New Graphics Engine
We've totally rewritten the portion of the graphics engine dealing with pixel shaders, and will be releasing it in steps over the next few days. Pixel shaders are used for nearly all advanced graphics techniques, and while the old engine supported them in a limited way, the new engine allows us to rapidly add shaders for specific materials and effects. On GeForce 2 and below cards, the game will look about the same, but may be a bit faster. On GeForce 3 and above, and Radeon 9600 and above cards, you will notice:

* Much brighter, more vivid lighting.
* Time-of-day lighting - nighttime, sunrise, and sunset.
* Prettier water.
* Dynamic Clouds (just a few for now, quantity will increase later).

Improvements over the next month will probably include:

* Better vegetation
* Much higher quality character textures
* Changeable clothing on character models