Add dev log for v26.05

_pages/download.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ tagline: "Get the latest and the greatest release here."
 layout: single
 classes: wide
 permalink: /download/
-latest_version: "26.04"
+latest_version: "26.05"
 ---
 
 # Downloading the game

_posts/2026/2026-05-24-openloco-v26.05.md

@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+---
+title:      "OpenLoco version 26.05"
+tagline:    "Release blog post"
+author:     "Aaron van Geffen"
+date:       2026-05-30 10:00 +0200
+layout:     single
+classes:    wide
+categories: news
+---
+
+OpenLoco v26.05 is out! This month's release focuses primarily on some quality-of-life UI changes,
+while also addressing some annoying bugs and paving the way for a better codebase.
+
+
+## Making cargo more intuitive
+
+To indicate what cargo is produced by industries and what cargo passes through stations, Locomotion
+uses small icons in various places. This makes sense when you consider the game originally had to
+run on displays with resolutions of 640×480 or 800×600. While experienced players have likely memorised
+the meaning of all these icons, they do make it quite hard for new players to pick things up.
+Well, nowadays we can afford to use up a bit more space, right?
+
+This month, we've reworked the station construction tab to list cargo produced and accepted by
+a new station in full, with a label next to the icons
+([#3734](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3734)).
+
+Before:
+
+![Station construction, before](/assets/img/26.05/construct_cargo_before.png)
+
+After:
+
+![Station construction, after](/assets/img/26.05/construct_cargo_after.png)
+
+We've also added tooltips to the cargo icons in the station window, so you can still quickly look up
+what an icon means without having to check the construction window again
+([#3735](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3735)).
+
+![Station construction, after](/assets/img/26.05/station_window_cargo.png)
+
+
+## Increase dimensions of Build Vehicle window
+
+Last month, we introduced [new sorting options](/news/2026/04/openloco-v26.04.html#add-more-sorting-options-when-building-vehicles)
+for the Build Vehicle window. Thinking the sort options weren't that easy to discover, and the window
+felt a little cramped anyway, @AaronVanGeffen set out to improve the window further. The sort options
+have been moved into a dropdown of their own, and the window has been made a little larger by default
+[(#3710)](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3710).
+
+Before:
+![Build Vehicle window, before](/assets/img/26.05/build_vehicle_before.png)
+
+After:
+![Build Vehicle window, after](/assets/img/26.05/build_vehicle_after.png)
+
+
+## Fix item removal in various list windows
+
+We also changed the way [list windows work](/news/2026/04/openloco-v26.04.html#refactor-list-windows-to-use-faster-sorting-algorithm)
+last month. While our tests looked very promising, there was one thing we did not properly test:
+item removal. Suppose you deleted a vehicle while the vehicle list was open? Yeah, the game would crash.
+Oops. The same thing happened with the other list windows: stations, towns, industries, and companies.
+We've reworked the way items are removed ([#3727](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3727)),
+so this shouldn't bug us again.
+
+Our rework presented another edge case when regenerating the landscape in the scenario editor.
+If you happened to have the town or industry list windows open, their lists would not fully refresh.
+Suppose you regenerated with more or fewer towns or indeed industries, the list would refresh,
+but not repopulate. This meant entries would potentially be missing — or lead to invalid entries.
+We've added a hard refresh to both windows for this particular situation
+([#3733](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3733)).
+
+
+## Fix save state not being deterministic without auto save
+
+Something that puzzled us in the past, but ultimately forgot about, was that save games would
+not give the exact same result _on disk_ unless autosaves had been enabled. Our replay checks always
+used autosaves, though, so surely there couldn't be a big problem?
+
+Aiming for a perfectly deterministic simulation, @ZehMatt investigated the matter once more.
+He found the whole reason it was not deterministic to be that there was lingering game state for stations.
+When autosaves were enabled, it would zero some fields out every time an autosave was performed.
+In particular, this also impacted how cargo stats were calculated, since it used the _old_ data,
+which also influenced the pseudo-random number generator (prng).
+
+We have changed the station manager to now explicitly zero-initialise the remaining fields
+when allocating a new station ([#3737](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3737)).
+With that, the game now always outputs binary identical files, and the determinism bug is gone.
+
+
+## Separate OpenLoco into a library and app
+
+When we revamped our CMake config [a few years ago](/news/2022/11/openloco-v22.11.html#project-layout-change-cmake-1686),
+we set out to modularise our codebase to make it easier to create smaller, testable targets.
+This was successful to a degree, but mostly for particular data structures and utility functions.
+The majority of the actual game code was still not explicitly covered by tests, save for replay tests
+covering parts of the simulation. Splitting it up further would be a monumental task, surely...
+
+Cue @ZehMatt. Eager to expand test coverage to include tile element management at least,
+he split up the source tree to distinguish an OpenLoco _library_ from the actual game. This, then,
+would allow targeting particular functions without actually running the full game.
+
+As of [#3742](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3742), this became a reality!
+Many files were moved around to realise this! We now build the source tree as a library,
+with the main game executable using (linking) this library.
+
+
+## Allow setting preferred company name
+
+OpenLoco has allowed players to set up preferred company 'owner' names and faces for a while,
+but for in-game companies, we've been stuck with 'Name Transport' still... until now!
+In [#3720](https://github.com/OpenLoco/OpenLoco/pull/3720), new contributor @Llammissar
+added an exta option to let players set custom _company names_ as well! Neat.
+
+![Custom company names](/assets/img/26.05/custom_company_name.jpg)