Speed up the asset full-quality retry loop (initial backoff now 5s) so fresh server-side tier builds are picked up within seconds; docs updates.

Author: efroemling

.efrocachemap

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-### 1.8.0 (build 22965, api 9, 2026-08-06)
+### 1.8.0 (build 22966, api 9, 2026-08-06)
 - Fully implemented asset packages (more on this soon)
 - Upgraded to Python 3.14. This gives us a few nice useful bits such as zstd
   compression to help speed up online stuff and also means we can get rid of all

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -53,7 +53,11 @@ fast-path (`kSimpleComponentInlineColor`), which a centralized premultiply in
 in the renderer.
 
 Callers that follow this: `text_node`, `image_node`, `text_widget`,
-`screen_messages`, `image_widget`, `button_widget` (background + icon),
+`screen_messages` (both text passes, plus — missed until a 2026-08 fix for
+a fade-end pop — the bottom-message shadow nine-patch and top-message
+icons; a "follower" here can still be only partial, so when hunting a
+fade bug check every `SetColor` in the file, not just this list),
+`image_widget`, `button_widget` (background + icon),
 `spinner_widget`, `scroll_widget` / `h_scroll_widget` (troughs, page
 buttons, outlines), `container_widget`, `touch_input` (on-screen joystick +
 action buttons), `locator_node`, `scorch_node`, `spaz_node` (name text,

docs/design/premultiplied-alpha.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     "bauiv1lib": "buil"
   },
   "efrocache_repository_url": "https://files.ballistica.net/cache/ba1",
-  "engine_build_number": 22965,
+  "engine_build_number": 22966,
   "name": "BallisticaKit",
   "public": true,
   "python_paths": [
@@ -43,5 +43,5 @@
     "tests",
     "config"
   ],
-  "version": "1.8.0a73"
+  "version": "1.8.0a74"
 }

pconfig/projectconfig.json

@@ -185,9 +185,11 @@ def _flatten_fell_back(
 #: runs while any resolved package is on fallback-quality flavors (see
 #: :meth:`AssetSubsystem._quality_retry_loop`). The server enqueues the
 #: requested tier's build the moment it serves a substitute, and those
-#: builds typically land within a few minutes, so we start checking
-#: soon-ish and back off to a gentle steady-state poll.
-_QUALITY_RETRY_MIN_SECONDS = 30.0
+#: builds typically land within minutes (sometimes seconds when only a
+#: little was missing), so we start checking almost immediately —
+#: no-progress retries are just a cheap Tier-1 round-trip — and double
+#: our way out to a gentle steady-state poll.
+_QUALITY_RETRY_MIN_SECONDS = 5.0
 _QUALITY_RETRY_MAX_SECONDS = 900.0
 
 _BUCKET_FALLBACKS: dict[str, str | None] = {

src/assets/ba_data/python/babase/_assetsubsystem.py

@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@
 
 # Build number and version of the ballistica binary we expect to be
 # using.
-TARGET_BALLISTICA_BUILD = 22965
-TARGET_BALLISTICA_VERSION = '1.8.0a73'
+TARGET_BALLISTICA_BUILD = 22966
+TARGET_BALLISTICA_VERSION = '1.8.0a74'
 
 
 @dataclass

src/assets/ba_data/python/baenv.py

@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ auto main(int argc, char** argv) -> int {
 namespace ballistica {
 
 // These are set automatically via script; don't modify them here.
-const int kEngineBuildNumber = 22965;
-const char* kEngineVersion = "1.8.0a73";
+const int kEngineBuildNumber = 22966;
+const char* kEngineVersion = "1.8.0a74";
 const int kEngineApiVersion = 9;
 
 #if BA_MONOLITHIC_BUILD