AVALANCHE!

After many months of delays, the new AVALANCHE is finally here. You can download the full distribution here. If you already have v0.1-v0.4 of AVALANCHE and want to upgrade to this version (which is v0.5, by the way), you can get this instead. A new AVALANCHE SDK has been released with this version, as well, which you can download here. The new SDK includes numerous buildable sample maps and models (including new player models), and a very comprehensive guide on how to create and modify content for AVALANCHE. Here's a list of what's new in this version.

• Player costumes are exposed through the inventory item interface. A new costume is now buyable at the Mako Forge. Costume model courtesy of Steve30avs.
• Light vector maps with scale-and-biased per pixel specular offsets (new static lighting).
• New types of light grids and smoother light grid sampling (static lighting improvements).
• Modulated shadows can be cast in accordance to light grid samples for objects within ambient light volumes.
• Reworked fragment depth handling, now support both linear and non-linear depths.
• New soft dynamic shadow options.
• FSAA/MSAA is now supported with HDR enabled, on hardware that allows it.
• New expression system for specifying mathematical parameters on texture shaders (works for blends, UV deforms, and a variety of other things).
• Texture shaders now support animating texture frames, individually for each pass and texture unit.
• Fragment depth-based fogging with multiple blend modes and fragment masks/raytracing.
• Texture shaders now allow the geometry's vertex program to be overridden.
• Fixed an OGG streaming/timing bug that was more apparent on some systems than others.
• Support for compressed in-memory animations (animations can be compressed in mesh2rdm or the animation editor).
• Numerous software optimizations to the fixed function pipeline rendering path.
• When running mods, the mod name is now appended to the main window title.
• New model Level of Detail system, for vast scenes with multiple complex models.
• New game-side systems for rigid body physics and stable rotating/translating of arbitrary meshes.
• Quadtrees are now fully utilized in the AVALANCHE engine branch (support for generating them has existed in mesh2rdm for a long time).
• More robust error/warning messages regarding problems with assets (like missing textures) to the log window in developer mode.
• Optimized (for speed and memory consumption) and re-organized model handling.
• Optimized vertex/index buffer handling and added new logic for sharing buffers - memory consumption is decreased.
• Revamped the AVALANCHE SDK. It now includes sample maps and player models, along with tools and batches to build them.

As you can see, quite a few things have made their way into this release. A big thing in the new SDK is the inclusion of the full AVALANCHE skeleton rig and sample player models. I hope to see a new player model or two come from this. I happen to know that someone (who, amazingly, isn't me) is working on an incredible new Tifa model as we speak, so you will most likely be seeing that in another AVALANCHE release one of these days. Until then, sit back and enjoy your brand new v0.5.

Comments

17 comments in total.
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#17

Rich Whitehouse

June 29, 2009 at 6:41 am (CST)
Likewise, thanks for putting that model up for free use! I'm really quite surprised word of me using it made it all the way back to you, that's pretty cool. Small world, I guess. :)


#16

steve30avs

June 28, 2009 at 8:59 pm (CST)
Wow, this is awesome! This game is insanely good and I can`t believe I was actually able to play as one of my own characters. Thanks so much for putting her in :)

-Steve30avs from turbosquid


#15

Chris

April 29, 2009 at 7:56 pm (CST)
Oh wow, apparently I no longer have a bandwidth limit. Haha, shows how much attention I pay.


#14

Chris

April 29, 2009 at 7:46 pm (CST)
Happy to oblige Rich, just like to help out.

Now we get to see if my bandwidth holds out, should do, it's not exactly small.


#13

Rich Whitehouse

April 29, 2009 at 3:34 am (CST)
Thanks Chris. I finally got around to updating the AVALANCHE download page, and have your mirror listed for all of the files now.


#12

Chris

April 27, 2009 at 10:36 am (CST)
Also now mirroring the update files and the cd package .zip, all files are uploaded.

Update Files - http://www.halosfarm.com/chocoboknights/downloads/avalanche/ava01to05_20090422.zip

CD Package - http://www.halosfarm.com/chocoboknights/downloads/avalanche/avacdpack.zip

Next comes the fan page.


#11

Rich Whitehouse

April 27, 2009 at 8:48 am (CST)
Oh, that's fine, I don't really care about actually having download stats for mirrors. I just figured that's what you were offering when you mentioned a "site name". I guess you just meant my own FTP login or something though. But in any case, thanks for taking an interest and setting up the mirror/fan page. :)


#10

Chris

April 27, 2009 at 8:44 am (CST)
I'm afraid I don't have any itemised download stats, I only have stats for my specific site area bandwidth use.

I mean, I can keep you up to date with my site's bandwidth use but that's about it, my cpanel is a little basic, hehe.

I'll be sure to download the new distribution and upload it to my site A.S.A.P. but like yourself, my upstream is terrible.

Once it's uploaded the link will be

http://www.halosfarm.com/chocoboknights/downloads/avalanche/avalanche_v05_20090426.exe

I also hosted the SDK

http://www.halosfarm.com/chocoboknights/downloads/avalanche/avasdkv05.zip

I'm greatful for the permission, the fan game will be receiving it's own page on the site too, just as soon as I find time to write the content.


#9

Rich Whitehouse

April 27, 2009 at 12:07 am (CST)
I definitely don't want yet another e-mail to have to check, but if you've got some kind of site login for download records and stuff, sure. Just e-mail the info over to iamthedick at gmail dot com. I probably won't be re-uploading to the mirror myself, though, as new releases come out. Just uploading to two mirrors myself is already a 3-6 hour endeavor.

You've actually prompted me to make a full proper installer/uninstaller and such as well, I'm uploading it right now. I'll update the links in this post when it's finished. Though that probably won't be for a few hours, my upstream is terrible.


#8

Chris

April 26, 2009 at 6:03 pm (CST)
Haha, yes, I can imagine, well, I will upload it post haste.

Did you want a site name or email, so that you can keep track of things? (and so I can)


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