v4.10 - Improved sensors for evolution simulations

The focus of this update has been on improving sensor functions for the purpose of evolution simulations.
One can force the creatures to mark their targets beforehand, both for movements and for attacks. In addition, sensor cells can be individually configured to recognize potential predators, food, barriers or peers. One can try out these features in the new simulation "Deep Down Below".
There are also some additions in the statistics window (e.g. ecosystem diversity), concerning rendering (attack visualizations, cell glow and configurable cell size), a finer control of the maximum cell age (new add-on "Cell age limiter") and more.

Added

• engine: sensor and reconnector cells can be restricted to only sensing/connecting to certain type of mutants (same, other, nutrient, handcrafted, less and more complex)
• engine: sensor cells can tag detected cells for attacking if parameter 'Sensor detection factor' is above 0
• engine: sensors can not penetrate handcrafted structures when restricting to scanning for certain mutants
• engine: possibility to force muscle cells to obtain movement angles from nearby sensors (+ simulation parameter under addon 'Advanced muscle control')
• engine: possibility to redefine max age of permanently inactive or of emergent cells (+ simulation parameters under addon 'Cell age limiter')
• engine: possibility to reset age after cell switches from 'Under construction' to 'Ready' (+ simulation parameter under addon 'Cell age limiter')
• engine: allow to disable radiation sources in spots
• gui/statistics: diversity and average genome complexity plots added
• gui/statistics: throughput statistics
• gui/simulation view: attack visualization (+ simulation parameter)
• gui/simulation view: cell glow (+ simulation parameter under new addon 'Cell glow')
• gui/simulation view: configurable cell radius via simulation parameter
• gui/mass operation, engine: mass operation for randomizing mutation ids

Changed

• engine: replace continuous mutation rates (which are applied in each time step) by genome copy mutations (which are only applied when genomes are copied)
• engine: make certain mutation rates (all except for translation, duplication and color mutations) dependent on the genome size
• engine: avoid that creature is able to eat its offspring when it is currently under construction
• engine: parameters 'Cell max force' and 'Maximum distance' are now color-dependent

Fixed

• gui/simulation view: visibility of cells with low energy increased
• gui/browser: apply text filter to all workspaces and resource types
• serialization: load/save real-time counter in autosave
• engine: avoid genome bloating (with separated parts) due to mutations
• engine: incorrect construction processes based on single cell genomes with multiple branches and/or repetitions fixed

v4.9 - External energy extensions

This update extends the possibilities for using an external energy source. It allows you to control the inflow and backflow of energy from/to an external source. It even offers the possibility to perform simulations without energy particles but with limited cell lifetime. Exciting examples can be found in the simulation browser under Primordial Ocean. Furthermore, a real-time counter was added (it is saved with the simulation settings and reset appropriately when a snapshot is restored), the rendering of the cells was made a bit nicer for high zoom levels, and a new coloring mode was added, which not only visualize the mutation but also the cell functions.

Added

• engine, gui/simulation parameters: conditional and unconditional energy inflow from external energy source
• engine, gui/simulation parameters: energy backflow to the external energy source
• gui/simulation view: combined mutation and cell function coloring
• gui/temporal control window: real-time counter

Changed

• gui/simulation view: cells are rendered smoother
• engine, gui/simulation parameters: external energy becomes a scalar value (no color dependence)

Deleted

• engine, gui/simulation parameters: energy pump from constructors (substituted by conditional energy inflow)

Fixed

• serialization: activation of necessary add-ons for old simulation parameter files fixed
• gui/browser: preserve subfolders when renaming folders

v4.8 - Simulation parameter window and UI improvements

Added

• gui/simulation view: borderless rendering (world is rendered periodically) + parameter to (de)activate
• gui/simulation view: adaptive space grid for orientation + parameter to (de)activate
• gui/simulation view: new coloring which highlights particular cell functions
• gui/simulation parameters: addon widget introduced
• gui/simulation parameters: center button in spatial control
• engine, gui/simulation parameters: attacker and particle absorption depending on genome complexity
• engine, gui/simulation parameters: addon for genome complexity measurement
• engine, gui/simulation parameters: low and high velocity penalty for energy particle absorption

Changed

• gui/simulation parameters: move expert settings for absorption, attacker, external energy and color transition to addons
• gui/simulation view: short white background flash after creating and loading snapshots (now called flashbacks)
• gui/simulation view: cross cursor in edit mode
• gui/simulation view: mutation coloring adapted such that color changes occur only after major structural mutations
• gui/statistics: adapt plot heights depending on the visible data points
• engine: memory consumption reduced (~ 10% depending on the data)
• server: support for large simulation files (up to 144 MB)

Fixed

• gui/simulation parameters: show base tab when new simulation is loaded
• gui/statistics: maintain previous statistics data after resizing the simulation
• engine: fixed rare and spontaneous crashes that occur when many cells and connections are destroyed
• engine: new completeness check counting the actual cells of the creature against the cells in the genome
• engine: wrong displacement calculation in case of zooming and moving objects fixed

v4.7 - Simulation browser overhaul, part 2

Added

• gui/browser: private workspace for each user account
• gui/browser: move simulations, genomes or folders to other workspace (via toolbar buttons)
• gui/browser: edit simulations, genomes or folders (via toolbar buttons)
• gui/browser: expand and collapse folder content (via toolbar buttons)
• gui/browser: cache for speeding up downloading simulations
• gui/upload dialog: validation of user input to allowed characters
• gui/upload dialog: upload simulation or genome to folder
• gui/simulation parameters, model: individual cell color mutation

Changed

• gui/browser: layout (in particular, new widget for selecting workspace)
• model: restrict the fusion of energy particles to certain energies

v4.6 - Simulation browser redesigned

Added

• gui/browser: support for displaying folders and subfolders
• gui/browser: folders for simulations and genomes are automatically created by parsing their names for /
• gui/browser: allow uploading to a selected folder
• gui/browser: show number of simulations per folder

Changed

• gui/browser: tree view instead of a pure tabular view
• gui/browser: simulations and genomes can be selected for user actions (e.g. deletion)

Removed

• gui/browser: column for actions removed

v4.5 - Statistics update

Added

• engine, gui: entire statistical history are saved along with a simulation
• gui/statistics: configurable plot heights
• gui/statistics: collapse specific plots
• gui/browser: statistical history are up/downloaded along with a simulation
• gui/sim view: draw boundaries of the world
• Python script FindFurtunateTimeline: constantly monitors populations in a simulation and resort to savepoints in case of extinction

Changed

• gui/statistics: widgets for real time and time horizon parameter are aligned with the other widgets

Removed

• export statistics function

Fixed

• in simulation runs via CLI, certain simulation parameters are adjusted as in the GUI (e.g. if the max age balancer is switched on, external energy consumption)
• wrong color conversion HSV -> RGB fixed (relevant for mutation and genome size coloring)

v4.4 - Genome model update

Added

• engine, gui: genomes and sub-genomes contain repetition information and concatenation angles
• engine, gui: support for infinite repetitions of genome structures
• engine, gui: reconnector cells (can form and break bonds depending on neural activities)
• engine, gui: detonator cells (can detonate depending on neural activities)
• engine, gui: neuron cells extended: 5 different activation functions can be selected for each neuron
• engine, gui: simulation parameters for reconnectors and detonators
• gui/sim view: 2 new coloring available: "Cell state" and "Genome size"
• gui/genome preview: markers for start, end, infinity repetition, multiple construction and self-replication
• gui/genome preview: visualization optimized depending on the zoom level
• gui/genome editor: mass operation for changing colors of cells optionally including sub-genomes
• gui/neuron editor: reset, set identity and randomize function
• gui/browser: button to open Discord server
• gui/statistics: plots and exports for reconnections and detonator events
• logging: more log messages during startup

Changed

• engine: restrict cluster decay on cells which belong to the same creature
• engine: allow insert mutations on empty genomes
• gui: toolbar buttons in creator and multiplier windows are made selectable
• gui/inspection: show ids (cell, creature, mutation) in base tab
• gui/genome editor: icons for expanding and collapsing changed
• gui/sim parameter: focus base tab when opening new simulation with different spots

Fixed

• show correct tab when sub-genome is edited
• completeness check evaluates creatureIds of the cells in order to determinate the creature's boundaries
• prevent crash in case that a single genome exceeds 8 KB
• genome editor layout bug fixed when separator is moved out of range
• layout problems after resizing in several dialogs fixed (e.g. in display, gpu, network settings)
• invalid zooming prevented

v4.3.0

v4.3 - Genome browser

Added

• gui/browser: tab widget added to show the uploaded genomes and simulations from server
• gui/browser: possibility to upload and download genomes
• gui/genome editor: toolbar button added to upload current genome
• cli: file logger added (creates log.txt)

Fixed

• gui/browser: layout problem for multiline descriptions

v4.2.0

v4.2 - Command-line interface

Added

• command-line interface for running simulation files for a specified number of time steps
• statistics can be exported with CLI

Fixed

• csv output in statistics export corrected

v4.1.0

v4.1 - Emoji update

Added

• gui/browser: user can open an emoji window in order to react with various emoji types
• gui/browser: list of emojis and counts are shown for each simulation entry
• gui/browser: clicking on an other user's emoji adds same reaction
• global: debug mode added that provides more accurate error messages and can be activated with the '-debug' parameter

Changed

• gui/browser: different colors for the action buttons