Add 4.4.1-rc2 blog post (#1040)

_data/versions.yml

@@ -4,9 +4,13 @@
   release_notes: "/article/dev-snapshot-godot-4-5-dev-1/"
 
 - name: "4.4.1"
-  flavor: "rc1"
-  release_date: "14 March 2025"
-  release_notes: "/article/release-candidate-godot-4-4-1-rc-1/"
+  flavor: "rc2"
+  release_date: "21 March 2025"
+  release_notes: "/article/release-candidate-godot-4-4-1-rc-2/"
+  releases:
+    - name: "rc1"
+      release_date: "14 March 2025"
+      release_notes: "/article/release-candidate-godot-4-4-1-rc-1/"
 
 - name: "4.4"
   flavor: "stable"

collections/_article/release-candidate-godot-4-4-1-rc-2.md

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+---
+title: "Release candidate: Godot 4.4.1 RC 2"
+excerpt: "Closing in on the first maintenance release for Godot 4.4, fixing a number of regressions and other significant bugs found in this month's feature release."
+categories: ["pre-release"]
+author: Rémi Verschelde
+image: /storage/blog/covers/release-candidate-godot-4-4-1-rc-2.webp
+image_caption_title: "Haulin' Oats"
+image_caption_description: "A game by Gramps Games"
+date: 2025-03-21 17:00:00
+---
+
+We released [Godot 4.4](/releases/4.4/) in early March and we are delighted to see the reception, with so many users upgrading to it on day 1 and sharing their favorite new changes on social media! If you haven't seen the [**4.4 release page**](/releases/4.4/), it's well worth a read!
+
+Since then, we've started the development phase for Godot 4.5 at full speed (with a first [dev snapshot](/article/dev-snapshot-godot-4-5-dev-1/) released yesterday!), but we also put our main focus on fixing remaining and newly reported regressions that affect users who upgraded to 4.4. A few of these issues can be showstoppers for affected users, so we decided to release a 4.4.1 maintenance release as soon as possible.
+
+After a first [4.4.1-rc1 snapshot](/article/release-candidate-godot-4-4-1-rc-1/) last week, we decided to make a second release candidate as a few more critical bugs had fixes available to backport. Please test it if you can and report any new issue that was not present in 4.4-stable, as we want to ensure we don't introduce new regressions in this hotfix release.
+
+Maintenance releases are expected to be safe for an upgrade, but we recommend to always make backups, or use a version control system such as Git, to preserve your projects in case of corruption or data loss.
+
+Please, consider [supporting the project financially](#support), if you are able. Godot is maintained by the efforts of volunteers and a small team of paid contributors. Your donations go towards sponsoring their work and ensuring they can dedicate their undivided attention to the needs of the project.
+
+[Jump to the **Downloads** section](#downloads), and give it a spin right now, or continue reading to learn more about improvements in this release. You can also [try the **Web editor**](https://editor.godotengine.org/releases/4.4.1.rc2/) or the **Android editor** for this release. If you are interested in the latter, please request to join [our testing group](https://groups.google.com/g/godot-testers) to get access to pre-release builds.
+
+-----
+
+*The illustration picture for this article comes from* [**Haulin' Oats**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1254770/Haulin_Oats/?curator_clanid=41324400), *a board game about truck driving, the US highways, and oatmeal (?!), which was recently released in version 1.0 [on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1254770/Haulin_Oats/?curator_clanid=41324400). It is developed by [Gramps Garcia](https://grampsgarcia.com/), the tireless maintainer of the popular [GodotSteam](https://godotsteam.com/) integration for the Steamworks SDK.*
+
+## What's new
+
+**21 contributors** submitted around **39 improvements** for this release. See our [**interactive changelog**](https://godotengine.github.io/godot-interactive-changelog/#4.4.1-rc2) for the complete list of changes since the [4.4.1-rc1 snapshot](/article/release-candidate-godot-4-4-1-rc-1/). You can also review [all changes included in 4.4.1](https://godotengine.github.io/godot-interactive-changelog/#4.4.1) compared to the 4.4 release.
+
+Below are the most notable changes in this second release candidate (with critical fixes highlighted in bold):
+
+- 3D: Fix `RemoteTransform3D` to always use global rotation if `use_global_coordinates` is true ([GH-97498](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/97498)).
+- Animation: Fix console errors and crash in cleanup code for PhysicalBoneSimulator3D ([GH-103921](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/103921)).
+- Animation: Fix rest translation space in `LookAtModifier3D` ([GH-104217](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104217)).
+- Core: Use single RNG instance for `FileAccessEncrypted` IV generation ([GH-103415](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/103415)).
+- Editor: Make `EditorProperty` and its child `EditorProperty` behave like sibling nodes when handling mouse events ([GH-103316](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/103316)).
+- Editor: Create .uid files for detected new files ([GH-104248](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104248)).
+- Editor: Change root node transform warning to only show up for position ([GH-104331](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104331)).
+- Editor: Fix use after free in the editor inspector section cleanup ([GH-104362](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104362)).
+- Export: Android: Convert `compress_native_libraries` to a basic export option ([GH-104301](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104301)).
+- GDScript: Fix head class range to include `class_name` ([GH-104114](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104114)).
+- GDScript: Add clearing of `static_gdscript_cache` to `GDScriptCache` ([GH-104281](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104281)).
+- GUI: Fix error when embedded popup is closed while resizing ([GH-102504](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/102504)).
+- GUI: Label: Fix min. size calculation counting extra spacing twice ([GH-103728](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/103728)).
+- **Import: Force multiple of 4 sizes for Betsy compressor ([GH-104275](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104275)).**
+- Import: Fix crash when reimporting nested gltf scenes ([GH-104384](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104384)).
+- Input: macOS/iOS: Ensure only one axis change event is produced during single `process_joypads()` call ([GH-104314](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104314)).
+- **Physics: Fix interpolation in XR ([GH-103233](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/103233)).**
+- Physics: Fix `ConcavePolygonShape3D` always enabling `backface_collision` when using Jolt Physics ([GH-104310](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104310)).
+- **Plugin: JavaClassWrapper: Fix mistake in last fix for `org.godotengine.godot.Dictionary` conversion ([GH-104156](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104156)).**
+- Porting: macOS: Fix editor loading crash on native menu click ([GH-103892](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/103892)).
+- Porting: macOS: Update mouse-entered state when subwindow closes ([GH-104328](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104328)).
+- **Rendering: Vulkan: Disable layers in editor deemed buggy by RenderDoc ([GH-104154](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104154)).**
+- Rendering: Fix Metal handling of cube textures; assert equal dimensions ([GH-104341](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104341)).
+- XR: Correct occlusion culling viewport location calculation when projection uses asymmetric FOV ([GH-104249](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/104249)).
+
+This release is built from commit [`abef5e0d2`](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/commit/abef5e0d23a7f031ae7df90ccf49d650444b9685).
+
+## Downloads
+
+{% include articles/download_card.html version="4.4.1" release="rc2" article=page %}
+
+**Standard build** includes support for GDScript and GDExtension.
+
+**.NET build** (marked as `mono`) includes support for C#, as well as GDScript and GDExtension.
+
+{% include articles/prerelease_notice.html %}
+
+## Known issues
+
+There are currently no known issues introduced by this release.
+
+With every release we accept that there are going to be various issues, which have already been reported but haven't been fixed yet. See the GitHub issue tracker for a complete list of [known bugs](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Abug+).
+
+## Bug reports
+
+As a tester, we encourage you to [open bug reports](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues) if you experience issues with this release. Please check the [existing issues on GitHub](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues) first, using the search function with relevant keywords, to ensure that the bug you experience is not already known.
+
+In particular, any change that would cause a regression in your projects is very important to report (e.g. if something that worked fine in previous 4.x releases, but no longer works in this snapshot).
+
+## Support
+
+Godot is a non-profit, open source game engine developed by hundreds of contributors on their free time, as well as a handful of part and full-time developers hired thanks to [generous donations from the Godot community](https://fund.godotengine.org/). A big thank you to everyone who has contributed [their time](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/master/AUTHORS.md) or [their financial support](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/master/DONORS.md) to the project!
+
+If you'd like to support the project financially and help us secure our future hires, you can do so using the [Godot Development Fund](https://fund.godotengine.org/).
+
+<a class="btn" href="https://fund.godotengine.org/">Donate now</a>