Work expanded the lighting and normal-mapping previews across original mechs and Campaign 1 scenery, added moving water and cloud detail, and refined roads, shorelines, structures and vehicles. A replay-performance investigation also led to making background video recording opt-in. These changes remain in the development previews while broader gameplay and visual checks continue.
Lighting and materials
- Connected reviewed normal maps to the original Avatar, Owens and Firefly models while preserving their geometry and animation.
- Extended normal-mapped surface lighting to terrain and world objects using upgraded textures, with authored material maps and exclusions taking priority.
- Added a separate sky-and-water preview with animated water relief, coordinated surf ripples and restrained cloud detail. Sunset, sunrise and midday presets remain selectable.
- Corrected the Campaign 1 shoreline color and restored detailed artwork for its two road families without changing the original water animation or transparency masks.
- Refined the selected Campaign 1 terrain, structure and vehicle material pass: 265 families received revisions and 22 retained earlier work. Glass, paint and small decals receive separate treatment rather than uniform added relief.
- Adjusted world-material strength after visual review. Existing replacement-mech material settings remain separate.
Performance and tools
The performance review separated renderer timing from visible presentation and recording overhead. Stronger world normals did not show a consistent slowdown in the repeated comparisons; this is not a general performance guarantee.
Background replay video is now off by default. The launcher provides an explicit opt-in and explains its measured performance cost. Other photo and game-state replay controls remain available.
A source inventory and campaign encounter queue guided the material work. Older local assets and reports were moved to archive storage with their working paths preserved, recovering space for continued development. Control-modernization research and a proposed campaign lighting progression remain planning work, not newly implemented gameplay modes.
What remains
The larger-surface pass is a first refinement, not final art approval. Close-up appearance, damage states, distance transitions, water behavior outside the selected scenes and longer campaign playtests still need review. The regular Play profile is distinct from these preview candidates.
Original gameplay and simulation remain the recompilation baseline. The retained startup acceptance count stays at 131 of 144; material coverage and rendering checks do not increase it.
The source repository is currently private; GitHub links require collaborator access.