OutFox-alpha.4.9.9HF3 Build - How's that new feature coming along?

New Game! (Incorporates Internal Builds 4.9.9HF-rc0 to 4.9.9HF-rc4)

This build fixes several of the reported bugs, as we had to pull the previous release due to operating system updates between release dates. Sometimes having a monthly release schedule is awesome, but it does tire us out!

Anyways... Lets get back to the update.

This mini hotfix includes a few things we were going to leave to the next release, but as we had to fix bugs in them anyway, it was easier to apply.


Signed Mac builds update!

The big news is we (now finally!) have passed the prerequisites for GateKeeper on Mac, so this hotfix should behave and work fine, without any issues. Do remember to just drag and drop as the dmg lets you know how to do so, and it will run as other applications. Thanks to Jose and Squirrel for their efforts, and Jose for puzzling through, and Jousway for fixing one of the bugs in gh mode which was causing issuess as well.


Notes Loading

There were several issues with the notes loaders and how antivirus/software protection apps were seeing OutFox when we were loading simfiles. This alpha hotfix now has addressed this by allowing you all to add more than one simfile in a song folder, cutting down on the folder rabbit hole. As we move to a more multi-game engine, this will also allow you to keep things tidy on your drive, and ensure it is a seamless experience for you all. Of course, please check the audio files are the same for the chart you are going to add to the folder, as you may find you have a nasty sync issue, but we also now support multidifficulty setups, as this is required for pump and taiko specifically.


Difficulty System Revamp

This hotfix also sees a tweak to the difficulty system used in OutFox. In the past it was tied to the DDR paradigm and then left to rot as one of those 'StepMania Things'. This however really stifled what we could do within the engine, especially with modes with different names/brackets etc. With the release of gddm and taiko we needed more difficulties than the game offered, so this has now been resolved. Themes which are based off of 5.1/5.0.x will still work due to the numbers being the same as before. If there are any issues with your theme, do let us know, but we have tested several with no issues.


New #VOLUME and #PAN

These features have been missing from our keysound support since 2002, and we are proud to say that we have them in this hotfix! They are completely supported in gddm from the parser, (do reset your cache of course!) and they also work in beat/popn. taiko will need the support as well, so shout out to Jous for putting up with my waaaahh-luigi on getting it added to the game. This build also supports the hidden chips/keysounds for gddm and we'll work on getting the final compatibility added in due course.


New gh Modernisation

Due to the need to run with a slightly more secure runtime on Mac OS Catalina/Big Sur/Monterey on the Intel based macs there were some functions in our gh mode which gatekeeper did not approve of. The way the notes were cast have been fixed, fever/star power has been sorted to be more gh3 like, and taps and open strums are also tweaked to be better. Please give them a try and let us know! A theme for this mode is in the works, so apologies for the barebone approach we have at the moment. It's also why we are an alpha after all...

ALL:

Mode Specific

  • ❕✅ Fixed SM/SSC Noteloader corruption with some Japanese and Korean Titles/Artists on dance notesloaders
  • ❕✅ Fixed DTX Noteloader memory leak
  • ❕✅ Fixed DTX Parser missing some drums in gddm mode
  • ❕✅ Fixed BMS Keysounds not seeking/reading correctly
  • ❕✅ Fixed PMS Keysounds not buffering correctly
  • ❕✅ Modernise Keysound system to prevent buffer under-runs
  • ❕✅ Fix BMS/PMS missing channels, Hidden notes will come next Alpha
  • ❕✅ Fix beat crash with charts that had more than 866 keysounds
  • ❕✅ Fix popn crash with charts that had more than 1022 keysounds
  • ❕✅ Fix #VOLUME not being applied correctly to beat and gddm keysounds
  • ❕✅ Fix #PAN not being applied to beat and popn keysounds
  • ❕✅ Fix gh loading crash with some older charts.
  • ❕✅ Fixed RageSound preload causing missing chips in gddm and notes in beat
  • ❕✅ Fixed gh crash due to an overzealous lightsman double update
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash in DTX/BMS/PMS due to strings being over optimised on Mac Intel/Linux
  • ❕✅ Fixed gh note types to please the Mac OS gatekeeper gods
  • ❕✅ Fixed gh open strum notes
  • ❕✅ Fixed gh fever to be closer to gh3
  • ❕✅ New gh HOPO notes system
  • ❕✅ Fixed gh tap notes not showing up sometimes on older CHART files

Engine

  • ❕✅ Fixed Screen msg Bug - Closes 17 year old issue
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash in Jukebox with non-dance modes
  • ❕✅ Fixed overflow in tween awareness - Closes 14 year old issue
  • ❕✅ Fixed Actor overflow on tween actions - Closes 14 year old issue
  • ❕✅ Fixed OptionsPrefs issue - Closes #375
  • ❕✅ Fixed editor scrolling issue
  • ❕✅ Fixed editor buffer overflow when using >496 keysounds
  • ❕✅ Fixed editor input being sent garbage
  • ❕✅ Fixed editor input parser arrays
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash in practice mode
  • ❕✅ Fixed endless loop with some older BMS/PMS charts in practice mode - Thanks EDMSPack
  • ❕✅ Fixed potential buffer overflow exploit in soundreader
  • ❕✅ Fixed keysounds being stopped when they didn't need to be, forcing a reload of the sound
  • ❕✅ Fixed Keysound index system
  • ❕✅ New Added save on exit theme metrics for option screens
  • ❕✅ Fixed freeze on game select screen due to missing module - Thanks Kaede!
  • ❕✅ Modernised the notesloader system in preparation for more loaders
  • ❕✅ Fixed some types of charts being erroroneously skipped during the parse load
  • ❕✅ NEW Multi Sim File Loading from 1 directory
  • ❕✅ NEW Non DDR difficulty system so we can properly support other modes

Linux

  • ❕✅ Fixed crash on linux versions that do not support the new Neutral Vendor libraries
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash on Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch with inifile due to a race condition
  • ❕✅ Fixed edge case crash on Clear/Fedora preventing the game booting on some 4.x / < 5.1 Kernels

ARM32/ARM64: (Raspberry Pi etc)

  • ❕✅ Fixed edge case crash on Twister/Raspbian preventing the game booting on some 4.x Kernels
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash on Raspbian with inifile due to a race condition
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash on RockPi 4B/4C when not using the first HDMI port/Audio

Mac OS

  • ❕✅ Fixed input with guitar hero based controllers
  • ❕✅ Rewrote internal gh mode to fix overly harsh input restrictions
  • ❕✅ Fixed internal system to be signed compliant
  • ❕✅ New enhanced build pipeline to ensure signing passes on Mac OS Intel
  • ❕✅ New streamlined and optimised code for Mac M1 now we are properly signed

KNOWN ISSUES: Alpha 4.9.9HF

  • ❕❌ ISSUE Song Charts will not pan the player correctly when being played
  • ❕❌ ISSUE Playing beat/popnsongs on Endless Mode may have a crash on song loading. Please be aware that course mode for these modes are a bit tempremental at the moment!
  • ❕❌ ISSUE gh mode: Some charts have no real 'standard' and will cause a crash when loaded into the game
  • ❕❌ ISSUE techno/popn/gdgf/gddm/gh/para mode: Trying to use the sync audio screen will crash the game - Use dance to sync your game for now
  • ❕❌ ISSUE gddm mode: We do not support the XA codec at this time, it'll play silent.
  • ❕❌ ISSUE beat/popn/gddm some early (pre2013) songs may play some sound samples / keysounds at the wrong speed

Release Date: 31st July 2021

"Hey! Why don't you just get up and dance, man?\"

(Incorporates Internal Builds 4.9.8.1 to 4.9.8.6BE) (Incorporates Internal Builds 4.9.9-rc0 to 4.9.9-rc8)

Alpha Statistics

Commits  Changed files Additions  Deletions
433  2079  185,205 29,552

In Memorium of SHIKI, a long running well known game music musician, who gave us over two decades of music spanning dance, vocaloid and techno, most of which was charted into BMS, SM and others, sadly passed away this month.

This alpha, our loading screen is in memory of one of his more famous StepMania Based Charts, Air.

Air

Digitalic Rain

Angellic Layer

SETSUNA (feat. Hatsune Miku)

Rest In Peace.

SHIKI ?? - 6th July 2021.


TEXTURE FONT GENERATOR V0.34

  • ❕✅🐲📝 Added ? & ! to number glyph profile
  • ❕✅🐲📝 Fixed MFC overflow preventing compile
  • ❕✅🐲📝 Fixed PNG causing a crash on legacy codepages
  • ❕✅🐲📝 Fixed compile on visual studio community 2019

This build requires a cache reset if you are on Linux or MacOS, due to the internal changes. Please find your save folder and delete the contents of /cache. This will make your first time run of 4.9.9 slightly longer as it has to rebuild the index, but it is to accommodate the new modes/setup etc. Please remember to restart the game after doing a cache build, so you do not have as many issues with memory management.

New (and some Old!) Modes Update Version 2

Following on from the last release, we have continued to improve and revamp the note system for the new modes, with Jousway taking the time to make available new types and styles available that were never before. This month fixes some omissions we made from the last release, which slipped through the testing teams.


pump

2021-07-24_180342

We have fixed the scoring bug that was in the previous build, and thank you for those who took the time to report the issues. Keep in mind that Soundwaves still uses 'dance' paradigms for scoring, but other themes that use different scoring systems based on 'pump/piu' should work correctly now.

The tick-count has been tweaked to work correctly as there was a miscalculation in the offset math inherited from upstream. This now behaves as expected.

2021-07-24_203214

Getting random misses on hold heads has been resolved as well as the holds with small tails (mini/micro holds).

Support for co-op charts has been added. 5 player is introduced with up to 10 players support, though the noteskins have not been prepared at this time. The numbers on the noteskins are separately labeled so with a few adjustments and extra assets you will be able to update any noteskin to work with co-op. Co-op charts made on StepF2/StepP1 should work on OutFox, however, better note types are currently being developed by Jousway so that there can be more than 3 real players defined. Stay tuned!

Those of you who have reported that we still have a 'superb' bug on holds, this will be fixed when we introduce the new piu mode - remember the pump mode is getting Quality of Life updates for now, before we move over to updating things properly in the future.

Micro/Miniholds also do not trigger misses/cause a weird tick to happen anymore, and there also are no 'phantom' mines in long (5+ measure) holds - this was an oddity which has been fixed now.

pump2

We're still working on improving SF2/SP1 custom charts parsing. Except for a few charts, you can play the majority of content made for it on OutFox with no problems. As always, if you find any oddities make sure you report them to us!


popn

There was also a reported issue where some of the channels (lanes) of the PMS 7 button mode were not parsing correctly, or were actually being missed completely, resulting in a chart 'misplacing' green and blue lanes. This was due to Squirrel misreading the spec on how BMS98/PMS was transcribed and set up the function wrong. It is fixed in this release.

We also have added 18 lane mode (No PMS/(BME) File support yet though!)

image

Thank you to all of those that took the time to report this and to kick us into getting outfox into a proper BMS/PMS parser. There are still a few features missing from po-mu mode, but these will be added to the game as per the spec (see the table below for more information.)

popn mode also had a few tweaks and adjustments this alpha mainly in how keysounds are loaded within the game. This should now mean the mode should be smoother overall.

image

Thanks to the channels being set right, we also are happy to announce another feature to 'popn' mode: 2 player! This was not available on the original client, but it did always irk us how there was never 2 player options other than 3 button battle. In a future update, there will be a battle mode for 'popn' but for now, enjoy the 2 player fun. We will finally be having a theme for 'popn' in OutFox really soon, so this is finally a move from the 'dance' centric era of the application's past.

Have some fun with mod files from dance on popn-four

image

image

beat will be getting some attention this next quarter!


para

We have given this mode a polish (and for those with an arcade cab, with 3 sensors doing nothing!) we added the 'fabled' 360, or 8 sensor mode. This mode was designed for in the arcade for when the player twirls or turns, but was never actioned. The sensors for the back are actually there! This mode adds that, and for those who feel adventurous, we will be publishing some information on how to make your own 360 8 sensor panel controller in due course.

image


taitai

Announcing our 15th mode!

TaiTai is based off of a popular game where you hit a drum in it's face. The game is horizontally based, with the notes travelling from right to left, and you hit the drum when the note gets to the receptor. The orange notes are for the inner part of the drum, and the blue ones are for the outer rim of the drum.

For the moment, some of the quirkier parts of this mode are a work in progress, bear with us as we also write new parsers for this mode. We plan to add support for the special note types and other effects in the game, as well as improve timing and other bits and pieces that are still yet to do.

Once more, we have no theme for this yet! (We are an alpha after all!) However, we will have a theme available for this soon that will give the mode polish and a playable feel.

We still have the scoring and timing system to finish, along with effects on double notes/taps and the 'roll' notes which you hit as much as you can. Feel free to give it a run and let us know what you think!

image

image

There is a collection of noteskins including Shizuka, Crystal TaiTai and others.

The autogen for this mode has been rewritten by Jousway to include a more TaiTai aware selection of notes, so that we do not get odd holds/overlaps in things. Give it a try!


gddm

This release sees the long awaited updates to our gddm mode!

The lane drawing has been fixed, so that notes or 'chips' as they are referred to display correctly, and we have properly sorted out the 'merged' lane support.

We have planned to 'straddle' support for the DTXMania NX/Ver. K layouts for the specified channels from the documentation, as these appear to be the most popular branches of this. A detailed channel support list will follow later on.

image

As of this build we have fixed loading .DTX files and these support most of the DRUM based side of the loading, see the table below. This will be improved in time, as we get better knowledge of this system.

We also support the 'combined' lane system which adds lane 2 and lane 3's extra notes, and Real mode (again, REAL filenames are yet to be parsed as such, the engine makes a 'guess' on this!)

gddm still needs a lot of work, and optimisation before we will consider it 'ready', so do expect the odd quirk or weird behaviour, and let us know what you think/would like to see as we define the mode and it's featureset and support. we will be working on the gdgf parser in the coming months so that the guitar/bass charts will work as well.

image

We do not support XA file decoding at this time, we are looking into options. If you have a dtx file with XA files contained, they will just be played as silence, but won't crash the game.


Current BMS/PMS/DTX Notedata support as of 4.9.9

Key:

  • ✅ Fully supported and used in Mode
  • ✓ Fully supported and not used in Mode
  • 📝? No Documentation on this channel's support
  • ❌ Not Supported / Not Available
  • ~ Not Used

Channel Support Table

BMS / PMS / DTX Channel BMS Name PMS Name DTX Name OutFox BMS Support OutFox PMS Support OutFox DTX Support OutFox Status Comments NX/Ver. K Support
01 Background Music Background Music Background Music Supported
02 Measure Length Measure length Measure Multiplication factor Supported / OutFox Channel 2 lasts a measure on DTX
03 Set Initial BPM Set Initial BPM Set Initial BPM Supported
04 BGA Base BG Base BG Layer 1 Supported - needs enabling
05 eXtended Object eXtended Object eXtended Object Supported 📝?
06 BGA Layer Miss BGA Poor Not Used Supported - needs enabling ~
07 BGA Layer BG Layer BG Layer 2 Supported - needs enabling sits above channel 4
08 Extended BPM Set BPM Extended BPM Supported - Changes bpm to value
09 Stop Stop Not Used Supported ~
0A BGA Layer 2 BGA Layer 2 Not Used Supported, used for BMS/PMS ~
0B BGA Base Opacity BGA Base Opacity Not Used ~ Not Supported ~
0C BGA Layer Opacity Not Used Not Used ~ ~ Not Supported ~
0D BGA Layer 2 Opacity Not Used Not Used ~ ~ Not Supported ~
0E BGA Poor Opacity BGA Poor Opacity Not Used ~ Not Supported ~
0F Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~

BMS / PMS / DTX Channel BMS Name PMS Name DTX Name OutFox BMS Support OutFox PMS Support OutFox DTX Support OutFox Status Comments NX/Ver. K Support
10 Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~
11 P1 Key 1 P1 Left White HiHatClose Supported
12 P1 Key 2 P1 Left Yellow Snare Supported
13 P1 Key 3 P1 Left Green Bass Drum Supported
14 P1 Key 4 P1 Left Blue High Tom Supported
15 P1 Key 5 P1 Red Low Tom Supported
16 P1 Turn/Scratch Not Used Cymbal ~ Supported
17 P1 FootPedal Not Used Floor Tom ~ Supported
18 P1 Key 6 Not Used High Hat Open ~ Supported
19 P1 Key 7 Not Used Ride Cymbal ~ Supported
1A Not Used Not Used Left Cymbal ~ ~ Supported
1B Not Used Not Used Left Pedal ~ ~ Supported
1C Not Used Not Used Left Bass Drum ~ ~ Supported
1D Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Supported ~
1E Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Supported ~
1F Not Used Not Used Drums Fill in Sound ~ ~ Supported

BMS / PMS / DTX Channel BMS Name PMS Name DTX Name OutFox BMS Support OutFox PMS Support OutFox DTX Support OutFox Status Comments NX/Ver. K Support
20 Not Used Not Used Guitar OPEN ~ ~ Not Supported yet on DTX
21 P2 Key 1 Not Used Guitar xxBxx Not Supported yet on DTX
22 P2 Key 2 P1 Right Blue Guitar xGxxx Not Supported yet on DTX
23 P2 Key 3 P1 Right Green Guitar xGBxx Not Supported yet on DTX
24 P2 Key 4 P1 Right Yellow Guitar Rxxxx Not Supported yet on DTX
25 P2 Key 5 P1 Right White Guitar RxBxx Not Supported yet on DTX
26 P2 Turn/Scratch Not Used Guitar RGxxx ~ Not Supported yet on DTX
27 P2 FootPedal Not Used Guitar RGBxx ~ Not Supported yet on DTX
28 P2 Key 6 Not Used Guitar Wail ~ Not Supported yet on DTX
29 P2 Key 7 Not Used Not Supported ~ ~ Supported ~
2A Not Used Not Used Not Supported ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~
2B Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~
2C Not Used Not Used Guitar Long Note Start/End Point ~ ~ ~ Not Supported ~ AL
2D Not Used Not Used Bass Long Note Start/End Point ~ ~ ~ Not Supported ~ AL
2E Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Supported ~
2F Not Used Not Used Guitar Wailing Sound ~ ~ Not Supported yet on DTX

BMS / PMS / DTX Channel BMS Name PMS Name DTX Name OutFox BMS Support OutFox PMS Support OutFox DTX Support OutFox Status Comments NX/Ver. K Support
30 Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~
31 P1 Key 1 Hidden P1 Left White Hidden HiHatClose Hidden Note BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
32 P1 Key 2 Hidden P1 Left Yellow Hidden Snare Hidden Note BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
33 P1 Key 3 Hidden P1 Left Green Hidden Bass Drum Hidden Note BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
34 P1 Key 4 Hidden P1 Left Blue Hidden High Tom Hidden Note BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
35 P1 Key 5 Hidden Not Used Low Tom Hidden Note ~ BMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
36 P1 Turn/Scratch Hidden Not Used Cymbal Hidden Note ~ BMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
37 P1 FootPedal Hidden Not Used Floor Tom Hidden Note ~ BMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
38 P1 Key 6 Hidden Not Used High Hat Open Hidden Note ~ BMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
39 P1 Key 7 Hidden Not Used Ride Cymbal Hidden Note ~ BMS in 4.9.10 \ Supported
3A Not Used Not Used Left Cymbal Hidden Note ~ ~ Supported
3B Not Used Not Used Left Pedal Hidden Note ~ ~ Supported
3C Not Used Not Used Left Bass Drum Hidden Note ~ ~ Supported
3D Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Supported ~
3E Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Supported ~
3F Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Supported ~

BMS / PMS / DTX Channel BMS Name PMS Name DTX Name OutFox BMS Support OutFox PMS Support OutFox DTX Support OutFox Status Comments NX/Ver. K Support
40 Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~
41 P2 Key 1 Hidden Not Used Not Used ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
42 P2 Key 2 Hidden P1 Right Blue Hidden Not Used ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
43 P2 Key 3 Hidden P1 Right Green Hidden Not Used ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
44 P2 Key 4 Hidden P1 Right Yellow Hidden Not Used ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
45 P2 Key 5 Hidden P1 Right White Hidden Not Used ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
46 P2 Turn/Scratch Hidden Not Used Not Used ~ ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
47 P2 FootPedal Hidden Not Used Not Used ~ ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
48 P2 Key 6 Hidden Not Used Not Used ~ ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
49 P2 Key 7 Hidden Not Used Not Used ~ ~ BMS/PMS in 4.9.10 ~
4A Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~
4B Not Used Not Used Not Used ~ ~ ~ Not Used ~
4C Not Used Not Used Bonus 04 ~ ~ Not Supported
4D Not Used Not Used Bonus 03 ~ ~ Not Supported
4E Not Used Not Used Bonus 02 ~ ~ Not Supported
4F Not Used Not Used Bonus 01 ~ ~ Not Supported

Sound Effect Channels 01 to 32 on DTX are also supported.

For the complete table see Our Wiki (coming shortly as squirrel needs to finish writing them!)


Reordered Game Mode Select Screen

This alpha with the fact we have begun to introduce new modes and features, we have reordered the game modes based on some player/community feedback, with the 'lesser' or 'niche' modes moving down a bit in the order. Makes it easier to find things you need, and please give us feedback if you feel a mode needs more representing/love!

image


Mac OS builds are now signed!

We have finally passed all the requirements to be able to sign the binary, so this means no more xattr stuff anymore! we just act like any other application.

Screen_Shot

Mode Status:

image


New Cross Platform MIDI Driver!

Due to the interest we had been getting from the past two alpha releases in the form of gddm and techno, several players that were not on windows did enquire about the possibility of there being a new MIDI driver available for Mac and Linux users to make use of for their midi fighters, e-drums, etc and we decided as a team to move forward and produce one.

The midi driver stands alone, there is no need to have any extra applications 'translating' it to keystrokes, (unless you're doing midi via an iphone or something like that of course), but native midi controllers work a treat. If you have a midi device and want to try this out, you will need to load up your preferences.ini in your save folder, locate the inputdrivers= part, and then make sure it looks like this inputdrivers=portmidi,SDL

This will allow the midi driver to load, and set up your device. We have currently coded it for a single device at a time, but do let us know if you feel there is a need for multiple device support, or if you find a device that doesn't behave!

I also was able to make a prototype mini FSR pad for midi using a teensy LC and some tiny FSR sensors:

image

This worked a treat, so you can definitely get on to some tinkering if you want to make your own devices to play the game!

This driver works on Windows, Linux, RPi, Mac OS (intel) / Mac OS (M1) and Rockchip aarch64 SoCs

We are still working on latency and control, so let us know if you find anything quirky!


Windows legacy input driver

There has also been work done on a small side part of the game, while we have been waiting for a fix from upstream in regards to the 'polling/framerate' issue that a lot of folks have helping us diagnose for some time. The long and the short of the issue, it meant on some songs, the input would skew towards the update loop rather than honouring it's timestamp, thus producing 'spikes' on the scoring graph at the end of the song, and make a odd looking 'stair' display on the scatter plot of the steps and judgements taken.

To resolve this while we're waiting a fix, we have reimplemented the old legacy driver that was on 5.2/5.1 and adapted it for OutFox. This driver can be tempremental, but it seemed to behave with the devices we tested it with. If you tend to find that your input is affected with the message loop issue, you can set up the driver with the following instructions.

You will need to load up your preferences.ini in your save folder, locate the inputdrivers= part, and then make sure it looks like this inputdrivers=legacy,minisdl

(if you wish to use the new portmidi driver as well you can use InputDrivers=legacy,minisdl,portmidi)

This will allow you to run the game with minimal resources, keeping vsync on, and should remove any previous issues of fps/rate/polling problems. When we have the fix from upstream, we'll revisit and modernise this with the newer drivers and processes.

On the 'test input' screen, you will see a new Window Handler 'Aux' driver. This is just the driver that manages the window controls, maximises, fullscreens, etc, so no need to worry about it. This will also show you, that you have the correct drivers selected in the inputdrivers setting.

image


Rate and Pitch Changes:

Due to an overwhelming set of requests, we have taken time to fix and modernise the rate/haste system which had been broken for a bit since this project began.

Pitch seemed to be a lottery (though we had not seen it work) and all the rate mod used to do was seemingly speed up the song with no other effect or option being honoured.

Similarly, we have moved the ratemod to the first screen of the song options - thanks to the stamina players that popped in to request this, and to mattm for saying that most wanted a speed AND pitch option, which we have called 'both' internally to signify this change.

The new layout looks like so:

image

We have fixed the way the off/speed/pitch/speed and pitch options work, so they actually work. This took quite a bit of time to fix the internal pipelines for these, but the end effect is definitely fun. Thanks to Squirrel, Jousway and Jose for bringing this one up the pipeline to get it done for this release!

image

To ensure compatibility with legacy themes, the system 'defaults' to how it was in 5.0.12, with a 0.01x increase, and being on the main menu as folks requested. This is a long overdue Quality of Life update for this, so we're really pleased it's done.


KNOWN ISSUES: Alpha 4.9.9

  • ❕❌ ISSUE gh mode: Some charts have no real 'standard' and will cause a crash when loaded into the game
  • ❕❌ ISSUE techno/popn/gdgf/gddm/gh/para mode: Trying to use the sync audio screen will crash the game - Use dance to sync your game for now
  • ❕❌ ISSUE gddm mode: We do not support the XA codec at this time, it'll play silent.
  • ❕❌ ISSUE beat/popn/gddm some early (pre2013) songs may play some sound samples / keysounds at the wrong speed

Full Changelog Follows:

ALL:

Mode Specific

  • ❕✅ Fixed DTX Detection of track/lane sizes overflowing the notefield
  • ❕✅ Fixed BMS/DTX/PMS Keysound iterator edge crash
  • ❕✅ New! DTX Fixed Channel allocation
  • ❕✅ New! DTX REAL mode (10 Lane support)
  • ❕✅ New! DTX Dual Note support for lanes that require it
  • ❕✅ New! DTX DTX 1A/1B/1C note channel support
  • ❕✅ New! DTX Parser Support
  • ❕✅ Fixed gh noteskin position issue
  • ❕✅ Fixed popn roll note type explosion
  • ❕✅ Fixed BMS missing difficulties (Thanks InfinitePhantasm!)
  • ❕✅ Fixed PMS missing difficulties (Thanks InfinitePhantasm!)
  • ❕✅ Fixed DTX missing difficulties (Thanks InfinitePhantasm!)
  • ❕✅ New! Added main drum types to DTX loader
  • ❕✅ New! para 8 sensor 360 degree arcade style mode
  • ❕✅ New! Added popn 18 lane (effectively popn-doubles)
  • ❕✅ Fixed BMS Loader array
  • ❕✅ Fixed B36 conversion on BMS/PMS/DTX
  • ❕✅ Fixed PMS Loader array
  • ❕✅ Fixed PMS layouts for 2 player
  • ❕✅ Added popn doubles to style metrics
  • ❕✅ New! Added taitai mode
  • ❕✅ Fixed taitai layout and screen gameplay
  • ❕✅ New! Added taitai to game selection screen
  • ❕✅ Fixed dance row restrictions affecting all modes
  • ❕✅ Fixed bug with double image caching on pump and dance
  • ❕✅ Fixed missing beat content not installed
  • ❕✅ Fixed gdgf issues with strumming
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash with 2 player popn not setting locked difficulties
  • ❕✅ Fixed seeded 2 player shuffle for dance/popn/beat
  • ❕✅ Raise maximum player tracks to 20
  • ❕✅ Fixed 'roulette' of sound volume of game assets
  • ❕✅ Added support to modfiles for 1 column modes
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash on 1 column modes
  • ❕✅ Fixed taitai skins with the rewrite of taitai

Engine

  • ❕✅ New! AutoGen Marker layouts in ScreenSelectMusic
  • ❕✅ New! Haste RateMod control
  • ❕✅ New! Linux RAW support
  • ❕✅ New! JoyStick Threads
  • ❕✅ Fixed x11 title bug in SDL preventing updates to upstream
  • ❕✅ Fixed Ordering of GetBestFullComboTapNoteScore
  • ❕✅ Fixed StepCollector lag in evaluation
  • ❕✅ Fixed NoteDisplay errors in evaluation calculations
  • ❕✅ Fixed common noteskin errors
  • ❕✅ Fixed video banners breaking when backing out (Thanks Jubo!)
  • ❕✅ Fixed video initialisation issue causing some videos to fail to load
  • ❕✅ New! Initial Minefields
  • ❕✅ Fixed extra debug lines
  • ❕✅ Fixed Access Violation on GeForce 4, 100 and 200 series cards
  • ❕✅ Fixed Access Violation on Radeon 5000, 6000 and 7000 series cards
  • ❕✅ New! Optimised compilation chain for AMD based processors
  • ❕✅ Fixed mines appearing in holds issue
  • ❕✅ Fixed ModIconRow cycling into an infinite loop causing freezes on some menus
  • ❕✅ Fixed note updates and crash on HowToPlay
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash with some keysounds while in Editor
  • ❕✅ Fixed hold head active and inactive being swapped on some modes
  • ❕✅ Fixed score calculation on screen evaluation
  • ❕✅ Fixed random mine explosions appearing due to a misplaced math calculation
  • ❕✅ Fixed player calculations
  • ❕✅ Fixed errors in ArrowEffects
  • ❕✅ Fixed RNG engine needlessly being called
  • ❕✅ Fixed RNG stutter
  • ❕✅ Removed RandomGen from the game for a more modern equivalent
  • ❕✅ Fixed global calls and RNG seeds not being used
  • ❕✅ Fixed linux compile and GCC complaints
  • ❕✅ New! Die Rolling / Coin Flip RNG options
  • ❕✅ Fixed duplicate Actor refresh call
  • ❕✅ Fixed spiralz/spiralx overflow in axis calculation
  • ❕✅ New! Added VSync High CPU when not focused pipe
  • ❕✅ New! Added F3 + H for high cpu toggle for streamers
  • ❕✅ Fixed Application knowing whether or not it has focus
  • ❕✅ New! Added faster pow^2 math
  • ❕✅ Forced mipmapping off on things that do not need it
  • ❕✅ New! Added nanosvg support for SVG loading
  • ❕✅ New! Added text support for SVG loading
  • ❕✅ Fixed missing file closure in Rage image loading
  • ❕✅ Fixed parsing of notedata in notedisplay
  • ❕✅ Fixed handle releasing on some textures
  • ❕✅ Fixed bug with notefield math
  • ❕✅ Fixed Soundreader issues with mislabelled songs
  • ❕✅ Fixed Lua Number type casting in NoteField
  • ❕✅ Fixed compiler optimisations causing an AV in note display
  • ❕✅ Fixed surface headers overflow in image loading
  • ❕✅ Fixed bug with GL detection (Thanks Jousway!)
  • ❕✅ Fixed Misaligned notefields with two players
  • ❕✅ Fixed hid issue with some older pads
  • ❕✅ Fixed hold heads being missed when correctly hit
  • ❕✅ Fixed holds shorter than 1/16th being missed
  • ❕✅ Fixed cleanup of elements in screengameplay
  • ❕✅ New! Restored edit mode timing signatures option
  • ❕✅ New! Added modern 'pseudo' RNG to replicate missed 'expected' SM5.x behaviour
  • ❕✅ Fixed bug with missing buttons not being initialised
  • ❕✅ New! Added new Lua hooks to allow consistent modfile RNG generation
  • ❕✅ New! Added new Hardware MIDI handles to allow ultra low latency control
  • ❕✅ Fixed issues with DTX based drumkits only using MIDI channel 9 to send off commands
  • ❕✅ Fixed issues with DJ and Midi fighter style controllers having 'stuck' pad keys
  • ❕✅ New! Added new clap assist sound effect: Drumstick
  • ❕✅ New! Added new metronome sound effect: Pan Lid
  • ❕✅ Fixed bug with metronome and measure sounds
  • ❕✅ New! Added new GL system for initialisation and checking, which is linux safe (Thanks Jous!)
  • ❕✅ New! Added helper message for those with a d3d based renderer entry in their preference.ini
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash with anyone using a 5.0/5.1 d3d entry
  • ❕✅ New! Added effect volume F3 + F / F3 + G option on debug menu
  • ❕✅ Fixed bug that used Windows 98 era code instead of modern equivalents
  • ❕✅ Fixed effect volume turning down the Gameplay music
  • ❕✅ Fixed SDL Init() system
  • ❕✅ Fixed Model animations on P1 when both players are on
  • ❕✅ Fixed Sound reader memory leak issues
  • ❕✅ Fixed SDL input grabbing device handles it shouldn't
  • ❕✅ Fixed adaptable Windows handler so we can detach it from being a massive driver
  • ❕✅ New! Restored Windows resize functions lost due to an SDL bug
  • ❕✅ New! Maximise and Minimise window functions now operate as planned
  • ❕✅ Fixed Lua faults reported in a few noteskins
  • ❕✅ Fixed Bad enumeration generation
  • ❕✅ Adjusted polling system to reduce CPU load
  • ❕✅ Fixed duplicate calls to GetCentreLines()
  • ❕✅ Fixed duplicate calls to DrawHoldPart()
  • ❕✅ Fixed some controller events being stuck in the queue
  • ❕✅ Fixed duplicate calls to GetCentreLines()
  • ❕✅ New! restore Haste to the game
  • ❕✅ Fixed math overflow with Haste
  • ❕✅ Fixed application of Haste within the engine, to prevent odd uses outside of gameplay
  • ❕✅ Fixed re-sampler and command queue for Haste
  • ❕✅ New! moved Haste to an easier menu option
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash with Haste not obeying sound effect option
  • ❕✅ New! Added 'SoundEffectBoth' (Speed + Pitch) option for rate mods
  • ❕✅ New! Restored 'SoundEffectPitch' (Pitch Shift) option for rate mods
  • ❕✅ New! Restored 'SoundEffectOff' (No Effect) option for rate mods
  • ❕✅ Fixed speed being applied on every option
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash with rate < 1.0 on pitch shift
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash with rate > 1.7 on pitch shift
  • ❕✅ Fixed crash in re-sampler when using Speed and Pitch options
  • ❕✅ New! Move Rate mods to an easier menu option
  • ❕✅ Fixed speed mod being called twice when rate was used
  • ❕✅ Fixed smartsort on player options
  • ❕✅ Fixed outfox-color-holds
  • ❕✅ Restored set-color and set-effect
  • ❕✅ Fixed BAO charging for 2 credits
  • ❕✅ Fixed luastring parsing causing an edge crash on models
  • ❕✅ Fixed race condition in BGLayer's loading and unloading systems
  • ❕✅ Fixed pre 2011 Ogg encoder bugged 44,099hz tracks crashing the game
  • ❕✅ Fixed Sound loader buffer overflow
  • ❕✅ Fixed image loader sometimes creating a transparent image
  • ❕✅ Fixed mod parsing speed
  • ❕✅ Fixed illegal OS keyworded lua call
  • ❕✅ Fixed UTF uppercase conversion
  • ❕✅ Fixed Locale lag on some parsing modules
  • ❕✅ Fix Attack sync
  • ❕✅ New! LoadActorForNoteSkin to set color and effect variables
  • ❕✅ New! Beginning of Shift-JIS conversion support
  • ❕✅ New! Force Nvidia/Intel Drivers to correctly update
  • ❕✅ Fixed mouse calls in Lua
  • ❕✅ New! Preference to turn off the deltaclock timer on the stats in top right
  • ❕✅ Fixed character loading race condition
  • ❕✅ Fixed StepsSelector module
  • ❕✅ Fixed dangling file handles (closes #110 and #36 )
  • ❕✅ Fixed KeySound iterator to prevent edge crash on linux
  • ❕✅ Fixed ratemod application for legacy themes
  • ❕✅ Fixed pitch and rate being tied in the effect filter
  • ❕✅ Fixed mismatched placements of notefields on some of the different modes

Windows 7+:

  • ❕✅ Fixed several issues with SDL2's pipeline that was causing weird slowdowns
  • ❕✅ New! Cross Platform PortMIDI driver!
  • ❕✅ Fixed issue with win32 midi driver
  • ❕✅ Made the renderer drivers 64bit safe in preparation for 64bit build
  • ❕✅🐲 New! Win32 Legacy Driver - part fixes #48
  • ❕✅🐲 New! MiniSDL Window handler - part fixes #48

Linux:

  • ❕✅ Added PipeWire driver stub - work in progress
  • ❕✅ Added TurnOffWMCompositor preference for those on KWIN/MATE/Cinnamon etc
  • ❕✅ Disable Wayland support until SDL fixes a few issues
  • ❕✅ Fixed Missing handle in renderer causing some odd edge crashes on KDE
  • ❕✅ New! Cross Platform PortMIDI driver!

MacOS (Intel):

  • ❕✅ Added tweaks to the initialisation method for low level windows to prevent the loading window
  • ❕✅ New! Cross Platform PortMIDI driver!
  • ❕✅ Fixed SDL input system on Monterey (MacOS 12)
  • ❕✅ New! Signed Binary

MacOS (Arm M1):

  • ❕✅ Fixed issue with an edge case lag spike with M1 Airs with using Bluetooth Sound/Controllers
  • ❕✅ New! Cross Platform PortMIDI driver!
  • ❕✅ Fixed SDL input system on Monterey (MacOS 12)
  • ❕✅ New! Signed Binary

ARM32/ARM64: (Raspberry Pi etc)

  • ❕✅ Added pipewire driver stub - work in progress
  • ❕✅ Disable Wayland support until SDL fixes a few issues
  • ❕✅ Added TurnOffWMCompositor preference for those on KWIN/MATE/Cinnamon etc
  • ❕✅ New! Cross Platform PortMIDI driver!

Community content

Noteskins

  • New! gddmnoteskin: default with real support from Jousway
  • New! ez2 noteskin: default from Lirodon
  • New! taiko noteskin: crystal-taitai from Lirodon
  • New! taiko noteskin: shizuka from Lirodon (graphics) and Jousway
  • New! taiko noteskin: taitai and taitai3d from Jousway
  • New! gdgf noteskin guitarDTX by yaladre

Theme

  • New! Soundwaves color scheme Golden Dawn by Moru.
  • ✅ All other color schemes previously exclusive to Soundwaves Community Edition have been brought upstream ("BISTRO", "Invert Standard", "Rainbow FUN", "Baby Pink", "Sunny Day", and "The Blood")
  • New! Soundwaves feature by Ksempac (merged from Soundwaves Community Edition); color scheme system now supports changing difficulty colors (check out Fuego and CincoCero for examples).

Translations

  • ✅ Translations updated from Moru, SHRMP0 and SheepyChris (Brazilian Portuguese)
  • ✅ Translations updated from Moneko (Polish)
  • ✅ Translations updated from Hanubeki (Japanese)
  • ✅ Translations updated from Jose_Varela (Spanish)
  • ✅ Translations updated from Daniel Rotwind (German)
  • ✅ Translations updated from Ksempac (French)
  • ✅ Translations updated from Snil4 (Hebrew)