Bevy 0.20

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The Bevy project has released version 0.20 of its open-source Rust game engine on crates.io. The update includes performance and compatibility changes to its Solari pathtraced renderer, revised BSN scene syntax, new UI widgets, WESL shader-language adoption and custom materials for 2D sprites.

Bevy 0.20, the latest release of the open-source game engine written in Rust, is available on crates.io, the project announced. The update changes the Solari realtime pathtraced renderer, revises the syntax of the Bevy Scene (BSN) system and adds development tools for UI, shaders and 2D materials.

The Bevy project said the release involved 227 contributors, 817 pull requests and community reviewers. Its highlights include Solari improvements to image quality, CPU costs and platform support. Solari now runs on macOS through Metal, and supports lighting from Atmosphere and EnvironmentMapLights on cameras, alongside its existing support for DirectionalLight and emissive meshes. Support for PointLight, SpotLight and RectLight is still planned, according to the announcement.

Solari’s ReSTIR lighting technique is now optional and disabled by default. The Bevy team said ReSTIR can consume considerable performance in some scenes without a substantial image-quality gain, particularly when DLSS Ray Reconstruction is used. Turning it off can mean lower shadow quality and missing shadows in motion in scenes with many lights. Developers who used Solari in 0.19 may need to re-enable it through SolariLighting::restir if their projects require it.

The release also updates DLSS support: Bevy’s dlss_wgpu crate now supports DLSS-RR 4.5, which the project says improves denoising quality in Solari. Existing DLSS users must obtain and set up the latest DLSS SDK or they may encounter compiler errors. On macOS, Bevy says Solari currently has no built-in denoiser; MetalFX Ray Reconstruction is described as a possible future option, not a feature included in this release.

For Bevy’s scene system, BSN, the release makes scene references explicit with an @ prefix and removes the need for template_value wrappers around component values. Enums can be used without the VariantDefaults or FromTemplate requirements if they implement Default and Clone. The project says the syntax changes were made to improve readability and composition. Developers updating an existing app or plugin can consult the project’s 0.19-to-0.20 migration guide.

Other additions include Color Input, Scrollable List View, Dropdown Selection and Lazy Menu widgets in Bevy Feathers, the engine’s editor-oriented UI toolkit. Number Input can now be scrubbed or dragged, and headless tab widgets have been added. Bevy 0.20 also supports custom shader materials for sprites, extendable 2D mesh materials, and a pan-orbit camera for CAD-like scene navigation. The project has adopted WESL, a standardized extension of WGSL, as its shader language.

Rendering Changes Affect Existing Projects

The update matters both to teams starting new projects and to developers maintaining Bevy 0.19 apps. The most consequential adjustment may be Solari’s new default: projects that relied on ReSTIR can see different shadows after upgrading unless developers check the setting and opt back in where needed. That trade-off reflects the project’s stated effort to reduce rendering costs when the technique brings limited quality benefits.

Solari’s expanded macOS support gives developers another platform on which to run the renderer, but the missing built-in macOS denoiser is a practical limitation. DLSS users also have a specific upgrade task: install the newer SDK to avoid compiler errors. Meanwhile, BSN syntax changes mean scene files and code using the old forms may need migration. The new widgets, material options and WESL adoption broaden the tools available, but the release announcement does not claim that every feature is production-ready for every project or device.

A Release Built Across 817 Pull Requests

Bevy describes itself as a data-driven game engine built in Rust, and its release announcement presents 0.20 as a collection of features, fixes and quality-of-life changes added since the previous release a few months earlier. The project makes the engine available as free, open-source software and distributes the release through crates.io.

The announcement points developers to separate resources for trying Bevy, finding community plugins and learning materials, and moving from 0.19 to 0.20. Its Solari overview also directs readers to a technical blog post by contributor JMS55 for implementation details. The release notes supplied here describe WESL as a standardized WGSL extension and say Bevy has worked with the WESL team on shader-development plans; they do not set out a timetable for later shader changes.

““we’ve decided to make ReSTIR optional, and turn it off by default.””

— The Bevy project, in its 0.20 release announcement

Renderer Support Still Has Gaps

The release announcement does not provide benchmark figures quantifying Solari’s performance gains or specify how results vary across hardware and scenes. The effects of disabling ReSTIR will depend on each project’s lighting setup; the project identifies possible shadow-quality losses but does not give a single expected result for all users.

Some platform and feature details remain open. Solari lacks a built-in macOS denoiser in this release, and support for PointLight, SpotLight and RectLight is described as something the team hopes to add in the near future. The announcement does not provide a delivery date for that support or for a possible MetalFX-based denoising option. It also does not give a complete list here of every migration change, so developers should use the official migration guide when upgrading.

Upgrade With the Migration Guide

Bevy 0.20 is available now through crates.io. Developers moving from 0.19 should review the project’s migration guide, check BSN syntax and test their scenes after updating. Solari users should verify whether their project depends on ReSTIR, and DLSS users should install the current SDK version specified by the release instructions.

Further renderer work is planned, but the announcement gives no dates for additional light-type support or a macOS denoiser. Developers can follow the project’s future releases and contribute to the open-source work; Bevy says contributions to the potential MetalFX route are welcome.

Key Questions

What is Bevy 0.20?

Bevy 0.20 is a new release of the open-source game engine written in Rust. It is available on crates.io and includes changes to rendering, scenes, UI tools, shaders and 2D materials.

What changed in Solari?

The realtime pathtraced renderer received image-quality, CPU-cost and compatibility updates, including macOS support through Metal. ReSTIR is now off by default, so developers may need to enable it again if their scenes rely on it for shadow quality.

Do Bevy 0.19 projects need changes to upgrade?

They may. The release changes BSN scene syntax, and the project directs developers to its 0.19-to-0.20 migration guide. Existing DLSS users also need to set up the latest DLSS SDK to avoid compiler errors.

Does Bevy 0.20 include a macOS Solari denoiser?

No built-in macOS denoiser is included in Bevy’s Solari plugin in this release, according to the announcement. The project mentions MetalFX Ray Reconstruction only as a possible future option.

Which new UI and material features are included?

Bevy Feathers adds Color Input, Scrollable List View, Dropdown Selection and Lazy Menu widgets, plus headless tab widgets and draggable Number Input. The release also adds custom shader materials for sprites and allows 2D mesh materials to be extended.

Source: hn