github Zenith-3D-Team/Zenith v0.2.0
Zenith 0.2.0

one hour ago

Zenith 0.2.0

Everything since 0.1.3 (0.1.4 was never released publicly, so its changes are here too).

Highlights

  • Zenith runs Factorio's belts itself: items on belts move exactly as the game moves them, and
    full belts are drawn full.
  • New 3D models by David (Vasillo): textured belts, undergrounds, splitters, inserters and the
    burner drill, in the download and used by default.
  • The Cinematic look comes with Zenith: filmic colour, soft shadows, drifting clouds, sunrises
    and sunsets. Switch it off in the Add-ons menu for the Factorio look.
  • Shading you can see: buildings sit on the ground with Factorio's dark rim round their feet,
    and corners and gaps are shaded, in daylight too.
  • Screenshots up to 8K with F12, of the exact moment you pressed it, saved to Pictures\Zenith.

Upgrading

This version needs its own bridge mod (in the download). With an older bridge the belts near you
stay empty, and Zenith says so.

Belts

  • Full lanes are drawn as solid rows of their item, piled as high as the stack, as in Factorio.
  • Belts stop only when the circuit or logistic network switches them off, as in Factorio.
  • Fast belts no longer strobe or seem to run backwards, and each tier's arrows are spaced as
    Factorio spaces them.
  • Stacked items lie in messy piles, near and far alike.
  • Splitters and undergrounds get the belt's start and end pieces where a line begins or ends.

Graphics

  • Ambient occlusion: fades as you zoom out and switches off far out, so it costs nothing there.
    Contact shading has its own setting, on in every preset.
  • Belts cast their shadows again, and with Terrain Elevation's hills on, low buildings (belts, pipes,
    inserters, assemblers) cast theirs again too: their shadows had been drawn under the raised ground.
    Pipes and walls get a light contact band at their foot, and ambient occlusion is stronger in sunlight and
    shows further out.
  • 3D grass near the character, from Factorio's own pictures, and none on concrete, paths or
    under buildings (Settings > Graphics > 3D grass).
  • View distance up to 50 chunks (far views cost a lot; the setting turns yellow, then red).
  • Space is near black as in Factorio, and the planet below a platform turns once per its day.
  • Fulgora's lightning is drawn, with its flash and sound.
  • Weapons light the ground: flamethrower flames and muzzle flashes.
  • Full screen at any resolution: the world drawn at the Resolution you pick, the interface sharp.
  • Less flicker far away: models cross-fade to their simpler versions.
  • Rockets launch as in Factorio: the lights, doors, flames, smoke and sounds, and the camera
    rides up with the rocket.
  • Models redone from Factorio's pictures: the electromagnetic plant, the electric furnace and
    pentapods' shells.

Screenshots

With the Cinematic camera add-on (in the download), F12:

  • takes shots up to 8K, holding the moment while it's taken (a progress bar shows; F12 or Esc
    cancels);
  • waits for the far ground to arrive when you're zoomed far out;
  • saves to Pictures\Zenith, with an Open folder button.

Interface

  • Train schedules in Factorio's layout: stops in frames, drag to reorder, AND / OR conditions,
    interrupts. The hub's schedule too.
  • F1's help lists every control under the key it's bound to now, with each add-on's keys.
  • Dragging undergrounds and pipes-to-ground places pairs at full reach; poles at wire reach.
  • Crafting: a craft shows in the queue at once, its pie moves smoothly, and tooltips show Total raw.
  • Train stops wear their colour; plain pipes show their fluid every few tiles in Alt-mode.

Settings

  • SMAA is the new default anti-aliasing: sharper than FXAA, and a little cheaper.
  • No MSAA with the Cinematic look: its 2x, 4x and 8x choices are greyed out while the look is on
    (they fringed every edge with it), and a saved MSAA is switched to SMAA. Ambient occlusion and Clouds
    are greyed out under it too, since its own settings (Add-ons menu) decide them.
  • Model look is gone: models always wear Factorio's colours (the projected-sprite look is removed).
  • Every setting checked in the game: Alt-mode in Settings now switches Alt-mode in the game, the
    minimap's size and zoom sliders are saved, and Resolution's Default puts the window back to 1600 × 900.

Performance

  • The new belt models far away are drawn simpler, with simpler shadows. On a copy of a big base
    drawn with them: standing, the graphics card's time a frame went from about 14.6 ms to 13-14 ms;
    running laps, the middle frame went from 12.5 to 10.8 ms and frames over 33 ms fell by about a
    quarter.
  • Fewer long frames in the first minute after joining a big base.
  • The Cinematic look asks more of the graphics card than the Factorio look; on a weaker card,
    switch it off. View distances past 20 chunks, and forests, cost the most.

Fixes

  • The bridge keeps the game running if one of its jobs fails (/f3d-status lists it), and saves from
    older versions start cleanly.
  • Things a script adds or removes quietly no longer stay drawn or go missing.
  • Hills (Terrain Elevation add-on) no longer vanish at the screen's edges, and cost about what they
    did in 0.1.3 standing still.
  • Hiding the interface (F11) hides alert and no-power icons too.
  • No more white streak in the sky, dark specks with MSAA, or black boxes on Aquilo's and Gleba's water.
  • Rockets no longer rise out of bare ground or stand at the spawn; cargo pods land on their spot.
  • Two waits that could freeze Zenith (Ctrl+F9's switch, a new hills field) are gone.
  • Zenith no longer crashes changing surface to a planet with a belt loop that side-loads onto itself
    (seen on Aquilo).

Known issues

  • Big bases may run below 60 UPS: the bridge's work for the new belt simulation is heavier (about
    53 UPS on our big test base, where earlier versions held 59-60). A fix is planned for a hotfix.
  • Belts: about 96% of the items in view on a big base are drawn, and a few are drawn where the
    game has none. Close up, belt items drawn as models can merge into strips seen from above.
  • Screenshots zoomed far out have just been reworked to wait for every chunk, and haven't been
    tested in the game yet.
  • The new shading in daylight has only been checked in a test world, not yet on a real save.
  • Restart Zenith after changing anti-aliasing: changing it while playing can leave it much slower.
  • Running on a big base still has more slow frames than standing; forests are heavy on High.
  • Solar panels look grey at sunset in the Cinematic look.
  • Mods' own windows are still off by default: use them in Factorio's window (Ctrl+F9).
  • Hovering a chest doesn't list its contents, and Tips and tricks have no pictures.

For modellers and add-on makers

  • Rigged inserter models are driven by Zenith's arm, pincers and all.
  • Textured models far away are simplified with their textures kept, and their moving parts and baked
    occlusion are kept too.
  • Add-on API 1.6: screenshots, full detail and holding chunks for long flights; looks can have their
    own sunrise and sunset (docs/ADDONS.md).

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