An update was planned for September to add support for custom modifications. But during the tests, a potential security issue was identified: since modifications allow adding any custom scripts, unmanaged custom code could be potentially dangerous. Therefore, at the moment, work is underway to fully or partially eliminate this problem.

Since the full update was delayed, it was decided to release a partial one: with fixes and new features that are not related to application modifications.

This is an alpha update. If you want to switch to the alpha version, follow these steps:

1. Find the app in the Steam client
   
2. Click RMB
   
3. Select Properties
   
4. Go to the “Betas” tab (usually the last one)
   
5. Change "default" to "alpha"
   
6. Save the changes and wait for the update.

By popular demand from the community, the ability to run UDCE offline has been added. In this mode, you will not be able to download NEW characters from the workshop (but if you have already downloaded a character, you can create one from the character creation menu).
In offline mode, Steam will not show that you have launched UDCE, nor will it count the number of hours.
Please note: this will not work if you run the program through Steam. You can either run it directly or add it to startup.
If you need to run the application through Steam, you can reload UDCE (Settings => Restart) and select offline mode.

Please note: The offline button will not be visible if you have not used the online mode in the last 10 days.

You can now allow the app to account for keystrokes outside of the app. For example, by enabling this feature while controlling a character, after switching to another window, you can still control the character without having to click on the UDCE interface. To enable go to “Settings => Allow global keys”.
Now you can call some functions of the program using the keys. At the moment it is:
• Collapse / Expand side menu
• Media: previous track, pause / play, next track
To configure hotkeys, go to “Settings => Configuring Hotkeys” and also enable “Allow global keys”.


• Now you can create multiple copies of one mod (Global Effects). For this, the “+” button appeared on the creation buttons. Note: Saving for multiple instances of the same effect is not currently supported.


• Improved error messages when importing characters (.vrm, .fbx) and mods (.udcemod). Now they are more detailed and more clearly reflect the essence of the error.
• Bug fixes.
Please note: some fixes and features that were planned are still not available as they overlap with the application modification.

At the moment, work continues on adding support for mods (and their security), which will allow any scripts in the UDCE.

UI no longer responds to keys: When controlling a character or accidentally pressing keys (WASD / Space / Enter), you could click on the interface button. This greatly interfered, and normal control of the character made it impossible. Therefore, the interface no longer responds to the keyboard, which helps to avoid accidental clicks.
Some user characters had incorrect physics settings (mass, etc.), which led to huge and long jumps. Now in most cases, the mass of the character will be adjusted automatically. If your characters had problems with an endless jump, after this update they should disappear.
It was impossible to control some of the user characters because the character was constantly “hanging in the air” due to a poorly placed collider. With the new settings, most of these situations have been fixed.
Now a slider has appeared in the settings menu, which adjusts the sensitivity of the animation to sound. If your device has weak sound, you can simply increase the sound sensitivity.

This is an alpha update. If you want to switch to the alpha version, follow these steps:

1. Find the app in the Steam client
   
2. Click RMB
   
3. Select Properties
   
4. Go to the “Betas” tab (usually the last one)
   
5. Change "default" to "alpha"
   
6. Save the changes and wait for the update.

Some changes planned for this version have been carried over to the next.


• The version of the plugin for importing FBX has been updated to the latest;
• Error messages now more correctly and clearly reflect the reason why the error occurred;
• A bug was fixed where, on some operating systems, under certain conditions, the correct FBX files could not be imported, because the program could not access the file.

• Now the background color of the panels depends on the type of asset (character, animation, etc.).

• Now you can change the standard background to one of the proposed ones or upload your own;
• Now you can pause the animation at the right time to create a beautiful preview that will be displayed in the workshop;
• Now you can change the position, zoom, rotation of the preview camera to select the desired angle.
Please note: the lower part will be covered by a panel with the name of the asset.



experimental
Multiple monitors: by popular demand, support for multiple monitors was finally added to the application *.
• Now when starting UDCE, if you have several monitors, a list of them to switch will be displayed at the top. To switch to the desired monitor, first drag the launch window to the desired monitor, then click on the button with the desired monitor number, and click “>” (start).


* Please note: the application does not distinguish between the monitor to which the windows belong. Because of this, when working with multiple monitors, window detection can be random and incorrect.
If you encounter a problem and for you this function does not work correctly, please report it on the forum.

• When changing the Dynamic => Static => Dynamic mode, the character began to slide if the animation did not change;
• When switching to character control mode, the dance animation did not always stop, which made it impossible to control the character;
• [Character settings window] The toggle state (check marks) was not updated when switching to the General screen from another screen (for example, Animations), because of which the user did not see the states that were currently turned on).
• Added setting for "sun" color changes:


• UI rendering changed: the outlines and edges of many icons are no longer transparent and are displayed correctly;
• The color of the control buttons on the side panel is changed in a dark theme to improve visibility;
• The version of the plugin for importing VRM has been updated to the latest;
• Reduced HUD size for global effects on stage;
• Bug fixes.

• Choosing a custom picture for the workshop has not been tested on some operating systems.
• If the original shader with which the model was loaded has the same name as the standard Unity shader, you cannot change the standard shader to the original one. Workaround: change to Toon, then to the original (custom).
• Possible compatibility issues for VRM imports: physics and materials / shaders.
• Memory leak when importing VRM files: after importing and deleting a character, not all memory is freed up, which leads to a memory leak (approximately 50-100MB / 1 VRM file).
• Switching monitors has not been tested on some operating systems. If you encounter a problem, please report it on the forum.

Now you can participate in alpha testing of new features and try them first!
To do this, you need to go to a new branch:

1. Find the app in the Steam client
   
2. Click RMB
   
3. Select Properties
   
4. Go to the “Betas” tab (usually the last one)
   
5. Change "default" to "alpha"
   
6. Save the changes and wait for the update.

This is the first part of a big update that will be released in parts (more in one of the previous announcements).
Version 0.2.0 should be the last update of the program in early access.
According to plans, after it enters the main branch in a month or two (time for checking bugs), the program will have to exit early access.
In addition, the plans for updating 2.0 include a complete change of the page in the store, because during this time the functionality of the program has changed a lot.

In this part of the update, there are only a few test mods. In the next part of the update, new mods will be added.

• Strong visual enhancement of rendering (graphics);
  
• UDCE is migrating to the new version of Unity;
  
• Adding mods (global effects);
  
• Interface enhancement;
  
• Tutorial;
  
• Additional settings for optimizing the UI;
  
• Bug fixes.

More details below.

In the new version there were many changes, including regarding the used API. If before when you started UDCE you had a black background and this was not fixed by following the instructions on the forum, you can try the new version. However, keep in mind that the chance is small enough.

If you encounter a problem that was not in the previous version, please report it on the forum or in this thread:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/979010/discussions/0/1745644038870749929/

Workshop: backward compatibility: Initially, the loading of characters was built with the expectation of moving to a new version of Unity, so there should not be any compatibility problems. However, due to strong changes in cloth physics, Unity cloth from older versions is not supported in the new version of UDCE. As far as I know, in the workshop there are practically no characters with Unity cloth.

• Adding New Mods (Global Effects);
  
• Adding New Pages to the Tutorial;
  
• Finalization of documentation for version 2.0;
  
• Adding new characters to the workshop;
  
• Interface revision;
  
• Interface translation into some languages;
  
• Complete revision of the store page: video, screenshots, description;
  
• Translation of the store page into some languages;
  
• Transfer standard mods to the workshop or to the DLC;
  
• Update UDCEAssetCreator to Unity 2019.3;
  
• Improving perspective rendering;
  
• Toolkit for creating mods.

One of the main changes in version 2.0: adding mods. Now you can export any object with custom scripts from Unity to UDCE. Mods will use the capabilities of UDCE: interact with windows, settings menus, etc.



Look at this fire: if the energy of the audio on the computer exceeds a predetermined threshold, the fire is emitted and it collides with the main window and goes up without going into the window itself.

You can configure the necessary parameters (for example, change the sensitivity, turn off the collision, move the fire outside the main window), move, rotate and scale objects. The position of the objects and settings are saved, so if you restart the application you do not need to re-configure everything.

Since UDCE defines OS windows, additional features open up for mods. For example, you can put an audio visualizer on top of all windows except the main one. This way you will see the effects outside the main window, but they will not overlap it.

Mods can be created by users themselves, but at the moment this feature is not available: work is still ongoing to improve security, as well as the ease of creating new mods for those who are completely unfamiliar with Unity and programming. Adding this feature is planned at the end of 0.2.x alpha.

Prior to this (in the update cycle 0.2.x alpha) a few more default effects will be added. For example, it is planned to add a mini-game: a kind of aquarium, as in older versions of Windows. In this case, fish and water can be located outside the main window, without interfering with the user's work.

The main advantage of mods is that they can be downloaded to the workshop or free DLC, so that the user can download only the mods he needs. Since there can be many of them and each of them can occupy 0-100 MB, it is very convenient: the program itself will not weigh much, since all effects can be downloaded separately.

The color space has been changed from Gamma to Linear. Among other things, it will provide more realistic, beautiful and customizable lighting, and gives deeper settings. Please note: old characters will now look new. You cannot return them to their old appearance, but you can achieve its similarity using the settings.
Look at your characters: most of them should look really better than before.
Take a look at Unity-Chan:


Linear will also help to remove terrible excess light on characters with high lighting settings.

Since some new users encounter difficulties in learning the program, at the first start they will be asked to view a tutorial: a list of animations that shows the basic actions that are needed to create / customize a character, etc. New pages will be added gradually and existing ones will be improved. The tutorial can also be launched from the “Help” menu.

The old interface had many problems, some of which were fixed in the new version:

• Many of the buttons were transparent, which made it impossible to read the text on them. Most buttons are no longer transparent.
  
• The main menu was too transparent and against some background it was extremely uncomfortable. The transparency of the main menu is greatly reduced.
  
• Almost the entire main interface with a day / night theme was terribly contrasting and unpleasant to look at. The contrast of the interface has been reduced, and the transitions between colors have become smoother.
  
• Many icons have been changed to others with a much higher resolution.

Improving the interface continues.

The workshop interface has been redesigned. Now it should become more compact, understandable and convenient.
In a night theme, text with page numbers is poorly visible: this will be fixed in one of the following updates.



Changed message interface. Since in most cases the messages contained information about the error or voluminous text in English, for most of the audience their meaning was lost. Now you can select and copy the text from the message to translate it into your language or send a detailed message about the error.

The message interface has been redesigned to become less contrast, more compact and convenient.


Since messages overlap the main screen, they will now open only for really important information. Notifications will be used for less significant messages: tooltips in the corner of the screen.

You can click on the notification to pin it. The edge color indicates the type of message. In some notifications, the “More” button is available, when clicked, detailed and information will be shown (for example, a message)


Significantly reduced the distance by which the character can move off the screen before teleporting him to the center. Now go ~ 3 meters per screen, the character will be teleported to the center of the screen.

On some devices, when scrolling through a large number of elements (for example, a workshop or a large list of characters to create), lags were noticeable and there was no smoothness.
Now the “UI Pixel Perfect” flag is available in the settings: when enabled, it increases the quality of small UI elements and paths, but greatly reduces performance when scrolling through a large number of elements (for example, a workshop or a large list of characters to create). If you encounter lags while scrolling, disable this flag and scrolling will become smooth.

• Changed links to documentation in the “Help” menu;
  
• Many of the switches have been replaced with checkboxes for the convenience of users and to save screen space;
  
• Improved UI optimization in some places;
  
• Improved general optimization;
  
• The problem of rendering transparent elements of non-red colors that were not always displayed or displayed with greater transparency or with a red tint is fixed;
  
• Now in the list of created characters for each character there is a button: you can return a specific character to the center of the screen;
  
• Many bug fixes;
  
• The Drag Ragdoll setting, turned off by default, was removed so as not to mislead users who did not see that this feature was experimental.

Within a week there will be a small documentation about using Global Effects.

Soon, new parts of the update will be released gradually with planned features and the addition of new global effects.

3 days ago, the stable version of Unity 2019.3 was officially released, to which UDCE is now ported (before that, development was carried out on Unity 2019.3 beta). In this regard, releasing UDCE on Unity beta does not make sense, so the transition to the stable version will be completed on the weekend, and a new alpha build of the program and a description of the new update 2.0 will be released.

If you do not have UDCE yet, you can buy it with a 15% discount in honor of the lunar new year!


Due to the fact that many technical details have been changed and added in the new version 2.0, it will be risky to replace the current version with a new version, because despite successful tests, in theory on some devices some parts of the application may not work correctly. In this regard, the update will be divided into several parts and will be released gradually in a separate branch.

The first part of the 0.2.0 update in the alpha version will be released in late January in a separate branch.
Along with this, a detailed overview of new features and more detailed information on the future release of 2.0 will be released.


Note (branch): Any owner of UDCE will be able to switch the branch in a minute to participate in the alpha test and be the first to use the new version, and if the new version does not work stably on his device, he can return to the stable version.

Note: the screenshots show some 2.0 features that are not in the current version.

If you do not have UDCE yet, you can buy it with a 15% discount in honor of the Steam Winter Sale 2019!

Some users experienced difficulties with partially outdated documentation on the game’s website. Since many Chinese users could not access the game’s website, the documentation is now on Steam and may later be duplicated on the game’s website.
While waiting for the release of the new version of the Unity editor, the documentation was partially rewritten and supplemented.
While work on the new update 2.0 is in full swing, you can familiarize yourself with the updated documentation regarding the UDCE functionality in the “Guides” section:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/979010/guides/
Getting started:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1941294187
F.A.Q:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1941246947
If you just purchased UDCE or because of outdated documentation you couldn’t figure out any functionality, take a look at the new manuals.
Please note: the documentation is still under development and may not be accurate, and some parts have not yet been released. Also, in version 2.0, part of the UI and functionality will change, so the documentation will also change. However, what already exists should help users better understand the functionality of UDCE.
If you encounter a problem loading FBX format characters, you can now see more detailed requirements and explanations in this guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1941212524
If you have not found a solution to your problem in the new guides, you can always ask a question in the community forum.

Today is the year of the Ultimate Desktop Character Engine! Exactly a year ago, UDCE was released in early access.

Initially, UDCE was planned as something that would allow the display of characters that any user can easily download and share the character with everyone.

When the program was released, it displayed characters on the desktop with the possibility of customization and settings, and only FBX format files could be downloaded, the incompatibility of different versions of which often led to errors when loading characters from some programs with some settings. Gradually added the ability to download directly from Unity, the ability to add new animations, and after a while - support for .VRM format and transparency. During this time, UDCE has grown, having received many fixes and new features.

During this time, the community uploaded many different characters and animations to the workshop, sharing them with other users.

Now it’s becoming clear that, unfortunately, the right path of development was not always chosen, and some functions turned out to be redundant, the interface was overloaded, and the documentation did not have time to update after all the changes. Also, due to incomprehensible error messages, users were not always able to understand the cause of the error while loading incompatible formats. And due to commercial difficulties, the release of new updates has become much less common. But UDCE is gradually improving, reaching the planned result.

Despite the fact that the initial exit from early access was planned only 3 months after the release in early access, I want to release a really high-quality and finished product with a simple interface and clear documentation.

Thanks to the community feedback, this year many problems have been fixed, many new features and capabilities have been added. However, we still have where to strive.


At the moment, the development of the last major update for early access is almost completed: UDCE 2.0. However, the new update uses the latest Unity editor (2019.3b), which is in beta. Therefore, while the release of Unity 2019.3 is expected, there is time to finalize the update, add documentation, and look for bugs.

There is no exact release date for the update, because the update release depends on the release of Unity 2019.3, which should be released around the winter.


UDCE is not just a program that displays characters on top of all windows or on the desktop. It is an environment that should be capable of more. There are programs that allow you to change the background of the desktop. On photo, video, program ... UDCE was created to display something BETWEEN the windows. Very often, users use many windows that overlap the desktop. And UDCE can display elements (for example, audio visualizer) not only on the desktop, but also on top of other windows, without interfering with the work with the main window. Or two. Or three ... That’s how the functionality is planned when leaving early access.


There is still a lot of work, but I hope that UDCE will be a complete product that will be simple, convenient and pleasant to use.
Thanks to everyone who helped and helps to develop the Ultimate Desktop Character Engine!

Some users have problems downloading FBX files. This is usually caused by incompatible versions of FBX. However, the problem is that the documentation does not indicate all the requirements for the FBX version (because some of them are incompatible), as well as some nuances. This can be confusing for some users. An update to the documentation that comes out after UDCE 2.0 should give users a clear understanding of how to download problematic FBX files in case of an error and what restrictions exist.

This update uses a new version of Unity Engine, which speeds up UI development. Due to changes in the new version, theoretically possible problems with the graphic part, as well as with the loading of .udce * files. During testing, these problems did not occur. If you encounter problems that were not there before, please report it on the forum. If the new version does not work for someone correctly, in the next version, UDCE will return the previous version of Unity Engine.

If you have problems with the new version, please report it on the forum or to the support mail, and select the latest stable version of UDCE (0.1.3):

1. Find the app in the Steam client
   
2. Click LMB
   
3. Select Properties
   
4. Go to the “Betas” tab (usually the last one)
   
5. Change "default" to "stable"
   
6. Save the changes and wait for the update. 

Stable version changed to 0.1.3

Global VFX: Added new test effects (cursor trace).

Global VFX can be displayed on top of all windows, as well as use depth (for example, the effect can be between two windows, for example, it will rain everywhere, but behind the active window, so as not to interfere with the user's work) and respond to audio spectrum (coming soon) .
In one of the next updates, the effects will be transferred to separate files, and the ability to load new effects from Unity (just like characters) will be added.

Autorun: added the option to automatically launch the application when starting WIndows. To enable, go to: Settings => Autorun (turn on).

Added new side widget buttons (panel on the right):

Media buttons: with their help you can control audio / video without switching to the window in which it is played.
Added 3 buttons for controlling media on a computer:
Prev: enable previous track;
Next: enable the next track;
Play / Pause: stop or start the current track.

Buttons send a request to the operating system, so this function is only supported on OSs and applications that support this. Tested on Google Chrome and Windows 10 (1803).

Additional buttons:
Print screen: takes a screenshot of the entire screen (not just UDCE);
Switch windows: switches the focus of the operating system to the next window.

Changed application loading: since at startup, very often other windows blocked UDCE and did not allow the API to start correctly, in the new version, when the application starts, a new menu opens. To start the application itself, you need to click on the button. It also allowed to reduce application loading time.

Added Restart button: if you just need to restart the application, click Restart, instead of Reload API.

Added error messages in some cases when loading .fbx files.

Removed the restriction on launching two windows. This is done only for the correct operation of the Restart button.

Ragdoll (alpha, experimental): now when dragging a character, ragdoll physics is turned on. The nearest character bone is attached to the mouse. To enable this feature, go to: Settings => Ragdoll drag (turn on).
Note: unfortunately, good physics behavior requires character customization. Therefore, with many user-defined characters, physics may not display correctly. This is a test feature. It may be improved or removed in the future.

Minor fixes.

This update is mainly needed to test the new version of the UE and some of the new UDCE features.

Simple AI: battle characters without user intervention.
Ability to add custom global VFX.
Recycling the UI color palette (a new version of Unity Engine is currently being tested, which can greatly accelerate UI development)

Adding other new big features until version 0.2 / 1.0 is no planned.

This is a big update that brings many new features and changes. If you encounter a problem, please report it on the forum. If you have problems with the new version, you can return to the latest stable version (more details at the end of the message).


Added support for a new format (.vrm): you can simply drag the file to the folder ... \ Models. After that, the model will appear in the list available in the “Create Character” section.
Thanks to the vrm format, all the physics embedded in the character in this format is saved in the application. Look at the dress and hair in this example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L-EiGFvWzE&list=PLGvhJSbAKSdzFEC7eDz0YMx60ce2q56fF&index=16&t=4s
[used in video] With the help of the excellent program VRoid Studio you can create a character in a few minutes.
(Note: elfinikgames is not related to third-party programs (VRoid Studio, UniVRM))
Also, a guide to downloading .vrm characters is now available (it only takes a minute):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1755004450

Added new rendering mode: alpha mode. This mode supports the transparency of materials, particles, etc.
Due to technical limitations, this mode consumes quite a bit more resources (CPU & GPU). On strong devices, the difference will not be noticeable.
You can also use the old mode (CM mode) if you don't need transparency, but optimization is extremely important.
You can change the rendering mode in the settings
Note: perspective rendering uses CM mode even in this mode, so it cannot correctly display transparency.



The character is available in the workshop:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1754987434
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1754955680

Now, having downloaded a character from the workshop once, the downloaded characters will appear in the “Create Character” section and you will no longer need to search for the desired character in the workshop each time. You can load characters directly from this menu.

Added the ability to transfer new components from Unity:

• Particle system: support particle system;
  
• Animators (now not only on the main character);
  
• Dynamic bones: Now you can fully customize these components;
  
• Cloth;
  
• Colliders;
  
• Joints;
  
• VRMSpringBone and VRMSpringBoneColliderGroup: Physics Components .vrm.

Now these components will remain on the character after export and will work in UDCE

At the request of the community, an offline mode was added: if the Steam is not running, the application automatically starts in this mode. There are no Steam functions available (workshop), but all other functions are available. To use this mode, you need to go online (steam) at least once every 10 days.
Note: autorun is not yet available, because during it the application cannot start correctly due to constant OS windows switching. Most likely, this feature will be added in one of the following updates.

Added two new buttons available if the main menu is not open:

• Detect mouse on characters: if not active, mouse clicks will pass through the characters and will not be blocked by the application.
  
• Show / Hide Characters: Hides the display of already created characters.

Due to the large number of new options, the original interface, which was not designed for it, has become too cumbersome and inconvenient, especially on small screens. The new interface, first of all, had to be compact in order not to occupy a large area of ​​the screen.
Icons and color palette may change in the following updates.
The new interface is 4 times smaller than the previous one:


Added new functionality: global effects. Currently only 1 simplest effect is available for testing. A full release of this feature will be in one of the following updates.

• Fixed automatic loading of animations (previously only those animations downloaded by the user were loaded). Now the animations downloaded from the workshop will be loaded.
  
• Thanks to the help of the community, the translation of some languages ​​has been partially corrected.
  User nicknames in the "Credits" section
  
• Minor bug fixes

1. Find the app in the Steam client
   
2. Click LMB
   
3. Select Properties
   
4. Go to the “Betas” tab (usually the last one)
   
5. Change "default" to "stable"
   
6. Save the changes and wait for the update.

Stable version changed to 0.1.2.2

• Creation of new manuals;
  
• Creating new video tutorials;
  
• Refinement of the color palette and interface icons
  
• Complete change of the page in the store and application trailer
  
• Professional Chinese Translation