StepMania 5.3 Alpha 4.9.6 has been released!
-This is our first official build with a native binary avaliable for the new - ARM-based Macs (Apple M1). With this release, we are one of the first - macOS-compatible games to have a version compiled natively for Apple M1, and - one of the first with full controller and pad support as well. We demoed the - build, as well as its controller support, in a recent - Twitch broadcast.
-This is our final build for 2020, and also marks the one-year anniversary of - our first public release!
-Check out the full changelog here - for more information.
+++"An Alpha is never late, it arrives precisely when it means to!"
+
Project OutFox 5.3 Alpha 4.9.8 has been released! There is a + lot to go over with this release, including new game modes, + user-facing features, and other internal bug fixes and improvements.
+Gameplay features
+Game types
+One of our major goals with 5.3 has been to improve its various gametypes, + and add new ones never implemented in StepMania before. Many of them have + been neglected for years or even a decade, so they have been buggy and + incomplete.
+
Alpha 4.9.8 contains improvements to a number of gametypes (including new + styles, and updates to the parsers for BMS and PMS), as well as one + brand-new gametype:
+-
+
- gdgf (renamed from "guitar"): We have added a 6-fret
+ style. This mode and its sister drum gametype gddm will
+ support a
DTXloader in the future, but you can also use + the built-in editor to author drum and guitar charts in the standard +.SSCformat too.
+ - popn: This mode has been around for a very long time,
+ but has not really had any support or been looked at since before 2010.
+ It was side-lined into the
BMSloader, which actually broke + a lot of the needed changesPMSactually uses, and as a + result most PMS files with 7 or 9 lanes, would be added to the game as + beat 10-lane or 14-lane charts. We thank the anonymous reporter of this + bug, as Squirrel took the time to investigate it and we decided to + return a new modernised PMS loader to the game, which now correctly + loads PMS songs as they should be. This also removes the oddity and edge + crashes when anyone wished to play this mode on OutFox. With these + changes. we have been able to load packs such as Colorful Channel with + no issue. +-
+
- The new loader can also handle long notes, the 06 (POOR), 07 + (BG2) and 0A (LAYER 2) BGA channels, and the ITEM channel. +
- In addition, we have support for 3-lane (battle), 4-lane, + 5-lane, and 7-lane charts, while community member Daniel has + contributed several new noteskins specifically for popn mode + too. +
+
-
+
- para: A double style has been added. +
- techno: 9-panel and 18-panel styles have been added. In
+ addition, a new version of Broadhead with column-based colors has been
+ added as a global noteskin and as the default for
techno. +
+
-
+
- gh: A new 5-fret (and 6-fret coming soon) gametype
+ based on a collection of popular games that used a guitar-styled
+ controller to press frets and strum along to bass and guitar parts of a
+ song.
+
-
+
- It can load charts in the
.chartand +.midiformats, and supports co-operative + multiplayer (i.e. one player can play a bass or rhythm guitar + chart while the other plays lead guitar, for example).
+ - To implement this gametype, new note types were added, and
+ internal changes were made so that its code doesn't have to be
+ squished around
dance-centric code.
+
+ - It can load charts in the
All gametypes have access to features such as the built-in chart editor and + modifier systems, allowing you to extend your content to as many as + 52 styles in 14 gametypes as of this release.
+Most gametypes currently have a "preliminary" implementation, meaning that
+ they are functional but may be missing features. They also run within the
+ default Soundwaves theme, which was primarily designed for the
+ dance gametype and its associated paradigms, and may not
+ necessarily work well with all gametypes. The next phase of implementation
+ will be to give each gametype a tailored theme and user experience, so that
+ they will no longer have to be shoehorned into an interface they aren't
+ meant for.
Most of these modes are sadly-neglected and have been without support or a + maintainer for upwards of a decade, so be a touch sympathetic to them if you + decide to take the time to explore, they will be given the love they + deserve. We are going to stop the trend of "adding new stuff then doing + nothing with it" that was so common in the project we are formed from.
+Given that we now have more gametypes that aren't step-based over those that + are, we have also made a decision to reinstate the Project + OutFox name for our builds going forward rather than StepMania. + None of this means we are abandoning step games, though.
+LiftHolds
+We have added a new option for hold and roll tails known as a "LiftHold",
+ where the player must let go at the end of the hold. You can add them to
+ charts by using DL instead of 3 to end a hold or
+ roll in the .ssc file, while a modifier is available to change all holds and
+ rolls in a chart to LiftHolds.
New pause menu
+Due to limitations in how pause menus are currently implemented in-game (we
+ need to change it in order to support the new BGA layers needed for for BMS,
+ PMS, and DTX. Plus, since it was an actor in
+ ScreenGameplay overlay, it became invisible if a song [such as
+ the majority of mod files] toggles its visibility), we have made a new
+ implementation of one within the fallback theme.
It appears instantly once the Back button is pressed; we may
+ restore the existing "Hold Back to give up" behaviour as an
+ option in the future.
Theme developers can enable the new pause menu by setting the the metric
+ UsePauseMenu=true under [ScreenGameplay]. A basic
+ menu design is provided, but it can be customized by themes. We have
+ maintained backwards compatibility with themes which do not enable it.
Technical changes
+Timing changes
+Since Alpha 4.9.7GG we have slightly adjusted the renderer pipeline to + optimize how we deal with frames within the kernel timer of the OS. This is + to prepare for new sound/rendering drivers coming in the near future, but as + we've found with a lot in this game, baby steps to fix little blockers + before we do major updates. We also have removed more of the Rage engine in + favour of modern mathematics algorithms, and this has needed a slight tweak + to the order on how we draw things.
+if you find your median timing skews early or late (like the example below) + after migrating to 4.9.8, take a moment to re-calibrate + your offset.
+
Video upscaler
+We have implemented the ability to change the scaler algorithm used
+ by FFmpeg for videos in Project OutFox, via the preference
+ VideoUpScaleFilter. If you have an older system, take the time
+ to experiment with the different algorithms and see how it affects your
+ performance, as this will add a little load onto your system.
-
+
- 0 - none (default; recommended for Raspberry Pi and low-end devices) + +
- 1 - fast bilinear +
- 2 - bilinear +
- 3 - bicubic +
- 4 - X Sharpens + Contrast +
- 5 - Point +
- 6 - Area +
- 7 - Bicublin (recommended) +
- 8 - Gaussian +
- 9 - Sinc +
- 10 - Lanczos +
- 11 - Spline. +
Input
+We have added a new preference, UsingArcadePads, which will
+ allow you to use the input driver for Python boards natively without any
+ freezes. As per the "starworlds" StepMania branch, you need to set
+ InputDrivers=Python23IO,SDL in Preferences.ini. This will set
+ up your board driver, and allow you to use keyboard/XInput/Bluetooth
+ controllers to control the game while you're on your pad (if you exclude SDL
+ as input, you will have no keyboard input!).
You will need to set UseOldJoystickMapping=0 as well, so the
+ game will initialise the XInput controller driver alongside your Python
+ board. This preference only currently supports the Python23IO driver, but
+ will be expanded to Reflex and other drivers in the future.
Release notes and download
+You can see the full changelog and download links for Alpha 4.9.8 here + on GitHub, which has details on the other improvements + and bug fixes featured in this build.
+Give all of the new modes a try and be sure to give us your feedback! You can + visit the new r/OutFox for + support and discussion of Project OutFox on Reddit, and stream + Project OutFox on Twitch.
+OutFox Community Pack
+We are still accepting applications for music contributions, graphics + artists, and charters for the OutFox Community + Pack project. With the release of Alpha 4.9.8, we have added a + series of new channels to the Project OutFox Discord server + for organizing submissions, as we formally begin the process of producing + the pack!
+ 