release-completion.md

OpenQ4 Release Completion List

Use this file as the source list for release changelog entries.

Process:

1. Add completed work under "Ready For Changelog".
2. When cutting a release with curated notes, save them in docs-dev/releases/vX.Y.Z.md; the manual release workflow will use that tracked file instead of the auto-generated history summary.
3. If no tracked release file exists, the workflow falls back to the generated release notes from commit history.
4. Move shipped items into a historical release section here (optional), and keep remaining work in "Carry Forward".

Ready For Changelog

• MCC med-bed intro overlay now keeps its retail 128x128 ambient data/static layers tiled at native scale across the expanded GUI canvas, and edge-hugging detail widgets anchor to the appropriate wide/tall screen sides.
• Main menu placeholder art rotation now uses a randomized montage of eligible loadscreen levelshots, with proper wide/tall expansion-tile composition and slow zoom transitions per shot.
• Startup/loadscreen placeholder now hands off to the main menu automatically after 3 seconds, main-menu entry transitions use a short black fade-in stretched to native screen extents, and startup logo videos can be skipped with default-on com_skipLogoVideos 1.
• Added a depth-aware r_lensFlare graphics option with quality levels for lightweight light coronas and high-quality lens ghost/streak overlays.
• Material handling fixes completed; engine startup no longer depends on custom material script overrides in repo q4base/.
• Retail lighting parity restored for distance-cull portal fades, Raven special-effect pass ordering, ARB2 specular scaling, and noSelfShadow stencil-shadow routing.
• Added a live renderer light-report tool (r_showViewLights) that prints detailed per-light diagnostics for lights affecting the current view origin/player position.
• Added a persistent visual overlay for r_showViewLights (r_showViewLightsVisuals) that draws each last-reported light's origin marker, color, and radius volume in-world until the next report refresh.
• Retail deform rectsprite material support restored so shipped Quake 4 multiplayer flag-display shaders follow the renderer's rectangular autosprite path.
• Menu rendering issues fixed.
• SDL3 backend integrated as the default platform path (legacy Win32 backend remains transitional).
• Meson + Ninja build system introduced as canonical build path.
• External dependencies moved to Meson subprojects/wraps (sdl3, glew, stb_vorbis, openal-soft-prebuilt).
• Vendored GLEW updated to 2.3.1 (both subprojects/glew and src/external/glew) while preserving local static-link/include-path compatibility tweaks.
• Vendored OpenAL Soft updated to 1.25.1 headers/defs/import libs (both subprojects/openal-soft-prebuilt and src/external/openal-soft), with Win64 runtime DLL refreshed under src/external/openal-soft/bin/win64/OpenAL32.dll.
• Dependency refresh validated with clean Meson reconfigure (setup --wipe) and successful rebuild in builddir.
• Ogg Vorbis (.ogg) playback support integrated (decoded via stb_vorbis).
• C++23-targeting baseline enabled on MSVC (cpp_std=vc++latest).
• MSVC 2026 toolchain direction documented and implemented as an optional enforceable baseline (-Denforce_msvc_2026=true).
• Meson setup wrapper improved to auto-recover missing/stale build directories and avoid VS tool discovery null-crash.
• Windows SDL3 key/input parity improvements: backspace fix, control-char synthesis, locale-aware RightAlt behavior.
• Manual key matrix audit completed and documented for console, GUI edit fields, chat, binds, numpad, and modifiers.
• GUI scaling behavior updated to preserve uniform/aspect-correct rendering on window resize.
• Engine-side console/UI relayout now handles wide and narrow/tall aspect ratios, with live updates on screen size/aspect changes.
• Console mouse handling now uses native console-space cursor routing/drawing bounded to the live console rect, and adds archived con_height control for the console open height (0.1 to 1.0, default 0.5).
• Platform/architecture roadmap documentation added for Windows/Linux/macOS direction with x64 baseline.
• Legacy/redundant build-system artifacts reduced (CMake path retired from active source tree).
• BSE manager/renderer lifecycle contract restored: effect completion now propagates correctly through ServiceEffect -> UpdateEffectDef, preventing immediate client-effect teardown and enabling proper expiry reporting.
• BSE sound capability path restored at render-world boundary: EffectDefHasSound now delegates to decl metadata and manager checks instead of unconditional false.
• BSE segment runtime no longer compiles as pure no-op stubs; core segment timing/attenuation/check/update/count plumbing has been re-enabled as the phase-4 runtime foundation.
• BSE game-lib network/event parity restored: EVENT_PLAYEFFECT_JOINT no longer hits an assert placeholder, receive paths now validate decl/filter/rate-limit consistently, and networked effects restore gravity assignment parity.
• BSE save/restore stability improved for active effects by clearing stale referenceSoundHandle on restore so emitters are safely reallocated.
• Temporary BSE visibility fallback added (bse_fallbackSprite, default 1): active client effects now emit a sprite-backed render entity until full particle-surface rendering is fully restored.
• BSE segment activation timing fixed: rvBSE::Service no longer applies a large negative per-segment spawn offset that delayed segment starts by multiple seconds.
• BSE segment spawn lifecycle restored for SEG_EMITTER, SEG_TRAIL, and SEG_SPAWNER, including attenuation-aware interval/count spawning and loop-time progression tracking.
• BSE trail/child spawn placement improved: non-zero spawn offsets now propagate into particle init positions, and trail segments spawn using interpolated local movement offsets.
• BSE moving-emitter transform parity improved: non-locked particle position/velocity evaluation now converts from spawn-space into current effect-space using stored spawn origin/axis.
• BSE owner wind propagation restored by transforming renderEffect_t::windVector into local effect wind each update.
• BSE decal segment path restored from no-op to active world projection (SEG_DECAL now builds/projections decal winding via ProjectDecalOntoWorld using sampled spawn size/rotation).
• BSE spawn ordering parity improved: runtime particle insertion is no longer unconditional LIFO; linked segments preserve stable chronological/end-time list order while complex segments retain front-insert behavior.
• BSE segment draw-order refinements applied for linked-strip rendering: depth-sort is disabled for linked strip topologies and initial strip index budgeting is handled explicitly.
• BSE runtime sort utility implemented (rvSegment::Sort) with stable depth ordering for deterministic per-segment ordering when used.
• BSE network/entity receive rate-limiting corrected by removing duplicate cost consumption (Filtered already applies category rate checks; explicit second CanPlayRateLimited checks removed).
• BSE particle spawn-parameter sanitization restored (rvParticleTemplate::FixupParms no longer compiles as a no-op stub).
• BSE segment attenuation scaling parity restored: emitter interval/count attenuation now uses bse_scale interpolation semantics.
• BSE particle cap parity restored: bse_maxParticles now drives runtime segment allocation/count clamps instead of compile-time-only MAX_PARTICLES paths.
• BSE owner-state parity improved: mLightningAxis is now derived from current origin/end-origin direction with stable basis fallback.
• Temporary BSE trace spam removed from hot runtime paths (spawn/expire/remove and segment render skip/state traces), and renderer counter cvar default restored to off (bse_frameCounters=0).
• Full clean rebuild validation completed in builddir/ with both OpenQ4.exe and OpenQ4-ded.exe linking successfully after BSE parity updates.
• BSE particle gravity parity restored: template gravity ranges now contribute spawn acceleration in rvParticle::FinishSpawn.
• BSE debris parity advanced: debris particles now spawn client moveable entities (entityDef) through game->SpawnClientMoveable and stop CPU-side particle rendering.
• BSE shader-parm safety defaults hardened: client effects now initialize RGBA/brightness/timeoffset in rvClientEffect::Init, with zeroed-parm fallback in rvBSE::UpdateFromOwner.
• BSE template runtime contract completed by implementing missing declared helpers (rvParticleTemplate::Compare, GetTraceModel, GetTrailCount, ShutdownStatic).
• BSE unlocked-bounce matrix reprojection parity improved: post-impact velocity/position persistence now uses inverse current->init axis mapping with origin-delta compensation, avoiding frame-space double transforms in moving/rotating emitter paths.
• BSE owner-kinematics parity improved: rvBSE::UpdateFromOwner now preserves last valid owner velocity across same-timestamp updates instead of zeroing mCurrentVelocity on tiny frame deltas.
• BSE oriented-particle matrix parity improved: oriented quad corner ordering/signs now match decompiled transform basis usage, removing mirrored orientation in rotated oriented-particle paths.
• Startup command parsing hardening completed: oversized +wait stress launches no longer crash during early StartupVariable cvar processing (command-line overflow/drop handling and idCmdArgs::AppendArg bounds checks tightened).
• Multiplayer server-side hitscan lag compensation added with configurable rewind controls (net_mpLagCompensation, net_mpLagCompMaxMS, net_mpLagCompBiasMS) and server diagnostics (net_mpLagCompDebug).
• Multiplayer non-local prediction mode is now runtime-selectable through net_mpPredictMode (0 legacy limited behavior, 1 enhanced per-frame prediction).
• Scope/zoom handling documentation updated to reflect multiplayer zoom stability and scope yaw alignment behavior.
• High-refresh view interpolation now includes tunable local first-person biasing (pm_presentViewBias) so the camera, FOV, and view weapon spend less time a full tic behind at high presentation rates without changing authoritative gameplay timing.
• High-refresh local first-person biasing was retuned so the default interpolation path no longer surges to the newest snapshot and stalls mid-tic; pm_presentViewBias now remains an opt-in bias that eases forward more gently when needed.
• High-refresh first-person weapon FX now stay aligned with the interpolated local/spectated camera on the fire frame: view-weapon muzzle flashes refresh in presentation space immediately, and hitscan tracer/path origins sample the presentation-space muzzle instead of the last authoritative pose.
• High-refresh multiplayer carrier/powerup halo lights now follow interpolated player presentation on repeated-state frames instead of stepping only at the 60 Hz simulation tick, keeping CTF/powerup light halos aligned with moving carriers.
• High-refresh vehicle crash/scrape effects now interpolate persistent world-space crash FX between collision snapshots on repeated-state frames, keeping scrape contact visuals smoother when vehicles slide along world geometry.
• High-refresh projectile fly trails and player powerup effects now keep their presentation-time attenuation/origin parameters in sync with interpolated movement on repeated-state frames instead of stepping only when the 60 Hz gameplay tick rewrites those effects.
• Multiplayer joiners now reconstruct terminal non-predicted projectile snapshots into visible detonate/impact FX instead of silently hiding those projectiles when they arrive already exploded, restoring host-fired projectile hit visuals on clients.
• Multiplayer clients now receive authoritative hitscan impact FX through a dedicated remote-impact packet while the legacy hitscan trace message continues to drive path/tracer replay; that replay now bypasses local effect-rate throttling, reaches the firing remote client as well as other viewers, preserves the authored bullet/shotgun impact color, and still reapplies tint for railgun-class impacts that explicitly opt into hitscan coloring.
• High-refresh listen-server view-weapon movement offsets now collapse duplicate same-tic acceleration samples during prediction reruns, preventing forward/side movement input changes from stacking extra shove into the local first-person gun after the earlier view-bias and turn-history fixes.
• High-refresh listen-server view-weapon presentation no longer feeds render-only interpolated weapon poses back into shared weapon state, preventing the local first-person gun from regaining the forward lunge while repeated-state draw frames refresh muzzle-flash / flashlight / GUI-light alignment.
• Multiplayer draw now reuses the same render-prep path as single-player, so the local or spectated first-person view recalculates its render view and refreshes presentation-space player/world/view-weapon transforms immediately before RenderPlayerView() instead of drawing the weapon from a stale simulation pose during listen-server movement.
• High-refresh first-person muzzle flashes and other bound view-weapon firing FX now refresh from the corrected draw-time presentation pose on both simulation and repeated-state frames, so they no longer stick at the pre-correction gun position on the fire frame after the listen-server lunge fix.
• High-refresh lightning-gun follow-up was narrowed to the local first-person beam only: trailEffectView now refreshes from the corrected presentation-space muzzle/chest joint and a presentation-time local beam trace on both simulation and repeated-state render frames, while the authoritative world/chain-lightning effects remain on the normal gameplay update path.
• High-refresh bespoke visual-owner follow-up now refreshes gib skeleton side-models and security-camera model presentation on repeated-state frames, keeping those visuals aligned with interpolated transforms instead of stepping only at the 60 Hz simulation cadence.
• High-refresh alternative camera/view-source follow-up now refreshes remote entity render views, security-camera feeds, portal-sky/playback cameras, and steam-pipe side models from presentation-space or interpolated repeated-state data instead of leaving those views and side visuals pinned to the last 60 Hz simulation sample.
• High-refresh bespoke-visual follow-up now interpolates SP/MP idMultiModelAF side-model render defs on repeated frames and aligns the MP jump-pad activation FX origin with the SP centered-physics path, closing another pair of effect/render-owner presentation gaps that still sat outside the base entity refresh hooks.
• High-refresh brittle-fracture callback models now rebuild from interpolated shard transforms on repeated-state frames, keeping dropped shard geometry smooth through shatter/fall/settle motion instead of stepping only on the 60 Hz simulation tick.
• High-refresh weapon render lights now stay aligned with interpolated weapon/player presentation on repeated-state frames, keeping active muzzle-flash, world muzzle-flash, flashlight, and weapon GUI light defs from stepping at the 60 Hz simulation tick.
• Ragdoll activation quality improved without changing the fixed 60 Hz simulation cadence: startup now keeps owner/world motion, handles initial penetrations more cleanly, and preserves slightly richer contact support for grounded corpses.
• Rigid-body physics timing-safe quality pass applied without changing the fixed simulation cadence: angular velocity handoff now respects world inertia, water is handled as drag instead of a one-time collision-state hack, rigid-body contacts keep richer deduplicated support points, and impacts now preserve time-of-impact momentum while consuming a small bounded amount of leftover fixed-step time.
• Script compiler x64 pointer-temp parity fix ported from OpenD3: right-associative indirect-expression retagging now guards 4-byte object-ref temp vs 8-byte pointer temp storage mismatch by allocating pointer-sized result defs when needed, preventing trigger/door script chain corruption.
• Retail AAS placeholder parity restored: stock dummy .aas files now load/discard like retail instead of warning-spamming and failing stock map init, and AAS tactical data is cleared correctly between loads.
• Bloom stability and quality improved: live r_bloom/r_bloom* changes now use the offscreen scene-target path immediately, scratch render targets rebuild their FBO attachments safely after runtime reallocations, map handoffs no longer rely on the fragile back-buffer bloom path, and bright-pass extraction now keeps only highlight energy so broad lights stop producing solid white bloom discs.
• Manual release packaging builds are healthy again: the engine restored the shared idCommon timing/error/tool accessors expected by the SP/MP game libs, fixing the cross-platform release-build break that stopped the v0.1.011 workflow before artifacts were produced.
• High-refresh mover riding is now stable on lifts such as game/storage2: the player keeps descending mover carry, ignores tiny mover-seam pseudo-landings/step jolts, and interpolates first-person view state relative to the mover so the camera stays smooth above 60 FPS instead of vibrating against platform motion.
• High-refresh projectile and weapon-hit impact regressions were corrected by keeping client-predicted projectile collision/explode work on authoritative game ticks only while repeated-state redraws use the dedicated projectile interpolation path, preventing lingering rocket models and impact/scorch FX from replaying every render frame after a hit.
• Renderer effect lifetime replay regression fixed: expired one-shot BSE impact effects now stay finished until their client-effect owner frees the handle, preventing bullet marks, scorch decals, and hit sounds from being recreated every frame after a hit.
• Phase 4 repeated-state rendering overhead reduced: SP/MP scene refresh no longer scans all spawned entities every redraw for projectile interpolation, and active entities now skip repeated-state transform/non-model refresh work unless they actually have presentation deltas or interpolation-sensitive auxiliary visuals, recovering a major agame/airdefense1 FPS regression introduced during the high-refresh work.
• High-refresh BSE overhead reduced again: repeated-state client effects now keep renderer owner-time on authoritative game ticks instead of wall-clock presentation time, avoiding render-rate ambient effect spawning on maps like agame/airdefense1, and renderer effect servicing now runs once per rendered frame instead of repeating per view.
• Repeated-state client-entity work is now pruned more aggressively in SP/MP: static client models and client effects no longer rerun redraw-time presentation work by default, while bound client entities only stay on the high-refresh path when their owner actually has an interpolated transform delta and client moveables stay there only while their own transform/scale interpolation is active.

Carry Forward

• Non-English key layout parity still needs completion in SDL3 key translation.
• Console toggle localization parity for non-English layouts still needs completion.
• UTF-8 text input should be decoded to characters before queuing SE_CHAR events.
• Linux and macOS bring-up needs full compile/link/runtime validation to reach first-class status.
• Replace temporary MSVC compatibility flag (/Zc:strictStrings-) with full strict-strings codebase compliance.