MT5 Changes

This is a review of release notes of several MT5 versions. It is not a thorough review of changes that are not described in release notes. The purpose of this page is to help improve backward-compatible versions (Final Minetest's "Classic" and "Finetest" rolling releases) so this page covers changes which:

• Help play on MT5/Luanti and MultiCraft (not the Minecraft one...) servers.
• Fix bugs
• Improve the server but don't break compatibility with worlds (MT5's guideline is to upconvert worlds silently, but Final Minetest's guideline is to not do that or at least have the option to run old engine versions when necessary to run old worlds).
• Improve the client but don't break compatibility with servers (with Classic servers, but especially with Finetest--the purpose of those servers being the point above).
• Breaking changes (where known, not exhaustive) negatively affecting older mods or worlds (A diff URL is not included in such cases, since implementing them is not recommended).

Status:

• 5.4 to 5.8 are not reviewed yet.
• 5.3 and earlier are not planned to be added here (already integrated selectively into Classic, Trolltest, and Finetest, more being in the latter 2).
  • Even versions as far back as 0.4.17 had stealth breaking changes, so changes from about that version on have been integrated selectively, fewer being in Classic.

Notes from Poikilos:

• I am recommending these patches (only ones where I provide a diff URL) in cases where the patch doesn't remove params nor endpoints (They seem backward-compatible but I haven't reviewed all the diffs).
• Some patches depend on previous patches as could be expected, such as changes involving SDL input handling (In that and some other cases, note that the initial implementation was improved later so a thorough review is only necessary after seeing which diffs overlap).

5.9.0

• Performance improvement for finding nearby entities (adds spatial index, so should/could be backward-compatible):
  • Issue: The data structure problem with active objects · Issue #14613 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Pull request: Add spatial index for objects by appgurueu · Pull Request #14631 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/14631.diff

• multi-threaded mapgen
  • Pull request: Lua on each mapgen thread by sfan5 · Pull Request #13092 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/13092.diff

5.10.0

meh, not interesting

5.11.0

• OpenGL 1.x fixed pipeline mode deleted (sigh...)

• Dropped BMP image support. We shouldn't drop BMP support, but we should not use BMP files if we intend to make game(s) compatible to some degree with other clients.

5.12.0

• Porting to SDL (2) has begun (Window and Input handling only)

• • Use keyboard scan codes for keybinding (helps with non-Qwerty keyboards and certain platform-specific issues such as on macOS)
    • Pull request: SDL: Use scancodes for keybindings by y5nw · Pull Request #14964 · luanti-org/luanti
    • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/14964.diff

• • Toggle full screen with F11 on all platforms
    • Pull request: Allow toggling fullscreen without restart and add keybind by grorp · Pull Request #14714 · luanti-org/luanti
    • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/14714.diff

• Panel added to settings to control inputs (formerly, editing keymap.txt was necessary)

• • sneak & aux1 are optionally toggle-able now (instead of always turned off on release)--meh

• Animated node textures in UI--pretty cool (not done for craftitems yet)
  • Pull request: https://github.com/luanti-org/luanti/pull/15930
  • Diff: https://github.com/luanti-org/luanti/pull/15930.diff

• Better texture filtering (old wasn't too bad before, but this is better, especially for low-res pixel art textures)
  • Pull request: https://github.com/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16034
  • Diff: https://github.com/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16034.diff

• set_camera player API function (desirable to help with Poikilos' 3rd-person camera control code)

• Breaking changes to map format: "Alongside better world loading and generation performance, world storage has been changed to save block positions as separate integers instead of a hash. This simpler implementation is much easier to work with internally and for external tools. Please note: Worlds created with or migrated to 5.12.0 are not backward-compatible."

• Fix: Echo and log DMs (not sure which of our codebases have this removed if any, but the removal is now considered a bug and this fixes it): patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/15887.diff

5.13.0

• New get_guid function: Entities and objects have a GUID that persists between world loads (Persistence was handled by mods recreating the object or using formspecs etc which may accomplish persistence of custom metadata, but some new mods will need the new API function and it simplifies the process).
  • Pull request: https://github.com/luanti-org/luanti/pull/14135
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/14135.diff

• Fix using scaling with 9-slice button textures (I'm not sure which of our codebases have GUI scaling): Formspec: Fix broken 9-slice image button with gui_scaling_filter by SmallJoker · Pull Request #16146 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16146.diff

• Fix texture coordinates of cuboid drawtypes by cx384 · Pull Request #16091 · luanti-org/luanti I am not sure if this involves any new incompatible drawtypes, but we could use it if not, or if so, potentially adapt it and remain backward-compatible.
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16091.diff

• Migrate existing keycode-based keybindings by y5nw · Pull Request #16049 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16049.diff

• Fix and clean up skeletal animation in Irrlicht by appgurueu · Pull Request #15722 · luanti-org/luanti: I'm not sure if this needs fixes to Irrlicht itself or not.
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/15722.diff

• Do not block in httpfetch_request_clear() by sfan5 · Pull Request #16303 · luanti-org/luanti: Fixes a menu freeze on world join--I'm not sure which of our codebases have this bug.
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16303.diff

• Replace copyToWithAlpha with more appropriate functions · luanti-org/luanti@158bfa6: Fix `[verticalframe` transparency
  • Diff: github.com/luanti-org/luanti/commit/158bfa6442b00b791161291aa8d36c6a6746d4a6.diff

• ParticleSpawner: Fix crash caused by empty texture by SmallJoker · Pull Request #16351 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16351.diff

5.14.0

• [Take 2] Prevent MapBlocks in generation from being unloaded by Montandalar · Pull Request #16339 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16339.diff

• Monoblocks: optimize blocks that contain a single type of node by lhofhansl · Pull Request #16293 · luanti-org/luanti
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16293.diff

• Texture paths are cached for faster loading:
  • Diff: github.com/luanti-org/luanti/commit/55cca34ee9bf77e9c8e47330c16c735fe12873d7.diff

• Add formspec box color documentation to style section: I'm not sure if this is affected by the new formspec API and whether it applies to classic.
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16438.diff

• DOCS: clarify stepheight upper limit
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/15035.diff

• bone override interpolation not working · Issue #16427 · luanti-org/luanti : Only applies to trolltest versions with the new bone override feature (The release notes mention it has been broken since 5.7)
  • Diff: patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/luanti-org/luanti/pull/16428.diff