• Fix for buffer upload failures in ANGLE with GL_STATIC_DRAW on Vulkan devices with unusual heap layouts
  
• Fix for OpenGL shader compilation on older GPU drivers which don't understand precision qualifiers for anything other than float/int types
  
• Update SDL game controller database
  
• Minor localization fixes

Changes:

• Fix crash caused by unusual Vulkan memory heap layouts on some devices. ANGLE was requiring memory types that have both the DEVICE_LOCAL and HOST_VISIBLE flags, but some uncommon devices only have very small heaps with those properties. This caused the Vulkan renderer to exhaust the small heap and fail to upload any buffers after that point.
  
• Fix possible crash when entering a location

Changes:

• Fix possible hangs in the Vulkan renderer on the Windows NVIDIA driver
  
• Update ANGLE version

Changes:

• Fix an incompatibility with some Intel graphics drivers causing shader compile failures on the OpenGL Core renderer
  
• Fix for crash when a user profile has an all-numeric name
  
• Fix for draw buffer state handling bug

Known issues:

• On Windows systems using AMD graphics with the Vulkan renderer, the game may crash on alt-tab or video mode changes. This is because the AMD graphics driver enables the VK_EXT_full_screen_exclusive extension implicitly, and ANGLE doesn't know how to handle it. This can be worked around by either using Fullscreen Borderless in Screen options, or by using a different Renderer backend (OpenGL Core, Direct3D 11).

• Fix issue where ZX Spectrum loader freezes the renderer
  
• Fix a possible crash loading certain mods or save games
  
• Possible fix for glitching pixel effect shapes
  
• Minor tonemapping changes

Fixed several bugs caused by running the game on Windows in a non-English locale.

Note that save games from previous builds may have been corrupted by the locale encoding issues. If you are having trouble with your save game not loading, you may need to create a new user profile in-game.

To do this, from the main menu:

• Click "Profile"
  
• Click "Create New Profile"
  
• Click the "Name" field and give your profile a name
  
• Click "Create"
  
• Close the menus

Fully re-mastered in 2022 to celebrate the Darwinian's 10000 anniversary this updated version brings an undisputed indie classic bang up to date. Running seamlessly on all modern systems, the game hasn't aged a day and is a fresh and relevant now as it was when it first dropped. Winning 3 out of 5 prizes at the IGF including the Seamous McNally Grand prize for Best Independent Video Game and multiple editors' choice awards, now is the time to play one of the most critically acclaimed indie games of all time.

Graphics

The entire graphics engine has been rewritten from scratch for compatibility with modern graphics APIs and better performance. Darwinia is currently compatible with systems with support for OpenGL 3.3 core, Direct3D 11, Metal, or Vulkan. Support for non-OpenGL graphics APIs is made possible by ANGLE.

Other high-level changes include:

- All the in-game UI now scales more appropriately with the size and DPI of the monitor it's running on
- Support for anti-aliasing modes including MSAA, SSAA, SMAA, and FXAA
- Support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0 (FSR)
- Support for anisotropic texture filtering
- Higher fidelity colors and tonemapping

Sound

The sound engine now supports up to 7.1-channel surround sound and uses 3D spatialization (i.e. directional audio and doppler effect), using MiniAudio. The sound engine supports any of the backends that MiniAudio does, including but not limited to WASAPI (Windows), PulseAudio (Linux), and CoreAudio (macOS).

Compatibility

Darwinia now requires hardware and drivers that support a minimum of at least one of these graphics APIs:

- OpenGL 3.3
- Vulkan 1.1
- Direct3D 11
- Metal

On Intel and AMD CPUs, the minimum instruction set requirement has been raised to SSE4.2, for higher performance 3D graphics math (matrices and vectors).

Apple Silicon Support on macOS
macOS builds now have support for both Intel and Apple Silicon.


Steam integration

The Steam release has a few minor features integrated for a better experience on the Steam platform, including:

- Cloud saves and Dynamic Cloud Sync support
- On-screen keyboard support (e.g. on devices using game controllers in Big Picture mode, or the Steam Deck)
- Tuned default settings for better Steam Deck support

Performance

Outside of architecture-specific changes, numerous performance improvements have been made throughout the entire game engine. One nice side effect of the heavy emphasis on performance is that Darwinia now requires far less energy to run, increasing battery life and playtime on laptops and other portable devices like the Steam Deck.

Bugfixes

There have been many bugfixes on numerous axes, including scripting, level editing, input handling, graphics, sound, stability, and game AI.

After Prison Architect, our most successful game is DEFCON - a nuclear war strategy game inspired by the 80s movie War games (If you've not seen it, so yourself a favour and check it out over the weekend)

DEFCON VR allows you to spectate DEFCON games in the comfort of your own virtual War Room. Join others and marvel at total global annihilation as nuclear missiles arc over the globe on their path to destruction. Have a look as Chris, Mark, and Finlay show off the glory of nuclear doom.

https://youtu.be/jaepnLVWedE

We're giving away a prototype on steam, but if there's enough interest we may decide to carry on and build a fully playable version of DEFCON in VR - lets us know what you think in the comments of the video.

After Prison Architect, our most successful game is DEFCON - a nuclear war strategy game inspired by the 80s movie War games (If you've not seen it, so yourself a favour and check it out over the weekend)

DEFCON VR allows you to spectate DEFCON games in the comfort of your own virtual War Room. Join others and marvel at total global annihilation as nuclear missiles arc over the globe on their path to destruction. Have a look as Chris, Mark, and Finlay show off the glory of nuclear doom.

https://youtu.be/jaepnLVWedE

We're giving away a prototype on steam, but if there's enough interest we may decide to carry on and build a fully playable version of DEFCON in VR - lets us know what you think in the comments of the video.