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Godot 3.2.4 has a first beta with 2D batching for GLES3

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Despite the small version bump, Godot 3.2.4 will be quite big release for game developers wanting to squeeze out some more performance.

The first Beta release is out now, and the Godot team mentioned it's best to get in and start testing now to ensure your games and Godot as a whole is as good as can be when Godot 3.2.4 is released properly. With 3.2.3 now behind them which added in batching for GLES2, they're moving to ensure it's hooked up for GLES3 too.

Apart from the usual assortment of fixes, these are the major changes:

  • Android App Bundle and subview embedding support.
  • 2D batching for GLES3 (remember that we added it 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).
  • FXAA makes a return

If you're not a game developer, this is probably like speaking another language. Originally, Godot was drawing up various parts of the graphics you see on an individual basis, meaning that each rectangle, polygon, line and so on added to the OpenGL overhead. To better take advantage of a GPUs power, batching pulls a load of it together to save on that performance. Want to know a bit more detail? You can see one of their original blog posts about it here.

While Godot 4.0 will bring with it Vulkan support, a lot of developers stick with the current version of a game engine for a long time, as moving and upgrading can cause all sorts of issues. So giving developers the most performance they can get in the current Godot is great. Godot 4.0 is also still quite some time away so it makes sense.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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5 comments

setzer22 Oct 22, 2020
Another notable change is that they brought back FXAA! It was removed when they moved to Godot 3.

FXAA is a very cheap anti-aliasing technique, frequently used in 3d mobile games instead of MSAA (the only one supported until now). A great fit for Godot!
Solarwing Oct 23, 2020
Nice to see this project advancing ahead. Maybe I should try it especially then when it reaches version 4.0....
Goldpaw Oct 23, 2020
Quoting: setzer22Another notable change is that they brought back FXAA! It was removed when they moved to Godot 3.

FXAA is a very cheap anti-aliasing technique, frequently used in 3d mobile games instead of MSAA (the only one supported until now). A great fit for Godot!

Well that is awesome news! FXAA is one of the few methods of AA my computer can do without severely impacting the performance. Really looking forward to their 4.0 release, though. Vulkan will be great! :D
Calinou Oct 23, 2020
Quoting: setzer22Another notable change is that they brought back FXAA!

I did that :)

Also, we'll probably merge a debanding option for viewports before 3.2.4 is released: https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/42942

I added that debanding shader to `master` last week and took the time to backport it to the `3.2` branch for GLES3.


Last edited by Calinou on 23 October 2020 at 8:43 pm UTC
setzer22 Oct 25, 2020
Quoting: CalinouAlso, we'll probably merge a debanding option for viewports before 3.2.4 is released: https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/42942

That looks so cool Thanks for the great work!
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