It's not just code changes either. There are node renames and also the materials are different. It's a lot of work to port a large 3.x project to 4.0. I tried to port Ella and I just could not get it to look the same. But it looked great with a new project.

5 months later
1 post was split to spm.

I downloaded the Appimage for Godot 4 but though the 3.5 version runs fine, when trying to execute the 4.0 one I get an error message : "Your video card driver does not support any of the supported Vulkan or OpenGL versions.
Please update your drivers or if you have a very old or integrated GPU, upgrade it.
If you have updated your graphics drivers recently, try rebooting."

I do have an integrated GPU I believe, I'm working on a Thinkpad T430 laptop.
Does that mean that I can't use at all Godot 4 ?

I'm just trying to make 2D games for now, shouldn't need advanced graphic cards...

Does that mean that I can't use at all Godot 4 ?

Most likely yeah, until you get the comp up to date.

I'm just trying to make 2D games for now, shouldn't need advanced graphic cards...

Then better get on with using the 3.5.

    Tomcat I'm just trying to make 2D games for now, shouldn't need advanced graphic cards...

    Then better get on with using the 3.5.

    While you wait for 4.1/4.2. There's plans for a more widely supported but less cutting edge renderer for later installments of godot 4.

      Tomcat until you get the comp up to date

      You mean hardware-wise or driver-wise ?
      I'm on OpenSuse on this computer (and will maybe switch back to Debian one day) and doesn't really plan to change the hardware beyond adding a SSD.
      Though maybe external graphic cards are a possibility ?

        Megalomaniak While you wait for 4.1/4.2. There's plans for a more widely supported but less cutting edge renderer for later installments of godot 4.

        OK, thank you for the info.
        Any idea of when a usable release of these versions are supposed to happen ?

          LienRag You mean hardware-wise or driver-wise ?

          Perhaps due to a mistranslation I didn't make myself clear. I mean hardware. But as @Megalomaniak said there might be support for older hardware in the future.

          LienRag Any idea of when a usable release of these versions are supposed to happen ?

          Definitely not this year, maybe even not next. Remains to be seen. TBD.

          Well Godot 4.0 is likely releasing next year. When is anyone's guess, maybe in early 2023, who knows. OpenGL support in there already (you can test it now, but it's unfinished) and won't come officially until Godot 4.1. This will be the major release that finishes the missing features (OpenGL, HTML5, etc.). When this comes, I don't know. Well, no one knows, because there is a ton of work left. My guess would be late 2023 or early 2024 (though we may have beta before then). Granted, I think OpenGL support is super important, and I plan to help with the development, but it's a huge project. I think maybe it could be prioritized (since other people like you are using older laptops) but, even then, I think mid 2023 is a best case scenario.

            cybereality OpenGL support in there already (you can test it now, but it's unfinished)

            How ?
            And is it completely buggy or mostly usable ?
            I really don't need anything fancy, I'm just trying to build a mock-up, so the quality of animation is not important.

              LienRag I really don't need anything fancy, I'm just trying to build a mock-up, so the quality of animation is not important.

              Using version 3.x for prototyping gameplay loop and level layouting should be perfectly fine then.

                Just use Godot 3.x. It's not worth dealing with the bugs right now and we are a good year away from stable.

                cybereality changed the title to Godot 4.0 Alpha is Available .

                cybereality
                I can actually see Godot continuing to get bits of version 4 all the way into version 3.9 (to the point where the main things you get from switching is the Vulkan renderer and some of the major GDscript changes). The current plan is for Godot 3.6 to wrap up the stable branch until 4, but it is common for plans to change in FOSS.

                At the least, the fact the backporting team performs as good as they are is probably buying the main devs. a lot of time. The continued 3.x releases with version 4 features allow for continued growth of the engine and the userbase in the meantime.

                Yeah, most of the improvements (aside from the graphics) have been getting back-ported, so there is not a huge need to move to 4.0 right now. I mean, it will be great when it's stable but it's not worth the mental health pain of dealing with crashing software.

                Megalomaniak

                Thanks, will do.
                Here you write that only Open GL 2 will be supported by Godot 4 (4.1 if I understand your more recent post), not OpenGL 3 ?
                Is that still true ?
                So I should choose to create my project with Open GL 2 then I guess ?

                  Things have changed, @LienRag . Godot 4.0 (currently) is using Vulkan only. The old OpenGL code is mostly removed/disabled. The developers decided to update to OpenGL 3.3 (but restricted to the OpenGL ES 3.0 feature set). This also means HTML5 will only be supported on WebGL 2.0. This will be similar to the current GLES 3.0 features of Godot 3.x. Some things will be better, but I believe some things will be missing, at least at first. You would have to have a really old desktop GPU to not have OpenGL 3.3 support. Anything made in probably the last 10 years or so will be fine. Vulkan is better, and will have more features, but you will need a better and/or newer GPU to use it.

                  If you are working on a project now, I would recommend sticking with Godot 3.x for the time being. Godot 4.0 is in alpha and is very unstable and unfinished. I did make some small projects with it, it works okay, but it crashes a lot and some things don't work. So I would not recommend releasing a serious commercial game with it now. The stable release is likely going to be next year. So your best bet is to stick with Godot 3.x for now, and just test the alphas to provide feedback, but don't port your project until later next year. You can also stick with Godot 3.x and use the GLES 2.0 renderer, if you need to support low spec or old laptops and stuff. Because Godot 4.x will have higher requirements.

                  That said, I'm building my game in Godot 4.0, because I think it will take around 1 - 2 years to finish, so it's a long term investment for me. If your game is smaller in scope, you don't want to risk using 4.0 (for example, if it's a 6 month project). But if you think you will be working on something for several years, maybe it would be worth learning Godot 4.x now. It depends on what you are doing.