ezEngine Release March 2026

Highlights

Editor Improvements:

• The scene tree search now matches against component types, so searching for "light" finds all objects with any light component. (#1692)
• The asset browser has a new "Delete & Replace" option that removes an asset and substitutes all its references with another asset. (#1784)
• A new "Export with Dependencies" option in the asset browser copies an asset and all its dependencies to a target folder. (#1772)
• Added Windows jumplist integration for quick project access from the taskbar. (#1730)
• The editor now auto-saves open documents every 5 minutes by default. (#1719)
• Window layouts can be saved and restored across up to 3 slots via the Panels menu. (#1831)
• Camera movement keys now work correctly on non-QWERTY keyboard layouts. A search box was also added to the Shortcuts dialog. (#1688)
• Dynamic enum properties now show a searchable popup menu instead of a plain combobox. (#1694)

Rendering:

• Reflection probe shading now correctly applies the environment BRDF including the Fresnel term, fixing the appearance of reflective materials at grazing angles (most visible on water surfaces). (#1774)

  

• Per-instance render data (transforms, colors, etc.) is now collected during extraction instead of rendering. This allows data reuse across passes, reduces render thread overhead by up to 3×, and enables batching of skinned meshes. It also enables passing custom instance data to shaders. (#1713)

• The TonemapPass now exposes a WhitePoint property. (#1657)

Animation:

• Animation updates are now processed multi-threaded, delivering a substantial performance improvement for scenes with many animated characters. In a test scene with 900 characters running complex animation graphs, this change improved FPS by more than 5x. (#1829)

  animations.mp4

• The bone weights switch node in the animation graph now smoothly blends between bone weight masks instead of switching instantly. (#1643)

Splines:

• Added a full spline component that replaces the older path component. Spline sampling is exposed to script, and custom manipulators allow inserting control points and editing tangents interactively. (#1663)

  ScatterOnSpline.mp4

• A new spline mesh component generates meshes along a spline, with configurable start, end, and middle pieces. A companion collision mesh component maps render meshes to collision meshes. (#1771)

  

  Splinemesh2.mp4

• Procedural generation now supports spline volumes for use with vertex color generation and placement, alongside existing box and sphere volumes. Box volumes also gained asymmetric falloff support, and new script functions allow closest-point queries and local/global space transforms on splines. (#1686)

  

Particles:

• Particle quad and trail renderers now support custom materials and shaders, including Visual Shader Editor (VSE) authored ones. VSE gained particle-specific input/output nodes. (#1736)

  

• When a mesh particle renderer references a mesh with multiple sub-meshes, sub-meshes are chosen randomly per particle, enabling mesh variety within a single effect. (#1726)

• Color gradients can now be edited inline as a particle property. (#1742)

Water & Volumes:

• A new Jolt water volume component provides buoyancy forces to submerged dynamic actors, with a per-actor float/sink factor and optional splash effects. (#1808)

  

• A new generic volume sampler component reads arbitrary values from volumes and exposes them via script or C++. Values can fade at volume borders and interpolate over time. An example scene demonstrates driving global fog properties per-area with this component. (#1787)

• A fog start distance parameter was added, allowing dense fog settings that don't obscure nearby objects. (#1698)

RML UI:

• RmlUi was updated to version 6.2 with fixes for SVG rendering and stencil clipping. New additions include UI event messaging, integration with the ez localization system and blackboard data binding with array support. (#1813)

• RML UI can now be rendered onto a 3D mesh in world space, with interaction support via raycast input. (#1704)

• RML UI assets hot-reload when a dependent CSS file or template changes. (#1655)

• Added VS Code integration for editing RML files and an option to create RML files from the file property widget. (#1651)

• The RTS sample UI was fully converted to RML UI, demonstrating UI scaling, a default RML stylesheet, and an ESC main menu. (#1700)

  

Visual Shader Editor:

• VSE node titles now display contextual details such as which texture is being sampled or which value is used in an operation. (#1738)

  

• Color gradient assets can now be referenced directly as textures in materials; a 1D texture is generated automatically from the gradient. (#1712)

• VSE node documentation comments were added to improve discoverability. (#1645)

Visual Scripting:

• Visual script variables now support typed arrays, min/max clamping for numeric variables, and storing GameObject/Component references as internal variables for caching. (#1658)

In-Game Console:

• The Quake-style in-game console was replaced with an ImGui-based console that supports CVar tweaking, log filtering, basic stats (time and memory usage), and pinnable stats/log overlays. (#1668)

  

Tracing & Profiling:

• A cross-platform tracing system was added supporting ETW TraceLogging on Windows, LTTNG-UST on Linux, and Perfetto SDK on Android. Ma...

ezEngine Release August 2025

Highlights

• Added support for MiniAudio, as an alternative to FMOD (#1514)

• Added a new sample project Crazy Ball that demonstrates input handling and physics forces (#1635)
  

• Physics object weights are now set up as categories, making it easier to tweak things to behave as desired (#1557)

• Physics forces are now frame-rate independent. (#1568)

• Physics impulses are now object specific, making it easier to achieve the desired effect (#465)

• Ragdolls are now fully functional (#418)
  

• The occluder component now also supports meshes (#1626)

• Made it easy to access sun light information in shaders (#1536)

• Every asset now shows a help button that links to the asset specific online help (#1540)

• Added a third-person camera component (#1533)

  Testing.Chambers.2025-04-15.21-20-55.mp4

• Made importing mesh assets significantly easier (#1542)
  

• Added automatic mesh LOD generation during import and allowed to import only specific mesh parts (#1550)

• Added generation of convex mesh colliders from multiple mesh parts (#1553)

• Added debug visualizations for Inverse Kinematics (#1564)

  spot.ik.mp4

• The Tracy integration is now enabled by default (#1572)

• The Jolt cloth simulation is now one-sided such that cloth only reacts to other physics objects. This makes them more useful as a decorative element. (#1576)

• The RML UI integration was updated to version 6.1 (#1567)

• Spotlights now support projected textures and can even use animated materials (#1579)
  

• Added a sample for how to apply decals to meshes (#1587)

• Added the Jolt breakable slab component that allows to make breakable glass and stone (#1590)
  

• The editor panels can now auto-hide (#1594)

• Added an option to pause the game simulation in the editor and step one frame at a time (#1599)

• Added the "Hall" sample scene which demonstrates how basic enemy AI can be done (#1623)

• Animation clips can now automatically estimate the average root motion from feet movement (#1518)

• Ragdolls can now be powered by animations (#1618)

  ragdolls.mp4

• Added an editor command line option to generate and compile the C++ project (#1047)

All Changes

See the Release 25.8 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

Contributions

• @AlexandrKedrov
• @C-Core
• @FabricioMSantos
• @Ingrater
• @killerdevildog
• @PlasmaDev5
• @Sanakan8472

ezEngine Release March 2025

Highlights

• Fully integrated AngelScript as a scripting language.

  

• Also migrated all samples to use AngelScript.

• When creating a new project, there is now a project creation wizard to make initial setup easier.

• Added the Basic FPS Project Template

  

• Updated RML UI to version 6

• The C++ Project Generation now also builds a stand-alone game exe

• The Advanced Docking System (ADS) is now also used for docking panels inside documents

• You can now undo accidental selection changes with Ctrl+B

• Navigating asset references has been made easier with new shortcuts.

  open-asset.mp4

• Creating an object with a specific component attached has been made easier:

  create-obj.mp4

• Added a 'RECENT' section to the type selection menu

  

• Added the "Store" sample project

  

• Added the ShadowFadeOutRange option, to make it easier to use many shadow casting lights.

• Added the Random Prefab Component for automatically randomizing placement of level detail.

  

• Added Dithered Transparency which allows for order independent transparency (OIT) and transparent shadows.

  

• Add support for cross-compiling for the SteamRT Sniper

• Added an editing feature for having an active parent to attach all new objects to.

• Improved the accessibility of the snap settings

• Deactivated game objects are now shown in a darker color in the scenegraph UI.

• Added a small widget to all asset windows to indicate the transform status:

  

All Changes

See the Release 25.3 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

Contributions

This release contains contributions by:

• @AlexandrKedrov
• @C-Core
• @Sanakan8472
• @Ingrater
• @brightening-eyes

ezEngine Release September 2024

Highlights

• Added a fill light component for tweaking local lighting and shadows.

  

• Added dynamic lighting for particles.

  

• Added server side shader compilation to ezFileserve and finally wrote documentation for the tool.

• Added a component to apply aim-IK (also called look-at-IK) to an animated mesh.

  aim-ik.mp4

• Added a component to apply two-bone-IK to an animated mesh.

• Added a component that shows how to use IK to make procedurally animated crawling creatures.

• Added a component for steering an NPC through the world, using the navmesh.

  crawl.mp4

• Added options for automatic mesh simplification to mesh assets, animated mesh assets and collision mesh assets.

  

• Added components to switch between different levels-of-detail. Either for full object hierarchies or only meshes or animated meshes.

• Made it much easier to import assets. First of all, you can now drag & drop files into the asset browser, to have them copied into your project. Second, there are now actions in the asset browser context menu to quickly import assets, which is especially useful for animation clips, where you can now import all of them from a file with just one operation.

• Added Custom Data assets, which make it much easier to configure gameplay parameters.

• Made it much easier to switch between levels, using the new scene transition component.

  scene-transition.mp4

• Added debug visualization for Jolt colliders.

  

• Added a Jolt component to physically simulate cloth sheets.

  

• Added support for Tracy.

• Added support for Live++.

All Changes

See the Release 24.9 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

Contributions

This release contains contributions by:

• @Sanakan8472
• @C-Core
• @Ingrater
• @leaappelsmeier
• @PlasmaDev5
• @RiederAlex
• @x0r04rg
• @TheophilusE
• @brightening-eyes
• @kulaev
• @JailbreakPapa
• @mafaldag1

ezEngine Release December 2023

This is a maintenance release for ezEngine that fixes a few small but important usability bugs in the editor.

All Changes

See the Release 23.12 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

ezEngine Release November 2023

Highlights

• The Asset Browser was significantly improved, it can now display all files on disk, allows you to move and delete files directly from the editor, and makes it much easier to import assets.

• The editor color them and icons where completely overhauled. The icons now use a standardized color palette to differentiate between groups of functionality.

• Added blackboard template assets and a global blackboard component for easier organization.

• Added support for embedded textures in FBX and GLTF files.

• Added functionality that makes it possible to do screen space effects.

• The editor can now generate textures using Substance Designer.

• The Visual Scripting feature has been rewritten from the ground up to provide much more functionality, better performance and better usability.

  

• The animation system has gotten an overhaul. Animation Graphs are now much easier to use.

  

• LENSFLARES!

  

• Added a new AI plugin which adds support for runtime navmesh generation.

  

• Added volume components which can be used for post processing effects such as color correction.

  

• Added the Monster Attack sample project.

  

All Changes

See the Release 23.11 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

Contributions

This release contains contributions by:

• @C-Core
• @Sanakan8472
• @Ingrater
• @dimhotepus
• @PlasmaDev5
• @DavidJones011
• @ananace
• @mafaldag1
• @TheophilusE

ezEngine Release April 2023

Highlights

• Improved how assets track their dependencies. This significantly reduces unnecessary asset transformations. Additionally it now detects and prevents circular dependencies.
• Jolt constraints can now be breakable.
• Added support for images in EXR format.
• Added a new path shape component.
• Added camera shake functionality.
• Added global blackboards. This is very useful for tracking game state.
• Refactored core application functionality, to make (background) scene loading and switching easier.
• Lots of new tutorial videos on our YouTube channel.
• Added a new PacMan sample game.
  

All Changes

See the Release 23.04 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

10 Year Anniversary Release (November 2022)

This month ezEngine is already 10 years old! 😱 In November 2012 our small group of people decided to build a new engine from the ground up and apply all the knowledge that we had learned over years of working on various projects and engines. The goal was not to compete with other engines, but just to have a shared project that we enjoy working on and make it free for the rest of the world.

Today that same team is still very actively working on ezEngine. We have made great progress and implemented lots of features. Of course, there is still a lot missing, building a modern engine is a gargantuan task. But we still very much enjoy working on it, and improve it every day.

Here's to another 10 years! 🥳🎉

Release Highlights

• Added occlusion culling to speed up rendering (on AVX capable hardware).
  
• Added state machines.
  
• Integrated Jolt Physics as the new physics engine.
• Added functionality to export all project data to a folder.
• Added support for packed ARM textures
• Upgraded the editor to use Qt6
• Reduce support for Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
• Refactored how plugins are loaded in the editor, allowing to switch active plugins per project.
• Added sensor components for AI.
  
• Added a component to pose an animated mesh.
  
• Added shader templates to easily create custom shaders.
• Added support for reflection probes for proper PBR rendering.
  
• Improvements to the C++ project generation.
• A lot of work went into Linux support. It's still work in progress, though.
• We made great progress porting our renderer to Vulkan. This is still work in progress, and we still use DX11 on Windows, but it is already the basis for the Linux port.
• Significantly improved the reliability of background asset processing.

All Changes

See the Release 22.11 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

ezEngine Release October 2021

Highlights

• Improved and documented the Procedural Placement System.
• Added Scene Layers to the editor.
• FMOD support is now enabled by default.
• Added a cloth sheet component.
• Added a PhysX rope component.
• Added a fake rope component.
• Added wind volume components.
• Added help buttons in the editor for all component types, to open the corresponding documentation page.

All Changes

See the Release 21.10 milestone for the full list of closed issues and pull requests.

ezEngine Release June 2021 (Patch 1)

This release adds a brand new skeletal animation system. Also the RmlUI integration has been improved quite a bit.
As usual there are also many smaller improvements, bugfixes and more documentation.

See the Release 21.6 Milestone.

Editor

• #402: Added a splashscreen with our new logo.
• #404: The asset browser can now show in which other assets an asset is referenced.
• #401: Generalized sky light options across asset documents.
• #303: Improved mesh material assignment workflow.
• #304: Reduced screen space required by asset type filter list.

Runtime

• #378: Resources can now be created asynchroneously.
• #373, #315: Added support for blackboards.
• #372: Added image data resource + asset
• #370: Added a 'random seed' value to every game object.
• Added support for tracking which input device is in use (controller vs. mouse/keyboard).

Infrastructure

• #356: Added infrastructure to self-document available command line options.
• #345: Added support for custom variant types.
• #338: Allow using an 'ezSdkRoot.txt' redirection file to point to the SDK dir.
• #316: Added new small array container class.

Rendering

• #407: Added option to modulate fog with sky color.
• #401: Metallic materials can now reflect the skybox.
• #374: Added a basic heightmap terrain component.
• #358: Refactored RendererFoundation to make a Vulkan port easier.
• #350: SPIR-V shader compiler support.
• #348: Early draft of vulkan implementation.

Physics

• #330: Added option to decompose collision mesh into convex pieces.
• #301: Static collision meshes can now use surfaces from the render mesh.

VR / AR / XR

• #365: OpenXR Remoting support.
• #332: OpenXR upgrade.

Tools

• #389: Add support for .vox MagicaVoxel models.
• #322: Rewrote the ModelImporter.

Third Party Integrations

• #398: Update ZStd to latest, includes the 1.5.0 release which brings speed improvements.
• #396: Updated ads (Advanced Docking System) to version 3.7.1.
• #394: Updated to RmlUi 4.0.
• #371: Significant improvements to the Kraut integration.
• #362: Added RmlUI blackboard binding.
• #320: Updated assimp to latest (5.0.1+).

Samples

• #403: Added demo scene for animations.
• Added a sample scene for terrain and vegetation to the Testing Chambers project.