Build 4065 ‘Dragontail Peak’

What’s New in Dragontail Peak

This second public release in the ‘Dragontail Peak’ series brings a host of improvements to working in World Machine. Even more important, it now runs on Mac and Linux. We hope you enjoy it!

In Brief

• World Machine now runs on macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel) and Linux, not just Windows.
• Window management has been rebuilt: a proper docking system, savable workspaces, and second-monitor layouts that survive a restart.
• The app has a new look, with a new theme, new icons, and your choice of UI font.
• Parameter editing is much nicer, with compact scrubbable sliders everywhere and spatial parameter ports you can drag wires from right into the workview.
• World Machine can now download and install new versions itself, on every platform.
• Saving is safer: atomic writes, and concurrent instances no longer step on each other’s files.
• Various small features such as better byte/integer grid support, grayscale RGB EXR height export for Godot, and Meshify volume export is back.
• World Machine now collects usage analytics to guide development (opt out in Program Settings -> Misc -> Privacy).
• A pile of bugfixes, most notably preview freezing/hiccups.

Here’s the full details:

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Cross-Platform

In addition to Windows, World Machine is now available on:

• macOS – a universal binary supporting both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs
• Linux – a standalone AppImage with built-in desktop integration

All platforms download from the Update Center as usual.

Design Improvements

Dragontail brings significant UX and visual improvements across the whole app.

Look & Feel

• A new theme across the app, including new icons (togglable if you really prefer the old ones)
• Dynamic UI fonts – pick your own font, or use the WM default or system font. You can set both the standard and dense font sizes; the dense size is used in device lists, parameter panels, and a few other places.
• Focus animations and polished disabled states for checkboxes, sliders, and toolbar icons
• Subtle animation touches in the workview on selection and mouseover

Sliders & Parameter Ports

• A new slider/editbox combo replaces the old slider + readout. It’s more compact, and adds some very valuable tricks: hold SHIFT for finer scrubbing or CTRL for coarser, and double-click to type a value directly, Blender-style. It stays fully functional even squeezed to a narrow width.
• Regular edit boxes are now scrubbable by dragging
• Device origin controls use the above scrubbable input boxes – wildly easier to adjust device positioning than before
• The spatial parameter buttons are now a line of ports along the side of the panel. You can still click them as before, or drag straight from a port into the workview to connect it to another device!

Dialogs

• Group settings now appear in the right side pane
• Export Terrain Assets got a major UX pass: edit filenames in place, toggle between raw tags and final names, reflect standard vs. tiled builds, and a simplified set of actions
• Build Status: color coding, sortable columns (sorting by build time is kind of fun – watch devices bubble up as they finish), timestamped logs, and Save Build Report works again
• Library: the search bar now covers versions, authors, and tags; tags are clickable to find related devices; and the layout better fits how the dialog is actually used
• Program Settings moved to an outliner style
• Project Settings dialog rebuild with action icons, scrubbable edit boxes for origin/size
• A new non-modal card system for system popups (crash/safe-mode recovery, trial license), and a new modal card for the EULA and license activation

Docking & Workspaces

The window management system has been rebuilt:

• A new docking system replaces the old approach. Tear out or hide any section you want
• Workspaces – save your panel layouts and switch between them
• Extra windows are saved and restored, so your second-monitor setup survives a restart
• Your workspace remembers its state across sessions
• Resetting your layout cleanly removes transient dialogs and resets split panes
• Configure your workspace in the Views menu

Built-in Updater

• The version checker is now a full updater: it can download and install new versions on every platform, including an optional automatic-install mode
• An available update now shows up in the status bar instead of a modal dialog
• The EULA moved from the installer to first run, and the EULA and Privacy Policy are now embedded in the app
• Streamlined license activation dialog
• Installer and uninstaller improvements

Project Safety

• Project saves and autosaves now write atomically, preventing a rare but disastrous crash-on-save
• World Machine now tracks active sessions: multiple concurrent instances no longer stomp each other’s temporary files, and crash recovery can restore work from any of them

Automation

• A new automation script editor replaces the bare “Run file” command
• A new <var:name> template tag makes it easy to pipe automation script variables into filenames
• The automation build command now exports automatically as well

Devices & Data

• Stronger byte/integer grid support: the Code device can create and use these grid types, the new “Select by ID” device builds a mask matching an ID or range, “ID Convert” converts to and from heightfield masks, and the view window gains a floating inspector when viewing a byte grid
• Added RGB EXR output for terrain height export. This is a convenience for Godot users 😉
• Meshify options volume export and quad export are back
• The skybox / environment lighting can now be rotated as you wish
• Placing an out-of-date (“forbidden”) device now offers to update it to the current version
• Added parameter ‘randomize’ flag support and unit labels in Code, Macro devices. Allows for controlled randomize of custom devices, and puts a small dice in the parameter value box

Viewports

• R / F keys move the viewport vertically, so you can change elevation directly
• Double-clicking a device in the device browser now reveals it in the workview (instead of floating a properties editor)
• Added LRU cache to Explorer view so you can A/B toggle between devices and not rebuild all

Analytics

• World Machine now collects pseudonymous usage analytics to help us see which features are most used and where to focus development. You can review what’s recorded or opt out anytime in Program Settings -> Misc -> Privacy.

Bugfixes

• Hardened memory paging path against most possible page-out issues
• Fixed freezing and hiccuping during preview actions – this was an important one! Also fixed an unrelated bug that could slow down previews and builds, which the first one had been masking
• Fixed an important editing-within-macro situation so previewing now works correctly every time
• Macros created in older versions that didn’t enforce port requirements now work
• Tiled File Input: fixed a crash that could trigger on load or precache, and a partial-tileset issue
• Scrubbing a value that changes a device’s port count no longer disconnects ports you already had connected
• Fixed the color picker sometimes showing a NaN in HSL mode
• Fixed the mousewheel suddenly not working on combobox popups
• Optimized parameter panel code to cut down on laggy device selection
• Improved transient UI state handling of custom dialogs. Macro parameter editor should no longer over-commit on focus out, and should keep selection across edits
• File Input: Fixed accidently applying scaling to Bitmap
• File Input: Preserve the scaling from older versions
• Hardened Explorer view against various crash bugs
• Fixed material displacement error in Explorer view
• Added quick-cancel to Explorer when changing between views