SkyNET SDL 1.2.0

Android setup and touch controls, a loading screen, a faster game on phones, and fixes from GitHub issues. Thanks to everyone who reported them.

Fixed issues

• #1 Invisible robots on some AMD cards; deathmatch players now hold their gun and scream and grunt as in DOS
• #4 Laser shots have shadows (bolts glow again, still without shadows)
• #7 Original pixel look: OPTIONS > DISPLAY > ENHANCED... > TEXTURE FILTER, from NEAREST to ANISOTROPIC 16X
• #10 (partly) The jeep leans toward the lower side of a slope; a thrown satchel lies 15 s before it goes off, as in DOS

Changes

• Android, play in place: the first start asks for All files access. With it, the game plays straight from your SkyNET folder (data, mods, settings, saves), as on the PC. Without it, the folder is copied into the app once and new or changed mods are synced at every start. Long-press the icon > Setup to switch. An older install moves over by itself.
• Touch controls: new buttons in the HUD's style; CONTROLS > TOUCH LAYOUT moves and resizes them. Moved buttons apply at the next start.
• Loading screen with a progress bar for long loads (deathmatch player models, map loads, preparing data). On Android the start shows a backdrop instead of a black screen.
• Faster on phones: IMPROVED robot AI is several times cheaper (Future Shock mission 1: 7 to 60 fps on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3), less garbage per frame, phones start with shadows off.
• Faster mod loading: avatar mods decode their texture atlas once; deathmatch with an avatar mod loads several times faster and uses ~300 MB less GPU memory.
• ENGRAVING renderer next to RETRO ASCII and POINT CLOUD.

Still open: #5 (muzzle-flash shadows), #6 (FMV briefings), #9 (Mali-G52 phones, needs an engine update), #10 explosions in the original look (we need more detail, see the issue).

Downloads

File	What it is
skynet-sdl-1.2.0-win-x64.zip	Windows x64: skynet-sdl.exe (game) and SkyNetEdit.exe (editor). Unzip anywhere, or into the SkyNET folder, then run skynet-sdl.exe --data <the game's data folder>.
skynet-sdl-1.2.0-linux-x64.tar.gz	Linux x64 (glibc 2.35+, a Vulkan driver): ./skynet-sdl --data <the game's data folder>; the editor is ./SkyNetEdit.
skynet-sdl-1.2.0-osx-arm64.tar.gz / -osx-x64.tar.gz	macOS on Apple Silicon / Intel (Metal). The binaries are not signed: after unpacking run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine skynet-sdl-1.2.0-osx-* once.
SkyNET-1.2.0.apk	Android (arm64, Vulkan). On the first start it asks for All files access and the SkyNET folder, or copies it.
skynet-hd.zip	Optional HD mod (CC BY-NC 4.0), unchanged since 1.1.0: HD textures, 3D models, robots and guns in hand for the ENHANCED look. Put it into mods/ beside the game and turn it on under OPTIONS > MODS.

The Linux and macOS archives are added by the build a few minutes after the release.