In this GDC 2020 virtual talk Ubisoft’s David Lind walks you through the challenges faced and solutions found to optimize game server performance in Tom Clancy’s The Division 2.

Lind’s talk was both accessible and deeply technical, filled with useful anecdotes and practical examples of how to improve your own work using parallelization and multithreading.

If you didn’t have a chance to catch it live earlier this year, good news; you can now watch Lind’s talk any time you like over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page.

Nintendo has reportedly reached out to its partners to say it no longer plans to hold one of its Nintendo Direct announcement sprees during the month of June.

Nintendo tends to hold a Direct right around the time that E3 is typically being held. That was to be the case this year despite E3 itself being called off, but according to VentureBeat Nintendo has halted plans to do so in 2020 due to its own COVID-19 complications.

VentureBeat speculates in its own reporting that difficulties in swapping over to remote work in a country that prioritizes the value of face-to-face dealings is likely to blame, and that Nintendo noted in its previous Direct from March that “release dates and other information … are subject to change” due to COVID-19.

Core, the game engine we covered just yesterday, have teamed up with designer American McGee to launch a new Alice in Wonderland themed contest Through the Looking Glass.

What beauty or horrors await Alice in her adventures? This is the question you must answer as you create a game-ready environment to fit this theme. We have gathered concept art from Alice Asylum to inspire your work.

All entries must be created in Core, our new, free to use game and world creation platform, powered by Unreal, that gives you all the tools you need to turn your vision into reality. To learn more about Core, visit coregames.com or read “Art Directing the Multiverse” by Dan Fessler, Core’s art director.

The contest ends May 31st, 2020 and has several prizes available, including:

If you are looking for guidance on how to create art using Core, be sure to start with this tutorial for the basics.  They also launched a new learning portal available here.  You can learn more about the contest in the video below.

Art GameDev News 3D

Daniel

The Blazor WebAssembly Release Candidate is here! This release contains all of the features and improvements that we expect to release for the upcoming Blazor WebAssembly release. There are no more breaking changes planned at this point. Please give the Blazor WebAssembly Release Candidate a try and let us know what you think!

Here’s what’s new in this release:

• Custom boot resource loading
• API reference docs

Get started

To get started with Blazor WebAssembly 3.2.0 Release Candidate, install the latest .NET Core 3.1 SDK.

NOTE: Version 3.1.201 or later of the .NET Core SDK is required to use this Blazor WebAssembly release! Make sure you have the correct .NET Core SDK version by running dotnet --version from a command prompt.

Once you have the appropriate .NET Core SDK installed, run the following command to install the updated Blazor WebAssembly template:

dotnet new -i Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly.Templates::3.2.0-rc1.20223.4

If you’re on Windows using Visual Studio, we recommend installing the latest preview of Visual Studio 2019 16.6. For this preview, you should still install the template from the command-line as described above to ensure that the Blazor WebAssembly template shows up correctly in Visual Studio and on the command-line.

That’s it! You can find additional docs and samples on https://blazor.net.

Upgrade an existing project

To upgrade an existing Blazor WebAssembly app from 3.2.0 Preview 5 to the 3.2.0 Release Candidate:

• Update all Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly.* package references to version 3.2.0-rc1.20223.4.
• Update any Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly.Runtime package references to version 3.2.0-rc1.20222.2 (having a reference to this package is uncommon).
• Update all System.Net.Http.Json package references to 3.2.0-rc1.20217.1

You’re all set!

Custom boot resource loading

When a Blazor WebAssembly app loads in the browser, it first downloads all of the required boot resources from the server, including the .NET runtime, the bootstrapping JavaScript code, locale specific data, and the .NET assemblies that make up the app. You can now customize how these boot resources are loading using the loadBootResource API. You can use this API to make any needed modifications to how these specific outbound requests are constructed. For example, you might want to load some of the resources from an external CDN. Although Microsoft does not currently host the Blazor framework files on any specific public Content Delivery Network (CDN), you are free to add them to your own CDN if you wish. For example, if you have published the _framework\wasm files to a CDN within the base URL https://mycdn.example.com/blazorwebassembly/3.2.0-rc1/, then you could configure your application to use those resources as follows:

<script src="_framework/blazor.webassembly.js" autostart="false"></script>

<script> Blazor.start({ loadBootResource: function (type, name, defaultUri, integrity) { console.log(`Will load '${type}' with name '${name}' from URI '${defaultUri}' and integrity '${integrity}'`); switch (type) { case 'dotnetjs': case 'dotnetwasm': case 'timezonedata': return `https://mycdn.external.cdn/blazorwebassembly/3.2.0-rc1/${name}`; } // Other types are 'assembly' and 'pdb' but you probably wouldn't want to fetch those from a CDN as they would be custom-linked for your app // By returning undefined for other types, we let the framework use its normal strategy for those types } });

</script>

If you want to customize more than just the URLs that are being used, then your loadBootResource function can call fetch directly and return the result. For example:

<script src="_framework/blazor.webassembly.js" autostart="false"></script>

<script> Blazor.start({ loadBootResource: function (type, name, defaultUri, integrity) { // Adds a custom HTTP header to the outbound requests // To retain the default integrity checking behavior, it's necessary to pass through the 'integrity' parameter return fetch(defaultUri, { cache: 'no-cache', integrity: integrity, headers: { 'MyCustomHeader': 'My custom value' } }); } });

</script>

API reference docs

API reference docs for the Blazor WebAssembly namespaces (Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly.*) are now available in the .NET API browser as part of the ASP.NET Core 3.1 API docs.

Known issues

• When publishing a ASP.NET Core hosted Blazor WebAssembly app using Visual Studio, satellite assemblies from the client application do not get copied to the publish folder.

  This issue will be addressed in the upcoming release. To workaround this issue, publish the app from the command line using dotnet publish.

Feedback

This is our last planned preview release of Blazor WebAssembly 3.2! We need your help to make sure that we’ve addressed any remaining blocking issues for the upcoming release. Please give it a try and let us know what you think by filing issues on GitHub.

We hope you enjoy the Blazor WebAssembly Release Candidate and thanks for trying out Blazor!

By Mike Peterson
Friday, May 01, 2020, 12:59 pm PT (03:59 pm ET)

Apple on Friday updated its COVID-19 screening app with new information about coronavirus symptoms and tips related to face masks.

Apple’s informational COVID-19 screening app was released in March.

The Cupertino tech giant launched its COVID-19 tool in late March, giving iPhone users another way to stay informed during the coronavirus pandemic. In April, Apple added links to state-level guidance and tips for personal self-care.

On May 1, Apple issued a new version of the app with updated symptom information and recommendations from the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance.

According to the CDC, new symptoms that could be signs of COVID-19 include chills, shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and loss of smell or taste.

The app has also been updated with tips related to cloth masks, including creating a mask, when and how to properly wear a mask, and how to sanitize it.

Alongside the app update, Apple also added the new information and tips to its COVID-19 webpage.

The COVID-19 app, which was developed in collaboration the CDC, FEMA and Coronavirus Task Force, is available as a free download on the App Store.

What happens if you have multiple disks or partitions that you’d like to use for a media project and you don’t want to lose any of your existing data, but you’d like to have everything located or mounted under one drive. That’s where mergerfs can come to your rescue!

mergerfs is a union filesystem geared towards simplifying storage and management of files across numerous commodity storage devices.

You will need to grab the latest RPM from their github page here. The releases for Fedora have fc and the version number in the name. For example here is the version for Fedora 31:

mergerfs-2.29.0-1.fc31.x86_64.rpm

Installing and configuring mergerfs

Install the mergerfs package that you’ve downloaded using sudo:

$ sudo dnf install mergerfs-2.29.0-1.fc31.x86_64.rpm

You will now be able to mount multiple disks as one drive. This comes in handy if you have a media server and you’d like all of your media files to show up under one location. If you upload new files to your system, you can copy them to your mergerfs directory and mergerfs will automatically copy them to which ever drive has enough free space available.

Here is an example to make it easier to understand:

$ df -hT | grep disk

/dev/sdb1 ext4 23M 386K 21M 2% /disk1

/dev/sdc1 ext4 44M 1.1M 40M 3% /disk2 $ ls -l /disk1/Videos/

total 1

-rw-r--r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:17 Our Wedding.mkv $ ls -l /disk2/Videos/

total 2

-rw-r--r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:17 Baby's first Xmas.mkv

-rw-rw-r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:21 Halloween hijinks.mkv

In this example there are two disks mounted as disk1 and disk2. Both drives have a Videos directory with existing files.

Now we’re going to mount those drives using mergerfs to make them appear as one larger drive.

$ sudo mergerfs -o defaults,allow_other,use_ino,category.create=mfs,moveonenospc=true,minfreespace=1M /disk1:/disk2 /media

The mergerfs man page is quite extensive and complex so we’ll break down the options that were specified.

• defaults: This will use the default settings unless specified.
• allow_other: allows users besides sudo or root to see the filesystem.
• use_ino: Causes mergerfs to supply file/directory inodes rather than libfuse. While not a default it is recommended it be enabled so that linked files share the same inode value.
• category.create=mfs: Spreads files out across your drives based on available space.
• moveonenospc=true: If enabled, if writing fails, a scan will be done looking for the drive with the most free space.
• minfreespace=1M: The minimum space value used.
• disk1: First hard drive.
• disk2: Second hard drive.
• /media: The directory folder where the drives are mounted.

Here is what it looks like:

$ df -hT | grep disk /dev/sdb1 ext4 23M 386K 21M 2% /disk1 /dev/sdc1 ext4 44M 1.1M 40M 3% /disk2 $ df -hT | grep media 1:2 fuse.mergerfs 66M 1.4M 60M 3% /media 

You can see that the mergerfs mount now shows a total capacity of 66M which is the combined total of the two hard drives.

Continuing with the example:

There is a 30Mb video called Baby’s second Xmas.mkv. Let’s copy it to the /media folder which is the mergerfs mount.

$ ls -lh "Baby's second Xmas.mkv"

-rw-rw-r--. 1 curt curt 30M Apr 20 08:45 Baby's second Xmas.mkv

$ cp "Baby's second Xmas.mkv" /media/Videos/

Here is the end result:

$ df -hT | grep disk

/dev/sdb1 ext4 23M 386K 21M 2% /disk1

/dev/sdc1 ext4 44M 31M 9.8M 76% /disk2 $ df -hT | grep media

1:2 fuse.mergerfs 66M 31M 30M 51% /media

You can see from the disk space utilization that mergerfs automatically copied the file to disk2 because disk1 did not have enough free space.

Here is a breakdown of all of the files:

$ ls -l /disk1/Videos/

total 1

-rw-r--r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:17 Our Wedding.mkv $ ls -l /disk2/Videos/

total 30003

-rw-r--r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:17 Baby's first Xmas.mkv

-rw-rw-r--. 1 curt curt 30720000 Apr 20 08:47 Baby's second Xmas.mkv

-rw-rw-r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:21 Halloween hijinks.mkv $ ls -l /media/Videos/

total 30004

-rw-r--r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:17 Baby's first Xmas.mkv

-rw-rw-r--. 1 curt curt 30720000 Apr 20 08:47 Baby's second Xmas.mkv

-rw-rw-r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:21 Halloween hijinks.mkv

-rw-r--r--. 1 curt curt 0 Mar 8 17:17 Our Wedding.mkv

When you copy files to your mergerfs mount, it will always copy the files to the hard disk that has enough free space. If none of the drives in the pool have enough free space, then you won’t be able to copy them.

Today sees the launch of a brand new expansion in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, with Sword & Shield – Rebel Clash now available around the world.

Available in the usual booster packs, theme decks, Elite Trainer Boxes and special collections, the new expansion includes more Galarian Pokémon as well as new Pokémon VMAX cards that showcase Pokémon in their Gigantamax forms – just like in Pokémon Sword and Shield on Switch.

You’ll find the following key cards within the new set:

• 16 Pokémon V and 14 full-art Pokémon V, such as Toxtricity V, Dubwool V, and Boltund V
• Seven Pokémon VMAX including Toxtricity VMAX, Copperajah VMAX, Dragapult VMAX, and the final Evolutions of the first partner Pokémon of Galar
• Over 15 Trainer cards and four full-art Supporter cards
• Four new Special Energy cards

The Pokémon Company International tells us that it’s working hard with its distribution and retail partners to ensure stock is available, but warns that current global circumstances mean that “product availability may be limited”.

Do you collect Pokémon cards? Will you be tracking down these latest additions? Tell us below.