Quote:

This is a small update that contains fixes for some bugs that were discovered in 5.1, as well as a new Fill option in the Image -> Canvas Size dialog. It also has workarounds for some bugs in Sentinel One (antivirus) that were causing crashes in the installer and hangs during app startup.

Change Log

Changes since 5.1:

• Added the ability to choose the fill color when expanding the image with Image->Canvas Size
  
• Fixed the ability to paste images with transparency from Firefox
  
• Fixed the ability to paste certain types of images with transparency from Microsoft Office applications
  
• Changed Edit->Cut and Edit->Crop to Selection to completely zero out pixels outside of the selected area, which could otherwise be a privacy issue.
  
• Fixed the inability to load an image with a bad ICC color profile. The color profile will now be ignored, and the image will be treated as if it had an sRGB color profile.
  
• Fixed the title bar text being drawn in the active text color when the window is not active when using Light or Blue themes
  
• Reverted the removal of the Settings checkbox that lets you disable over scroll
  
• Fixed a crash in the Levels adjustment UI due to a rounding error
  
• Fixed a race condition in resource loading that sometimes caused the zoom level in the status bar to display as “ScaleFactor.Percentage.Format”
  
• Fixed some graphical corruption, hang, or crash issues caused by Nahimic A-Volute malware
  
• Worked around a crash (“0xc000007b”) in the installer caused by Sentinel One antivirus.
  
• Worked around a hang at app startup if Sentinel One antivirus.
  
• Fixed many cases of screen blanking, rendering glitches, and crashes on systems with certain NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, and certain displays with support for overlays and/or VRR (FreeSync, GSYNC). This appears to be a bug in NVIDIA’s driver.
  
• Fixed effects calling Dispose() on the IServiceProvider when they shouldn’t have been. This affected plugins like CodeLab and Plugin Browser.
  
• Updated the bundled AVIF FileType to version 3.11.0.0 (thanks @null54!)

Quote:

This is a quick follow-up to the previous build, fixing a few more small bugs and improving performance.

Change Log

Changes since 5.1 beta (build 9070):

• Fixed a few more cases where tool shortcuts and tooltips were not working after certain actions.
  
• Fixed: PNGs are now correctly saved with the “Software” tEXt metadata indicating they were created with Paint.NET.
  
• Improved performance in various parts of the rendering and effects engines: CPU usage has been reduced, which permits higher GPU utilization.

Changes since 5.1 beta (build 9066):

• Fixed: Copy/Paste has been hardened against short-term intermittent errors and should no longer show spurious error dialogs (e.g. ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED) except in legitimate cases.
  
• Fixed: Certain shortcut keys, especially for switching tools, will no longer stop functioning if a floating window (e.g., Tools) is hidden and then shown by clicking on the button at the top right of the main window.
  
• Fixed: Tooltips in the Tools window will no longer stop functioning if a floating window (e.g., Tools) is hidden and then shown by clicking on the button at the top right of the main window.
  
• Removed the “Scrolling past the edge of the image (over scroll)” checkbox from Settings. This was enabled by default, and now it is always enabled.
  
• Fixed: The installer was occasionally showing an error about an InvalidGraphConfigurationException on some systems
  
• Added a KnownColorSpace API for plugins so they can create IColorContexts and IDeviceColorContexts for the Display P3 and ProPhoto RGB color spaces

Changes since 5.1 beta (build 9064):

• Fixed: @BoltBait‘s TextFunFactory plugin was not working on Windows 10 due to the lack of support for IDWriteFontFace6 (despite what Microsoft’s documentation states)

Quote:

Good morning, everyone. We hope you've all been well.

This is a bit of a shorter update this week, covering some updated models and another forgotten render.
Let's get into it:



The Chinese People's Liberation Army has experimented with flamethrower-armed tanks since the mid-20th century, such as by attaching numerous heavy flame projectors to T-34 tanks. By the early 21st century, a more refined successor to these early testbeds had entered service as the original Dragon Tank, which saw extensive use during the GLA War.

Against dug-in insurgents in urban and mountainous environments, the Dragon proved a terrifying and effective weapon. However, the crews reported numerous shortcomings, from a lack of proper air conditioning and cooling that provided much discomfort to safety issues in regard to the protection of fuel tanks and ease of escape in the event of a fire. Another critical problem was the lack of controllability of the flamethrower itself, as crews found themselves unable to effectively adjust the duration, pressure, and dispersion of a flame burst.

Many of these issues were addressed with the successor model developed in the 2030s. Most notably, the new Dragon Tank features an improved fire control system and a much more sophisticated flamethrower, allowing for fine adjustment of fire output. In addition to the standard "stream" and sweeping "wall of fire" attack patterns, the weapon can be set to release highly controlled bursts, producing a kind of "fire ball" that can reach targets at significantly longer distances, disperse on impact to cover a larger area and even induce a localized firestorm when several Dragon Tanks saturate the same area. Predictably, the new tank was used with distinction against GLA-affiliated forces in Africa, and it saw some success on the export market with sales to North Korea, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

Render Description: MARS2588

The Dragon Tank has been an integral part of the faction since its inclusion in the original game. However, its design was very... we'll be nice and say... "Unique"... Yeah, that'll do.
So we have decided to create a new Dragon Tank model that feels a little more grounded and more accurately reflects the fact that these are rather tanky units built to survive against lots of sustained infantry attacks - and to live up to the 'Dragon' moniker in the name.

There are some special things of note with this new model, the first being that much like the 1.87 Dragon Tank, the turret does change to reflect the fire mode of the Dragon Tank, may it be the 'Fire-Stream' attack or the 'Fireball' attack. Also, we have taken this opportunity to add variants to the model in line with other Chinese units, so keep an eye out on the streams to see if you can identify all of them and what makes them all different.



Ever since the devastating GLA attacks of 2019, Speaker Towers have become a universal feature of Chinese military facilities, factories, and public spaces. They are used for a variety of purposes, such as public announcements and warnings in the event of attacks or natural disasters. Outside these situations, their primary day-to-day use is in broadcasting propaganda, typically in the form of patriotic songs or uplifting messages from the local party committee. In a military context, such motivational propaganda serves to maintain and restore the strength of Chinese forces. Having become permanent fixtures in the environment over the years, the towers are often outfitted with additional equipment.

The Sensor Tower features a distinctive array of antennas capable of intercepting a variety of signals, from radar emissions to military radio traffic to common phone and wi-fi signals. These towers act as the omnipresent ears of the Chinese security services in cities and military bases, where they detect stealthy trespassers and seditious elements in the surrounding area.

(The second already known variant is the Jammer Tower, which acts as a stationary ECM missile deflector. It has not been changed and remains in the game, but it deserves a tangential mention here for the sake of completeness and clarity)

Render Description: MARS2588



A third variant is particularly widespread throughout central and eastern China, where reconstruction of cities and industrial centers has been ongoing since the destruction of the Three Gorges Dam and subsequent flooding of the Yangtze River. These so-called Repair Towers are equipped with utility cranes to aid in repairing damaged buildings and infrastructure around them.

Render Description: MARS2588

Finally, we have a new version of the Speaker Tower. The new Repair Tower is part of a new universal change where all factions will have some passive way of healing structures beyond their construction unit. This change is aimed at our PvE audience to help take some of the busy work out of defense lines and to reduce the frustration of having Dozers and Workers run off and die on the front lines. You have already seen another one of these repair structures with the recently revealed GLA Crane Tunnel.

We also realized we never uploaded a render of the Sensor Tower. This mistake has now been rectified. Though, of special note, Tier-2 Detectors like the Sensor Tower, Predator Drones, or Mobile Sensor Arrays are now the only way to detect Disguised units like Observation Vans or Bomb Trucks, so when fighting GLA, we advise teching to get this level of detection ASAP or have your fingers ready on that Control Key to force fire and destroy them before they close ranks and cause carnage.

That's all for this week. We hope you enjoyed it, and we shall see you at the next one!
Flameo-my-hotmans.

Quote:

Hello all!

For quite some time, we were thinking and discussing how to get laser generals GP-s and laser (red-green-blue-violet) updates in order without affecting gameplay balance in the wrong way.
Finally, combining them with a special structure, we now have a great solution and something new for you to control.



The Laser Control Station is available at rank 1. It grants access to the Target Designator satellite, increasing the damage to affected units by 33%.

At rank 3, Laser Station starts distributing stronger lasers to laser-armed units. A single upgrade is applied every 2 minutes. Red lasers are upgraded to Green, and Green lasers are upgraded to Blue. Any unit has the potential to reach Blue lasers at rank 3 if it stays alive for long enough.

At rank 5, the Laser Wavelength Intensifier upgrade becomes available at the Station, which applies a single upgrade unconditionally. This means that all units will come out with Green lasers by default, and units that had Blue lasers will get upgraded with Violet lasers - the most powerful one.

Keep the Station alive to keep a regular flow of more powerful lasers to your army.




Thank you all, and stay tuned for more updates!