Development update (Patreon)
Content
I am back today with a small update on what's currently going on in DD development! It's pretty brief today, as most of what's happening is going on in the public DD beta testing thread. I assume most of you have already had a look at it. If not, you can find the beta here: https://www.loverslab.com/topic/69936-devious-devices-framework-developmentbeta/
So far, it's looking much better than I expected. Despite the extent of the changes in DD5, no truly major issues have been found so far. The new device code seems to be stable and working. I have received exactly zero reports of problems with it so far, despite many dozen users have downloaded the beta! Wow! The bugs I got reported have largely been already fixed (except that dreaded outfit code that keeps haunting me!). At this point I am optimistic to be able to release DD5 still before Halloween.
Work on DCL 9 is progressing nicely as well. Since DD5 seems to be on the right track, I have started to replace DD4 API calls with their new, faster DD5 versions and remove redundant code not needed anymore for DD5 (such as computing the rendered device or keyword parameters when manipulating devices). The result is very, very noticeable. Devices go on and off faaaaaaast now!!!
So far I have refrained from releasing a DCL 9 beta version, simply because I am a bit scared of getting overwhelmed with bug reports for TWO large projects at once. But I am cautiously optimistic that DCL 9 will soon be able to enter its own beta phase, as reports for DD5 indeed seem to dry up a bit, which seems to indicate that it's progressing towards a stable state. Right now, it's more about what other new features I still want to add to DCL. There are still a few things on the list I want to do, but version 9 is already the largest ever DCL update, so I need to draw a line somewhere and feature-freeze the thing, so you guys and girls can enjoy it! There is always DCL 10!