Articles

  • StepMania 5.3 Alpha 4.5.8 released

    May 31, 2020   Releases

    We have released StepMania 5.3 Alpha 4.5.8. This is an interim update that features some bug fixes and improvements over 4.5.6 as we prepare for our next major build, Alpha 5.0.

    For download links and a complete changelog (including details on technical changes also present in this build), visit the release page. Builds are currently available for Windows, Linux, and macOS (no Discord support). On Linux, a "legacy" amd64 is avaliable, built on older glibc and also excluding Discord support.

    We are migrating to GitHub for public issue tracking going forward.

  • StepMania 5.3 Alpha 4.5.6 released

    May 07, 2020   Releases

    As we encountered some issues with Discord integration using the new SDK (due to inadequate documentation, we were not informed that by default, the Discord SDK library would attempt to launch the Discord client when the game is opened), we temporarily withdrew Tuesday's Alpha 4.5.5 release. At the same time, we did a few more tweaks on top of what was already included in 4.5.5 (including a rewrite of internal sine math to further improve performance), so we have therefore bumped up the version number to Alpha 4.5.6.

    As a recap, here's a run-through of the major user-facing features we've added on Alpha 4.5.5/4.5.6:

    We have added an updated profile editor interface, and have updated the avatar system: now you can pick an image from the avatars folder, rather than having to name images after your profile name.

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    We've added a new series of modules for calculating note density and unbroken streams in charts. This is, in turn, used by new features such as a notes per-second (NPS) graph displayed on the song selector that can display the number of measures that each stream lasts (modelled after syntax popularized within the stamina community).

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    We've reorganized the player options menu, cleaning up the main page to leave the most commonly-used options, and with new pages for "Effects" (which covers modifiers that effect the chart and how it is displayed), and "Additional options" (which contains toggles for other in-game options). You can access them from a new "next screen" option on the player options menu.

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    The in-game stats display now has a "Detailed" mode, available during 1-player play, that displays the aforementioned NPS graph, a lifebar gauge (which is also colored to indicate the status of your full combo), and a live scattergraph of each individual note judgment. We also have an experimental rendering mode for the NPS graphs that, in gameplay, allows the graph to scroll during longer songs. You can also customize what's displayed on the Detailed pane from the profile editor.

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    And last but not least, we have added Discord rich presence support using the Discord GameSDK (currently not available on macOS).

    For download links and a complete changelog (including details on technical changes also present in this build), visit the downloads page.

  • StepMania 5.3 Alpha 4.4 released

    Mar 04, 2020   Releases

    The "UwU wot dis? Zip & Entry Points Edition"

    It is time once again for another StepMania 5.3 alpha build; aspects of this build were demonstrated during our February dev stream (Team Rizu now has its own dedicated Twitch channel at https://twitch.tv/teamrizu, where future dev streams and other content will be featured).

    This build continues our ongoing bug fixes, performance improvements, and internal modernization, while there are also some user-facing improvements to the Soundwaves theme, updates to our Japanese localisation, and new noteskins.

    (REINSERT IMAGE 21)
    The options interfaces in the default theme have undergone a visual refresh, while player options has a redesigned speed selector, and noteskin previews.

    We would like to, once again, thank everyone that has been testing these builds and providing us with feedback so far (or even just participating in our community in general). We've come a long way since the first alpha in December, but there's still more work to be done...

    Download links are, as always, listed on our builds page.

    Changelog

    All platforms

    • Removed extra input debug output from Alpha 4.3; thank you for your reports and updates.
    • 🐲 Fixed missing scancodes on keyboard input.
    • Fixed old %d number behaviour in Lua. Returns to 5.0/5/1 behaviour. Thanks Tatsh for reporting.
    • Removed 'Frameskipcode' - It will be readded in a later build.
    • Fixed a few more bugs in the render pipeline... added in 2004.
    • 🐲 Properly removed the obsolete input handlers.
    • Fixed some old cmake typos and cleaned up code for linux.
    • Fixed regression in not supporting smzip/zip archives. Thanks to Jubo for the report.
    • Add new keyboard input system.
    • Fixed InputHandler issues, no more skipping on pads.
    • Fixed missing SDL options in input causing a break error.
    • 🐲 Added new entry-points for OpenGL.
    • 🐲 Fixed Matrix calculation errors, resulting in a small performance boost.
    • 🐲 Added new math functions.
    • Added new GL support for older Intel Cards. Thanks Astolfo, Gabrielpivotyt, Aqui and Wilycel for reporting.
    • Added new noteskins.
    • ArrowEffect fixes to prevent math errors.
    • 🐲 Fixed matrix errors in GL causing odd crashes.
    • Fixed missing ImageCache setting causing odd slowdowns on launch.
    • (4.4.1) Properly removed the obsolete input handlers - seems there was a separate one added to a lone screen. Cheers, Glenn.
    • (4.4.1) Fixed missing keystrokes on profile creation and high score name entry.

    Theme

    • New options menu appearance.
    • New two-row speed mod selector (pick a speed type, increment the value in a second row, similar to Simply Love) and note skin preview on ScreenPlayerOptions.
    • New ScreenStageInformation design with song background.
    • Updated Japanese language strings by hanubeki
    • Downplay references to "Event Mode" in the gameplay user interface.
    • Adjustment to ScreenSelectMusic heading to fix misalignment of the sort mode box's fill. Thanks MoNeko for reporting.
    • In a related change, refresh header on ScreenEvaluation.
    • Fix missing option (ScreenOptionsTheme) for mascot on title screen.
    • Change ScreenOptionsService (options menu from title screen) and submenus to use a minimalistic, static background.

    macOS

    • Fixed another weird issue with compiling.
    • Fixed dmg creation.

    Linux:

    • Fixed weird Mesa edge crash.
    • Fixed odd missing entry-points on GLX, thanks Hālian for reporting.

    Windows:

    • Fixed missing GLAD definitions.

  • StepMania 5.3 Alpha 4.3 released

    Feb 09, 2020   Releases

    We once again have another alpha snapshot to share with you, Alpha 4.3. This build focuses primarily on addressing issues reported by the community from our previous alpha, as well as other changes (including fixes for 16-year-old bugs!).

    One of the major highlights of this build is that we now have hooks for future mouse and touchscreen support (including gestures and multi-touch). There is no in-game support for these inputs yet, but you should be able to see log entries for them. Accordingly, be advised that this build produces a large amount of log data output relating to the new input system. This is by design (to let us know if your inputs work), and will be removed on the next build.

    Due to some other changes being worked on for the Mac versions, this build also only supports macOS Mojave and newer.

    We are using an alternative means of hosting the mirrors for this release; we are currently investigating a more permanent solution.

    Changelog

    All platforms

    • Fixed various missing keyboard inputs, including symbol keys (;:'@#,<>./?|`{}[])(&^%$"), the ~ key for localised keyboards, and the number pad.
    • Fixed missing options for no mapping on localised keyboards.
    • 🐲 Add touchscreen and mouse input hooks
    • 🐲 Added hooks for haptic/rumble support on controllers. Why? Why not?
    • 🐲 Fixed odd skipping on inputfilters.
    • Removed average FPS gauge from debug overlay; caused skew on mod files.
    • 🐲 Fixed a few bugs in the render pipeline... added in 2004.
    • 🐲 Properly integrated buffering.
    • Rewritten triangle logic to prevent errors in ActorMultiVertex.
    • Fixed a small lights bug.
    • Added a cleaner way to shut the game down.
    • Added new window states in preparation for the removal of RageDisplay (check the logs for events!)
    • Fixed draw issue reported by some users.

    Linux:

    • Removed obsolete X11 input hook code.

    macOS

    • This build will only run on 10.14/10.15 due to work in progress code.
    • Fixed an integer overflow that messed with Catalina's guiding of our output windows.
    • Fixed a vertex overflow causing a very rare crash
    • 🐲 Fixed polling error.

    Windows:

    • Removed obsolete win32 input hook code.

  • StepMania 5.3 Alpha 4.2 released

    Feb 06, 2020   Releases

    We have released our next alpha snapshot for StepMania 5.3, Alpha 4.2. The main highlights for this build is our work on the input system, as well as continued work on our new renderer, and continuing improvements to our support for modern versions of macOS.

    As always, delete your cache before installing (the uninstaller on Windows does this automatically). On macOS, you must uninstall the previous version.

    In addition, we have once again changed the preferred OpenGL renderer on all platforms to glad. If you are maintaining save data from the previous build, you must go to Save/Preferences.ini in your installation directory and delete the VideoRenderers line, or change it to list glad instead of glfw. Note that on Windows platforms, Direct3D (d3d) is no longer supported as of Alpha 4.2.

    Download links are, as always, on the Downloads page.

    Confirmed issues

    • If you are experiencing crashes on startup, please update your graphics drivers. There have been confirmed reports of startup crashes on devices running outdated Intel integrated graphics drivers from prior to 2018.

    Changelog

    All platforms

    • πŸ‰ Input has been completely rewritten to test controller input. The base keyboard/pad support works fine, but check your key mappings. If you encounter any issues, send us a bug report. It will likely change and be set back to our initial input method. * Player 2's keyboard mappings will need resetting to numpad as it sets +-/ as keys. (This is a hooks bug we will remove).
    • Lua's backend code has been made a little more stable. Theme developers are reminded that cmd is deprecated on 5.3, and that more efficient coding methods (such as function(self) blocks) should be used to improve performance.
    • Removed several cachemiss overflows, an important one being in the math pipe.
    • πŸ‰ Experimental touch support added. (There is no code at the moment, but it is on our roadmap.)
    • πŸ‰ Experimental hotplugging Support.
    • The DrunkOffset and TipsyOffset modifiers have been changed to match their behaviour on NotITG v4; the previous versions have been renamed to DrunkSpacing and TipsySpacing.
    • HiddenRegions has also been added
    • Optimise old ssc code from NoteDisplay.
    • Add option for hiding the mascot character on the title screen in Soundwaves

    macOS

    • Minimum supported version is macOS Sierra (10.12).
    • Please UNINSTALL the previous version before installing this version. As mentioned, set your renderer to glad if you keep your Preferences.ini
    • πŸ‰ Gatekeeper no longer gets upset with this version of the game. Core input modules are now 10.12+ compliant. If you had given the app permissions, please remove these as the code is Gatekeeper compliant. If you get any warnings (unlikely) let us know asap. Sound modules are now compliant with macOS Sierra (10.12) and newer.
    • HiDPI is enabled, but the resize window will still fail on a resize if the computer has 2 monitors. (known bug)
    • Memory usage display on renderer stats overlay now functions on macOS.
    • Fix clock errors.

    Windows:

    • Remove DirectX code from the game.
    • Fixed edge case heap crash caused by game controllers.

    Linux:

    • Fix bad Xinput crash
    • Fix lag on gameplay.
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