Godot 4.6 Dev 6 released
The latest snapshot for Godot 4.6 has dropped, packed with new features and tweaks. It feels quite busy this time around.
A big part of that is the addition of native GDScript support for dedicated profilers (tracked as GH-113279). This collaboration between Lukas Tenbrink and enetheru makes profiling scripts much more integrated now. Previously, Tracy primarily handled tasks such as performance debugging, but this method was only effective for C++ code in Godot.
Now that GDScript natively supports dedicated profilers, developers can more quickly and easily identify issues in their custom GDScript code without the need for additional integrations.
Another welcome change touches on Android development. When dealing with file I/O, many developers encountered difficulties with the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission request. Syntaxerror247 has brought us Storage Access Framework (SAF) support (GH-112215), which essentially lets users pick files using their device's standard system picker, which means less hassle with permissions and more straightforward access to save or load data from various directories.
Beyond these headline features, the snapshot includes many smaller upgrades across different areas. Animation tools have been beefed up significantly; there's a new BoneTwistDisperser3D node designed specifically to help propagate IK target twist effects smoothly (GH-113284). On the audio side, AudioServer now has direct access to the microphone buffer (GH-113288), which is probably handy for more granular sound capture needs. And if you're dealing with Apple devices in Godot, good news: Core has gained support for their Instruments profiling tools too (GH-113342).
Other areas saw improvements as well. Animation again got some love, but also GUI and rendering updates are included. AgX tonemapping received a tune-up with white balance and contrast adjustments available now, alongside groundwork for future HDR enhancements (GH-106940). For the Windows backend using DirectX 12, the developers added support for point size emulation in the forward shader path (GH-112191). And finally, Radiance and Reflection probes have moved away from traditional methods, now employing Octahedral maps instead (GH-107902).
Clearly, this release covers a lot of ground. Check out the interactive changelog to see all 140 fixes submitted by the 67 contributors involved.
Dev snapshot: Godot 4.6 dev 6 – Godot Engine
Feature freeze is here; time for one last round-up!
