The wait for Godot 4 just got shorter, with the first official beta released and a feature freeze. What you see in this beta should be pretty much the same as what ships with Godot 4. Of course if you encounter any bugs or problems, be sure to report them. The all new Vulkan based renderer is a key feature of Godot 4, although there are literally hundreds of other new features.
Highlight features of the Godot 4 beta release include:
- new Vulkan based renderer
- new OpenGL renderer for older/unsupported/weaker hardware
- D3D12 renderer (awaiting merger into code base, learn more here)
- new voxel based global illumination implemented using VoxelGI
- new GI techniques including signed distance field global illumination (SGFGI) and screen space indirect lighting(SSIL)
- light map baking moved to the GPU
- volumetric fog and volumetric fog volumes implemented via FogVolume
- GPU based particle system improvements
- new shader features
- support for AMD’s Fidelity FX Super Resolution (FSR 1.0) with FSR 2.1 in development
- 2D renderer improvements
- physics moved back to Godot’s in-house physic implementation
- new NavigationServer for dynamic pathfinding as well as navigation links for jump points, teleports, etc
- animation improvements
- massive GDScript improvements including first class functions, lambdas, new property syntax, new keywords and more
- new GDExtension system
- .NET 6 port mostly completed
- new text, GUI and localization tools and features
- improved audio systems
- improved multiplayer
- new and improved asset importing features as well as runtime glTF import
- improved tileset and tile map support and general editor improvements
- much, much more
Key Links
Intel Sponza Scene (Used in video below)
You can learn more about the Godot 4 beta and see many of the new Vulkan based graphics features in action in the video below.