Bugs Fixed

Editor

• Optimize the display of the physical laboratory options on the WeChat byte panel. When creating a new WeChat build task, the Wasm physics system will be enabled by default. After it is turned on, it will override the physical backend selection set by the project
• Fix several animation editor operation problems, including:
  • Some types of animations are not correctly interpolated
  • The curve data is not copied when copying the track
  • Cannot continuously operate the selected keyframe attribute track
  • Wrong position of adding keyframe when scroll bar exists
  • After selecting multiple keyframes, clicking on the keyframe moves abnormally
  • Fix the failure of pasting keyframe data across nodes and attributes
• Fixed and improved particle curve related controls: including the Bursts property cannot be added normally, the curve containing the Constant mode is displayed abnormally, the display of Two Curve is optimized, and the curve is displayed incorrectly after removing the keyframe.
• Fixed the problem that joint-texture-layout is invalid when building on the command line (it will cause loading failure at runtime)
• Fix the problem that the FileId of Component in the created object is the same
• Fix that when the auto atlas and renderTexture resources are in the same folder, they cannot be previewed and built normally
• Customized engine settings are stored according to the editor version
• Fixed the problem that the script in Prefab was not updated in time after modification
• Fix the problem of creating ui node in Prefab edit mode
• Fix the problem that the resource is deleted when editing the Prefab resource, and the save will not be automatically transferred to save at this time
• Fix the issue of select all and copy functions related to the root node on Hierarchy
• Fixed an issue where Hierarchy called the db interface and reported an error when switching scenes
• Fixed the problem that the file name of the custom script template cannot be a pure number
• Fixed the issue of db reporting errors when deleting assets in batches in the assets panel
• Support the mechanism to filter the suffix of the input name when creating a new resource in the assets panel
• Fix the problem that the resource that failed to import will report an error every time the focus returns to the editor
• Fix the problem that the old private node in the scene will cause a warning
• Fix the problem that the scene resource upgrade will add a blank line at the end

Engine

• Fix the problem of decreased performance of particle system instantiation Link to Chinese Forum post
• Fixed iOS 14 Web platform performance issues
• Optimize the Shadow Culling algorithm. After the upgrade, you need to use resolution and distance to adjust the shadow quality
• Fix calculation errors on the shadow of the spotlight
• Shadow bias is changed to use world space units, which will be more intuitive to adjust
• Fix the crash problem in Android 11 API Level 30 environment
• Fixed the issue that AnimationClip.createWithSpriteFrames failed to dynamically create animation
• Fix inverseTransformPoint function error
• Fix widget’s monitoring of target anchor changes
• Fixed the issue that the Editbox backgroundImage property was not synchronized when modifying SpriteFrame
• Rollback the deprecation of the EventKeyboard.isPressed property
• Fix the problem that the node scale cannot be set in the button’s scale mode and the problem of infinite zoom

What’s new!

Performance optimizations

In version 3.3, the focus continues to be optimizing the loading performance and running performance of the WeChat mini-game platform. After all internal projects are upgraded, the WeChat cloud testing starts with a performance score that can reach more than 80 points.

We continue to leverage the native binding layer to a new level, we have implemented a native version of render scene, lighting, model and other render objects, the render objects collection process is also completely running with native implementation, which further improved the performance of the native platform.

There is also a side benefit. Due to the upward migration of the binding level, some underlying data sharing mechanisms have been lifted, such as Pass, SubModel, etc. This makes the implementation of the upper layer of the JS engine, especially the data related to the UI and 2D rendering batches more simplified, and the data structure of some high-frequency operations is restored from TypedArray to direct properties, which makes the performance of the Web and small game platforms also visible improvements .

Optimized Scene editing experience

1. Optimize the roaming mode of the scene camera, and add an acceleration switch.

2. Add a scene light switch (open by default).

3. Increase the display of the maximum and minimum coordinates of the model.

4. Increase the snap function of Transform Gizmo (when you move, rotate, zoom Gizmo, hold down the Ctrl key, you can increase the value according to the set step length.

5. Optimize the experience of using large projects: reduce the memory usage of the editor, avoid crashes, and optimize lag.

New Animation Editor and Animation Data upgrade

Currently, the Animation Editor has built-in curve editing, which matches the time axis, and supports the editing of the time curve between any key frames.

Animation Data has also bee upgraded to introduce a new basic curve class, refactoring AnimationClip, and unifying the curve data used by animation and particle systems. These works are prepared for the subsequent improvement of the animation system. In the subsequent version, we will support advanced functions such as animation state machine editing and Blend Tree animation fusion.

In addition, the Animation Editor also:

• Supports the animation display editing after the animation root node is hidden.
• Optimizes the occlusion relationship between the key frame of the Animation Editor and the small red line, the size of the key frame, the selected color, etc…
• The Animation Editor supports holding down shift + mouse wheel scrolling to move the timeline.

Platform support and Build system optimizations

Windows x64 build option have been added, and the win32 platform will be gradually deprecated in the future.

In the Build panel, there are many new optimizations:

• The iOS build configuration option supports developer id configuration related to the target iOS version and signature.
• After constructing md5Cache, you can add md5 suffix to the script to ensure that the version is updated; (feedback from the forum.)
• As some versions of WeChat already support astc, the compressed texture configuration of the small game platform astc is currently open.
• Preferences-Build a new option to open the build log.
• Build an interstitial configuration panel, which supports direct drag and drop of pictures in the file system to place.
• Command-line construction supports the input logDest to specify the log output path.
• Due to the limitation of the number of exit codes on the Mac, the command line to build the exit code has been modified.
• After the native platform is built, the game name cannot be modified a second time.

Shadow effects and settings optimization

In previous versions, the configuration of shadows has always been a feature that confuses developers. We have a complete plan and are gradually improving shadow support. v3.3 will first simplify the configuration of shadows, optimize soft shadow algorithms, and repair shadows. Part of the effect problem. Configuration adjustments include:

• Shadow color is migrated to the grayscale adjustment option of Shadow saturation, which will automatically migrate the alpha channel of the old version.
• The soft shadow options are changed from the previous X9, X25, etc. to Soft and Soft2X.
• The size of the simplified shadow map is set to High, Medium, Low.
• Remove the SelfShadow option, now self-shadow calculation will be turned on by default.

v3.1

v3.3

Perfect Physics system

As v3.1 supports the PhysX physics backend, the selection and use of multiple sets of physics engines has also become our focus of use experience. In v3.3, we not only strengthened the physical functions, but also unified the different physical backends as much as possible.

• Support CCD continuous collision detection function

• Increase the minimum volume control of the collision body to avoid a series of problems caused by node zero scaling.
• Supports more flexible configuration options for the PhysX physical packed byte platform.
• Support the global control in Bullet physics to allow automatic sleep.
• Support Bullet physics in ray detection filter trigger collision body.
• Fix local inertia with no additional status of rigid body in Bullet physics.

Other

1. After the audio system removed the playback control interface on all AudioClip resources in v3.1, the developers were quite dissatisfied. In v3.3, we added the playback control interface back to the AudioClip resource by marking it as obsolete. We still hope that all developers can switch to using the AudioSource component to play audio, which is essential for future audio system enhancements.
2. Input events were dispatched before they were received. If the event response logic is complex, it may affect the frame callback and cause the frame rate to be unstable. v3.3 has been adjusted to the inter-frame recording event queue, and the events are processed in the main loop. Queue.
3. The View and Screen interfaces have been simplified, some platform-related interfaces have been discarded, and some of the View’s window control functions have been unified on the Screen.

Key update list

Editor

• New version of animation time curve editing and animation editor experience optimization.
• The curve editor of each module is unified: particles, animation, etc…
• Optimize the editing operation of the particle curve, add a button to reset the coordinate movement range, and support directly right-click to edit the position of the key frame point.
• Scene editor experience optimization:
  • Add a scene light switch (open by default).
  • Optimize the roaming mode of the scene camera, and add an acceleration switch.
  • Increase the display of the maximum and minimum coordinates of the model.
  • Increase the snap function of the Transform Gizmo .
• Support HDR file import, the engine internal processing RGBE codec.
• Editor performance and experience optimization.
• When the Image resource is changed to SpriteFrame type, the Clamp configuration of texture is automatically modified to CLAMP_TO_EDGE to avoid the problem of edge blending and black edges.
• Support for editing animation events directly on the property panel with animation model.
• Fix the resource leakage problem in the editor and reduce the memory usage.
• Turn on ASTC compression texture configuration for WeChat mini game platform.
• Optimize the performance of the hierarchy panel, add prefab nodes to directly enter the editing function of prefab resources.
• Optimize the performance of the console panel and fix the problem that a large amount of log data slows down the startup speed.
• Color picker supports color gamma correction preview.
• Inspector supports grouped display of component attributes, using @group decorator
• The inspector edit node adds the world coordinate of the copy node.
• Supports a single grayscale image or a combination of channels of the rgb channel that displays the baking results.
• Support custom script templates, and some preset variables can be used when generating scripts.
• Support the installation directory with Chinese on Windows platform.
• iOS build and fill configuration options: target iOS version, signature-related developer id.
• Added generation platform option for Windows platform, support win32 and x64 options
• Support script import map
• Added the function of clearing code cache, the entry is in the menu: [Developer → Cache → Clean Code Cache]
• At the bottom right corner of the editor, add a hint that the engine version is inconsistent with the editor version.
• Electron upgraded to 13.1.4.
• Fix the occasional progress bar stop problem when building projects with m1 cpu devices.

Engine

• Optimize the AO calculation in the standard lighting model.
• Shadow parameters and rendering optimization.
  • Repair the shadow effect, optimize the shadow edge blur algorithm.
  • Migrate Shadow Color to Shadow Saturation single channel option, it will automatically migrate the alpha channel of the old version.
  • The soft shadow options are changed from the previous X9, X25, etc. to Soft and Soft2X.
  • The size of the simplified shadow map is set to High, Medium, Low.
  • Remove the SelfShadow option, now self-shadow calculation will be turned on by default.
• Introduce general curve class (Curve).
• Refactoring AnimationClip, refactoring and upgrading of animation data: prepare for the fusion of animation state machine and complex animation.
• Optimize the first screen rendering speed of WeChat mini games.
• Fixed the rendering problem caused by UI transparency cascade.
• Fixed the problem of Label repeatedly adding dynamic pictures.
• The particle curve uses unified Curve data.
• Physics Engine.
  • Unify the behavior of each physical back-end.
  • Support CCD continuous collision detection.
  • Increase the minimum volume control of the collision body to avoid a series of problems caused by the zero scaling of the node.
  • Supports more flexible configuration options for the PhysX physical packed byte platform.
  • Support whether to allow automatic sleep in the global control of Bullet physics.
  • Support Bullet physics ray detection filter trigger collision body
• Baking library supports Apple m1 cpu device.
• Byte game audio is implemented using the WebAudio interface.
• Event system.
  • All input events are collected and processed in the main loop of the game.
  • AudioSource supports monitoring audio start and end events AudioSource.EventType.STARTED & AudioSource.EventType.ENDED.
  • SystemEventType and macro.KEY are deprecated, use SystemEvent.EventType and KeyCode instead.
  • Deprecated SystemEventType, and some system event-independent enumerations under SystemEventType, please use SystemEvent.EventType.
  • Obsolete static properties Event.TOUCH, Event.MOUSE, Event.KEYBOARD, Event.ACCELERATION.
• Simplify the discarded part of the view and screen interfaces, and implement them in the platform adaptation layer (PAL).
  • Obsolete view.adjustViewportMeta and view.isAutoFullScreenEnabled.
  • Obsolete view.enableAutoFullScreen, please use screen.requestFullScreen.
  • Obsolete cc.winSize, please use view.getVisibleSize
  • Discard screen.autoFullScreen, please use screen.requestFullScreen.
  • Discard screen.disableAutoFullScreen.
• Fix the memory leak that may be caused by removing the Spine animation (thanks to Github PR from @hailua54).

Infrastructure

• Native rendering scene module: optimize the performance of the native platform.
• Use controllable off-screen FrameBuffer for content rendering.
• Support MSAA anti-aliasing based on the off-screen FrameBuffer (enable the project macro Enable Antialias): Note that if the project macro is enabled before, the performance loss of the native platform will increase after the upgrade to 3.3, which is normal.
• Built-in Frame Graph rendering customization layer, subsequent versions will be connected to the rendering pipeline, and the customization interface will be opened to users.
• Support Subpass in Vulkan & Metal backend.
• Add the ability to debug with iOS Simulator on Apple devices with M1 CPU, you need to refer to Document Usage.
• The binding generator is fully compatible with python 2.7/3.x (64 bit).

Breaking changes

• Building compressed textures no longer has a default png image. If you use a project with this feature, please add a default image for the existing compressed texture configuration in the project configuration (from Forum Feedback.)
• Currently supports direct import of HDR textures. If you used an RGBE formatted .png before, please replace with the original .hdr textures.
• We fixed an FBX resource import problem: If the FBX model contains multiple animations, the second and subsequent animations incorrectly include all the animation data of the previous segment.Note: If animation segmentation has been configured, it may need to be adjusted. However, we have not received feedback from external developers on this issue.

Known Issues

• The native platform Bullet back-end ray detection performance has decreased. We will fix this problem in the next minor version. You can temporarily switch to the PhysX back-end for use or reduce the number of rays per frame.
• The startSpeed, startRotation, gravityModifier properties of 3D particles may display abnormally in Curve mode. This problem will be fixed in the next minor version.

Upgrading

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to update the version, providing bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure that your project is successfully launched; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with the key to 2.4 Bug fixes to ensure the smooth operation of online games! Therefore:

1. Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop without a compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
2. For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

Upgrade from version <3.1.0

• Starting from v3.1, the priority attribute of the UITransform component has been deprecated. If you need to adjust the order of the node tree, please use the setSiblingIndex method. Prior to v3.1, nodes that were created by code and depended on the priority attribute may have inconsistencies in the performance of the node tree. Please adjust them manually.
• RenderTexture will be inconsistent between positive and negative on different platforms. In order to solve this problem, Creator has added the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to the effect. When using RenderTexture, you need to set the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to true, and each backend will be uniformly adapted to The correct effect.

Upgrade from version <2.4.5

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, and version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to be updated to provide bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure the successful launch of your project; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with 2.4 key issue fixes to ensure that games that have already been launched Smooth operation! therefore:

• Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop with peace of mind, without a compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
• If you want to upgrade an existing 2.x project to 3.x due to project requirements, you can use the 2.x resource import tool provided by Creator. This tool will support the perfect import of old project resources and the auxiliary import of codes. Code-assisted import will convert js into ts, add component type declarations, attribute declarations, and function declarations. The references of components in the scene will be preserved, and the code inside the function will be imported in the form of comments, which can reduce the developer’s upgrade Difficulty. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide.
• For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

The upgrade operation of Cocos Creator to the project is irreversible. Please submit or backup the old version of the project before upgrading. Most projects can usually be upgraded automatically, but because the project is inevitably unique, developers should try and evaluate the new version of the engine in advance according to the needs of the project. In addition, for stability considerations, it is recommended that projects that are about to go online or already online should be carefully upgraded. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide. Those who encounter difficulties in upgrading, welcome to give us feedback and we will try our best to assist.

What’s new!

Cocos Creator v3.2.1 is the result of merging v3.1.2 into v3.2.1, and continues to bring a more stable experience on the major version branch. Both v3.2 users and v3.1.x users can upgrade without pain.

Release Notes

• Web & mini-game 2D rendering performance optimization
• Optimize the startup performance of mini-games
• Optimize the runtime performance of animation components
• Optimize the PCF shadow blur effect, which is more friendly to low-precision ShadowMap
• Optimize bullet physics engine performance
• Added automatic resource scanning switch, large projects can manually refresh the resource manager to improve the editor experience
• TS strict mode is not turned on by default when creating a project (manually recommended)
• Solve the memory leak caused by Mask
• Solve the memory leak caused by MeshRenderer setting material
• Enhance the fault tolerance of FBX model import
• Compatible with obsolete AudioClip playback interface

Important

• Fixed the issue of the Empty template creation project
• Fixed the problem of multiple PASS switching in the material editor and some attribute display loss
• Fixed JointTextureLayout panel cannot be scrolled
• Fixed the issue that the setting window of SplashScreen could not be closed
• Fixed the problem that the script on the root node of the prefab is lost in the native environment
• Fixed rendering errors caused by repeated loading of Morph models
• Fixed crash when TTF font is missing
• Animation editor fix
• Fixed the problem that the keyframe of the animation editor node could not be deleted directly
• After the animation editor is selected, press Ctrl to add keyframes and then copy and paste, zoom, and arrange keyframes are abnormal
• Fixed the problem that the scroll bar does not appear when the attribute list of the animation editor exceeds the limit. After the sample is modified, the current time display is not updated in real-time
• Environment and light and shadow
• Fixed the texture error after IBL is turned on
• Fixed the problem that the skybox could not be displayed for the first time setting
• Fixed GPU pre-baked skeletal animation failure after opening ShadowMap shadow
• Particle module repair
• Fixed the issue that the particle material cannot be displayed when the node is not enabled
• Fixed the particle start speed effect problem and the gravity effect problem when rotating
• Build module repair
• Fixed an error after restarting the build plugin feedback from forum
• Fixed that the cache is still used in the build after the modification of the automatic atlas configuration feedback from the forum
• Fixed the git ignore configuration problem of Android ABI without default value and native folder feedback from forum
• Tiled map fixes
• Fix the display error of Tilesets under multi-atlas
• Fix the error of TiledLayer getTiledTileAt function
• 2D skeletal animation
• Fixed the problem of editor update color, Spine and DB transparency does not take effect
• Fixed the problem that Spine on web and native uses blend mode to display incorrectly
• Fixed the issue that the Spine hanging node did not take effect after the editor set the scale

In addition, the v3.3.0 version has entered late testing. This version has some very important updates that should be known in advance:

1. Further increase the proportion of nativization, implement rendering scenes in the native layer, optimize performance, and lay a solid foundation for the future upper-layer nativization and scene management
2. Optimized rendering pipeline to reduce IO pressure
3. Optimize the experience of using large projects: reduce the memory usage of the editor, avoid crashes, and optimize lag
4. Optimize the standard lighting model
5. Animation data reconstruction and upgrade: prepare for the animation system upgrade and animation state machine
6. The physical behavior of each back-end is unified
7. Delayed rendering pipeline optimization: light source clipping, SSPR, etc.

Cocos Creator 3.2 officially supports HarmonyOS, becoming the world’s first game engine that supports HarmonyOS. At the same time, Creator has conducted in-depth cooperation with the Bytedance platform to support the use of PhysX provided by the platform in byte games with experimental features! All developers are welcome to use and experience!

What’s new!

Support building HarmonyOS applications

In version 3.2, Creator supports one-click packaging of games into HarmonyOS applications. After configuring the HarmonyOS SDK and NDK paths, select HarmonyOS one-click packaging in the build panel. For detailed operations, please refer to the publishing HarmonyOS applications documentation.

ByteDance games support the use of PhysX capabilities provided by the platform

Cocos Creator and the ByteDance platform have conducted in-depth collaboration, with the experimental feature in v3.2 to support the use of PhysX physics capabilities provided by the ByteDance platform in ByteDance Mini Games, optimizing the performance of physics calculations, and having a nearly 100% performance improvement compared to Bullet physics

Multithreading can be enabled in the build panel:

Upgrading

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to update the version, providing bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure that your project is successfully launched; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with the key to 2.4 Bug fixes to ensure the smooth operation of online games! Therefore:

1. Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop without compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
2. For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

Upgrade from version < 3.1.0

• Starting from v3.1, the priority attribute of the UITransform component has been deprecated. If you need to adjust the order of the node tree, please use the setSiblingIndex method. Prior to v3.1, nodes that were created by code and depended on the priority attribute may have inconsistencies in the performance of the node tree. Please adjust them manually.
• RenderTexture will be inconsistent between positive and negative on different platforms. In order to solve this problem, Creator has added the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to the effect. When using RenderTexture, you need to set the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to true, and each backend will be uniformly adapted to The correct effect.

Upgrade from version < 2.4.5

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, and version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to be updated to provide bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure the successful launch of your project; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with 2.4 key issue fixes to ensure that games that have already been launched Smooth operation! therefore:

• Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop with peace of mind, without compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
• If you want to upgrade an existing 2.x project to 3.x due to project requirements, you can use the 2.x resource import tool provided by Creator. This tool will support the perfect import of old project resources and the auxiliary import of codes. Code-assisted import will convert js into ts, add component type declarations, attribute declarations and function declarations. The references of components in the scene will be preserved, and the code inside the function will be imported in the form of comments, which can reduce the developer’s upgrade Difficulty. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide.
• For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

The upgrade operation of Cocos Creator to the project is irreversible. Please submit or backup the old version of the project before upgrading. Most projects can usually be upgraded automatically, but because the project is inevitably unique, developers should try and evaluate the new version of the engine in advance according to the needs of the project. In addition, for stability considerations, it is recommended that projects that are about to go online or already online should be carefully upgraded. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide. Those who encounter difficulties in upgrading, welcome to give us feedback and we will try our best to assist.

What’s new!

Cocos Creator 3.1.2 mainly fixes the stability problems of v3.1 and optimizes the editor workflow. All developers are welcome to use and experience! Please make a backup of relevant files before upgrading! The following is the detailed update content.

v3.1.2 is a version that optimizes experience and performance on v3.1.1. The update content of this version is not included in v3.2. Later, the v3.1.2 update will be merged into v3.2.1 and v3.3.0!

Since 3.1.0, the engine group has actually been advancing three version lines in parallel, v3.2.0, v3.1.x, v3.3.0, of which v3.2 has a requirement for the release of Hongmeng 2.0, so the release date is set early Now, for stability, the main reason is to increase the Hongmeng platform support on the basis of v3.1.1. After that, we continue to receive feedback from developers about 3.1. In order to more effectively solve the pain points encountered by developers and lower the upgrade threshold for developers, we have decided to continue to optimize the experience and performance on v3.1.2 Performance, delivered to developers. At present, Cocos Creator v3.x, as a new 3D engine, is still far from the expectations of developers. We hope to give developers stronger confidence through this practical action of continuous delivery. At the same time, thank you to all the v3.x pioneers for their support, it is your feedback that makes the engine more and more perfect!

Release Notes

• Web & mini-game 2D rendering performance optimization
• Optimize the startup performance of mini-games
• Optimize the runtime performance of animation components
• Optimize the PCF shadow blur effect, which is more friendly to low-precision ShadowMap
• Optimize bullet physics engine performance
• Added automatic resource scanning switch, large projects can manually refresh the resource manager to improve the editor experience
• TS strict mode is not turned on by default when creating a project (manually recommended)
• Solve the memory leak caused by Mask
• Solve the memory leak caused by MeshRenderer setting material
• Enhance the fault tolerance of FBX model import
• Compatible with obsolete AudioClip playback interface

Important

• Fixed the issue of the Empty template creation project
• Fixed the problem of multiple PASS switching in the material editor and some attribute display loss
• Fixed JointTextureLayout panel cannot be scrolled
• Fixed the issue that the setting window of SplashScreen could not be closed
• Fixed the problem that the script on the root node of the prefab is lost in the native environment
• Fixed rendering errors caused by repeated loading of Morph models
• Fixed crash when TTF font is missing
• Animation editor fix
• Fixed the problem that the keyframe of the animation editor node could not be deleted directly
• After the animation editor is selected, press Ctrl to add keyframes and then copy and paste, zoom, and arrange keyframes are abnormal
• Fixed the problem that the scroll bar does not appear when the attribute list of the animation editor exceeds the limit. After the sample is modified, the current time display is not updated in real-time
• Environment and light and shadow
• Fixed the texture error after IBL is turned on
• Fixed the problem that the skybox could not be displayed for the first time setting
• Fixed GPU pre-baked skeletal animation failure after opening ShadowMap shadow
• Particle module repair
• Fixed the issue that the particle material cannot be displayed when the node is not enabled
• Fixed the particle start speed effect problem and the gravity effect problem when rotating
• Build module repair
• Fixed an error after restarting the build plugin feedback from forum
• Fixed that the cache is still used in the build after the modification of the automatic atlas configuration feedback from the forum
• Fixed the git ignore configuration problem of Android ABI without default value and native folder feedback from forum
• Tiled map fixes
• Fix the display error of Tilesets under multi-atlas
• Fix the error of TiledLayer getTiledTileAt function
• 2D skeletal animation
• Fixed the problem of editor update color, Spine and DB transparency does not take effect
• Fixed the problem that Spine on web and native uses blend mode to display incorrectly
• Fixed the issue that the Spine hanging node did not take effect after the editor set the scale

In addition, the v3.3.0 version has entered late testing. This version has some very important updates that should be known in advance:

1. Further increase the proportion of nativization, implement rendering scenes in the native layer, optimize performance, and lay a solid foundation for the future upper-layer nativization and scene management
2. Optimized rendering pipeline to reduce IO pressure
3. Optimize the experience of using large projects: reduce the memory usage of the editor, avoid crashes, and optimize lag
4. Optimize the standard lighting model
5. Animation data reconstruction and upgrade: prepare for the animation system upgrade and animation state machine
6. The physical behavior of each back-end is unified
7. Delayed rendering pipeline optimization: light source clipping, SSPR, etc.

In addition, various demos are also in production, such as the Parkour Demo that has been put on the Store.

The API documentation page is also being redesigned.

In short, we attach great importance to the voice of the community and will try our best to improve the 2D & 3D development experience of Cocos Creator v3.x step by step.

What’s new!

Cocos Creator 3.1.1 mainly fixes the stability problems of v3.1 and optimizes the editor workflow. All developers are welcome to use and experience! Please make a backup of relevant files before upgrading! The following is the detailed update content.

Improvements

• Added the ability to create Prefab resources in the Explorer panel
• Added a new level manager panel that can be set in batches (Alt + click) to lock the node function (after being locked, it cannot be selected in the scene editor panel)
• When the property in the property inspector is a non-null type, but has a null value, a new creation function is added

Bug Fixes

• [EDITOR] Fixed the issue that may report errors when building the Android platform.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that the command line build using default values ​​could not be successful.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem of some boolean parameter conversion errors when building the command line.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the invalid modification of Target Api Level when building Android platform.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that the PNG format image is generated incorrectly when the ETC1 RGB Separate A format and the PNG format are selected at the same time for the compressed texture.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the issue that after adding skeletal animation events, it cannot be deleted all.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the selection problem of component track in animation editor.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that the nodes or components in the nested Prefab referenced in the Prefab will be lost after saving.
• [EDITOR] Fix the problem that the nodes or components in the Prefab will be lost after saving in the newly added components in the Prefab instance.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that the collapsed state of the property inspector interface record is invalid.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the issue of whether to modify the child nodes together after editing the layer property of the node in the property inspector panel.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that the array in the property inspector panel does not recognize the dragged resource.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that when the SpriteFrame resource is dragged to the level manager panel to create a node, the layer property of the node is not UI_2D.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that there is no selected record for the last-level resource in the resource preview panel.
• [EDITOR] Fixed the problem that the resource manager panel cannot accurately scroll to the internal resources in the folded folder.
• [EDITOR] Fix the problem that the Joint Texture Layout panel cannot be scrolled.
• [ENGINE] Fix the problem of incorrect effect of SafeArea component [#8654].
• [ENGINE] Fixed the problem that the time scale of stop is not reset to 0 after calling pause on the audio of the Xiaomi Kuai game platform [#8636].
• [ENGINE] Fix the issue that the audio of Huawei Quick Game Platform gets currentTime as string type [#8656].
• [ENGINE] Fixed the problem that the touch event callback of the LianShang game platform will cause the stuck on the low-end machine [#8661].
• [ENGINE] Fix the problem that touch events are unavailable on the iPad browser [#8673].
• [ENGINE] Fix the problem that the gravity sensor of QQ browser, WeChat mini game iOS terminal, Baidu mini game cannot be turned on or is incorrect [#8632].
• [ENGINE] Fix the problem of CacheManager.clearLRU call error [#8663].
• [ENGINE] Fix the problem that the SubContextView node cannot be rendered due to the modification of the node layer [#8677].

Known Issues

• There is a problem with the keyboard and mouse adaptation of the WeChat PC. We will fix this problem in the next version, or you can manually merge this PR fix: [#8626]
• You need to manually call the Sprite.updateMaterial function after setting the RenderTexture in Sprite, otherwise it may cause image flipping problems on some platforms
• Checking UseIBL on the scene skybox option may cause the cc_environment binding to be lost. This problem will be fixed in the next version

Upgrading

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to update the version, providing bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure that your project is successfully launched; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with the key to 2.4 Bug fixes to ensure the smooth operation of online games! Therefore:

1. Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop without compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
2. For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

Upgrade from version <3.1.0

• Starting from v3.1, the priority attribute of the UITransform component has been deprecated. If you need to adjust the order of the node tree, please use the setSiblingIndex method. Prior to v3.1, nodes that were created by code and depended on the priority attribute may have inconsistencies in the performance of the node tree. Please adjust them manually.
• RenderTexture will be inconsistent between positive and negative on different platforms. In order to solve this problem, Creator has added the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to the effect. When using RenderTexture, you need to set the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to true, and each backend will be uniformly adapted to The correct effect.

Upgrade from version <2.4.5

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, and version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to be updated to provide bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure the successful launch of your project; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with 2.4 key issue fixes to ensure that games that have already been launched Smooth operation! therefore:

• Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop with peace of mind, without compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
• If you want to upgrade an existing 2.x project to 3.x due to project requirements, you can use the 2.x resource import tool provided by Creator. This tool will support the perfect import of old project resources and the auxiliary import of codes. Code-assisted import will convert js into ts, add component type declarations, attribute declarations and function declarations. The references of components in the scene will be preserved, and the code inside the function will be imported in the form of comments, which can reduce the developer’s upgrade Difficulty. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide.
• For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

The upgrade operation of Cocos Creator to the project is irreversible. Please submit or backup the old version of the project before upgrading. Most projects can usually be upgraded automatically, but because the project is inevitably unique, developers should try and evaluate the new version of the engine in advance according to the needs of the project. In addition, for stability considerations, it is recommended that projects that are about to go online or already online should be carefully upgraded. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide. Those who encounter difficulties in upgrading, welcome to give us feedback and we will try our best to assist.

The launch of Cocos Creator v3.0 marks a new journey for Creator, and Cocos Creator 3.1 is the first cornerstone of the journey. This version update brings many great new features, including deferred rendering contributed by the Huawei HiSilicon team. Pipeline, PhysX physics backend support, etc.; at the same time, compared to version 3.0, various aspects of performance have also been optimized, such as frame animation performance, loading performance, package body, and so on. We will continue to cultivate deeply on the basis of 3.x, with a sincere attitude and dedicated spirit, steadfastly improve the product experience, and benefit all developers. All developers are welcome to use and experience! Please make a backup of relevant files before upgrading! The following is the detailed update!

What’s new

• Added deferred rendering pipeline (thanks to the contribution of the Huawei HiSilicon team), you can select the deferred rendering pipeline in the project settings：

• Introduce multi-threaded rendering architecture. On the native platform, the traditional single-threaded architecture can no longer meet the rendering of large-scale scenes. Therefore, Creator initially split the traditional single-threaded architecture into two main threads, a rendering thread and a device thread, in v3.1. In addition to the split of the main thread, Creator also parallelizes the submission process of command buffers to speed up rendering efficiency. The multi-threaded rendering architecture diagram is as follows:

• Added PhysX physics support, currently supports native platforms other than Android x86, and has a performance improvement of more than 100% on iOS (if you need to preview on the web platform, you can refer to the physics-3d project in example-3d, the main content is modified In the preview-template folder):

• The editor supports bone octahedron display, you can visually see the distribution status of the model bones:

• Support previewing animation on the Inspector of FBX/glTF resources:

• Open the new version of the curve editor, support to edit the left and right slopes separately, and support the cycle mode of directly displaying the curve:

• Android platform supports the construction of x86_64 architecture.
• Support adding/removing components on the Prefab instance.
• The Mac build supports the M1 option, which is used to better prompt the support issues of some known engine modules on Apple M1 (Silicon) architecture devices.
• Added the laboratory function of scene instant cache, which is enabled by default, and can restore data after the scene exits abnormally.
• The editor adds ui-curve and ui-curve-editor components, which can be used directly by plug-in developers.

Release Notes

Improvements

• Improve the operating performance of the engine’s native platform.
• Improve the performance of engine frame animation.
• Improve the loading speed of runtime resources (build mode).
• Optimize the stuttering problem of the animation editor when editing a large number of key frames.
• The auto atlas panel adds three optimization options when using auto atlas in the Bundle, which is used to eliminate unused resources in the auto atlas in the Bundle to reduce the package body.
• Optimize the problem that the automatic atlas is referenced by multiple Bundles, which causes the pictures to be copied, and reduce the package body.
• Shadow Map supports linear depth, depth map compression (mutually exclusive with linear depth function), self-shadow effect, and normal bias parameter settings.
• Lighting Map supports RGBE format.

Editor

• Optimize the event editing panel of the animation editor to avoid generating empty function data.
• The release path of the build release panel is adjusted to a switchable protocol header.
• The export/import build configuration function of the build release panel supports cross-version import after export.
• The build release panel adds a verification mechanism, and the build cannot be built when the build options are filled in incorrectly.
• Optimize the output log of packaged rpk for some small game platforms.
• Optimize the construction of output log information and fix the problem of log loss.
• Optimize the handling of resource loss, which can be automatically restored after resource recovery.
• New Button locks the Label node by default, making it easy to select in the scene.
• Fix the scene data problem that may be caused by exiting from Prefab.
• The animation baking rate can be selected when FBX is imported.
• Solve the problem that some FBX import will cause the editor to freeze.
• FBX/glTF adds import option Promote single root node.
• Fixed the issue that TiledMap was lost when importing .tmx resources.

Engine

• Fixed the problem of TiledMap animation failure.
• Fixed the problem that Spine did not take effect in native premultiplication.
• Fixed the issue that the transparency display of Spine was abnormal when the premultiplication was turned on.
• Fixed the incompatibility of Vulkan drivers for some models.
• Fix the problem that the Shadow Map display of Metal related platforms is disordered.

Breaking Changes

• The playback interface of AudioClip has been removed, and the started event monitoring is not supported. AudioClip is now a pure audio resource type.
• You can no longer directly call the CCStandardShading function in the effect resource, and encapsulate it in the CC_STANDARD_SURFACE_ENTRY macro definition. It is recommended to only do custom logic in the surface function.
• Rename the GFX module, remove the GFX prefix, and use import {gfx} from'cc'.
• The automatic atlas and compressed texture switches have been removed from the build panel, and the project will be processed directly after the automatic atlas and compressed texture are configured.
• Deprecated cc-fog header files, use cc-fog-vs and cc-fog-fs instead.
• Removed some constants under sys, including sys.LINUX, sys.BLACKBERRY, sys.EMSCRIPTEN, sys.TIZEN, sys.WINRT, sys.WP8, sys.QQ_PLAY, sys.FB_PLAYABLE_ADS.

Known Issue

• There is a problem with the keyboard and mouse adaptation of WeChat PC. We will fix this problem in v3.1.1. You can merge this PR manually to fix #8626.
• The SafeArea component is temporarily unavailable. We will fix this problem in v3.1.1. You can solve this problem by manually merging this PR #8652.
• You need to manually call the Sprite.updateMaterial function after setting the RenderTexture in Sprite, otherwise it may cause the problem of image flipping on some platforms.

Upgrading

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to update the version, providing bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure that your project is successfully launched; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with the key to 2.4 Bug fixes to ensure the smooth operation of online games! Therefore:

1. Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop without compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
2. For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

Upgrade from version <3.1.0

• Starting from v3.1, the priority attribute of the UITransform component has been deprecated. If you need to adjust the order of the node tree, please use the setSiblingIndex method. Prior to v3.1, nodes that were created by code and depended on the priority attribute may have inconsistencies in the performance of the node tree. Please adjust them manually.
• RenderTexture will be inconsistent between positive and negative on different platforms. In order to solve this problem, Creator has added the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to the effect. When using RenderTexture, you need to set the SAMPLE_FROM_RT macro to true, and each backend will be uniformly adapted to The correct effect.

Upgrade from version <2.4.5

Cocos Creator 3.x version has been officially released, and version 2.4 will be used as the LTS (long-term support) version, providing continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to be updated to provide bug fixes and new mini-game platform support to ensure the successful launch of your project; in 2022, we will continue to provide developers with 2.4 key issue fixes to ensure that games that have already been launched Smooth operation! therefore:

• Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop with peace of mind, without compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
• If you want to upgrade an existing 2.x project to 3.x due to project requirements, you can use the 2.x resource import tool provided by Creator. This tool will support the perfect import of old project resources and the auxiliary import of codes. Code-assisted import will convert js into ts, add component type declarations, attribute declarations and function declarations. The references of components in the scene will be preserved, and the code inside the function will be imported in the form of comments, which can reduce the developer’s upgrade Difficulty. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide.
• For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

The upgrade operation of Cocos Creator to the project is irreversible. Please submit or backup the old version of the project before upgrading. Most projects can usually be upgraded automatically, but because the project is inevitably unique, developers should try and evaluate the new version of the engine in advance according to the needs of the project. In addition, for stability considerations, it is recommended that projects that are about to go online or already online should be carefully upgraded. For detailed upgrade instructions, please refer to the Upgrade Guide. Those who encounter difficulties in upgrading, welcome to give us feedback and we will try our best to assist.

After the v3.0 preview was released, the engine team received a lot of enthusiastic feedback from developers, this feedback really helped to increase the team’s motivation to release an amazing product. Creator v3.0 unifies the development workflow of 2D and 3D, taking into account the development experience from light and heavy games, and integrates almost all the functions of Creator v2.x and Creator 3D 1.x. v3.0 now encompasses these versions under a single umbrella.
v3.0 has been further optimized in performance, improved quality, and introduces more features, such as access to the native runtime of Spine and DragonBones, support for the use of NPM libraries, and refactored the Prefab system and UI System and many other contents.

What’s new

v3.0 uses a new future-oriented engine architecture, which will bring high-performance, data-oriented and load-balanced renderers to the engine, and seamlessly support Vulkan, Metal & OpenGL ES multi-backend rendering. In the future, we also plan to support mobile VR/AR and some of the desktop & console platforms. Below is a brief introduction to core features of v3.0.

Powerful editor features

The integrated editor brings a lightweight and easy-to-use creative experience. Cocos Creator v3.0 is refactored, expanded and upgraded on the editor framework that Cocos Creator 2.x has used for many years.

• Brand new interface design, more concise and clear.
• Resource system upgrade, enhanced support for super large projects, more efficient and reliable.
• Code isolation between modules, pure message-driven, more stable.
• The extension system is completely modularized to welcome a more powerful plug-in mechanism.

One-click access to Cocos’s quality services

Cocos Creator v3.0 provides one-click access to various high-quality services officially launched by Cocos, improving development efficiency and launching more high-quality content. Cocos will continue to launch additional and improved services.

Brand new Prefab system

Creator v3.0 re-implements the Prefab system with features such as:

• Support Prefab automatic synchronization.
• Prefab instance can overwrite attributes in Prefab resource.
• Support Prefab nesting.

Build system

Build content caching

After building, Creator v3.0 will cache most of the build content, including resources, compressed textures, automatic atlas, engine code, etc. In the subsequent build, if nothing has changed, the cached content will be used directly to speed up the build and improve efficiency.

Task-based build list

The build and publish will be carried out in the form of build tasks, saving the configuration, status, log, etc. of each build, making it easy to switch build tasks and view historical configurations.

Compile and generate separately after build

The generation stage of each mini game platform is extracted, allowing to modify the content of the file after build to regenerate rpk/cpk.

Build process hooks

The build extension support adding hooks before and after compilation to customize the build process.

Support Asset Bundle

Creator v3.0 uses Asset Bundles as a resource modularization tool. Developers can build textures, scripts, scenes and other resources into multiple Asset Bundles, and then load them on demand during the game’s running process, thereby reducing the time required to download and load the game for the first time. Asset Bundles can be placed freely as required, for example, they can be placed in remote servers, local, or sub-packages of small game platforms, or they can be reused across projects to load Asset Bundles in sub-projects.

Splash Screen

It supports setting up Splash Screen during construction, which is used to display a cutscene before the game starts, and optimize the startup speed of the first screen.

GameView

GameView is a game running panel embedded in the editor. Developers can run the game directly in the editor without opening the browser preview. In addition to a more seamless development experience, debugging and modifying element states in real time through the scene editor or other panels during the game running process, making game development more efficient!

Extension

Powerful extension system

Cocos Creator v3.0 has a more powerful extension system. Almost all internal modules of the editor are built with extension system. You can quickly create your own extensions in the extended menu to achieve the customizations you want. In addition, Creator v3.0 also provides an extension manager, which can easily manage the operation and uninstallation of all extensions.

Message communication

Extensions can use IPC messages to communicate with other extensions or the editor core, and quickly and easily use the capabilities provided in the editor. Cocos Creator v3.0 also provides a message manager, which can clearly see the functions currently provided in the editor, reducing the threshold for extension development.

Animation Editor

The Animation Editor is an important module that we have been continuously optimizing. In addition to standard displacement, rotation, zoom animation and sequence frame animation, this animation system also supports driving arbitrary component attributes and user-defined attributes, plus it can be edited at will The time curve and innovative movement trajectory editing functions allow content producers to produce various dynamic effects without writing a line of code, and drive the game logic at will.

In addition to regular operations, the v3.0 Animation Editor also provides the following shortcut operations to help game developers achieve the desired content:

• Batch key frame interval adjustment.
• Copy and paste across node tracks.
• Indirect attributes (such as material attributes) keyframe editing.
• Directly select resources and directly edit key frame data in the animation editor.
• Multi-select key frame zoom, move and delete.
• Support multi-select nodes to add attribute tracks in batches.
• Support copy and paste all animation data on the node.
• Support shielding no key frame nodes and search nodes.
• Support editing component tracks.
• Support to adjust the layout of the animation editor.

A more complete tool chain

• Support model preview.
  • After selecting the model in the editor, you can preview the model resources in all directions, and you can also view various textures used in the default materials.
• New version of FBX importer.
• Support the import of glTF resources, support khr-draco-mesh-compression, sparse accessor.
• Support animation cutting.
• Provide Mesh Optimizer tool.
• Model import support quantized joints/weights.

Terrain Editor

Convenient terrain system to quickly draw terrain textures. Terrain editing mainly includes three major functions: Manage, Sculpt, and Paint. It also supports Normal Map, PBR material and custom material.

Built-in baking system

Baking is the process of generating light maps by pre-calculating the influence of light sources on objects and shadows projected with very high level of details. The light maps are then applied to the scene in runtime very efficiently, which can greatly improve the graphics quality of static scenes.

Configuration

Visual macro configuration

Provides a shortcut to modify the engine macro configuration. The configured macro will take effect during preview and build. At the same time, the default value of the current macro configuration will be updated with the configuration of the custom engine.

Batch configuration of compressed textures via presets

Support for adding compressed texture preset configuration, which is used to quickly configure the compression method of texture. After setting presets for image assets, you can also directly modify the presets to update the configuration for corresponding textures all at once, which greatly facilitates the overall management of the project.

Support 2.x project migration

In order to facilitate the upgrade of 2.x users, we provide a project migration plugin in 3.0, which can migrate projects above version 2.4.3 to version 3.0.0. This tool will support the perfect import of old project resources and the auxiliary import of code. Code-assisted import will convert js into ts, add component type declarations, attribute declarations and function declarations. The references of components in the scene will be preserved, and the code inside the function will be imported in the form of comments, which can reduce the developer’s upgrade Difficulty. However, there is still a big difference between the 2.x API and 3.0. We use deprecation and removal mechanisms to make runtime warnings as much as possible. But developers still need to make a lot of adjustments to the code in order to upgrade to 3.0 perfectly.

Powerful engine features

Cocos Creator v2.4 is very powerful in 2D rendering, while Cocos Creator v3.0 allows developers to make more beautiful 3D games. We have integrated the advantages of the two in 3.0, and fully support various functions of 2D and 3D. Whether 2D or 3D, 3.0 will meet your needs.

Rendering system

As the core module of the game engine, the rendering system plays a vital role and directly determines the content that the game can output to the player. An excellent rendering system must also take into account various platforms and smooth the differences between platforms. The rendering system of Cocos Creator v3.0 aims at future-oriented, high-performance, and cross-platform from architecture to design, which greatly improves rendering capabilities and robustness.

• Supports multiple rendering backends of Metal, Vulkan, WebGL 1.0, WebGL 2.0, GLES2, GLES3, and provides a unified GFX graphics API layer to the rendering pipeline layer.
• The GFX API design close to the modern graphics API helps the rendering pipeline layer to release the performance and possibilities provided by the modern graphics API as much as possible.
• Built-in forward rendering pipeline, support user-defined rendering pipeline.
• Physically based light sources, cameras and materials help developers use industrialized processes to create the most realistic visual effects.

• Supports GPU Instancing batch optimization, which is suitable for drawing a large number of dynamic models with the same mesh, and supports instancing batches of models containing skeletal animation calculations.

• Support global fog effect.

• Powerful native renderer, using memory sharing mechanism to reduce JSB calls and speed up data access.
• Support ASTC, ETC, ETC2, PVR and other compressed textures.

Light and Shadow

In the 3D world, light and shadow have always been extremely important components. They can enrich the environmental performance, and good quality shadows can achieve a fake effect and make the whole world more three-dimensional.

• Physically based light source.
  Cocos Creator v3.0 uses optical measurement units to describe light source parameters. Based on optical measurement units, we can convert all the relevant parameters of the light source into physical values in the real world. In this way, the designer can adjust the light intensity, color, range and other information according to the actual lighting industrial parameters and the actual physical parameters of the real environment, so that the overall lighting effect and light attenuation are more in line with the real natural environment.

• Multi-light support based on multi-pass.
• Support high-performance flat shadow Planar Shadow.
• Directional light and spotlight dynamic shadow based on Shadow Map, support PCF soft shadow and GPU Instancing.

Particle System

The particle system is the basis of the special effects of game engines. It can be used to simulate natural phenomena such as fire, smoke, water, clouds, snow, and fallen leaves, and it can also be used to simulate abstract visual effects such as luminous trajectories and speed lines. Good particle effects can make the game screen more stunning.

• Support up to dozens of module settings, and support various types of curves, constant changes.

• Support GPU particles, greatly improving rendering performance.
• Support Cocos traditional 2D particles.

Material System

As a resource, material determines the rendering effect of the attached object. Almost all the rendered effects in the game are inseparable from the material. As a basic module, the material system provides a solid foundation for the superstructure.

• Built-in physical-based standard materials.
• Support Cocos Effect.
  The Cocos Effect based on YAML and GLSL designed by Cocos is a single-source embedded domain specific language(single-source embedded DSL). The YAML part declares the flow control list, and the GLSL part declares the actual Shader fragment. The above complement each other and together constitute a complete rendering process description.
• Support more than 32 Effect macro definitions.
• Cocos Effect compiler automatically removes invalid codes.
• Support importing Effect header files.
• Effect’s resource panel now supports previewing the compiled Shader code, and supports visual editing of each Define of the Shader.
• Support material preview.

Middleware

• Support TiledMap.

• Support Spine, DragonBones.
• Support Spine, DragonBones and TiledMap rendering in 3D scene (need to customize material to control depth detection).

Skeleton Animation System

Cocos Creator v3.0 has a built-in general animation system to display animation based on key frames. In the editor, we can easily produce key frame animation clips. We can also support importing skeletal animations already contained in external FBX and glTF resources. These animations can be edited in the resource manager. Animation effects can be previewed in the animation editor, animation event triggers can be added, and animation system APIs can be used. You can also freely control the animation playback.

In addition, we also support the following features:

• CPU or GPU driven skeletal animation, can be switched freely.
• Supports the fusion transition of animation (CPU driven).
• Use binary format to store skeletal animation to reduce file size.
• Support two components: general animation and skeletal animation.
• Support material sub-attribute animation such as Uniform.
• Support CPU driven Morph Target (Blend Shape).

Script system

The project development of Cocos Creator v3.0 has fully turned to TypeScript, and JavaScript is no longer supported in the project except for plug-in scripts in JavaScript or NPM modules. TypeScript support has been improved in v3.0:

• Embrace ES6 and TypeScript, complete code hints and automatic import.
• Attributes support independent type decorator: @integer, @float, @string, @boolean, @type etc…
• Support Async Await syntax.
• Optional Chaining support.
• Nullish Coalescing support.
• Certain circular reference behaviors will be detected and warned during operation.
• Added core-js polyfills to help some low-end platforms complete ES6 support.
• Support loose compilation mode, which can reduce package body and optimize performance.
• Support using NPM modules.
• Subdivide engine modules, allowing more detailed module removal.

UI system

Cocos Creator v3.0 continues the 2.x UI design, and further optimizes and upgrades, including the following:

• Flexible and concise 2D rendering and UI interaction, layout components, support 20 kinds of components including Sprite, Label, Button, Widget, etc. You can use these basic components to combine various types of UI effects.
• Support static batching.
  The engine provides the UIStaticBatch component. UIs that do not require frequent changes can use this component to cache rendering data, thereby reducing rendering consumption and improving performance.
• Support dynamic image combining at runtime, reduce the number of drawcalls, and optimize performance.

• Merged the UI rendering process and the forward rendering process, allowing 2D and 3D rendering components to be mixed, and rendering visibility is completely determined by the node Layer and camera Visibility.

Physics

Cocos Creator v3.0 currently has a built-in lightweight collision detection system Builtin and a physics engine cannon.js with physical simulation, as well as a powerful bullet compiled into asm.js/WASM version ammo.js, and provides users with an efficient componentized workflow and convenient usage.

• Support multiple physical backend options, including ammo.js, cannon.js and more lightweight builtin physical.
• Support WeChat mini games using WASM physical backend, which can achieve higher performance on iOS.
• Physics system supports fixed step refresh.
• Support physical materials.
• Supports a variety of practical collision bodies including simple shapes, cones, planes, terrain, capsules, cylinders, static mesh collision bodies, etc…

• Support point-to-point and hinge constraint components.
• Mesh collider adds convex hull approximation function.

• Support traditional Creator 2D physics and collision system.

In a near future, we will provide builtin PhysX backend on native platforms, which will greatly improve performance and physics capabilities.

Detailed changes (compared to Creator 3D)

Editor

• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] New FBX importer.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports loose compilation mode when compiling.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] Terrain supports normal map and pbr material.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports EditBox in GameView mode.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports code removal according to pre-compiled macros when compiling project scripts.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports removing deprecated compatible codes during the build process and reducing the package body.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] Brand new Prefab system, supports Prefab nesting.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] The terrain system supports the use of custom brushes and normal map settings.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] Support resource package import and export function.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] native platform supports script encryption.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] Added Huawei AGConnect build platform.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] Added Huawei quick game debugging tool.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports access to Cocos Service.
• [Sync 2.x] supports simulator preview.
• [Sync 2.x] supports publishing LianShang mini game platform.
• [Sync 2.x] supports publishing interesting headlines game platform.
• [Sync 2.x] supports building Android Instant.
• [Sync 2.x] supports the new version of serialization mechanism.
• [Sync 2.x] Asset Bundle support.
• [Sync 2.x] supports engine module removal during preview.
• [Sync 2.x] editor supports importing JSON resources.
• [Sync 2.x] editor supports importing text resources.
• [Sync 2.x] editor supports importing LabelAtlas resources.
• [IMPROVE] Upgrade electron, computer that supports M1 chip.

Engine

• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports using NPM library.
• [Sync 2.x] supports Tiledmap.
• [Sync 2.x] supports Spine.
• [Sync 2.x] supports DragonBone.
• [Sync 2.x] supports MotionStreak.
• [Sync 2.x] supports WebView.
• [Sync 2.x] supports VideoPlayer.
• [Sync 2.x] supports 2d physics and collision system, including box2d and builtin.
• [Sync 2.x] supports Asset Manager resource management.
• [Sync 2.x] supports LabelShadow.
• [Sync 2.x] supports SafeArea.
• [Sync 2.x] Mask supports image stencil.
• [Sync 2.x] audio supports multicast.
• [Sync 2.x] supports dynamic picture combination.
• [IMPROVE] UIMeshRenderer supports receiving parallel light.
• [IMPROVE] remove cc.Class() style declaration.
• [IMPROVE] Reconstruct 3d physical collision matrix. The collision matrix is ​​only used to initialize the grouping and mask of rigid bodies. It is no longer maintained and updated, and the Use Collision Matrix configuration item is abolished.
• [IMPROVE] Refactored 3d rigid body, removed RigidBody.isKinematic, added RigidBody.type to set the rigid body type, removed fixedRotation, and replaced it with angularFactor.
• [IMPROVE] UI supports custom materials.
• [IMPROVE] Optimize UI system performance and reduce the number of drawcalls.
• [FIX] Fix Safari 14 performance issues.
• [FIX] Fix the problem of Button component Scale setting abnormal.
• [FIX] Fix the problem that the lightPassIdx of submodels are consistent and cause rendering errors.
• [FIX] Fix the problem that the terrain collider does not match the rendering effect after the node is zoomed.
• [FIX] Fix the problem of reporting errors when calling the view.setFrameSize interface.
• [FIX] Fix the problem that setting the label alignment of EditBox component is invalid when InputMode is not ANY.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Mini Game

• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports a new subdomain scheme.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports WeChat mini games to use wasm physical backend.

Native

• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] Support Metal rendering backend.
• [3.0 NEW FEATURE] supports Vulkan rendering backend.
• [IMPROVE] further reduces jsb calls and optimizes performance.

Known Issue

• The Vulkan backend on Android currently has performance issues, to be fixed in a future version.
• On a machine with M1 chip, an error will appear when compiling the ios simulator, you need to manually change arch to arm64, which will be fixed in subsequent versions.
• Android does not currently support the release of x86_64 architecture.
• The native platform does not currently support freetype for text rendering.
• Button component does not currently support enable auto gray effect option.
• It is currently not possible to create components, delete components, delete sub-nodes, and adjust the order of sub-nodes for Prefab instances in the scene. It is recommended to perform these operations in the Prefab resource.
• Nodes outside the prefab hierarchy currently cannot reference nodes or components in Prefab.
• When the terrain’s size is not by n*n, the baking process will fail.
• Upgraded old project from v2.x might have property referencing issue in prefab data, please refer to this topic 1 for detailed information and fix.

Breaking changes

• The built-in effects of the engine source code are uniformly changed to a different naming rule from the editor resources. If an effect is not used at all in the project scene, it will not be obtained by using the effect name in the script (such as builtin-unlit, etc.). It is recommended that when developers need to create materials programmatically, they should uniformly expose the effect asset as the property of the script, mount it in the scene, and then directly pass in material.initialize.
• The editor HOME directory has been switched from \~/.CocosEditor3D back to \~/.CocosCreator, and the plugin directory has been renamed from packages to extensions. Plugins after 3.0 will be stored in \~/.CocosCreator/extensions and PROJECT/extensions.
• The original subdomain plan is no longer applicable, please switch to the latest subdomain plan.
• No longer supporting JavaScript, only TypeScript.
• cc.global variables are no longer supported, please use module import.
• The 2D node will now strictly judge whether it can be rendered according to the visibility of the layer and the camera. If multiple cameras exist, there may be repeated rendering, and the layer of the node needs to be re-adjusted.
• Refactored physics events. Events between static rigid bodies are no longer supported. It is recommended to add a Kinematic or Dynamic rigid body component to the corresponding node of the collision body that monitors the event.
• Unable to upgrade to the Prefab of the new Prefab system, it will break the relationship and restore to a normal node.

API update (relative to Cocos Creator 3D)

• The name of the physical material type has been changed.

Creator 3D v1.2	Creator v3.0
PhysicMaterial	PhysicsMaterial

• Some type names and method names under the geometry space have been changed.

Creator 3D v1.2	Creator v3.0
line	Line
plane	Plane
ray	Ray
triangle	Triangle
sphere	Sphere
aabb	AABB
obb	OBB
capsule	Capsule
frustum	Frustum
MorphModel	models.MorphModel
ray_aabb	rayAABB
ray_plane	rayPlane
ray_triangle	rayTriangle
ray_sphere	raySphere
ray_obb	rayOBB
ray_capsule	rayCapsule
ray_subMesh	raySubMesh
ray_mesh	rayMesh
ray_model	rayModel
line_plane	linePlane
line_triangle	lineTriangle
line_aabb	lineAABB
line_obb	lineOBB
line_sphere	lineSphere
aabb_aabb	aabbWithAABB
aabb_obb	aabbWithOBB
aabb_plane	aabbPlane
aabb_frustum	aabbFrustum
aabbFrustum_accurate	aabbFrustumAccurate
obb_point	obbPoint
obb_plane	obbPlane
obb_frustum	obbFrustum
obbFrustum_accurate	obbFrustumAccurate
obb_obb	obbWithOBB
obb_capsule	obbCapsule
sphere_plane	spherePlane
sphere_frustum	sphereFrustum
sphereFrustum_accurate	sphereFrustumAccurate
sphere_sphere	sphereWithSphere
sphere_aabb	sphereAABB
sphere_obb	sphereOBB
sphere_capsule	sphereCapsule
capsule_capsule	capsuleWithCapsule

• Some platform variables under sys have been changed.

Creator 3D v1.2	Creator v3.0
BAIDU_GAME	BAIDU_MINI_GAME
VIVO_GAME	VIVO_MINI_GAME
OPPO_GAME	OPPO_MINI_GAME
HUAWEI_GAME	HUAWEI_QUICK_GAME
XIAOMI_GAME	XIAOMI_QUICK_GAME
JKW_GAME	COCOSPLAY
ALIPAY_GAME	ALIPAY_MINI_GAME
BYTEDANCE_GAME	BYTEDANCE_MINI_GAME

• The Canvas component no longer has properties such as clearFlag, color, priority, targetTexture, visibility, etc., please get it directly through the Camera component referenced by the Canvas component.
• Some components related to 2d have been renamed.

Creator 3D v1.2	Creator v3.0
UIRenderable	Renderable2D
UIDrawBatch	DrawBatch2D

Upgrade guide

In order to ensure the smooth transition of the existing Cocos Creator 2.4 project, we will use 2.4 as the LTS (long-term support) version and provide continuous updates for the next two years! In 2021, 2.4 will continue to be updated, providing bug fixes and new mini-game platform support, as well as Apple Silicon (M1) chip support. In 2022, we will continue to provide developers with 2.4 key issue fixes to ensure the smooth operation of online games! therefore:

• Existing 2.x projects can continue to develop without compulsory upgrade to 3.0.
• For new projects, it is recommended to use version 3.0 for development. We will continue to optimize the development experience and operating efficiency of 3.0 to support the smooth launch of heavy games of different categories such as 2D and 3D.

The original Cocos Creator 3D, as a branch version of Creator, has been iterated in China for a year, and has successfully launched major projects such as Starry Sky Battle and The Strongest Magic Fighter! After 3.0 is released, Creator 3D will also be included in 3.0, and existing 1.2 projects can be directly upgraded. Therefore, Cocos Creator 3D will not release a separate version in the future, and we hope developers using Creator 3D versions to be noticed.

Although we do not recommend projects under development, especially those that are about to go online, to upgrade to 3.0, we will still launch 2.x resource import tool in the 3.0 official version. If the existing project needs to be upgraded for special reasons, and you encounter technical or workload difficulties, you can also contact zhengxiong.zhao@cocos.com for our manual assistance!

Reference documentation

• Cocos Creator v3.0 User Manual
• Cocos Creator v3.0 Upgrade Guide