diff --git a/blast/VERSION.md b/blast/VERSION.md
index 50e2274e6..2d6c0bcf1 100644
--- a/blast/VERSION.md
+++ b/blast/VERSION.md
@@ -1 +1 @@
-5.0.3
+5.0.4
diff --git a/blast/deps/repo-deps.packman.xml b/blast/deps/repo-deps.packman.xml
index e175ebac4..eadeb933b 100644
--- a/blast/deps/repo-deps.packman.xml
+++ b/blast/deps/repo-deps.packman.xml
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 <project toolsVersion="5.0">
   <dependency name="repo_man" linkPath="../_repo/deps/repo_man">
-    <package name="repo_man" version="1.37.0" />
+    <package name="repo_man" version="1.48.1" />
   </dependency>
   <dependency name="repo_build" linkPath="../_repo/deps/repo_build" tags="non-redist">
-    <package name="repo_build" version="0.44.4" />
+    <package name="repo_build" version="0.55.3" />
   </dependency>
 </project>
diff --git a/blast/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/blast/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 5e18198dc..0003ba384 100644
--- a/blast/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/blast/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [5.0.4] - 22-January-2024
+
+### Bugfixes
+- Fixed issue https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/PhysX/issues/207, Island removal doesn't work as expected
+
+
 ## [5.0.3] - 1-November-2023
 
 ### Bugfixes
diff --git a/blast/source/sdk/extensions/authoring/NvBlastExtAuthoringFractureToolImpl.cpp b/blast/source/sdk/extensions/authoring/NvBlastExtAuthoringFractureToolImpl.cpp
index 0cc363a7e..8223bc710 100644
--- a/blast/source/sdk/extensions/authoring/NvBlastExtAuthoringFractureToolImpl.cpp
+++ b/blast/source/sdk/extensions/authoring/NvBlastExtAuthoringFractureToolImpl.cpp
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ Mesh* FractureToolImpl::createChunkMesh(int32_t chunkInfoIndex, bool splitUVs /*
     if (splitUVs)
         compactifyAndTransformVertexBuffer<VrtComp>(_vertexBuffer, edges, sourceVertices, numSourceVerts, numEdges, tm);
     else
-        compactifyAndTransformVertexBuffer<VrtCompNoUV>(_vertexBuffer, edges, sourceVertices, numSourceVerts, numEdges, tm);        
+        compactifyAndTransformVertexBuffer<VrtCompNoUV>(_vertexBuffer, edges, sourceVertices, numSourceVerts, numEdges, tm);
 
     // now fix the order of the edges
     // compacting the vertex buffer can put them out of order
@@ -629,7 +629,7 @@ Mesh* FractureToolImpl::createChunkMesh(int32_t chunkInfoIndex, bool splitUVs /*
         vert.uv[0].x = (vert.uv[0].x - bnd.minimum.x) * scale;
         vert.uv[0].y = (vert.uv[0].y - bnd.minimum.y) * scale;
     }
-    
+
     // build a new mesh from the converted data
     Mesh* chunkMesh = new MeshImpl(vertices, edges, facets, numVerts, numEdges, facetsCount);
     NVBLAST_FREE(edges);
@@ -2105,8 +2105,11 @@ int32_t FractureToolImpl::islandDetectionAndRemoving(int32_t chunkId, bool creat
             }
         }
 
-        if (createAtNewDepth == false || chunkId != 0)
+        if (createAtNewDepth == false)
         {
+            // We need to flag the chunk as changed, in case someone is calling this function directly
+            // Otherwise when called as part of automatic island removal, chunks are already flagged as changed
+            mChunkData[chunkInfoIndex].isChanged = true;
             delete mChunkData[chunkInfoIndex].getMesh();
             Mesh* newMesh0 =
                 new MeshImpl(compVertices[0].data(), compEdges[0].data(), compFacets[0].data(),
diff --git a/blast/tools/packman/bootstrap/configure.bat b/blast/tools/packman/bootstrap/configure.bat
index 3dad020b1..1aff9d870 100644
--- a/blast/tools/packman/bootstrap/configure.bat
+++ b/blast/tools/packman/bootstrap/configure.bat
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-:: Copyright 2019 NVIDIA CORPORATION
+:: Copyright 2019-2023 NVIDIA CORPORATION
 ::
 :: Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 :: you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 :: See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 :: limitations under the License.
 
-set PM_PACKMAN_VERSION=6.56
+set PM_PACKMAN_VERSION=7.10.1
 
 :: Specify where packman command is rooted
 set PM_INSTALL_PATH=%~dp0..
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ if defined PM_PYTHON_EXT (
 	goto PACKMAN
 )
 
-set PM_PYTHON_VERSION=3.7.13-nv1-windows-x86_64
+set PM_PYTHON_VERSION=3.10.5-1-windows-x86_64
 set PM_PYTHON_BASE_DIR=%PM_PACKAGES_ROOT%\python
 set PM_PYTHON_DIR=%PM_PYTHON_BASE_DIR%\%PM_PYTHON_VERSION%
 set PM_PYTHON=%PM_PYTHON_DIR%\python.exe
@@ -95,11 +95,16 @@ if exist "%PM_PYTHON%" (
     if exist "%PM_PYTHON_DIR%" ( rd /s /q "%PM_PYTHON_DIR%" > nul )
 )
 
-:: Perform atomic rename
-rename "%TEMP_FOLDER_NAME%" "%PM_PYTHON_VERSION%" 1> nul
-:: Failure during move, need to clean up and abort
+:: Perform atomic move (allowing ovewrite, /y)
+move /y "%TEMP_FOLDER_NAME%" "%PM_PYTHON_DIR%" 1> nul
+:: Verify that python.exe is now where we expect
+if exist "%PM_PYTHON%" goto PACKMAN
+
+:: Wait a second and try again (can help with access denied weirdness)
+timeout /t 1 /nobreak 1> nul
+move /y "%TEMP_FOLDER_NAME%" "%PM_PYTHON_DIR%" 1> nul
 if %errorlevel% neq 0 (
-    echo !!! Error renaming python !!!
+    echo !!! Error moving python %TEMP_FOLDER_NAME% -> %PM_PYTHON_DIR% !!!
     call :CLEAN_UP_TEMP_FOLDER
     goto ERROR
 )
@@ -114,7 +119,7 @@ if defined PM_MODULE_DIR_EXT (
 
 set PM_MODULE=%PM_MODULE_DIR%\run.py
 
-if exist "%PM_MODULE%" goto ENSURE_7ZA
+if exist "%PM_MODULE%" goto END
 
 :: Clean out broken PM_MODULE_DIR if it exists
 if exist "%PM_MODULE_DIR%" ( rd /s /q "%PM_MODULE_DIR%" > nul )
@@ -137,19 +142,6 @@ if %errorlevel% neq 0 (
 
 del "%TARGET%"
 
-:ENSURE_7ZA
-set PM_7Za_VERSION=22.01-1
-set PM_7Za_PATH=%PM_PACKAGES_ROOT%\7za\%PM_7ZA_VERSION%
-if exist "%PM_7Za_PATH%" goto END
-set PM_7Za_PATH=%PM_PACKAGES_ROOT%\chk\7za\%PM_7ZA_VERSION%
-if exist "%PM_7Za_PATH%" goto END
-
-"%PM_PYTHON%" -S -s -u -E "%PM_MODULE%" pull "%PM_MODULE_DIR%\deps.packman.xml"
-if %errorlevel% neq 0 (
-    echo !!! Error fetching packman dependencies !!!
-    goto ERROR
-)
-
 goto END
 
 :ERROR_MKDIR_PACKAGES_ROOT
diff --git a/blast/tools/packman/config.packman.xml b/blast/tools/packman/config.packman.xml
index d8e5083a6..6e36e665f 100644
--- a/blast/tools/packman/config.packman.xml
+++ b/blast/tools/packman/config.packman.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <config remotes="cloudfront">
     <remote2 name="cloudfront">
-        <transport actions="download" protocol="https" packageLocation="d4i3qtqj3r0z5.cloudfront.net/${name}@${version}" />
-        <transport actions="list upload" configUrl="https://gitlab-master.nvidia.com/hfannar/packman-transports/raw/main/d4i3qtqj3r0z5.cloudfront.toml" />
+        <transport actions="download" protocol="http" packageLocation="d4i3qtqj3r0z5.cloudfront.net/${name}@${version}" />
+        <transport actions="upload" protocol="s3" packageLocation="packages-for-cloudfront" />
+        <transport actions="list" protocol="http" packageLocation="omnipackages.nvidia.com/api/v1/list/cloudfront" />
     </remote2>
 </config>
diff --git a/blast/tools/packman/packman b/blast/tools/packman/packman
index cd4dfd34b..75c78aae5 100644
--- a/blast/tools/packman/packman
+++ b/blast/tools/packman/packman
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# Copyright 2019-2020 NVIDIA CORPORATION
+# Copyright 2019-2023 NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -18,11 +18,13 @@ set -eu
 
 if echo ${PM_VERBOSITY-} | grep -i "debug" > /dev/null ; then
 	set -x
+	PM_CURL_SILENT=""
+	PM_WGET_QUIET=""
 else
 	PM_CURL_SILENT="-s -S"
 	PM_WGET_QUIET="--quiet"
 fi
-PM_PACKMAN_VERSION=6.56
+PM_PACKMAN_VERSION=7.10.1
 
 # This is necessary for newer macOS
 if [ `uname` == 'Darwin' ]; then
@@ -85,7 +87,7 @@ install_python()
 {
 	PLATFORM=`uname`
 	PROCESSOR=`uname -m`
-	PYTHON_VERSION=3.7.13-nv1
+	PYTHON_VERSION=3.10.5-1
 
 	if [ $PLATFORM == 'Darwin' ]; then
 		PYTHON_PACKAGE=$PYTHON_VERSION-macos-x86_64
@@ -154,20 +156,6 @@ if [ ! -f "$PM_MODULE" ]; then
 	fi
 fi
 
-# Ensure 7za package exists:
-PM_7za_VERSION=22.01-1
-export PM_7za_PATH="$PM_PACKAGES_ROOT/7za/$PM_7za_VERSION"
-if [ ! -d "$PM_7za_PATH" ]; then
-    export PM_7za_PATH="$PM_PACKAGES_ROOT/chk/7za/$PM_7za_VERSION"
-    if [ ! -d "$PM_7za_PATH" ]; then
-        "$PM_PYTHON" -S -s -u -E "$PM_MODULE" pull "$PM_MODULE_DIR/deps.packman.xml"
-        if [ "$?" -ne 0 ]; then
-           echo "Failure while installing required 7za package"
-           exit 1
-        fi
-    fi
-fi
-
 # Generate temporary file name for environment variables:
 PM_VAR_PATH=`mktemp -u -t tmp.$$.pmvars.XXXXXX`
 
diff --git a/blast/tools/packman/packman.cmd b/blast/tools/packman/packman.cmd
index b1be5d8b4..e55b2f0e1 100644
--- a/blast/tools/packman/packman.cmd
+++ b/blast/tools/packman/packman.cmd
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 :: RUN_PM_MODULE must always be at the same spot for packman update to work (batch reloads file during update!) 
-:: [xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
+:: [xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
 :: Reset errorlevel status (don't inherit from caller) 
 @call :ECHO_AND_RESET_ERROR
-:: You can remove the call below if you do your own manual configuration of the dev machines
-call "%~dp0\bootstrap\configure.bat"
 
+:: You can remove this section if you do your own manual configuration of the dev machines
+call :CONFIGURE
 if %errorlevel% neq 0 ( exit /b %errorlevel% )
+
 :: Everything below is mandatory
 if not defined PM_PYTHON goto :PYTHON_ENV_ERROR
 if not defined PM_MODULE goto :MODULE_ENV_ERROR
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ exit /b 1
 @echo Error while processing and setting environment variables!
 exit /b 1
 
+:: pad [xxxx]
 :ECHO_AND_RESET_ERROR
 @echo off
 if /I "%PM_VERBOSITY%"=="debug" (
@@ -58,3 +60,30 @@ exit /b 0
 for /f "delims=" %%a in ('%PM_PYTHON% -S -s -u -E -c "import tempfile;file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode='w+t', delete=False);print(file.name)"') do (set PM_VAR_PATH=%%a)
 set PM_VAR_PATH_ARG=--var-path="%PM_VAR_PATH%"
 goto :RUN_PM_MODULE
+
+:CONFIGURE
+:: Must capture and set code page to work around issue #279, powershell invocation mutates console font
+:: This issue only happens in Windows CMD shell when using 65001 code page. Some Git Bash implementations 
+:: don't support chcp so this workaround is a bit convoluted.
+:: Test for chcp:
+chcp > nul 2>&1
+if %errorlevel% equ 0 ( 
+	for /f "tokens=2 delims=:" %%a in ('chcp') do (set PM_OLD_CODE_PAGE=%%a)
+) else (
+	call :ECHO_AND_RESET_ERROR
+)
+:: trim leading space (this is safe even when PM_OLD_CODE_PAGE has not been set)
+set PM_OLD_CODE_PAGE=%PM_OLD_CODE_PAGE:~1%
+if "%PM_OLD_CODE_PAGE%" equ "65001" (
+	chcp 437 > nul
+	set PM_RESTORE_CODE_PAGE=1
+)
+call "%~dp0\bootstrap\configure.bat"
+set PM_CONFIG_ERRORLEVEL=%errorlevel%
+if defined PM_RESTORE_CODE_PAGE (
+	:: Restore code page
+	chcp %PM_OLD_CODE_PAGE% > nul
+)
+set PM_OLD_CODE_PAGE=
+set PM_RESTORE_CODE_PAGE=
+exit /b %PM_CONFIG_ERRORLEVEL%
diff --git a/blast/tools/packman/packmanconf.py b/blast/tools/packman/packmanconf.py
index 48d0e37d3..539d05625 100644
--- a/blast/tools/packman/packmanconf.py
+++ b/blast/tools/packman/packmanconf.py
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ def init():
     """
     major = sys.version_info[0]
     minor = sys.version_info[1]
-    if major != 3 or minor != 7:
+    if major != 3 or minor != 10:
         raise RuntimeError(
-            f"This version of packman requires Python 3.7.x, but {major}.{minor} was provided"
+            f"This version of packman requires Python 3.10.x, but {major}.{minor} was provided"
         )
     conf_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
     os.environ["PM_INSTALL_PATH"] = conf_dir
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def get_packages_root(conf_dir: str) -> str:
         elif platform_name == "Darwin":
             # macOS
             root = os.path.join(
-                os.path.expanduser("~"), "/Library/Application Support/packman-cache"
+                os.path.expanduser("~"), "Library/Application Support/packman-cache"
             )
         elif platform_name == "Linux":
             try:
diff --git a/blast/tools/packman/python.bat b/blast/tools/packman/python.bat
index ef37691b2..08df74f8a 100644
--- a/blast/tools/packman/python.bat
+++ b/blast/tools/packman/python.bat
@@ -13,9 +13,20 @@
 :: limitations under the License.
 
 @echo off
-setlocal
+setlocal enableextensions
 
 call "%~dp0\packman" init
 set "PYTHONPATH=%PM_MODULE_DIR%;%PYTHONPATH%"
-set PYTHONNOUSERSITE=1
-"%PM_PYTHON%" -u %*
+
+if not defined PYTHONNOUSERSITE (
+    set PYTHONNOUSERSITE=1
+)
+
+REM For performance, default to unbuffered; however, allow overriding via
+REM PYTHONUNBUFFERED=0 since PYTHONUNBUFFERED on windows can truncate output
+REM when printing long strings
+if not defined PYTHONUNBUFFERED (
+    set PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+)
+
+"%PM_PYTHON%" %*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/blast/tools/packman/python.sh b/blast/tools/packman/python.sh
index 37c9f1b89..74328bf0d 100755
--- a/blast/tools/packman/python.sh
+++ b/blast/tools/packman/python.sh
@@ -22,11 +22,21 @@ if [ ! -f "$PACKMAN_CMD" ]; then
 fi
 source "$PACKMAN_CMD" init
 export PYTHONPATH="${PM_MODULE_DIR}:${PYTHONPATH}"
-export PYTHONNOUSERSITE=1
+
+if [ -z "${PYTHONNOUSERSITE:-}" ]; then
+    export PYTHONNOUSERSITE=1
+fi
+
+# For performance, default to unbuffered; however, allow overriding via
+# PYTHONUNBUFFERED=0 since PYTHONUNBUFFERED on windows can truncate output
+# when printing long strings
+if [ -z "${PYTHONUNBUFFERED:-}" ]; then
+    export PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
+fi
 
 # workaround for our python not shipping with certs
 if [[ -z ${SSL_CERT_DIR:-} ]]; then
     export SSL_CERT_DIR=/etc/ssl/certs/
 fi
 
-"${PM_PYTHON}" -u "$@"
+"${PM_PYTHON}" "$@"