ARC 2025.12.21.00 (Pro, Runtime And Free)

This release focuses on performance, reliability, and a healthy amount of housekeeping-plus a few quality-of-life upgrades that quietly make ARC behave better when nobody is looking.

Emulator & Connectivity

• EZ-B Emulator Delay Option
  Added a configurable delay to the EZ-B emulator to simulate a busy device before responding to ARC requests. Perfect for testing real-world timing issues without unplugging anything or yelling at your robot.

• Improved Disconnect Debug Messages
  Connection debug output has been cleaned up and optimized so disconnects now tell you what actually happened instead of just sighing and walking away.

• Enhanced EZ-B Connection Logging
  Connection logs now include detailed parameters such as timeout values, buffer sizes, and serial settings (DTR/RTS). When something goes wrong, you’ll know exactly how wrong it went.

• Accurate Byte Counts on Communication Errors
  The EZ-B communication service now logs only the bytes that were actually received during an error. No more walls of zeroes pretending something useful happened.

• Single-Write Command Transmission
  Commands are now sent as a single write instead of split byte/payload writes, improving reliability and reducing unnecessary overhead.

• Proper Disposal of Wait Handles
  Wait handles are now correctly disposed during connection attempts, preventing resource leaks and other long-running gremlins.

• EZ-B Communication Service Rewrite
  The service has been reworked for more efficient send/receive allocation and now uses optimized stream-based handling for improved performance and stability.

Performance Improvements

• Major EZ-B V4 Audio Manager Optimization
  Significant performance gains by reducing temporary buffer allocations. Less memory churn, smoother audio, happier CPUs.

• Optimized EZ-B V4 Video Service
  Improved performance and more robust error handling for video streaming.

• Task Scheduler Enhancements

  • New, improved Task Scheduler v1, now used by V4 Sound, V4 Video, RGB Animator, and RGB 8x8.
  • Additional performance improvements to Task Scheduler v2 for higher throughput and better concurrency.

• TimerSmart Cross-Thread Enhancement
  Improved cross-thread behavior to ensure timers behave correctly even when threads get creative.

Cloud, Files & Updates

• Unified Cloud Loading UI
  Cloud loading is now integrated directly into the File Open and File Merge dialogs. Local and cloud files live together peacefully in one place.

• Force .ezb Extension on Cloud Projects
  Projects loaded from the cloud and saved locally will now always use the correct .ezb file extension. No more identity crises.

• Close Intro Controls on Cloud Load
  Intro controls now automatically close when loading a project from the cloud for a cleaner transition.

• EZPlugin File Association Added
  .ezplugin files are now properly associated with the plugin Manager.

• MIME Type Renaming
  Robot skill and project MIME types have been standardized and renamed to arc for consistency.

Robot Skill Management

• Smarter robot skill Updates
  ARC now checks the store’s last updated timestamp to determine if the local robot skill list needs refreshing.

  • Updates only occur when needed.
  • Ensures all ARC instances stay in sync with the latest available skills.

• Automatic Failover Skill Refresh
  Even with the smarter logic, ARC will still force a full robot skill refresh every 3 days when an internet connection is available-just in case the internet had a bad day earlier.

• Manual Skill Refresh Option
  Added a new Help menu option to force an immediate update of the available robot skill list. Because sometimes patience is optional.

UI & Logging Polish

• Voltage & Temperature Formatting
  Voltage and temperature values are now rounded to the nearest hundredth in connection logs. Precise, but not obsessively so.

• Clipboard Reliability Improvements

  • All clipboard access now uses a new internal retry-capable clipboard handler.
  • Automatically retries up to 5 times if another application is holding the clipboard hostage.
  • Includes a dedicated function specifically for retrying clipboard access when blocked.

This release is all about fewer surprises, better performance, and clearer diagnostics-whether you’re streaming video, playing audio, loading from the cloud, or wondering why a connection dropped at 3 a.m. ARC now knows more, logs better, and allocates less junk along the way.

As always, robots are encouraged to behave-but ARC is now much better prepared when they don’t.