Godot 4.6.1 Release Candidate: What the Fixes Actually Mean for Your Projects
The first release candidate of Godot 4.6.1 is out, and it’s basically a “clean‑up crew” that patches the most annoying regressions from the 4.6 stable launch. If you’ve been wrestling with snapping in the 3D viewport or getting strange crashes in AnimationTree, this roundup tells you which bits finally behave.
Core & Editor Regression Fixes
NodePath hash collisions were causing subtle bugs where two different paths resolved to the same internal value, leading to misplaced resources at runtime. The fix restores proper hashing, so scene‑instancing works reliably again—especially handy for large projects that generate paths programmatically.
The ClassDB sorting regression broke alphabetical listings in the inspector, making it a nightmare to locate a class while debugging. With the list back in order, the editor feels less like a scavenger hunt.
A particularly annoying glitch involved the NodePath EditorProperty using the wrong scene root. Users reported that dragging a node into a script property sometimes linked to an invisible “root” instead of the current scene, which threw off exported scenes. The patch forces the property to reference the active scene’s root, eliminating those phantom references.
3D Navigation Gets Its Groove Back
The navigation scheme overhaul in 4.6 introduced new orbit shortcuts, but many users found that orbit snap was either always on or completely dead. Two fixes address this:
- Change orbit snap shortcut with navigation scheme – now the shortcut respects the selected scheme instead of forcing snapping.
- Viewport orbit snap defaulting to always snapping when shortcuts are set to none – cleared, so turning off shortcuts truly disables snapping.
If you’ve ever been stuck rotating around a model only to have it jitter every few degrees, those two changes finally give you smooth control again.
The editor also registers zoom shortcuts that match the preset navigation scheme, meaning the mouse wheel behaves consistently whether you’re in “Maya‑style” or “Blender‑style” mode.
Animation Tree and Blend Issues Fixed
A use‑after‑free bug in both AnimationTree and AnimationBlendTree could crash the editor when deleting nodes on the fly. The problem manifested after a heavy re‑import of an FBX file: the animation panel would freeze, then the whole editor would bite the dust. The RC patches free the memory correctly, so you can now tweak blend trees without fearing a sudden shutdown.
The LookAtModifier3D / AimModifier3D forward vector bug forced characters to aim backward in certain rigs. The fix aligns the forward direction with Godot’s convention (‑Z), which is a relief for anyone who spent an afternoon flipping bone axes.
Platform‑Specific Polish
Android: A “Bad file descriptor” error popped up when apps used long‑term SAF/MediaStore access, causing export failures on newer devices. The fix stabilizes the file handle lifecycle, so Android builds no longer abort mid‑export.
Windows: Disabling MSVC control‑flow checks on IAT hooks removes a rare crash that appeared only on systems with aggressive security hardening. If you’ve seen “0xC0000409” errors after enabling native plugins, this should finally put those nightmares to rest.
Wayland: An FD leak involving inert objects was silently eating file descriptors on Linux desktops, eventually hitting the OS limit and freezing the editor. The RC patches the leak, so long sessions on Wayland stay responsive.
Rendering Tweaks Worth Noting
The sky system got two subtle but important updates:
- Avoid reading from sky pointer when rendering background without sky – prevents a null‑pointer read that could crash headless servers.
- Pass uv border size into sky rendering functions – fixes texture bleeding at the edges of procedural skies, giving smoother horizons.
Also, 2× MSAA now picks the sample closer to the camera when resolving, which reduces aliasing artifacts on near‑field objects without a performance hit.
NodePath, Animation UAF, and 3D Navigation Restored
Godot 4.6.1 RC isn’t a feature dump; it’s a necessary set of regressions fixes that restore confidence in the 4.6 stable branch. The most critical items—NodePath hashing, animation use‑after‑free bugs, and 3D navigation quirks—are all addressed, meaning you can get back to building games instead of hunting down editor crashes.
Give the RC a spin, especially if your workflow hit any of the described pain points. If everything feels stable, consider updating your project before the final 4.6.1 release lands.
Release candidate: Godot 4.6.1 RC 1
Bring out the regression fixes!
