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FlightGear Newsletter May 2021: Difference between revisions
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{{Disclaimer|id=final-fixed-function-release}} | {{Disclaimer|id=final-fixed-function-release}} | ||
=== | === FlightGear 2020.3.9 release preparations === | ||
As of the end of May, preparations are underway for the 2020.3.9 LTS point release. This follows the 2020.3.8 release which added 3d models of buildings, roads, other objects for the whole world based on OpenStreetMap data, as well as other improvements - see the [[FlightGear Newsletter April 2021#2020.3.8 LTS released - OSM2City world-build release|April]] | As of the end of May, preparations are underway for the '''2020.3.9 LTS''' [[Release plan#General release concept|point release]] (with bug fixes and some stabilised improvements/tweaks). This follows the point 2020.3.8 release which added 3d models of buildings, roads, other objects for the whole world based on OpenStreetMap data, as well as other improvements - see the [[FlightGear Newsletter April 2021#2020.3.8 LTS released - OSM2City world-build release|April newsletter]] for details and tips on settings/performance. | ||
2020.3.9 release candidates | 2020.3.9 release candidates are already available [http://download.flightgear.org/builds/rc/ download.flightgear.org]. This includes the web-installer for Windows (see below). | ||
Please test and report bugs or issues via the Sourceforge [https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/codetickets/ ticket] system or the "[https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/codetickets/ fg-devel]" mailing-list. | |||
==== Web installer for Windows with 2020.3.9 ==== | |||
Slawek and James have been working on a new FlightGear Windows installer that will download most of the content from the web in compressed form - e.g. from Sourceforge servers. This installer has the ability to download more than 2GB of compressed content, and avoids the 2GB limit of the current innosetup installer configuration. The plan is to also allow in-place updating when a new point release is published of the LTS - the idea is to download only the changed files (incremental updates). Downloading only changed files is faster, and hugely reduces bandwidth demands placed on sourceforge. Recent installers (e.g. 2020.3.8 LTS) will also look for updates and notify users. This means that a lot of people will get bug fixes very quickly, and it should be convenient to have frequent releases with one or a few fixes as they become available. With the auto update feature there's not much reason to panic if a bug or issue has been found in your work - the fix can be distributed very quickly to the large majority of users (with the regular point release format it was pretty quick compared to previous times anyway). | |||
The current plan is to make the installer available for the 2020.3.x LTS when it is finished and tested - starting with the the upcoming 2020.3.9 release. | |||
=== The road ahead === | === The road ahead === | ||
''See [[FlightGear Newsletter February 2021#Help%20Wanted|'''Help Wanted''']].'' | ''See [[FlightGear Newsletter February 2021#Help%20Wanted|'''Help Wanted''']].'' | ||
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Please report bugs and issues via the sourceforge [https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/codetickets/ tickets] system if you come across any on the next branch, or LTS. | Please report bugs and issues via the sourceforge [https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/codetickets/ tickets] system if you come across any on the next branch, or LTS. | ||
==== Text animations and OSG 3.6 ==== | ==== Text animations and OSG 3.6 ==== | ||
Fernando pushed two commits to simgear and fgdata that should hopefully fix the [[OSGText Issues|white osgText issue under OSG 3.6]]. Apparently assigning an Effect to the geode containing the osgText was enough to get it working. He thought it would conflict with OSG internal shaders, but it didn't. This might not be the case with the core profile, but has got a few tricks which should force our shaders to prevail over OSG's. | Fernando pushed two commits to simgear and fgdata that should hopefully fix the [[OSGText Issues|white osgText issue under OSG 3.6]]. Apparently assigning an Effect to the geode containing the osgText was enough to get it working. He thought it would conflict with OSG internal shaders, but it didn't. This might not be the case with the core profile, but has got a few tricks which should force our shaders to prevail over OSG's. | ||