Releases

  • Common splash.png

    Happy Halloween! We've got a new release for you!

    Project OutFox 0.4.18.x marks the beginning of the "long-term stable" (LTS) phase for the 0.4.x branch, meaning that we now consider this branch of Project OutFox to be stable, and no longer require the "Alpha" branding. All future feature development will target the alpha 0.5.x branch (also branded as "Alpha V"), but we will continue to support the 0.4.x branch with bug fixes and performance improvements until December 2023.

    We will continue our monthly release schedule for 0.4.x until December 2022, after which it will move to a quarterly release schedule. This means there will be four more updates in 2023, with the last scheduled to be 0.4.24 in December 2023.

    Alongside the switch to LTS status, there's also a few major new features in 0.4.18:

    New mode: bongo!

    modes-4.18.png

    198139520-361eac38-1c33-4b57-ba05-bb8cf4ce1098.jpg

    bongo is Project OutFox's 18th game type, based on a console game first released in 2003. It has gameplay similar to taiko mode, except using a pair of bongos instead of a taiko drum, also incorporating a microphone input for clap notes.

    This mode supports the same chart formats we use for taiko, so existing TJA and OSU charts can automatically be parsed and converted to bongo charts as well. Just keep in mind that existing charts may not have been authored with this gameplay style in mind, and some holds and effects do break sync, but we will be fixing these issues in time as part of our ongoing work on `taiko. It will also receive a dedicated theme in a later release.

    We have designed this mode in collaboration with OpenTaiko, so that charts made using the new TJA letter types in the charting format will be cross-compatible moving forward.

    32-bit ARM legacy build

    199224894-f5efaa10-db00-4745-8e0d-ac24e7076e2a.jpg

    We have added a 32-bit ARM legacy Linux build, which is designed for 32-bit boards manufactured around the 2010s (2010-2016), often with a Tegra chip, with the ARM Cortex-based processors of the time. As with our other legacy builds, it is compiled using an older glibc from the Ubuntu 14.04 era. The photo above is from community member Chriswak, showing the game running on a Jetson TK1, a Nvidia Tegra development board.

    The extreme minimum requirement is a Linux distro with a glibc version of 2.19-2.21. To confirm your CXXABI and GLIBCXX versions, run the following commands;

    strings /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libstdc++.so.6 | grep GLIBCXX
    strings /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libstdc++.so.6 | grep CXXABI

    If your list does not show GLIBCXX_3.4.22 and CXXABI_1.3.11, you will need to update your system to GCC 7.0 (which is still supported even on these old distros) with the following commands (add sudo or run under a root shell);

    apt-get update -y 
    apt-get install software-properties-common -y 
    add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test -y 
    apt-get update -y 
    apt-get install gcc-7 g++-7 -y 
    update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-7 60 --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-7 
    update-alternatives --config gcc

    New PandaLog system

    This month we also added a new logging system which will greatly help with any debugging needs that you have. There are now separate main, theme, crashlogs now, and these have varying levels of detail, depending on need. If you happen to have a crash or need to debug a theme or Lua script, this is now much easier to do.

    You can adjust the detail of the logs by setting the LogLevel preference in Save/Preferences.ini to a number between 1 and 5, with 0 giving full detail, and 5 giving the least detail.

    As we no longer follow the SM logging system, we have added a dummy info.txt to maintain compatibility with GrooveStats Launcher.

    New FFMPEG system

    This release also sees some changes to the FFMPEG builds used in OutFox. We had discovered there is a memory leak bug in the upstream code; while it doesn't really affect many of the video players out there generally, the code we use to acquire and display video data is based on the functions that are bugged in newer versions, so folks using banners or video backgrounds would end up with crashing and freezes due to this.

    We have reverted back to a much older 'bug free' build of 4.x for the time being until it is fixed upstream. If you get any quirks or errors on videos, do let us know; we tried a lot of different formats and videos commonly used, but we didn't cover everything!

    Linux joystick preference

    This build adds a support option for those folks on some builds which have had evdev issues with the newer kernels (5.1 and newer) making pads not show up.

    By default OutFox uses the event system, as this is recommended by distros like Ubuntu and Debian but with recent updates these can miss seeing pads and controllers.

    The new preference UseLinuxJS (Use Linux JoyStick) sets /js* by default, so folks can access the controllers correctly. If you want the older behaviour, take a moment to set this to 0 in your preference.ini file in the /save folder. We will keep an eye on this for now, and if you get access denied errors, ensure your user is in the input group using a terminal:

    sudo usermod -a -G input USERNAME

    where USERNAME is your current user (type whoami) to see what this is in a terminal. Let us know if you have any issues, and pop into the Discord server if you need any help!

    pump hold fixes

    This month we have been working with the players and developers of the Infinitesimal theme for pump with fixing the hold situation in the simulation of this mode. With a lot of revisions and testing, we can happily report that the holds are operating properly now, and we are grateful to those that gave their time helping us perfect it!

    Always on Top mode

    We have added a new AlwaysOnTop preference, as some streamers have reported that their capture methods have issues with the game unless it is always on top. This preference.

    Thanks to Zui and SHRMP0 on the Project OutFox Discord for making the suggestion known to us, and for our streamer friends for enjoying the game on different platforms.

    New AllowRotation Preference

    This preference was backported from alpha 0.5 as some of our users have requested support for rotational options. This preference is off by default, and allows rotation for portrait screens where the resolution/display is rotated, mainly for vertical orientations

    StepLastSeconds changes

    For songs which have multiple chart files in the folder, like pump, be-mu, po-mu, kbx via .osu, etc, there is a slight bug in the way the game sends the 'length' data to the theme/engine that counts stages at the moment. This is a long upstream bug and we are working on a fix in Alpha V, and will backport it when it is ready.

    The issue is, if some charts are different lengths, they will show correctly in screen game-play, but only display the LONGEST length in the music wheel, or 'ScreenSelectMusic' as it's known internally. Fixing this bug will also benefit other modes so it is something we want to work on.

    Updated Windows installer

    Last but not least, we've also given the Windows installer an update. We did some internal changes to how we generate and localize it, and gave it a fresh coat of paint. A Brazilian Portuguese localization has also been added.

    msedge_4JVLqVr3ux.png

    Downloads

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technical changes in this release. You can read the full changelog on the 0.4.18 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download 0.4.18.1

  • We have released our next alpha build of Project OutFox, version 0.4.16! As we have begun testing of alpha builds based on the upcoming 0.5.x branch, we are shifting the 0.4.x branch to long-term support status. This means that future changes will be limited to bug and performance fixes, and all new feature development will target the 0.5.x branch.

    Highlights

    Performance

    • We have pulled in updates to the Vorbis and SDL libraries, which provide us with a number of bug fixes and performance improvements.
    • This is our first public release to include a 64-bit Windows build, which will be available alongside our existing 32-bit builds. 64-bit builds have improved performance, and improved stability on installations with larger song libraries.
    • We have had a few reports about 'drift' on the Steam Deck, and we have done some testing as part of our development program for Alpha V and can confirm the game runs flawlessly in whichever mode you choose. We've had several users as well as our own deck in testing, and as we are well under way for our Steam launch this would be something that we and our testers would have noticed.

    182070164-b155eaf9-b587-4cd5-9be5-5ec6b4cab6a9.jpg

    be-mu

    In be-mu, we have stabilised the way keysounds are loaded, and have fixed hidden 'lanes' that the mode supported that were not played. The parsing system has also seen another update, moving away from the legacy SM5 method and now properly defining and enabling all the lanes.

    StepMania could only mainly play a number of sounds related to the number of columns (lanes), and as the BMS reader was created for the historic "DDR in BMS" style charts, we had a lot of work to do to ensure proper expansion. These fixes enable the full keysound range, and properly displays and parses charts as it should.

    msedge_A3oarUz3hY.png

    In addition, we have added support for footpedal lanes on 5-key charts, which were popular in older simulators like nanasi. It heavily utilises channel 17, which some simulators double up as 'free scratch', but for ez2 fans, we wanted to keep it as close to what nanasi and others did back in the day.

    po-mu

    po-mu mode now also supports Player 1 11-19 channel modes, featured in nanasi and some other simulators from the early 2010s. This is sometimes known as "extended pomu". It can also play back the correct keysounds, including the player hidden, and any effect channels that can be used.

    Charts which did not use all the lanes for their mode, (7k o2j inspired lanes without scratch are an example) would often also not show up correctly, or be shifted by an entire column, or just parsed incorrectly. This has been fixed in this release, so 5K / 7K / 10K / 14K (no scratch) charts now read correctly. Thanks to Daniel and our friends at the BMS international community for reporting this to us.

    po-mu in BME files have also been given a proper update, and we have fixed the lane errors that were reported to us, thanks to those of you that took the time to point out our extended channels were wrong!

    We are happy now that the po-mu parser and the extender parser support matches what we aimed for in this mode, so we will finalise the notesloader with #RANK and #TOTAL support in Alpha V, which has the new lifebar and gauge code. Keep an eye out for the update!

    pump

    Thanks to all of our pump mode players that have been so patient while we work on getting the mode fixed up and right for you, I can appreciate you have been waiting for a long time for some of these issues to be resolved. We have fixed a few of the remaining timing issues and we hope these solve the weird gimmick issues we had before.

    msedge_F7QcspO1E9.png

    Thanks to shrmp0 and SheepyChris for helping us with the layout adjustments and column placement changes that are present in the engine this build; we should not expect themers to fix issues the engine really should have in built. A healthy engine makes a lightweight and fast theme.

    We will continue working on this mode into the end of the year, so we hope you'll enjoy the fixes as they come!

    Downloads

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technical changes. You can read the full changelog on the Alpha 4.16.0 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download 0.4.16.0

  • We have released our next alpha build of Project OutFox, version 0.4.15! This build has a variety of fixes across the engine and many of our game types, with one mode in particular -- pump -- having a lion's share of fixes and improvements, and one game type featuring a brand new style.

    This build was first released earlier this week as 0.4.15.0; on 19 June 2022 a hotfix release known as 0.4.15.1 was released to fix a few additional bugs.

    Highlights

    modes-4.15.png

    pump

    The pump mode has a plethora of updates and fixes in this build; we have been working a lot in the background for this mode, but it required a lot of other things to be implemented beforehand, so it has taken a bit longer than planned to get this stuff off the ground.

    • This release has fixed a lot of the music length issues, including charts ending early, charts not ending at all, charts having missing notes due to the song finishing at the incorrect time, and charts ending after 2 seconds (single) / 7 seconds (double). The reason for a lot of all these quirks was due to the charting methods used in StepF2 and StepP1 being based off an older version of StepMania, which then had some custom code added by xMAx for those versions targeting pump only.
      • We would like to thank xMAx for their insight and assistance with implementing some of those features into Project OutFox, but due to the fact we are a multi-modal simulator we had to heavily rewrite and redesign a lot of the functions and systems behind the original ideas they had.
    • We have written a custom parser for the stepf2 charts which internally is called NotesLoaderPIU. This focuses on only parsing charts using the old editor and targets pump mode, including the custom note types, and the effects and systems the mode needs. The parser uses the SSC header #VERSION: 0.81 to initialise this pathway for those charts.
      • This can lead to a few issues if you have any dance charts using version 0.81; if you get any quirks, you can just change this version number to 0.83 and it will use the normal SSC parser. You can also create a blank file with the title ForcePIU in the song group folder, which will make the engine use the PIU loader automatically. This is case sensitive, so use it as written here for it to work.
    • This alpha also begins to add support for notes within braces { 0 | h | 1 | v }. At the moment only h notes are implemented, with s and v planned for the next main alpha.
    • pumpholds have also had a major rewrite this release as well, with the stepping and judgement logic being more appropriate to the game system, with ticks and head logic being fixed as well. There are still likely to be a few quirks with it, as it is new code, and do let us know if there are things you notice that are incorrect.
    • Warps and how they are hit were also reworked, along with some notes and rows overflowing which caused a lot of the issues on how the game calculated some of the file/song lengths in the music wheel and evaluation screens. The values sometimes recorded in the #LASTSECONDHINT and #MUSICLENGTH in the cache file may not actually marry up. The game has several options internally for ensuring that songs do not go crazy on time. Again, this logic is new, so there may be edge cases that need to be ironed out. If you find a chart that is not behaving, let the team know so we can see what is happening.
    • There was also a lot of older code removed from the ScreenGameplay branches of code that we inherited from older builds (3.x era) that we have removed as it was not really doing anything, and in some cases actually caused the new pump code to not function correctly. A few tweaks were also done for older .sm and .ksf charts and we fixed a lot of the math overflows due to the way the charts were implemented into the older SM build.

    For a better gameplay experience, we also recommend downloading the Infinitesimal theme, which provides a user experience faithful to the arcade games using original assets. Infinitesimal will also be the pump theme for Alpha V.

    be-mu and po-mu

    We had reports of the game being very unhappy with a lot of the earlier community charts from the BMS of Fighters series, and charts mainly created before 2009, so we have fixed a few of these not being parsed correctly.

    We also have restored the 4K “DDR in BMS" chart support that Squirrel accidentally broke when adjusting the channel support. This has now been fixed and those simfile are recognised as dance charts once again.

    There were also several crashes with the versus modes of po-mu and be-mu as well and these have been fixed as well, so 2 player works as intended.

    ds3ddx

    The ds3ddx mode now features styles with five foot panels.

    The upstream ds3ddx code from StepMania simulates the earlier iterations of 3DDX arcade games, which had four diagonal foot panels and four hand sensors in the cardinal directions. However, a newer Chinese dance game based on its gameplay, Dance Master Super Station (also known as E5 Online) added a fifth, center foot panel, making its gameplay closer-resemble Pump it Up. With this addition, we now simulate both generations of this "franchise".

    Similarly to kbx mode, the smart autogen system can import pump charts for play in this style, populating the foot panel columns.

    rtMIDI and portMIDI driver updates

    We have had a few requests to reimagine the MIDI drivers for those with DJ controllers or systems which use channels but send the same notes. The MIDI standard states a controller should be able to do this with the client application supporting the note/channel sent data, so we have changed the way this is done to ensure we are compliant. Crossfaders and rotary controls, as well as some pitch bend triggers do have some weird quirks at the moment, but as we don’t have any modes that support these at the moment do not try to map them as a control.

    We added up/down jog wheel support for those who play be-mu on MIDI, so this works as designed now for everyone using midi for their jogs.

    Downloads

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technical changes. You can read the full changelog on the Alpha 4.15.1 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download 0.4.15.1


  • Common splash.png

    Spring is here, and so is the next Project OutFox alpha build, 0.4.14! This build has a variety of fixes across the engine and many of our game types. Before we go any further, there is a major change that we need to acknowledge:

    Version numbering and profile folder

    To comply with requirements needed for us to deliver signed builds on Windows, and to make things more concise, we have changed our versioning scheme to drop the "5.3" prefix. We have adopted a x.y.z scheme derived from our existing versioning scheme for alpha builds, meaning that this build is known as 0.4.14, rather than 5.3 Alpha 4.14.0.

    This was one of the last things we needed to address in order to pass validation, so signed Windows binaries will be available this summer!

    To go along with this change, we have also changed the default locations for user data when Portable Mode is disabled. They are now located at:

    • Windows: %AppData%\Roaming\Project OutFox
    • macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/Project OutFox
    • Linux: ~/.project-outfox/

    If you have an existing .outfox-5.3 (Linux) or OutFox 5.3 (macOS and Windows) directory, all you need to do is rename it, and the game will pick it up as normal.

    Themes or systems which check for "StepMania" as the ProductFamily variable may need to be updated to account for these changes. We have reached out to the developers of the Simply Love theme to inform them of our changes, and they have let us know that the theme will be updated in due course. In the meantime, the GitHub page for 0.4.14 has patches for the theme's version detection mechanism, and to address a change in how we calculate when a song ends.

    Highlights

    0.4-modes.png

    Some of the major highlights in this build include:

    Gameplay

    We have rewritten and optimized the SSC chart parser, including fixing a notedata memory leak, and crashes when parsing large numbers of files. We have also fixed a few bugs relating to how we parse song lengths.

    We've fixed an issue with missing legacy high scores from Stats.xml, fixed the logic for the RequireStepOnMines metric in dance and smx, and fixed the DDR timing, as well as the ITG timing windows and scoring, in the LuaTimings and LuaScoring modules.

    We have also added a new type of speed mod, ConstAverage (CA)

    kbx

    The OTO and QUA parsers have received bug fixes, and now support SV (scroll gimmicks) and scroll factor respectively. Support for warps in OTO is coming later.

    We have added additional styles to kbx, taking it all the way to a maximum of 19 keys. LiftHolds have also been made less harsh.

    taiko

    We have finished the OTO parser: it can read everything, including SV (scroll gimmicks), and multiple charts in one folder, though holds/balloon notes are still shown as single notes at the moment. We also have a TJA parser for taiko, and have adjusted the hitsounds on the noteskins to be less laggy and more accurate.

    pump

    There are a number of bug fixes specific to the handling of song lengths in pump.

    para

    Following an overwhelming demand from the community, we have rewritten the old legacy Para Para Paradise PS2 controller driver to work on all platforms Project OutFox supports.

    To enable it, add para to the InputDrivers entry in Save/Preferences.ini; the controller must be plugged in before you start the game. On M1-based Macs, it is recommended that you use a USB-C hub that has built-in USB 2.0 ports for the best compatibility with older hardware.

    po-mu

    We have fixed po-mu's parsing of three-button charts, and also added a new pomu-nine-double (18-button) style, including native parsing of such charts from BME/PMS files.

    Editor

    Improvements continue to be made to the editor including:

    • Support for the stepstage game type.
    • Zoom with the mouse scroll wheel
    • Increased scroll speed when holding a button.
    • Option to toggle autosave
    • Support for adding Note Groups for taiko and stepstage
    • A new "Set Current Section as Attack Time" tool

    Serenity Volume II

    Earlier this week we announced the songs that will be featured in Serenity Volume II. Submissions for charts and song artwork officially open on March 27, 2022; see the linked news post for more information.

    Downloads

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technical changes. You can read the full changelog on the Alpha 4.14.0 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download 0.4.14.1

  • 413-SerenityWinter.jpg

    It's time for another alpha build of Project OutFox, Alpha 4.13.0!

    This build has a variety of fixes across the engine and many of our game types, including the Mine Fix for dance and smx, and fixes for a lot of the weird crashes that have been reported to us (including a weird quirk on dance and pump charts). This build also restores support for MK9/Konami PC-era hardware on Windows 7 and i386 Linux (we would like to thank everyone who were patient in helping us debug this!), and fixes some overdue bugs on Raspberry Pi systems running 32-bit or non-rPI recommended Linux images. This fixes crashes to the desktop and segfaults on Fedora and TwisterOS 2.1.x, and the weird crashes reported on Manjaro aarch64.

    We have also added new game types, styles, and chart parsers for you to check out:

    Game modes

    413-modes.png

    Throughout 2021, Project OutFox began to position itself as a multi-game engine, designed to be more of a working museum dedicated to preserving the history of rhythm gaming. We have been building upon and fixing game types that were inherited from the StepMania codebase, as well as implementing new game types that have never been implemented in StepMania before.

    stepstage

    For Alpha 4.13 we've added an initial implementation of a new dance pad game to the engine, stepstage. It is based on Jaleco's arcade dance game Stepping Stage, which used a unique six-panel layout divided into three coloured rows of two panels each.

    stepstage-pad.png 153197662-982c4b7e-26b7-43b8-a036-4db81f9f4fdb.jpg 153203414-75f5028e-7d3f-4ab4-81fe-695890e0e0cf.png

    Charts can be played in either "single" or "twin" styles: the single style uses one column, and only requires you to tap a panel with the corresponding colour. The twin style uses two columns, corresponding to the left and right sides of the pad. With a PlayStation 2 controller adapter, you can use the soft pad from the game's console port Stepping Selection. You can also use a normal DDR-styled dance pad if it has all four corner buttons; for this purpose, we have also included additional noteskins that use button symbols rather than the coloured icons.

    If you have a Pump it Up stage, you can also try setting up your button mappings to use the 1P UpRight and 2P UpLeft, the two centre panels, and the 1P DownRight and 2P UpLeft (a.k.a. half-double) as an approximation of the game's panel layout.

    dance & smx

    In the dance and smx modes, we have added the Mine Fix. smx also has a new version of the outfox noteskins optimized for the mode, with a centre panel and slightly smaller arrows.

    Dance has a few additional styles, including Solo Double (12-panel), 3-panel Double (6-panel, but only using the UpLeft, Down, and UpRight panels on both pads), and Versus support for both the 3-panel and Solo styles.

    The name "solo" is derived from the 6-panel style having originated from Dance Dance Revolution Solo arcade machines.

    ds3ddx

    ds3ddx is a game type that simulates the Korean dance game Dance Station 3DDX; first released in 2000, subsequent versions of the game were released in China as Dance Master Super Station Arcade 3DDX, EZ5 Dancer, and Dance Master Super Station. They use a pad layout similar to Pump it Up with four diagional foot panels. However, they also have four hand sensors in the orthogonal directions, making the game very well-suited for freestyle performances.

    OutFox_mGkduLzJyF.png 3dds2gameplayold.png

    Alpha 4.13.0 fixes bugs associated with this mode, including support for Versus and Double styles. We have also added new noteskins for the mode.

    New note parsers

    We have added new note parsers, QUA and OTO; the QUA parser will load charts for the KB4 and KB7 styles, while the OTO parser will load taiko charts from .osu files.

    At the moment, the OTO parser is basic; it can parse Dons/Kats and their large versions, but long notes, speed gimmicks, and multi-hit notes are still in progress and won't show yet.

    Serenity Winter Update

    Alongside Alpha 4.13, we have also released the Winter Update to OutFox Serenity Volume I! The Winter Update to OutFox Serenity Volume I features three new songs by DJ Megas, Matduke and Pekoneko (ペコネコ). It also includes changes to some of the existing songs from Volume 1, including additional charts across the dance, pump, be-mu, gh, techno, ez2(dancer), maniax, and smx game types, and keysounded be-mu/po-mu and gh charts for selected songs.

    Download OutFox Serenity

    Downloads

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technical changes. You can read the full changelog on the Alpha 4.13.0 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download Alpha 4.13.0

  • Common splash.png

    Happy 2022! We're celebrating the new year with the second half of our second anniversary celebration, Alpha 4.12.0! This build includes some bug fixes and improvements over 4.11.0, and also introduces a few major changes which we will go over right now:

    Unicode support

    Alpha 4.12 has very long overdue extended character support in the file handlers. BMS and DTX files use different encodings to .SSC and .SM simfiles, and in the past, they often showed up as garbage characters, or mojibake characters which could not be easily read into the game. A simple fix for this was to convert the simfile into UTF8, but with many hundreds of files, this is not reasonable to ask of players.

    OutFox_ZwDcFakbTR.png

    Captured using Alpha V DTX theme in development.

    This build correctly can detect the encoding with no user interaction, and will load them as expected into the correct game mode, including:

    • ANSI/Windows Extended (SMA/BMS/DWI/KSF)
    • SHIFT-JIS (BMS/BME/PMS/DTX/GDA/TJA)
    • UTF-8 (DTX/BME/SSC/SM/OTO)
    • UTF-8 BOM (GDA/DTX)
    • UTF-8 Extended (TJA/BME/DTX)
    • UTF-16 (DTX)
    • UTF-16LE (DTX)
    • UTF-16LE BOM (DTX)
    • UCS-2 (DTX)

    Songs taking advantage of this change will take a little longer to parse and load on startup, but there will be opportunities to optimize it.

    Game modes

    4.9.12-modes.png

    Throughout 2021, Project OutFox began to position itself as a multi-game engine, designed to be more of a working museum dedicated to preserving the history of rhythm gaming. We have been building upon and fixing game types that were inherited from the StepMania codebase, as well as implementing new game types that have never been implemented in StepMania before.

    Alpha 4.11 and 4.12 respectively include two major new game types that we hope you'll have fun exploring and making content for:

    smx

    Alpha 4.11 introduced initial support for smx, a simulation of Step Revolution's StepManiaX - a five-panel game type that uses a similar layout to dance, except with a center panel. We have also implemented beat bars in this mode that show the locations of stops and BPM changes.

    msedge_O1nvzW88Ek.png msedge_UMRqgiMs6d.png

    To help support Step Revolution and the official StepManiaX game, we ask that you not rip or use official assets and songs from the game in OutFox. We will not support the arcade game's timings (this mode plays best with the ITG timing windows) or file format, so please do not ask us to add them! The winter update to OutFox Serenity Volume 1 will add smx charts, and you can author your own smx charts in the editor.

    kb7

    On Alpha 4.12, we have removed kb7, a mode that was originally developed by the SSC. There were many players who wanted it to be more than it was, but the mode was generally used by a small set of players, and the original creators of the mode also wished for it to be retired when we got the chance. We salute the mode and what it did for StepMania at the time.

    But fear not, keyboard players, as we are proud to present...

    kbx

    kbx is a revamp and rewrite of the kb7 mode, aimed at players that wanted a specific down-scrolling game mode, but with different sets of columns. We of course have varying modes with different sets and styles already, but there was no actual option to have things set in one specific place and one specific mode for it.

    msedge_YeVIIt6H34.png

    kbx supports 1 to 15 columns, and is a single-player mode. It will eventually get its own theme and other mechanics, but for now, it will fallback to our usual theme, but this does not make it any less playable!

    We have decided to follow the playstyle of ez2 and o2Jam-styled games, but with our own little twist on things as is common with OutFox modes. In the future, there will be options to set this mode up to how you prefer, with styles and timing/scoring modes available to change up and adjust as always. The default noteskin for kbx is based upon the synthwave aesthetic, and this look will carry into its eventual theme as well. To help you learn and become comfortable with this mode, some of the noteskins are set up to display the key binding for each column below it.

    Another unique aspect about this mode is that it will automatically autogen charts for existing songs too; i.e. songs with dance-single charts will show up as autogen 4K charts, pump-single and smx-single will show up as autogen 5K charts, dance-double will show up as 8K, etc.

    To make this mode more accessible, we have also included a chart modifier that allows you to replace LiftHolds with normal holds. This was based on feedback from players, who felt that how they are used in charts may increase difficulty or make the game overly punishing.

    Our default keyboard mappings can be seen below, but as always everything is completely remappable! You can also assign controllers, MIDI input, drums, DJ controllers, pads, etc. to this and play in any way you like!

    kbx.png

    To help improve performance, kbx does not support using modifiers in the same way that other modes such as dance does. You may be wondering why we took the time to write a "slimmer" Player Options for this mode. In honesty, there are a lot of things happening in the background we don't use in some modes, and we wanted to try out turning some of these things off to see how it works with the game and performance styles.

    OTO parser

    We have also begun work on an OTO parser to enable osu and osz file support! We support the mania mode (3) at this time (we were unable to finish the taitai (1) support in time, it will come soon). The game reads them and can play them with synched video and BG changes, but we do not support osr or osb at this time.

    Place song folders with OTO files into a group folder as you do with other simfiles, and they will be parsed as kbx charts. This mode supports multiple difficulties per folder, and will not make some versions 'disappear' as the old versions did. If there are multiple different songs in the same folder, the OTO parser can read and differentiate between the chart and its song/background, meaning you do not need to swap out anything or move stuff to individual folders. We will look into making this option available to other modes in the future. This new parser is based off of the .chart parser using line by line, splitting up each section into its own loading function.

    Input

    MIDI

    Project OutFox's portmidi driver has exited the beta stage on Alpha 4.12.0; this driver was written to accommodate the use of MIDI drumkits with the gddm mode. This was the first time that our engine contained a fully functioning cross platform MIDI driver, the previous semi-broken win32-midi being Windows-only. This new driver offers a 1 millisecond clock timer and near real-time input on Linux and macOS, but only supports one device connected to the system.

    We are in the process of designing a MIDI-based FSR controller for modes which need it, as the MIDI system is currently the lowest latency for Windows-based systems. We hope to open source this in time, when the code is better (and Squirrel has the time).

    The reason we kept it in beta for so long was there was an identified need to have a MIDI driver capable of supporting more than one MIDI input device, as had been requested by be-mu and gddm players, like DTXMania has, being able to add a second device to enable menu control, or to enable non-standard setups, for example pedals or ride cymbals from a second kit.

    To assist with this need, we added another MIDI driver to the game, rtmidi. This driver allows for more than one device support compared to our portmidi driver, which is limited to a single device, like an e-drum kit, or a DJ controller. rtmidi allows for more than one device to be connected for two-player use, or for extra control for menu options for example.

    The new rtmidi driver can be added to your Preferences.ini if you wish to use it:

    # Windows
    
    ## portmidi - you only have one device
    InputDrivers=portmidi,legacy,minisdl
    
    ## rtmidi - you have more than one device
    InputDrivers=rtmidi,legacy,minisdl
    # macOS (M1 and Intel)
    
    ## portmidi - you only have one device):
    InputDrivers=portmidi,SDL
    
    ## rtmidi - you have more than one device):
    InputDrivers=rtmidi,SDL
    # Linux (x86_64/ARM/Raspberry Pi)
    
    ## portmidi - you only have one device):
    InputDrivers=portmidi,SDL
    
    ## rtmidi - you have more than one device):
    InputDrivers=rtmidi,SDL

    Windows legacy input by default

    If you have been reading the previous changelogs, we have been testing a slightly modified version of the old SM 4.x/5.x input driver for those that prefer the 'feel' of that era in input timing. Until the new GA driver is finished (we are waiting for the Q1 2022 Windows 10/Windows 11 update), we will set this driver as default from this alpha.

    If you are on an established Preferences.ini, to use it you can follow the style above:

    legacy (Windows Only)

    InputDrivers=legacy,minisdl

    You can also leave this blank, or add MIDI if you plan to play DTX or use a MIDI based input device in the future. You will need the minisdl input driver for your window and operating system controllers, it allows for a smaller footprint on the game, and for your Windows based playback this is important at the moment. It shows up in the 'test input' screen as 'Window Handler (aux)' so you have window controls, and full-screen etc support while keeping the base drivers compact. This driver will be default on all operating systems in due course, when the GA driver is complete.

    If you however need to have an XInput supported device, or you have an advanced setup, you can reset the driver to how it was before this alpha with a simple change in your Preferences.ini:

    SDL Driver (Windows Only)

    InputDrivers=SDL

    This will enable the support for the XInput system, and the legacy system in the default theme experimental options, (the UseOldJoystickMapping one) which will allow you to switch between the options.

    If you use a ParaParaParadise controller you will need to add the Para Driver (Windows only right now!) before your options in preferences.

    Legacy Driver (Windows Only)

    InputDrivers=Para,legacy,minisdl

    SDL Driver (Windows Only)

    InputDrivers=Para,SDL

    If you use a Reflex controller, you have several options, however it is best on Windows if you use the new legacy driver for now. To enable the Reflex controller, you need to add the following to your entry: (please note: You need legacy for keyboard input and to avoid HIDAPI problems!)

    (Only one player is supported at this time, however if there is demand we can add more player support! Bug Squirrel for more information!)

    Reflex Driver (Windows Only)

    InputDrivers=Reflex,legacy,minisdl

    If you have a Python 2/3 controller, like the above set up for the Reflex you can simply add your entry here, (remember to set up your COM ports etc as seen in the Windows Device Manager) and remember that this device is not seen in Windows 8 or higher due to the change in the way USB controllers became emulated.

    Windows Only

    InputDrivers=Python23IO,legacy,minisdl

    If you have a RTIO controller, you need to add this as the other controllers, remember that legacy gives you keyboard and mouse support.

    Windows Only

    InputDrivers=Rtio,legacy,minisdl

    Linux i386 and Windows 7 builds

    For Alpha 4.12.0, we have produced a build for 32-bit Linux i386 systems, which supports systems as far back as Ubuntu 14.04. This build is something that we have not done in a while, so be sure to provide us with bug reports if you find any issues.

    In addition, we have also produced a specific build for Windows 7, as the tools needed for us to build Project OutFox for Windows 11 are not quite compatible with older versions.

    You can download these builds from the GitHub release page

    Download

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technical changes. You can read the full changelog on the Alpha 4.12.0 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download Alpha 4.12.0

  • Do you know why we stopped the car?

    Common splash.png

    December 16 marks the two-year anniversary of the first public alpha release of Project OutFox; we would like to once again thank you for all the support and good vibes you have brought us as we work on this project. We have some big plans for OutFox in 2022, including new themes and touchscreen support, a new online system, and of course new modes and other modernizations!

    5.3 Alpha 4.11 is our Second Anniversary Edition release; it is mainly focused on bug fixes and performance improvements, but we've also slipped in a few little previews of things we're working on for a future release (hint: try pressing F1 when you're in the editor).

    There are a few important changes to note:

    • The names used for the executable and the directories for installation, save data, etc. have been changed from "StepMania"/StepMania 5.3" to "OutFox". This is part of the rebranding process that began on Alpha 4.9.8, and is needed to comply with the requirements for code signing and Microsoft SmartScreen verification. It also reduces the risk of conflicts with older versions of StepMania, so OutFox can be safely installed alongside StepMania 5.x without the risk of it overwriting or damaging profiles or stored scores..
      • Due to this change, you will need to move your profiles over to this new version. The old version will also need to be uninstalled manually; sorry about all of this, it is just for this update. On Windows, the uninstaller does not delete the Save folder, so you can specify your existing directory when installing Alpha 4.11.0 if you prefer.
    • The beat and popn game types have been renamed to be-mu and po-mu; this change does not affect the ability to load chart files with the old names, but you will have to rename the folders accordingly if you have noteskins for those game types.

    Download

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technical changes. You can read the full changelog on the Alpha 4.11.0 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download Alpha 4.11.0

  • Believe it or not, di bus can't swim!

    Common splash.png

    Project OutFox Alpha 4.10.0 has been released! This build has a collection of various bug fixes, as well as technical improvements to multiple game types!

    Game improvements

    beat/BMS

    In beat, we have made several improvements to the BMS parser:

    We have adjusted the way the game reads BMS difficulties. As a lot of the charts are seen as the same difficulty we would end up losing a lot of the information in them, and half of the charts would be missing and unplayable. We are in the process of improving this further for the new BMS theme for Alpha V, so it will be better in time.

    The BMS parser also now supports the Land Mine channel for the first time! In previous versions there was a blanket math overflow, which meant that a lot of the channels were not being identified correctly, and thus flagging for extended channels was not being used. Mine damage based on the channel value will be added next alpha.

    mines-bms.png

    Captured using Alpha V BMS theme in development.

    We have also improved its handling of Long Notes; we did not seem to parse these correctly due to the flag sometimes being applied in the wrong manner, which meant some of the holds were not being applied in charts.

    We have also restored #RANDOM support again this alpha, as it was still using a legacy codepath we did not clear up in 4.9.10, apologies for that! This alpha allows for the #RANDOM n where n is 1 onwards.

    This alpha also includes several behavioural changes in the way the files are parsed, allowing for the correct Base to be used in reading channels, and allowing us to enable the missing hidden sounds as well as the missing channels that were inaccessible before.

    po-mu/PMS

    Im po-mu, the PMS parser has been similarly updated to improve its handling of difficulties. We have been able to adjust the channels used for po-mu to support Land Mines for the first time as well, and this also includes BME based po-mu files are properly supported as well in this alpha. Though without locale emulation, they will not load in native Windows 10 at this time. A fix for this is coming soon.

    gddm

    gddm has had an internal reworking due to recommendations from members of the DTXMania community (thanks APPROVED!), to ensure that we do a few things a little bit more to how players expect.

    One of the important features is the ability to change the lane setting from 10 to 9 lane, or 9 to 10 lane, depending on the e-drum kit you have. We were already able to read and support multiple lanes in older alpha builds depending on the ‘dominant’ right hand lane, but now if the game does not spot it as the style you wish, you can change this in the options menu.

    135681903-45440040-29ac-4251-88eb-21a39da2f8fd.png

    Real mode is 10 lane, and New mode is 9 lane; this gives you the flexibility to play the game how you wish moving forwards with the new theme and makes things less awkward if you do not have a 10-piece e-drum kit.

    This alpha has also worked a bit more on the latency issues plaguing some users, we have tweaked the keysound flow a lot this build, so please give it a try and let us know if this has improved gameplay for this mode.

    This build also has had work on the Channel 02/BL support to remove the old BMS era restriction. This means any measure change/time signature change is now respected, and thanks to APPROVED to making this chart which was a literal BPM Change/Time Signature Change Spam Chart we were able to effectively fix this for good. This change is also reflected in the gdgf mode as well as the GDA parser.

    135686294-d108a3f1-888e-4332-ad2d-166432b1f178.png

    gdgf

    Before this alpha, all the game was able to use on this mode was Autogen-based charts, or charts made with the default SSC format. Thanks to Squirrel and Jousway, the parser has been finally fixed and implemented to allow 3-fret and 5-fret guitar and bass charts to finally load natively in-engine.

    gdgf is based on a row system. Our internal mechanism is column based, and has been for some time, so ensuring this methodology is carried over was important. We still have a lot to do before simulation is better here, so please bear with us. We do NOT support the holds that were introduced in DTXMania AL yet; these will be done at a later date.

    This mode also now supports full up, down, and forward wailing controls, as requested by members of the community. To map this you will need to ensure your controller has the options to allow for wailing, as many newer guitar controllers have special ‘button’ modes for wailing. We will add new controller pages to the wiki to help players set up their games in due course.

    StepMania_Fy7dNg8Cjx.png

    Guitar chart loaded from a DTX file. Captured using Alpha V gddm/gdgf theme in development.

    This mode also has the 6-fret custom mode that we promised back in the spring, as we know a lot of folks wanted 6-fret availability in OutFox. We have chosen cyan as the sixth fret to follow the colour scheme from the original.

    Due to these changes, we have changed the styles and noteskins used for gdgf, so existing charts and noteskins will have to be updated. We will be releasing a patch for our Serenity pack later this month.

    Thank you all for your patience while we worked on this, it was a slog to try to transpose the system to something our game recognises!

    We have also begun a project to develop a BMS-like BGF based parser for this mode, which will include all 6 frets. Squirrel will be adding the information for this on the wiki for discussion; feedback is more than welcome!

    gh

    We have continued to work on the internal mechanics on this mode, so do forgive us while we fix things!

    We have added a new Backplates directory to the Appearance folder (thanks Jous!), which can be used for scrolling textures applied to the notefield. In gh backplates are used for the note highway, but they can be enabled at the theme level in other game types as well.

    StepMania_TgivJsQzh6.jpg

    There is also new noteskin support within the engine, while the measure lines and textures now behave as expected. Thanks to those of you that requested these features. The internal notefield and scrolling system has seen some updates as well as we move towards Alpha V.

    dance

    The RNG system was given a revamp, the stageseed generation was also fixed, as well there is also better audio parsing. Thanks for all the reports of the odd edge cases with some of the odd ‘stuttering’ bits and pieces you sent in; this was due to an undesirable response in the sampler expecting a calculation from the ‘old’ resampler path that didn'’'t exist on the new resampler, so we tweaked it to stop this.

    There have been other engine adjustments too; we discovered a few other weird bugs in how the buffer works due to the new keysound code for BMS and po-mu, and this has resolved a bug for dance modes.

    techno

    We fixed the methodolody of the lifebars and the odd crashes with the styles and different play styles available to this mode. There were a lot of edge case crashes which we have fixed for now. In regards to styles, we WILL be fixing the ability to play different styles per player. It’s disabled for now to just prevent arcade cab crashes.

    Platform support

    macOS

    In addition to being signed and notarized, as of Alpha 4.9.10 our builds for macOS are now also a universal binary.

    Download

    This is just a recap of the major, user-facing features and technucal changes. You can read the full changelog on the Alpha 4.10.0 page on outfox.wiki.

    As always, be sure to report any bugs you encounter on either our issue tracker or Discord. Be sure to provide us with as much information as you can whenever you report an issue. We won't be able to fix bugs that aren't reported to us.

    Download Alpha 4.10.0

  • Today we have not one, not two, but three big announcements:

    Project OutFox Alpha 4.9.10

    Project OutFox Alpha 4.9.10 builds upon the work and bug fixes from the Alpha 4.9.9 hotfix builds, and also contains some new internal features that serve as building blocks for current and future content:

    Alpha 4.9.10 contains a number of new details, features, and bug fixes for some of our game types;

    modes-diagram.png

    • The interactive sync/calibration process now supports other game types besides dance.
    • We have fixed issues with rate mods and the sound resampler.
    • In pump and taiko, we now support timing windows from both games (with pump having Normal, Hard, and Very Hard settings), and have added judgement fonts to them as well.
    • In pump, we also gave the default noteskin a refresh to improve visibility, and changed the design of the center panel graphic in response to feedback.
    • In gddm, we now support the older GDA format for BandJAM/GDAMania-era six-part drum charts. We also fixed a bug that caused crashes when loading DTX charts that don't use all nine lanes.
    • In beat, the noteskins have been updated to have button sprites under the receptor line.
    • As demonstrated in the OutFox Serenity trailer, we now support showing judgments per-column. By default, per-column judgements are displayed in modes that typically use them, such as gddm and popn.
    • We now support displaying a loading screen before gameplay when the game needs to load keysounds in game types such as beat and popn. Previously, this occurred over a black screen with the game appearing to hang, which was just a little disconcerting. The default theme features a reference implementation of this feature, but themers can customize it to their heart's content.

    As always, this is just a recap of the major, user-facing features. For a full change log, as well as a developer note from Squirrel over what had happened with Alpha 4.9.9, see the Alpha 4.9.10 page on outfox.wiki.

    Download

    OutFox Serenity Volume I released!

    serenity-bn.png

    OutFox Serenity Volume I has been released! Formerly known during development as the OutFox Community Pack, it features music by Aspid Cat, Drazil, Jack5, Matduke, mmry, PizeroFox, Seo, and Sevish. Alongside 4-panel (dance) and 5-panel (pump) charts, some of its songs also have beat, popn, techno (8- and 9-panel), gddm, and gdgf, and gh charts.

    More information

    A lot of (out)fox to give

    Project Moondance was a legacy brand used by our team early on, often in parallel with "OutFox" and "Team Rizu" (the name we used to initially refer to our main dev team). As our project and community evolved, however, this nomenclature became confusing, and we began the process of phasing out the "Project Moondance" and "Team Rizu" names in favour of just "Project OutFox", because everyone called it just "OutFox" anyway.

    As of today, we are beginning to migrate our main website from projectmoon.dance to projectoutfox.com. Right now, it is a redirect, but it will become the main URL soon (the old domain will still redirect, though). The site will also be updated over the next few weeks to reflect the new direction of our project, so stay tuned for future details!

  • Edit 3 (2021-08-08): We have released a third hotfix build; we finally fixed the annoying RageFile glitch that was causing the hash system to be different from StepMania 5.1/5.0.12. Sorry about all this hassle, we fixed a wedge of bugs in the loading system, but did not expect everyone to have built massive amounts of stuff on top of these bugs being there, so we have adjusted the system so backward compatible themes/API/ScoreShare/Groovestats/etc. work again once more. A build is also avaliable for Intel-based Macintosh again; we had run into difficulties preventing an Intel-compatible build of the previous hotfix build.

    Edit 3 (2021-08-06): We have released one more hotfix build, HF2. It 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 just add them now.

    Alpha 4.9.9HF

    We had pulled Alpha 4.9.9 shortly after release in order to fix some late-breaking bugs. But now that those are all taken care of, we have released Alpha 4.9.9HF!

    There are some additional highlights in this build on top of what is already in Alpha 4.9.9, including:

    • We have fixed the signed macOS builds. In order to fulfill security requirements in newer macOS versions on Intel-based devices, we also performed some fixes to gh mode; 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...
    • There were several issues with the notes loaders and how antivirus/security software apps were seeing OutFox when we were loading simfiles. We have addressed this by allowing you all to add more than one simfile (i.e. .SSC, etc.) 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.
    • 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.
    • We now support the #VOLUME and #PAN parameters for keysounds in BMS-derived formats.
    • We have fixed a 17 year-old bug where the engine would attempt to run commands on tweens that don't exist during transitions.

    The original post follows:


    Common splash.png

    Project OutFox Alpha 4.9.9 has been released! Given how long it's been since our last alpha release, there's a lot to go over with this version. This is a summary of most of the major changes; you can read the complete changelog on on OutFox.wiki,

    Gameplay

    Game types

    modes-diagram.png

    Project OutFox has begun to position itself as a multi-game engine, designed to be more of a working museum dedicated to preserving the history of rhythm gaming. We have been building upon and fixing game types that were inherited from the StepMania codebase, as well as implementing new game types that have never been implemented in StepMania before. Carrying on from 4.9.8, there have been various bug fixes and enhancements to some of our non-dance modes, as well as one brand new mode:

    • beat: There are bug fixes for the BMS loader array and missing difficulties.
    • dance: We have preliminary support for a new hold type known as a minefield (also colliqually known as a "mine hold"). They are a hold that is a mine, penalizing you each time you press the corresponding input.
    • ez2: A new default noteskin has been added.

    127696702-dcbe2713-3976-4396-8ca4-e64784957d84.jpg

    • gddm:

      • We have added a parser for loading DTX files; 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. It will be improved in time, as we get better knowledge of this system. For more information on supported DTX/BMS/PMS channels, see the related section on the official changelog.
      • 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 its 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.
      • 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.
      • The game does not currently support the #PAN and #VOLUME configurations as of this alpha, so some keysounds will be louder than expected. Apologies for this in advance; we wanted to get a release out as it’s been so long, so this is still being worked on.
        • #PAN and #VOLUME are now supported on 4.9.9HF! 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.
    • gdgf: Community member yaladre has contributed a new DTX noteskin with a more familiar appearance.

    • gh: A note positioning bug has been fixed, while the gameplay screen in Soundwaves has been tidyed.

    127721393-c4cd720d-b98a-4c60-b592-d36b34be31e7.jpg

    • para: We have added a new eight-sensor style, adding back-left, back, and back-right directions. This mode was originally designed for the arcade cabinet for when the player twirls or turns, but was never actually implemented. The sensors for the back are actually there! For those who feel adventurous, we will be publishing some information on how to make your own 360-degree 8 sensor controller in due course.

    127715610-ba677562-b567-4ef6-b56b-293b199d75ae.jpg

    • popn:
      • This mode also had a few tweaks and adjustments mainly in how keysounds are loaded within the game, which should make it smoother overall.
      • A bug was fixed that prevented some seven-button charts from being parsed correctly.
      • In addition, we have also added two-player (versus) and 18-button (double) modes! This was not available on the original client, but it did always irk us how there were never two-player options other than three-button battle. We plan to have battle mode, as well as a dedicated experience for this game type, in a future build. There is no PMS/PME support for this style yet.

    126884299-09ee5a5c-dfa5-4e4e-bbfa-6d9d157fcd5f.jpg

    • pump:
      • We have fixed the scoring bug that was in the previous build; 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 the official games should work correctly now.
      • The tickcount for combos on holds has been tweaked to work correctly, as there was a miscalculation in the offset math inherited from upstream. This now behaves as expected.
      • We have added support for co-op charts; the included co-op noteskin currently supports up to five different players, but charts can support up to ten.
        • The player 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,
        • 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 four real players defined. Stay tuned!
        • 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!
        • 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 that the pump mode is getting quality of life updates for now, before we move over to updating things properly in the future.
        • Micro/mini-holds 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.

    Last but not least, we have added a brand-new game type as well, taiko (also referred to in the context of OutFox as "TaiTai"). It simulates a popular rhythm game where you hit a drum in its face.

    127720652-944671e6-b52d-46f1-9924-fe41d0e18349.jpg

    As with gh on the previous alpha, this is a "preliminary" implementation. 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, and develop a dedicated theme/interface for it. 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. 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. The autogen for this mode has been rewritten by Jousway to generate charts more approriate for the game from existing charts in other modes, so that you don't get odd holds/overlaps in things.

    Feel free to give it a try and let us know what you think!

    All game types have access to features such as the built-in chart editor and modifier systems, allowing you to extend your content to as many as 56 styles in 15 gametypes as of this release.

    Technical changes

    MIDI input

    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 inquire about the possibility of there being a new MIDI driver available for Mac and Linux users, So we decided as a team to move forward and produce one. This enables you to play Project OutFox with MIDI instruments and controllerd, such as electronic drums, keyboards, DJ mixers, and a prototype mini FSR pad we made using a Teensy LC and some tiny FSR sensors.

    IMG_20210724_2026112.jpg

    It uses the PortMidi library, and there is no need to have any extra applications "translating" it to keystrokes (unless you're doing MIDI via an iPhone 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 driver works on Windows, Linux, ARM (rPi and Rockchip aarch64 SoCs), and macOS. To enable the driver, use the line InputDrivers=SDL,portmidi in Preferences.ini. 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.

    Linux

    We have added a preference, TurnOffWMCompositor, to disable compositing effects in window managers when Project OutFox is running.

    We have also fixed a renderer bug that was causing edge case crashes under KDE Plasma Desktop, and added a stub for an upcoming Pipewire audio driver.

    macOS

    On macOS, our builds are now signed and notarized. You no longer have to fiddle with Gatekeeper/quarantine/etc. to run Project OutFox on your Mac. You can now just download and install it as you would other applications.

    We also fixed an edge case lag spike on M1 Macbook Air models when using a Bluetooth audio device or controller.

    Windows

    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 its timestamp, thus producing spikes on the scoring graph on the results screen, and make a odd looking ‘stair’ display on the scatterplot 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:

    • Open Preferences.ini in your Save folder
    • Locate the line InputDrivers
    • Change the line to 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.

    Rate and Pitch

    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.

    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! 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 that its done.

    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.

    Default theme

    • We reordered the Select Game menu to move prominent game types closer to the top, and lesser-known/niche games towards the bottom. Please give us feedback if you feel a mode needs more representation/love!
    • We have been shortening and toning down excessive transitions and animations to make the menus in the Soundwaves theme faster.
    • We added the rate and sound effect settings to the first screen of Player Options (in addition to its historic location on Song Options) to make them easier to find.
    • A contributor to Tiny-Foxes' Soundwaves Community branch has added the capability for Soundwaves color schemes to specify custom difficulty colors. Whilst integrating this feature, we have also added all *The gameplay screen in gh mode has been tidied up to put more of a focus on the notefield.

    Release notes and download

    You can see the full changelog for Alpha 4.9.9 on OutFox.wiki, which has details on the other improvements and bug fixes featured in this build.

    Download

    Give all of the new features and modes a try and be sure to give us your feedback! If you encounter any bug in the game, please report them on our bug tracker or our Discord server. We won't be able to fix bugs that are not reported to us. If you feel adventerous, also consider requesting access to our nightly build testing programme, as we are seeking testers for builds containing major internal changes.

    You can also visit r/OutFox on Reddit for support and discussion of Project OutFox, and stream Project OutFox on Twitch.

    This release of Project OutFox is dedicated to the memory of SHIKI, a Japanese musician who was an influential figure in the worlds of doujin trance, BMS, and rhythm game music. Our release artwork for Alpha 4.9.9 pays homage to Reach's classic simfile for "AIR"—one of SHIKI's most well-known songs.