-fly-to-ship
• Add "special warp physics" to custom warpin parameters
• Add force rearm sexp
• Enhance set-armor-type to work with generic subsystems
• Add ai-disable-ship-tactical and ai-disarm-ship-tactical
• Update SEXP Help for send-message
• Clarify which SEXPs work on ships that have not arrived
• Add plieblang's good primary time SEXP
• Add reset-event and reset-goal
• Disallow Replace Container Data for all special argument SEXPs
• Restore (mostly-)retail debrief failure counting behavior
• Fix crash in fire-beam-at-coordinates
• Implement on-mission-skip SEXP
• Remove is-docked check for transfer-cargo sexp

Localization

• SCPUI Options Localization
• Add built-in xstrs for SCP-added custom controls
• Only use- in-game language if the mod table option is enabled
• Add SCPUI language selector 

Modding

• Allow modification of warp audible range via objecttypes.tbl
• Add a maneuver-despite-engines flag
• Allow Modders to Set Rotational Scaling Multiplier for Asteroids/Debris
• Weapon ignores countermeasures flag
• Add default player weapon flag
• Add Game Option to refresh selected weapon in loadout
• Adds custom data for intel entries
• Mod setting to disable FSO's internal loadout restoration
• Rank display name and title
• Make `lock_fov` settable for aspect/javelin missiles
• Change "special warp physics" to "supercap warp physics"
• Expand curve functionality
• Rename Vaporize Percent Chance
• Double the allowed cargo from 30 to 60
• Allow particles to inherit size and lifetime
• Add "Calculate subsystem hitpoints after parsing" option
• Add more message filters
• Move no campaign warning to on Ready Room click
• Add Start/Loop/End sounds for weapons
• Make beams respect 'check hull' and 'can damage shooter' flags
• Make error messages more accurate
• Self Credits update
• Make internal table file match updated parsing preference
• Add more SCPUI options
• Disable cmdline overrides
• Add cockpit 'sway'
• Implement direction-blind contrails option
• Bump missionlog limit
• Change the discord option category to "game"
• Add way to offset directive help text only

Models

• Fix an issue with faulty eyepoint data causing a crash

Multiplayer

• Fix Chase view from crashing in multi
• Vectorize multi pxo

Scripting

• Player general orders can now be created within the custom, scripted AI system.
• LUA method to launch arbitrary url
• Add dkjson as a default lua file
• Add Intro about to play hook
• LUA get mod root
• Lua access to Support Ship availability
• Add LUA scrollback
• Add death message as a dialog HV
• Allow SCPUI saving current player data to file
• Provide Lua a way to toggle the mainhall help overlay
• Upgrade Lua Sound Handling methods
• Add a scripting-in-mission state
• Pause and Resume voices functionality
• Expose burst values to LUA
• Revert removal of allowRelative in `applyToParticleInfo`
• Fix documentation error in On State Start
• Custom lua action for mainhall esc keypress
• Lua Child Enums for Sexp types
• Expose more submodel instance and submodel attributes and functions to Lua
• Small speedup to drawString
• Deprecate IsValid in favor of isValid
• Add mn.generateWeaponGroupId() 
• Allow Lua SEXPs to not specify a subcategory 
• Add AllowedInCampaign virtvar
• Add Lua function for movie duration
• Add gr.killAllParticles
• Add waypoint as allowed LUA sexp parameter type
• LUA method to check if a movie is currently playing
• Add some better error and validation checking to LUA enums scripting API
• Fix unbalanced stack when retrieving Lua main thread
• Fix typo in lua error prints
• LuaDrawstring optimization
• VR Lua interface
• Fixed some Lua API arguments
• Add method for determining whether the HUD is hi-res
• Fix splash crash and add supplemental script hook
• Expose `isValid` parse object check to scripting

Technical

• Preload subspace tunnel flag
• Add version check to fix older ffmpeg versions
• Convert some instances of frand_range to Random::next
• Add const where appropriate to the jump node API
• Fix invalid pointer access to waypoint lists
• Protect model_collide input values
• Optimization for checking whether subsystems are blown
• Add some security to avoid invalid `Random::next()` calls
• Fix error handling in cfile_push_chdir() 
• Switch to new linux build image
• Print option settings to the log
• Fix SCPUI overwriting campaign data
• Codesign Mac builds to prevent broken app message
• Add mac arm64 builds to CI workflow
• Add arm64 detection and naming support

Deprecations:
N/A

Deprecations are a mechanism in FSO where a certain feature or aspect of the engine has changed or is no longer supported. Since this would normally break existing mods, we have the mod table feature "$Target Version:" with which a mod can specify what version of FSO it was developed with. Any features listed under Deprecations will be removed or changed when the target version of a mod is at least the version released in this post.

Previous 23.2.1 Release Thread

Launchers, if you don't have one already:
All platforms: For every day use, we recommend Knossos.NET, an integrated solution for downloading and launching mods.

Hidden Text: Alternative Launchers • Show

Cross-platform: wxLauncher 0.12.x Test Build (legacy project for a unified launcher)
Important: For best compatibility with FSO 3.8 and later you should use at least wxLauncher 0.12.

Windows:  Launcher 5.5g (Mirror) (Mirror) Not compatible with Windows 8+, use wxLauncher above
OS X:  Soulstorm's OS X Launcher 3.0
Linux:  YAL or by hand or whatever you can figure out.

Windows (32/64-bit)
Compiled using GitHub Actions on Windows Server 2019 (10.0.17763), Visual Studio Enterprise 2019

64-bit: fs2_open_24_0_0-builds-x64-SSE2.zip

32-bit: fs2_open_24_0_0-builds-Win32-SSE2.zip
This one is based on the SSE2 Optimizations from the MSVC Compiler.

Hidden Text: Alternative builds • Show

64-bit AVX: fs2_open_24_0_0-builds-x64-AVX.zip
This one is based on the AVX Optimizations from the MSVC Compiler (fastest build if your CPU supports AVX instructions).


32-bit AVX: fs2_open_24_0_0-builds-Win32-AVX.zip
This one is based on the AVX Optimizations from the MSVC Compiler.

What are those SSE, SSE2 and AVX builds I keep seeing everywhere?
Your answer is in this topic.
Don't want to deal with that? Use Knossos.NET and it will download the best build specifically for your PC!

Linux 64-bit
Compiled with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit, GCC 5
fs2_open_24_0_0-builds-Linux.tar.gz

These builds use a mechanism called AppImage which should allow these builds to run on most Linux distributions. However, we recommend that you compile your own builds which will result in less issues.
Alternatively, if there is a package in your software repository then you should use that. If you are the maintainer of such a package for a distribution then let us know and we will include that here.


macOS
macOS 10.9+
Intel (64-bit): fs2_open_24_0_0-builds-Mac-x86_64.tar.gz
Apple Silicon: fs2_open_24_0_0-builds-Mac-arm64.tar.gz

These builds are not signed and so by default will fail to launch. To run them simply right-click on the app, click open, then click open again on the security confirmation dialog. You should only have to do this once for each app.
If running the game through Knossos or Knossos.NET this step should not be necessary.

NOTE: macOS builds currently have limited support and may exhibit issues not present on other platforms.

Hidden Text: TrackIR Users • Show

Important!!
An external DLL is required for FSO to use TrackIR functions.  The following DLL is simply unpacked in to your main FreeSpace2 root dir.
TrackIR is only supported on Windows.
TrackIR SCP DLL (Mirror) (Mirror)

Known issues:

• Github issues and pending pull requests
• See the list of bugs ranked by priority