Hello everyone!

Here's a last batch of fixups and optimizations for PhotonDust. I'm now pretty confident in its state, since the issues have slowed down significantly and have been mostly simple regressions. Because of that, I have important announcement:

IMPORTANT: The Legacy Particle System will be removed this upcoming Monday!

This will finalize the initial PhotonDust implementation and a major milestone towards the big performance update! Thank you everyone who participated in the testing :3

There will be more PhotonDust features in the future, but I'll likely refocus on the next tasks for the performance update first, which will be the audio system.

I'll be updating `prerelease` with the latest fixes in a bit.

Oh and this build is compatible with previous!

New Features:
- Add debug statistics for particle state uploads (currently visible in the Debug dialog on the Worlds page)

Optimizations:
- Skip particle buffer submissions when the particle system is empty (based on report by @orange3134, issue #3301)
- Use separate processing queue for uploading particle simulation results for rendering to improve particle smoothness (based on report by @orange3134, issue #3301)
-- This makes sure that the particle simulation results don't fight for processing time with other asset uploads (meshes, textures, materials...)
-- The particle upload queue also has more time for processing. This means with heavy loads it can lower FPS at bit more (we can tweak how much), but will reduce jerkiness of particle systems in some conditions

Fixes:
- Fixed extremely short particle trails (with only two points) being glitchy and stretching too long in some cases (based on report by @nytra, issue #3716)
-- Note: The legacy particle system actually has a glitchy behavior as well, with the second point of the particle not updating smoothly. PhotonDust fixes this, making it animate smoothly on its end. This is intended change, even though it produces small visual difference.
- Fixed regression causing LineEmitters with fixed emission direction resetting the direction to zero (reported by @orange3134, issue #3381)

Hello everyone. I'm not feeling well/functional today, so here's a few remaining bugfixes for PhotonDust to get these out, but not much else. I don't want these to be held up.

These should pretty much fix up any last issues that I'd consider blockers for finalizing PhotonDust. I'll push a prerelease build with the same fixes in a bit - if all is good, we'll probably remove the Legacy particle system in the next build or two.

- Switched Message content serialization to System.Text.Json

- Added validation to Min/Max sequence count for SequenceRibbonSplitter (based on report by @nytra, issue #3663)
-- This prevents invalid values from breaking PhotonDust
-- If MinSequenceCount is larger than MaxSequenceCount, then it'll be always used
- Fixed regression causing TrailLifetimeFromSizeInitializer module being always on for converted trails, resulting in incorrect lengths (reported by @modernballoonie, issue #3701)
- Fixed ConeEmitter not respecting DirectionTransformMode for RadialUniform directions, resulting in different particle velocities for legacy content (based on report by @nytra, issue #3705)
- Fixed trails from legacy particle systems having slightly different color when using Min/Max trail color (reported by @krzeszny, @joshtiger, issue #3488)
-- This is due to legacy system converting those colors as Linear and then Unity particle system reinterpreting them as sRGB
- Fixed legacy particle systems with render transform override that are scaled to zero by default not rendering after conversion (based on report by @badhaloninja, issue #3531)
-- This is done by disabling the UseSystemLocalScale when this transform override is detected - with PhotonDust, the particle scaling is computed only once during simulation - render transform override cannot update the individual particle sizes

Hello everyone! I got another build for you! This one is merging a whole bunch more PR's in from the team and cleaning up more PhotonDust issues.

With the Stripe support we introduced last Friday (big thanks to @gawdl3y for making this happen again!) - there's now also a new endpoint with stats on how much support we're getting from each platform as well as component to access this in-game for building visualizers and such.

There's now also chunk of work done by @bluecyro for the upcoming audio engine - Zita Reverb! This is mostly preparatory work, however you can apply it to audio clip assets with static processing with ProtoFlux.

Also some improvements from @probableprime's work on the asset variant system that have trickled into the main build now as well as improving date/time formatting to match people's locale.

More coming soon! And remember, we're still doing the final `prerelease` testing of PhotonDust on the other branch, see the update before this one for more!

- Added stats/fundingStats API endpoint which contains aggregate statistics for Resonite's support
-- Both current (active tiers) and historical aggregates are computed
-- Aggregate for all services and per service (Patreon/Stripe) are provided
-- Data per-tier is also provided

- Added FundingStatistics component
-- This provides in-game access to the common aggregate funding metadata
-- It's under Cloud/Indicators

- Added `-RestoreCloudSettingsFile <path to file>` argument to restore your cloud settings from a saved copy
-- This can be used in situations where you lose your settings and you have backup. It'll override the loaded settings from the file you provided (typically brson)
-- DO NOT share your settings file with anyone - they may contain very sensitive personal data
-- DO NOT use this to exchange settings with other users! This is not designed for sharing your settings. Doing so might compromise your account or cause corruption and other issues. This is for personal backup/restore purposes only!

- Added Pattern enum to CurrentDateTimeTextDriver which allows using standardized date/time formatting patterns (based on report by @namminamm, issue #185, implemented by @probableprime)
-- This makes the component use the most appropriate formatting depending on user's Locale
-- Old behavior is preserved via OverrideFormat - when this contains a pattern, it'll be used instead

- Integrated reverb effect from SoundPipe library (implemented by @bluecyro, issue #2708)
-- This is primarily preparation work for implementing reverb zones for the upcoming audio system
-- You can apply the effect to static audio files currently by calling the ApplyZitaReverb method with ProtoFlux
-- Use ConstructZitaParameters under "Audio" to construct the reverb parameters
-- In the future this will also be exposed through other means, e.g. with the ProtoFlux audio DSP once it's implemented

- Improved detection of imagine file format when loading textures (implemented by @probableprime)
-- We now prioritize the MIME type of the image if available rather than the extension which can incorrect or missing
-- This improves speed of loading textures and generating asset variants (both locally and in cloud)

- Merged French locale update by @j4.lc
- Merged British English locale update by @bredo
- Merged German locale update by @muppeq
- Merged Korean locale update by @mirpasec
- Merged Chinese locale update by modimobeikete
- Merged Japanese locale update by @.aesc

- Fixed legacy CylinderEmitter that is emitting from the cylinder volume not emitting in the same direction after conversion (reported by @nytra, issue #3699)
- Fixed null reference exceptions when detecting texture types, causing errors when generating asset variants (fixed by @probableprime)

Hello everyone! Another "cleanup build", majorly for PhotonDust. This pretty much wraps most of the remaining issues with it and with compatibility, to the point where I'll be now starting removal of the Legacy Particle system - we'll do a `prerelease` on that when it's ready to re-verify everything.

As a little treat, I threw in a bunch of new modules for it too - you can now control particle color by their speed!

- Added PivotModule for PhotonDust
-- This module offsets particle centers by their per-particle pivot
-- Pivots are in the local orientation of the particle
-- Note that adding pivot module makes PositionSimulatorModule a bit more expensive
- Added PivotFromVelocityMagnitude module
-- This computes a particle pivot that's scaled by the current speed of the particle

- Added ColorBySpeed MinMax/MinMaxHSV/Texture modules for PhotonDust (based on request by @jackthefoxotter, issue #3353)
-- These modules will modify the particle color depending on their velocity
-- You define the min and max velocity, which is used to interpolate the color between min/max or sample texture
-- The texture variant can use "Repeat" mode when the velocity is outside of the range

- Added settings to toggle whether destroying components with inspector and slots with developer tool asks for confirmation or not (based on request by @charizmare, @reddneko, @epiceaston197, @dustysprinkles, @jackthefoxotter, @_deltawolf, @draconas_rayne, @krzeszny, @officialxau issue #3622)
-- This is under User Interface - > Edit Settings
-- You might need to equip dev tool or spawn inspector at least once for the setting to appear
-- Note that once we rework the Inspector UI, these settings might go away for a more flexible approach

- Auto-disable more modules when they're not in use for legacy converted particle systems to reduce their performance impact (based on report by @readun, issue #3634)
-- This includes the TextureSheetAnimator module, which is doing most complex unnecessary work and adding additional buffers
-- Already converted particle systems will only disable TextureSheetAnimator - to disable others you'll need to re-convert the systems, but those should have minimal impact

- ColorRangeInitializer & TrailColorRangeInitializers will now interpolate colors in their provided color space if it's equal for Min & Max
-- This means that if both Min & Max are equal, they'll be interpolated in the sRGB color space
-- If they are not equal, both are converted to Linear space and interpolated there
-- This might improve differences in colors for converted systems (reported by Krzesny, @joshtiger, issue #3488)
- Changed "Share/Unshare" labels in the Inventory to "Make Public" & "Make Private" (based on feedback by @amrialeiah, issue #3653)
-- This should better reflect that the folder is publicly accessible by anyone who can get the link
- Changed the "Set Avatar/xyz" to "Favorite Avatar/xyz" in Inventory to better reflect what these buttons do
- Ensure that proper supporter account type is displayed based on which one is active (based on report by @wattlefoxxo, @_deltawolf, issue #645 in locale)

- Merged French locale tweaks by @mip2006

- Fixed legacy particle systems with negative velocity scaling not behaving the same (reported by @ultrawidegamer, issue #3627)
-- This preserves the behavior of legacy particle system where negative velocity scale applies an offset to the particles (this is why the PivotModule was added)
- Fix possible stack overflow in Slerp function with certain arguments
-- This fixes Texture3D_Force causing a crash with very fast particles (reported by @nytra, @luxkitty, @dustysprinkles issue #3652)

Hello everyone! I got another build for you!

This is mostly some more cleanup and fixes, notably for PhotonDust and fixing the issues with the cloud syncing (thanks to everyone for the reports and logs!).

There's a few goodies though, giving you more control over angular velocity for PhotonDust!

I got another fix coming up, but I wasn't able to finish it for this build, because it's a fair bit more complicated - it particularly has to do with legacy systems that used negative scaling - this turned out to be quite a time sink, requiring some bigger architectural changes to PhotonDust. In case you wonder why we sometimes don't allow values out of certain ranges - this is why x3

I should have a fix tomorrow though, which should wrap up some last bits of PhotonDust. Just as a reminder - the Legacy particle system will go poof very soon! We don't recommend using it for any new projects at this point.

- Added AngularVelocityDrag module for PhotonDust (requested by @mr.redstar, @luxkitty, issue #3639)
-Added ConstantAngularVelocityForce module for PhotonDust
-- This applies a constant angular acceleration to the particles
-- It requires the RotationSimulationModule to function
- Added LerpUnclamped support for SphericalHarmonics
-- This fixes crash when trying to use ValueLerpUnclamped node (reported by @luxkitty, issue #3620)
- Fix exceptions when checking validity of ProtoFlux node visuals when the target node has been deleted, but visual hasn't (found in a log from @nytra, @luxkitty, issue #3635)
- Added SizeMultiplierByVelocity module for PhotonDust
-- This allows multiplying the size based on the velocity
-- The multiplier can be clamped within a certain range as well as the resulting size
-- You can also mask which axes of the size are affected by this

- Merged Japanese locale update by @.aesc
- Merged Chinese locale update by modimobeikete

- Fixed legacy particles with length/velocity scaling and zero velocity being visible after conversion to PhotonDust (based on report by @ultrawidegamer, issue #3628)
- Added read lock to mesh data for mesh emitters
-- This prevents PhotonDust from breaking when the procedural mesh data is being updated (reported by @nytra, @luxkitty, issue #3635)
-- This only affects procedural meshes as those can be updated on the fly. Static meshes don't require locking and are more efficient to emit from
- Fixed particles in Facing mode rolling with head (reported by @veercollie, issue #3626)

- Added retry logic to fetching asset metadata from CloudFlare when crucial information is missing
-- This fixes a transient error, when freshly uploaded blobs are sometimes missing information, causing syncing to break (@reddneko, @elaina6254, @orange3134, @bredo, @zahndy, @nytra, @lynrayy, issue #3629)

Hello everyone! Got another build for you! This is a bit smaller, mostly just cleaning up and merging in some things.

One of the bugs (the crashes due to large structs) turned out to be really nasty to investigate and work around, it took me most of yesterday - Mono really likes to explode with value types that are too big - including the methods that were normally used to check for validation of things.

This should improve some Spherical Harmonics support and the ambient light not updating properly in some cases.

- Exposed RemoveChildrenObjectRoots as a sync method on ObjectRoot (requested by @jackthefoxotter, issue #3592)
- Add Constant & Smooth Lerp support for spherical harmonics (requested by @modernballoonie, issue #3616)
- Added SmoothLerp & ConstantLerp support for matrices
-- Note: ConstantLerp is applied element-wise

- Added confirmation for deleting components to prevent accidental deletions (based on report by @epiceaston197, issue #2657, implemented by @bluecyro)

- Slightly optimize lerping of vectors & matrix types

- Merged German locale update by @muppeq
- Merged French locale update by @j4.lc
- Merged Korean locale update by @mirpasec

- Added struct size limit when instantiating SphericalHarmonicsLx<T> instances to prevent crashes (based on report by @reddneko and @nytra, issue #3606)
-- This limits the maximum struct size to 4 kB - any combinations above that are not considered valid
-- This is due to the limitations of the runtime, where extremely large structs result in program corruption and hard crash
- Added mechanism to recompute ReflectionProbeSH2 after OnChanges ReflectionProbe finished rendering
-- This fixes the ambient light not updating in some cases, when the probe takes longer to finish rendering (based on report by @nytra, issue #3607)

Hello everyone! I got a whole bunch of things for you today!

First, you now have full control over the global ambient lighting in the world! The automatic calculation from the skybox is now also controlled from FrooxEngine side with a new set of components - including one that efficiently computes the parameters from a reflection probe with a Compute Shader. This is way faster and more efficient than Unity's own method, making ambient light changes significantly faster and smoother.

Big thanks to @troyborg, @epiceaston197, VirgilCore, @modernballoonie and @rockstarraccoon for helping to test this in `prerelease`. Fortunately there weren't really many issues with this reported over last two weeks, so it should be good to go - but if you still run into something, make a report and we'll fix it in subsequent builds.

If you'd like to learn more about how this new system works, we covered it in the recent episode of The Resonance:

Second, PhotonDust is now out of experimental phase! Majority of the remaining issues (including legacy conversion) are now resolved - it's good to start using for new projects and convert your old into it and continue on! The conversion isn't automatic yet - this will happen when the Legacy system is removed fully.

The legacy particle system still exists for a little bit, but it will be removed very soon! If you run into some issues, please report them while you can! I'll probably remove the legacy system sometime next week, assuming there's no big blockers.

There's a number of bugfixes too from @probableprime, which should resolve some issues and regressions!

- Added AmbientLightSH2 component to control the ambient light in the world
-- This functions similarly to the Skybox component, where there will be one active component that is determining what the current ambient lighting is
-- The ambient light is parameterized using second order spherical harmonics

- Added ReflectionProbeSH2
-- This computes Spherical Harmonics (of order 2) based on the current texture of the target Reflection Probe
-- The computation is done using Compute Shaders and should be fast. However having lots of these will add up
-- The calculation is done locally for each user - if you want to share it, write the computed value into a field
-- For Baked probes, the calculation will currently only work with uncompressed texture formats
-- The Compute Shader is adapted version of this: <https://github.com/pieroaccardi/Unity_SphericalHarmonics_Tools>

- Added OnChanges mode to ReflectionProbe & ChangesSources list
-- This can be used to have the probe re-render only when another component changes (e.g. a Skybox material)
-- It's similar mode to Realtime, but it does not re-render constantly - only on changes, saving performance when relevant items do not update

- Add SkyboxOnly mode to ReflectionProbe
-- This will make the probe render only the skybox and nothing else
-- It's useful for computing the ambient lighting based on the skybox

- Added auto-upgrade mechanism for worlds, which will convert them to the new lighting system that's managed within the Resonite world
-- The world is auto-instrumented with a skybox only reflection probe, which is also used to drive the ambient lighting
-- You can find these components on where the Skybox component is located
-- This mechanism replicates the old behavior, but with faster update rate (meaning changes in ambient lighting are significantly smoother)

- Added UnpackSH nodes for unpacking spherical harmonics (requested by @reddneko, issue #3585)
- Added PackSH1 node for packing spherical harmonics of order 1 (requested by @nytra, issue #3542)

- Remove "experimental" label on PhotonDust
-- From this point on, we recommend using PhotonDust for any new projects and avoiding the Legacy Particle system, which will be removed very soon
-- For any changes to PhotonDust we'll now implement compatibility conversions to make sure your items keep working properly
-- Conversion is still not automatic and legacy particle system is present, but as of now we don't recommend using it for new projects
-- Legacy system will be removed very soon, so prepare for its removal!

- When particle trails space changes, the trails are now cleared to prevent odd positioning (based on report by brecert, issue #3510)

- Added generic recursion limit for SphericalHarmonics instances that can be introduced into the data model (it cannot be above 2)
- "Set Active Skybox" button on Skybox component is now localizable

- Merged German locale update by @muppeq
- Merged Esperanto locale update by SejdenGrauk
- Merged Japanese locale update by @.aesc
- Merged French locale update by @j4.lc
- Merged Chinese locale update by modimobeikete
- Merged Russian locale update by @lynrayy

- Fixed the importing of public folders via their resrec url (reported by @badhaloninja, issue #3554, fixed by @probableprime)
-- This also allows for both Link and Directory record urls to be used to importing public folders and provides error messages on issues/problems with the URL

- Fixed OnChanges reflection probes not re-render when the Slot they're is disabled and then re-activated (reported by @modernballoonie, issue #3553)
-- This is a `prerelease` build fix
- Fixed ReflectionProbes breaking when near/far clip are too low

- Fixed deleting PhotonDust particle systems sometimes resulting in all particle systems to break (reported by @modernballoonie, issue #3507)
- Fixed SkinnedMeshEmitter not working with meshes that either lack bones or blendshapes (based on report by @luxkitty, @nytra, @baxterottoman, @fukuro8232, issue #3522)
- Fixed GravityForce being in the incorrect space for legacy converted particle systems (reported by brecert, issue #3508)
- Fixed legacy line emitters not emitting particles with correct direction when using line-aligned mode (reported by brecert, issue #3509)
-- Note: This is a breaking change for existing converted systems. If you have saved converted systems with PhotonDust with these emitters you'll need to reconvert them
- Fixed particle renderer modules getting a weird offset when the main renderer space changes (based on report by brecert, issue #3510)
- Restored the order of operations when importing resdb urls
-- This fixes cases of "cloud spawning" being broken on 2025.1.14.6 (reported by @yoshi1123_, issue #3534)
-- Do keep in mind that "cloud spawning" via this method may break in the future, but we do hope to create an official version of cloud spawning in the future.

- Fixed Spherical Harmonics generic instances not being flagged as unsupported, allowing creating invalid instances which result in a crash (reported by @modernballoonie, issue #3529)
- Added generic validation to SphericalHarmonics nodes, preventing unsupported instances from being made and causing issues and crashes (based on report by @modernballoonie, issue #3529)

I've been looking into some cloud performance degradation. This isn't a full fix, but it should improve things a bit before I can look into this fully next week.

This build is compatible with previous, but update ASAP please (including your headlesses) - the more clients update, the more it should improve.

- Improved handling of session metadata updates to reduce load spikes on the cloud

Hello everyone! I got another build for you with a bunch of goodies! Resonite now has a new data primitive - spherical harmonics! This has been added through my side project of adding gaussian splatting support (which will probably be released next week, I'm going to FC this week, so I don't want to push out big things just yet), but it's useful for lots of other stuff (some of which will also appear soon(ish)!). It's a generic primitive and there's a bunch of nodes and components to play with it.

This build also merges the joining via URL by @probableprime, so that should be significantly improved!

There's some other goodies by @bluecyro and @ryuvi as well.

- Added ability for the UniversalImporter to recognize and handle ressession://, and other network protocol links(lnl, lnl-nat) (implemented by @probableprime)
-- This Allows you to paste or otherwise submit to our importer these links and for them to be processed.
-- By Default, if a link is joinable(session, network etc), or if the link is a world, Resonite will try to Open/join it.
- Added Import Settings for Session, World and Network Urls (implemented by @probableprime)
-- Allows you to control what happens in the UniversalImporter for Session, World and Network Urls
--- Open - Instructs Resonite to Open/Join the URL if possible
--- SpawnInterface - Spawns a world orb in your active world. This is useful for sharing sessions with your friends
--- SpawnUrl - Spawns a URL interface for the url, this is useful for technical items such as programming ProtoFlux etc.
- Created go.resonite.com, a micro-site used to easily link other users to your sessions and worlds (implemented by @probableprime)
-- Provides big green join/open button, which triggers the Join By URL flow, mentioned in the fixes section.
-- Provides alternative connection urls as text, which are useful for ProtoFlux etc.
-- Fully supports, Open Graph meta-data, allowing the Sessions and worlds to look good across most social media(Blue Sky, Discord etc)
-- This item resolves issue reported by @nytra, issue #1120

- Added SphericalHarmonicsL1..L4<T> data model primitives
-- Spherical Harmonics is a primitive that allows efficient encoding of low frequency directional information
-- T can be any type that supports scaling (float, float3, float4x4, color, colorX...)
-- Spherical Harmonics are used as a building block for a wide range of applications. Typically used in rendering (e.g. for ambient light or gaussian splats) or audio (ambisonics directional audio)
-- We'll be adding more components, nodes and systems to work with these as time goes - e.g. methods to compute them from cubemaps
-- Addition, Subtraction, Scaling and Lerp operations are supported (e.g. you can use the lerp node to interpolate between spherical harmonics)

- Added PackSHx<T> nodes
-- These nodes let you create a new spherical harmonics instance by packing its coefficients

- Added EvaluateSH<S,T> node
-- This allows you to evaluate value of spherical harmonic in a given direction provided by a vector from ProtoFlux

- Added ScaleOrdersSHx nodes
-- These let you individually scale the order bands of a spherical harmonics from lowest to highest
-- This is useful if you need to lower/amplify the lower/higher frequency bands of the spherical harmonic

- Added IcosphereSH1 to SH4 procedural meshes
-- These allow modulating the radius & vertex color using spherical harmonics
-- They can be used for visualizing spherical harmonics, creating procedural effects and education

- Added Added ColorByOrientationDirectionSHx & ColorByVelocityDirectionSHx modules for PhotonDust
-- These modules allow modulating particles with a color based on spherical harmonics depending on the direction of the particle
-- The direction is either determined by the particle orientation (using forward vector) or by the direction that the particle is moving in depending on which version of the module you use

- Added ColorByVelocityDirection module for PhotonDust
-- This modulates the color of the particle based on a reference direction using the particle velocity
-- This is added to provide a copmlement to existing version of the module which uses the orientation

- Exposed Away Kick & Away Kick interval status through WorldItemInterface & SessionInfoItemInterface (issue #2593, implemented by @ryuvi)

- Optimized IcoSphere calculation by skipping redundant per-vertex operations

- Update Noto fonts to latest versions to support newer characters (based on request by @krzeszny, @amasteramaster, issue #3514)
-- Note that if you're using a different set of fonts, you might need to update them manually

- Merged German locale update by @muppeq
- Merged Russian locale update by @shadowpanther

- Fixed joining Resonite sessions via URL (requested by business client and reported by @frooxius, @aritosuits, @enverex, issue #1295 and @cyberfrogg, issue #2260, implemented by @probableprime)
-- On Startup, Resonite will now check that its protocols are registered on your computer, If they are not they will be registered by a small helper program.
-- Once registered, clicking or visiting any ressession://, resrec://(assuming its a world at the moment) resonite: link from within Common Apps such as Browsers, Email Clients etc. Will prompt you to launch a tiny program.
-- If the program detects that Resonite is open, it will forward the clicked url, to Resonite.
--- The URL will then be Imported, by our Importer system. See New Features for info on the changes there.
-- If the program does not detect Resonite is open
--- It will attempt to open Resonite via Steam if possible
--- And then manually, using CLI arguments to launch into the world
--- In both cases, it will add Command Line Parameters to try to open the URL once Resonite has completed opening.
-- For more information on these feature checkout our wiki page on it: https://wiki.resonite.com/Go.resonite.com
-- If you'd like to opt-out of this system you can add `"disableProtocolRegistration":true`, to your Config.json file.

- Fixed Color serialization including the IsNaN property
- Fixed ColorX inspector editor not properly nesting out, corrupting the UI when the colorX datatype is used within other datatypes
- Fixed ParticleSystem not unregistering style events when destroyed, resulting in resource leak and exceptions (based on report by @modernballoonie, issue #3507)
- Fixed new gradients added to gradient sky box not appearing (reported by @bluecyro, @spexcat, issue #2514, fixed by @bluecyro)