Hey everyone! 0.9 is a really big update, and it's now open for everyone to try as a public beta. On top of that, the Steam Workshop is now open to everyone!
How to get it: In your Steam library, right-click VConnect → Properties → Game Versions & Betas → select public_beta
It's still a beta, so please back up your profile before switching, and let me know if anything breaks or feels weird!
Steam Workshop Support!
You can publish your triggers and assets (or whole folders of them) directly from VConnect to the Workshop, with a title, description & preview image. New uploads are private by default, so you can check them before making them public
Subscribing to something on the Workshop automatically imports it into VConnect, including its folders, assets and node groups
You can manage all your subscriptions directly in VConnect
When an author updates something you're subscribed to, it shows "update available" in the Workshop list. If you changed your copy in the meantime, VConnect asks if you want to overwrite your changes or keep both. And if you don't like the update, there's a "Revert Update" button
Steam needs to be running for the Workshop features. Workshop items also need 0.9, so the current non-beta version can't use them
One file format for everything!
Triggers, folders, assets and node groups are now all exported as one bundle with a .vconnect extension! Your old .vtrigger and .vasset files still import just fine
After exporting, you get a report that tells you exactly what got exported. Same for importing, including anything that couldn't be loaded
New Setup-Input Nodes!
This one is for everyone who shares triggers. Put a "Setup Input" node anywhere your trigger needs a value the user has to fill in themselves, like their channel name, a sound, or how much damage something does
It uses the same editor as whatever port you connect it to, so a position gets the position picker, an OBS scene gets the scene dropdown, and so on. It can even ask for an asset, like "pick the item that should be thrown"
Every input can have a label, a description, be marked as required, and you can set the order they show up in
When someone imports your trigger (from a file or the Workshop), VConnect asks them if they want to set it up now or later. If they pick later, the trigger gets a "Needs Setup" badge until it's done
You can always open the setup-window of a trigger again by right-clicking it and clicking "Edit Setup..."
Your answers stay yours: when the author updates a trigger on the Workshop, your setup values are kept, and you only get asked about new inputs
3D Fluid!
Added a new fluid system, which uses actual 3D geometry instead of simple particles, so it looks a lot more like real liquid
It all runs through the "Shoot Fluid 3D" node, where you can adjust all the fluid parameters: arc height, flow rate, stream width, spray angle, thickness, blobbiness, stickiness, slipperiness, how long it lingers and transparency
Collide With Model: turn it off if you want the fluid to flow in front of your model instead of hitting it
Scale With Model: the amount of fluid follows your model's size, so it covers the same part of you whether you're zoomed in or tiny in a corner
New "Stick Fluid To Target" node: makes the fluid stick to a target (like your model) and move along with it. Move too fast or shake it and it flies off!
Also available as an action in the Setup Wizard
If you used "Shoot Fluid V2" before: it's now Shoot Fluid 3D. Target, origin, duration, stickiness, color and collision settings are kept, but the rest got replaced by the new parameters, so you'll need to re-tune those
This system can be heavy on performance, so please tell me how it runs on your PC!
New Z-Depth Picker
Every node that expects a Z-Value now has a button next to the slider that opens a Z-Depth picker. It shows your scene from an angle, with a marker where the Z-Value lands in 3D space. So you can actually see if something will be in front of or behind your model, instead of guessing numbers!
Quick reminder: higher Z = closer to the camera. Some tooltips said the opposite, those are fixed now
New Custom Hitbox Shapes
Added a "Custom Shape" hitbox mode, where you can open an editor and draw the outline of your model directly on the preview
Click to place points, then click the first point (or press Enter) to close the shape. Afterwards you can drag points around, click an edge to add a point, or right-click a point to remove it. Undo/redo works too!
Especially useful if your model has a tail, wings, huge hair or anything else that doesn't fit the default human shape, so things actually hit your model and not the air next to it
The shape follows your model's position, scale and rotation
New ArtMesh-Tracking
You can now set targets to follow ArtMeshes on your model! (This only works with the VTube Studio Beta!!!)
Set a target to "ArtMesh Point", click "Pick ArtMesh Point" and then click the spot on your model in VTube Studio. The target now follows that exact spot while your model moves and deforms, so targets and pins can follow parts of your model perfectly (like a wagging tail)!
If you click where multiple ArtMeshes overlap, you get a list to pick the right one
"Pin Item" also got new options: pin to a picked point, to an ArtMesh by name, or to a random ArtMesh every time. "Use Picked Angle & Size" lines the item up with the ArtMesh automatically. Your old Pin Item nodes get converted automatically
Badges!
Triggers now show a little badge when something needs your attention: Error, Missing Asset, Needs Setup or Disabled. Hover over it to see what's up, click it to jump to where you can fix it
Folders show the most important badge of the triggers inside, so you can spot problems even in a collapsed folder
New Nodes
"Attach To Item": pairs 2 items together, so one moves with the other (giving a thrown item a random hat for example). It can also follow the other item's rotation and scale. I'm planning to add more nodes and options for it!
Twitch moderation & channel nodes: Ban/Unban/Timeout User, Delete Chat Message (or clear the whole chat), Create/End Poll, Create/End Prediction, Run Ad, Send Announcement, Send Whisper, Set Stream Info (title & category)
Setup-Wizard
Actions are now sorted into categories (General, Twitch, Kick, OBS, VTube Studio, VTS POG), just like triggers already were
Added 31 new actions! Spawning items, shooting fluid, playing sounds, switching scenes, clips, polls, predictions, raids, timeouts & bans, OBS sources & filters, VTS hotkeys & expressions, and more
Smarter Vectors
Instead of Position, Rotation, Scale & Direction all using the same Vector-structure, they (plus Velocity) now each use their own data-type. This makes conversion between the types smarter, and makes it easier to see which ports make sense to connect together
General nodes like Math, Lerp, Random, Set Variable and so on work with all of them directly
"Random" now picks values that make sense for each type: positions only vary X and Y by default, rotations spin around the camera axis, scale stays uniform, and directions can pick a random on-screen angle
Your existing saves load the same as before
And many more changes
New "Concave Mesh" collider option when importing 3D models, so hollow things like boxes or bowls can actually hold items (works while that item's physics is turned off)
Saving got faster, leftover files from older versions get cleaned up, and an old bug where triggers in different profiles could overwrite each other gets repaired automatically
"Random" set to Integer actually works now
A bunch of other bug fixes
Some behavioral changes!
Converting a number to a rotation now actually rotates around the Z-axis (camera axis), instead of rotating all 3 axes by the same amount
Converting a rotation or direction to a number now gives you the on-screen angle. It used to give the average of all 3 components, which wasn't intuitive and needed an extra rotation-converter node
Going back to the regular version: triggers that use nodes which are new in 0.9 won't work there, and .vconnect files can't be imported into the old version. So make a backup before switching!
Have fun, and please report anything weird you find!