The first beta release of 4.0.0, 4.0.0-beta1, is available for testing! This is a very large release, and contains multiple changes. Please test it intensively so that we may soon push out the final 4.0.0.

It is available at the usual locations:

• Download 4.0.0-beta1 from SourceForge
• Download 4.0.0-beta1 from GitHub Releases

4.0.0 beta1 Highlights:

• New graphics backend support:
  • New support for:
    • Vulkan 1.0+
    • OpenGL ES 3.0 / 2.0
    • DirectX (via libANGLE, OpenGL ES -> DirectX)
    • Metal (via MoltenVK, Vulkan -> Metal)
  • In addition to the existing support for:
    • OpenGL 3.0+ Core Profile (default), OpenGL 2.1 Compatibility Profile
  • See the new “Graphics Backend” option in the Video Options menu.
• New “Factions” for multiplayer / skirmish
• Higher-res terrain textures, backdrops
• New Music Manager, + AlexTheDacian’s new soundtrack album
• Support for “script-generated” / “random” maps (and two new built-in maps that take advantage of this: 6p-Entropy and 10p-Waterloop)
• Scrollable room chat, and many other UI / widget improvements
• Updated / smarter AI bots (Bonecrusher, Cobra)
• New “headless” mode (for --autogame, --autohost, --skirmish)
• JS API enhancements, + a new “Script Debugger”
• Removal of Qt as a dependency, + a new embedded JS engine: QuickJS
• Quality-of-Life / smoothness improvements
• Hundreds of bug fixes

With this release, we also now offer native builds for additional platforms:

• New: Windows 64-bit builds (for both Intel 64-bit / x64, and ARM64)
• New: macOS Universal Binaries with native Apple Silicon support (in addition to Intel 64-bit support)

View the full 4.0.0-beta1 changelog

There have been over 940 commits since the last release, from many contributors including: Alexander Volkov, alfred007 / highlander1599, Bennett Somerville, Björn Ali Göransson, cpdef, Cyp, Daniel Llewellyn, Ilari Tommiska, inodlite, Karamel, KJeff01, lakebeans, Maxim Zhuchkov, Next67, past-due, Paweł Perłakowski, Prot EuPhobos, Thiago Romão Barcala, Tipchik, toilari, Topi Miettinen, TotalCaesar659, Vitya Andreev

We’d also like to thank all of the new and returning translators who have helped to improve the translations for the game via the Crowdin project. For more information on how to help with translations, see doc/Translations.md.

Please report all bugs on GitHub.

And don’t forget to check out the new official Discord server:

Tag: Releases