FableForge 0.18.0-rc.1: world view and editor update

FableForge 0.18.0-rc.1

Release candidate for the world-view and editor update. This is a preview release;
0.17.1 remains the latest final release.

World view

• Browse the world as terrain tiles in 2D or fly across it in 3D, with nearby maps
  loading detailed terrain, objects and plants in the background.
• Water stays visible independently of detailed map loading. Ground now blends
  height and texture during overview/detail transitions instead of replacing its
  texture in one frame. Missing ground-texture coverage gets a theme fallback.
• Frustum culling, indexed geometry, bounded workers, paced GPU uploads, and an
  inactive-map cache reduce repeated work. CPU results are consumed promptly
  rather than waiting for the periodic demand timer.
• Adaptive detail responds to sustained frame pressure. DXGI memory telemetry
  trims inactive cached maps under pressure and restores the allowance gradually;
  active terrain and overview water remain resident.
• World-sized clipping and fog no longer depend on a stale orbit-focus distance
  while flying. Camera turns alone no longer relocate the detailed-map working set.

Editor and tools

• Menu bar, collapsible panels, floating terrain tool windows, and revised spacing,
  contrast, tool hints and controls.
• Ground themes and placed definitions grouped like the original editor; theme
  replacement, path drawing, Fit to Neighbours, height pens and brush libraries.
• Placement options, owner and day/night controls, script-named/nearest object
  filtering, map budget inspection, alternate world files, and camera-track preview.
• Navigation diagnostics distinguish world-region seeds from saved action points.
  Definition scale applies to placed objects and automatically created children.
• Fixed a Windows integer overflow that could collapse regenerated DXT1 distant
  terrain textures to one palette colour.
• Optional local Tracy CPU/GPU profiling and hidden flight/transition diagnostics
  are available to developers. The distributed build does not enable profiling.

Validation and limitations

The 33-check local suite was exercised, including all four CTest suites, eight-map
retail export, the engine's LZO decoder, editor UI, stock/extracted installs, world
and terrain writes, model import, and mod-pack build/deploy/rollback. Three initial
harness/fixture failures were corrected and passed on targeted reruns; the
strengthened new-level UI check also passed. No corpus skips were reported.
README screenshots were refreshed from this candidate.

Targeted checks cover world flight at varying heights, water, cache reuse and
eviction, culling, and material transitions. Fixed-camera Guild/Oakvale checks
reduced the initial mean colour discontinuity by 84%/62%, with pixel-identical
fully loaded endpoints. These are diagnostic measurements, not FPS guarantees.

Some geometry, lighting and object transitions remain visible. The world contains
authored empty spaces; viewing all maps together does not generate filler terrain.
The memory policy controls inactive cached maps, not the entire GPU working set.
Shared-mesh instancing, intermediate object LODs, a full particle authoring system,
and expanded asset-browser workflows remain future work.

Fresh-game release probes, human visual judgments of in-game placement/tint, and
the separate-machine walkthrough have not been completed for this candidate.
The final 0.18.0 release remains gated on those checks. Existing engine/save rules
still apply; forge restore restores backed-up game files.

Download verification

The Windows ZIP was tested from a separate extracted folder: CLI map info, GLB export with objects/plants, definition listing, and world-view water/detail toggles all passed. Profiling is disabled in this build. A SHA-256 checksum file is attached.

Windows tag CI | Source commit

Both the tagged-release and main-branch Windows CI runs passed, including all CTest suites and the software-rendered no-install GUI check. Tagged packaging also passed.