Godot 4.5 beta 1 has been released and introduces several significant features, including animation, audio/video capabilities, C# support, comprehensive documentation, an enhanced editor, GDScript improvements, GUI advancements, import functionalities, input options, internationalization support, navigation enhancements, physics updates, platform compatibility, rendering and shader improvements, and XR integration. Some important changes include handling tilemap physics in parts, getting rid of internal nodes, adding asynchronous navigation for both 2D and 3D, removing the gradle_build/compress_native_libraries export option, taking out the "Areas Detect Static Bodies" setting from Jolt Physics, and removing set_scope from JSONRPC. The improvements for user experience include moving selection boxes, scaling options in the Bezier editor, automatic tangents, animation filtering, and adding a delta argument in SkeletonModifier3D. Furthermore, Berama has enhanced the multi-channel audio resampler and incorporated metadata tags into WAV and OGG audio streams.

The .NET team has achieved notable advancements in integrating .NET into web builds for Godot and in the transition to GDExtension for C#. The objective is to ensure that interop calls are universally applicable, enabling any programming language to leverage their benefits. The engine's core is currently being examined, with the addition of script backtracing support for both GDScript and C#. Furthermore, enhancements have been implemented regarding resource duplication, scene transitions, and thread safety. The team appreciates the valuable contributions made by Lukas Tenbrink.

The GitHub documentation has undergone several updates, including the introduction of 'required' as a qualifier, modifications to the mixed-indentation of code blocks, and a comprehensive redesign of scene preview thumbnails. The editor now features EditorScripts in the command palette, facilitating more centralized execution. Variant exporting has been implemented, enabling dynamic variable modifications in independent contexts. Additional updates consist of the ability to override editor settings on a per-project basis, toggles for inspector sections, the option to drop preload resources as UID, and support for multiple remote nodes during runtime. GDScript 4.5 introduces a new keyword: abstract, facilitating direct instantiation and enabling users to declare functions as abstract. Support for variadic arguments is also being introduced.

GDScript has undergone enhancements in usability, featuring improvements in code completion and highlighting functionalities. The Godot Foundation emphasizes accessibility, incorporating AccessKit into the engine to guarantee support for screen readers. Version 4.5 introduces foldable containers, enabling users to dynamically cascade GUI objects. The Advanced Import Settings dialog facilitates flexible 3D asset imports, and the functionality for batch editing multiple assets has been refined. Additional enhancements encompass channel remap settings, unique identifiers, as well as enhanced JPG compatibility and processing speed. SDL3 is anticipated to be incorporated as the new gamepad input driver for desktop platforms in Godot. The objective of these changes is to enhance accessibility and improve the overall user experience.

The Godot project has enhanced its editor considerably, featuring new editor previews, refined navigation logic, and optimized performance for both 2D and 3D navigation systems. The project has implemented an enhanced 3D fixed-timestep interpolation solution, which has undergone significant improvements for Godot 4.5. The Android editor experience has been enhanced with the introduction of TouchActionsPanel, enabling users to simulate actions through established shortcuts. The Godot engine has been restructured to accommodate Wayland, a platform that facilitates multi-window output independent of the display protocol. The addition of the Apple XR environment, visionOS, to Godot Engine improves its features, making it work better across different platforms like traditional ones. The purpose of these updates is to enhance the user experience and provide support across multiple platforms.

The forthcoming release of Godot 4.5 brings numerous enhancements to the platform, featuring a performance increase through SIMD, discontinuation of support for Windows 7/8.1, and the capability to alter the metadata of Windows binaries without relying on the third-party rcedit tool. The platform introduces stencil support, compatible with all rendering backends, enabling users to implement advanced techniques utilizing depth capabilities. Furthermore, the release incorporates a new shader baker during the export process, guaranteeing that all shaders are pre-compiled at the time of export. The XR team has been diligently advancing the support for additional OpenXR extensions, culminating in a 4.0.0 release scheduled for April. The release has included 1,817 fixes contributed by 334 individuals, emphasizing GDScript and GDExtension enhancements. The XR team is currently developing support for executing hybrid applications from the Godot XR editor.

Dev snapshot: Godot 4.5 beta 1

The first beta release for the 4.5 release cycle has come at last, and with it a plethora of outstanding bugs to be squashed. Contributors are encouraged to focus exclusively on fixing  regressions, as we are now in feature-freeze and will not be merging new features at this stage of development (aside from a couple pre-approved exceptions scheduled for beta 2).

For those interested in aiding us on our quest to squash any bugs that come up during this time, we encourage you to join our recent bug-hunting sprints. Helmed by our new head of the Bugsquad,  A Thousand Ships has taken to hosting regular sprints for tackling various bugs within the Godot repo, organized such that everyone can easily gather behind a given theme to make chunks of fixes as seamlessly and speedily as possible. This will be our fourth sprint of this type, with an associated discussion  already prepared. See the  Bug Triage Introduction for more information, and join the  #bugsquad and  #bugsquad-sprints channels on our developer RocketChat to participate!

Please consider  supporting the project financially, if you are able. Godot is maintained by the efforts of volunteers and a small team of paid contributors. Your donations go towards sponsoring their work and ensuring they can dedicate their undivided attention to the needs of the project.

Jump to the Downloads section, and give it a spin right now, or continue reading to learn more about improvements in this release. You can also  try the Web editor or the Android editor for this release. If you are interested in the latter, please request to join  our testing group to get access to pre-release builds.

Dev snapshot: Godot 4.5 beta 1