8.3 - WolvenKit

Published Sept 05 2021
WolvenKit 8.3 arrives with amazing new features, improved workflows, and critical bugfixes. Support for basic REDengine file editing has been implemented. While using our RED4 document viewer, virtually any RED4 file can be opened, modified, and saved using a sleek UI. Additionally the mlmask format has been reverse engineered allowing users to generate new mask files using our bespoke file I/O pipeline. The most common crashes and issues have been addressed; WolvenKit now handles issues with dependencies much more gracefully. 
Patches
8.3.2 (Sept 05 2021)
Fixes
Fixed a bug where the application would crash on a clean restart
Changes
Added global application error logfile %AppData%\REDModding\WolvenKit
Asset I/O
What's New
Material I/O has been refactored
The material json has been reworked significantly. WithMaterials mesh exports will no longer generate json subfolders within the Raw directory. Without containing folders, each json file is now uniquely named after the source mesh followed by .Material.json. This will significantly declutter any project with materials.

The internal structure of the material json has been dramatically simplified; internal mutlilayered component data has been removed. Rather than include the same ml-data for each and every material json, mltemplates and mlsetups will be stored once as json within the Material Repository. This prevents bloated material jsons in excess of 500,000 lines. The Cyberpunk Blender add-on must be updated to 1.0.2 or higher for compatibility.

Internal code for accessing shaders (mt) during I/O is more robust
Material exports are now more future-proof, and now support multiple game versions.

Support for mlmask I/O
Native support for encoding mlmask files has been added. Through the use of bespoke masklist files new standalone mlmask files can be generated through the Import/Export Tool.

Mesh I/O
Added material only option for mesh imports
Support for importing materials-only to edit mesh materials without worrying about breaking the underlying mesh during the I/O process.

Added glTF file import verification options
Exposed glTF validation options to the user when importing custom mesh files.

Improved detection of invalid normals and tangents
Additional checks for bad mesh data improves feedback from WolvenKit when importing meshes.

Improved verifications
Added verifications for rendtopology and garment support.

Support for morphtarget base mesh import option with UI
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Development
Implemented
Updated the RTTI types to 1.30

TweakDB writer
It's now possible to create Tweak Databases from scratch

Reactive UI

Improved Asset Browser functionality
Improved selection and search (keywords, glob, regex)

New splashscreen art

Texconv for image I/O has been removed
WolvenKit relied on Microsoft Texconv which has been removed in favor of native wrapper.

Added DXTEX git submodules
We recommend developers to run git submodule update --remote to pick up the latest submodule updates when building WolvenKit.
I/O
Using glTF Core library for most mesh/morph exports

Exporting bones with morphtargets

Detect base rig properly instead of using a hack while merging multiple rigs

Material helper files are now dumped in the Material Repository

Added support for creating mlmasks from bespoke masklist file

Nuked custom json exports for mlsetup, mltemplate, hp, using cr2w serialization instead, (will break blender addon)
Memory Optimizations
Disabled webview2 when offline

Store hashed names as ascii byte arrays instead of strings

Smarter missing hash detection in the hashservice for deferred loading

Made most of the Archive classes structs
Miscellaneous 
Removed legacy code, hosted elsewhere
WolvenKit 7 is updated and working here: https://github.com/rfuzzo/WolvenKit

Removed unused dependencies

Removed solution platforms for anycpu and x86

Disabled caching of the archive manager

Added prompt to run webview2 installer if not installed on app startup

Catel has been removed from the solution
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Shader (mt) data is no longer hard-coded 
Archives are now accessed directly to determine shader data within mt files. This removes tens of thousands of lines from the code base, and ensures the data is parallel with the users game version.

Enabled saving of cr2w files
Fixes
Fixed mainView and app icons

Fixed mlmask layer uncooking after directxtex wrapper implementation

Fixed mainwindow themeing

Fixed Asset Browser weirdness

Mesh dependency files haven been moved in archives in patch 1.3
Recollecting certain archives causes missing dependencies, removed recollection.

rref and raref templates

Fixed a bug where wizards and dialogs would not be displayed properly
File Editor
Initial support for editing various REDengine files with a dedicated in-app GUI
WolvenKit 8.3 brings the first release of WolvenKit's core feature; a system for reading and writing REDengine binary files. While development is still in early stages, the File Editor supports editing and saving (non-buffered) paths and values. Learn more about the using the File Editor on the dedicated page.​
Fixes
Critical Fixes
WolvenKit could not be used while offline due to a bug with webview content
The application crashed immediately with no feedback. Bug report here Issue #547, fixed in Pull Request #542. WolvenKit can now be used as expected without webview content.
See also: Better prerequisites support - Issue #548

Improved support for future game versions
Cyberpunk game update 1.3 caused crashes with the Asset Browser. WolvenKit relied on a cached archive file inside the user appdata folder, which caused a crash when this cache was mismatched to the installed game version. The archive cache file has been removed in favor of direct archive access, which also yields improved performance.
Miscellaneous
Fixed a major issue with the Material Repository
Before the release of WolvenKit 8.2 the Material Repository output was switched from PNG to TGA. This resulted in adding ~70gb's of extra data due to lack of compression with TGA. To reduce unnecessary bloat the default format of the repository is now PNG moving forward. Recreating the Material Repository is recommended to save space and update for game version 1.3.

Fix a bug with exported PNG and BMP textures
Both PNG and BMP files were written using the wrong codec on export (TIFF). The correct codec for each file type is now used.
See: Issue #563

Fixed a crash with the update service while offline

Fixed a crash related to recently used items

Fixed a bug where loading Asset Browser items was slow

Fixed a crash when searching in the Asset Browser

Fixed a crash when previewing some wem files

Fixed a crash when renaming and deleting files

Fixed a file handling crash with external applications
Some external applications such as paint.net create temp files inside the project causing a crash.
Mod Projects
BREAKING CHANGE - Material I/O
Material I/O has been updated so projects with WolvenKit 8.2 may not work as expected. See detailed changes here. To upgrade projects for WolvenKit 8.3 remove all material json files and subfolders from the Raw directory. Export meshes in the Mod directory using WithMaterials argument to generate new material json files.
UI/UX
Streamlined some UI elements for improved efficiency and simplicity
General cleanup of elements lacking padding, margin, etc.

Asset Browser interface has been improved extending usability
Multiple files and folders can now be selected and added to project using check boxes. New button Add Selected Item(s) to Project has been added to the Ribbon context menu. Advanced filtering options have been implemented to search functions. Items are now sorted alphanumerically and suffixes to the file sizes (kb/mb).
Other
Cyberpunk 1.3 and existing WolvenKit mod projects
We strongly recommend rebuilding existing mod projects by replacing old assets with updated versions from 1.3. Many assets have been updated, and some formats have been changed.
For example, to update a mesh mod add the mesh file from 1.3 to your mod project and re-import the custom glTF file. This mitigates the risk of crashes or corruption with files.