Monday, January 27, 2014

CannonBall 0.22a - Continuous Mode

This release features a number of new features, important fixes and other changes.

Features:
  • Continuous Mode
    Play all 15 stages sequentially. This mode features its own high-score table.
  • Ability to toggle the fixed audio rom in the settings menu. It should be named opr-10188.71f and be placed in the roms directory. The fixed rom can be generated using bspatch and the relevant patch file from the enhanced edition pack
  • Fixed split axis support. XBox 360 pads should now work.
    The FAQ has some basic configuration advice. Thanks to baritonomarchetto for donating the pad. Rumble will also be supported in the future, but it means I'll have to upgrade the project to SDL 2. So it's a little more work than might be expected.

Core Engine Fixes:

  • Fixed a vehicle sprite bug that affected the angle of certain traffic sprites. Info here
  • Fixed two audio bugs that caused traffic noise to stutter under some circumstances, or not play correctly.
  • Corrected the pitch of PCM samples, they were played too quickly before. 

Other Minor Enhancements:
  • Ability to use controllers on other ports. This is configured in config.xml.
  • Support for arcade cabinets with a separate switch for high and low gear. This can be enabled in the gear options. 
  • The High Score table can display longer times to support Continuous Mode.
  • Added two handy game modes to toggle between 'original arcade' and 'enhanced' presets.

Quite a lot of code ended up changing to support Continuous Mode, so let me know if I broke anything in the process. Feel free to discuss the release on the forum

Download it here.

Update: Fixed the reported crash in continuous mode. This was a nasty bug that only materialized on a single level, when the code was compiled in release mode. 

8 comments:

barito said...

Thank YOU for the hard work!!!

Unknown said...

Continuous Mode in software rendering crash with illegal instruction on 15th stage.

Softare tested on Windows XP SP3.

matt said...

Forums are down. Have you considered a free Vanilla forum? Their up time is excellent. http://vanillaforums.com

yt said...

Forums are working fine for me.

Sparky Kestrel said...

I got a chance to play this new version of Cannonball last night, and I'm absolutely loving the Continuous mode, and the music changing every five stages is a nice touch, but I have some issues/suggestions.

First, about a second after starting stage 15 the game appeared to lock up, and then exited to the desktop after I pressed ESC. I was running the OpenGL version on Windows 7 SP1 64bit. I haven't tried the software rendering version, but it sounds like the same problem that Andrew Taitt listed previously.

Second, and this is just personal preference, but I believe you have implemented each stage set in 'reverse', eg Devil's Canyon before Gateway, the Cloudy Mountain before Desert and Alps etc. The following is how I would have done it, with each stage set running from left to right:

1 Coconut Beach
2a Gateway
2b Devil's Canyon
3a Desert
3b Alps
3c Cloudy Mountain
4a Wilderness
4b Old Capital
4c Wheat Field
4d Seaside Town
5a Vineyard
5b Death Valley
5c Desolation Hill
5d Autobahn
5e Lakeside

Your implementation runs 1, 2b, 2a, 3c, 3b, 3a etc from this list. Still, as I said, this is just how I personally would order the stages, and as I said above I still love the continuous mode even as it is. Just a suggestion, not a requirement to change.

Also, again just personal preference, but I would have preferred the road to split as normal and then the next stage starts as normal (which would be the same regardless of whether you go left or right), as is done in OutRun 2SP/2006's continuous mode. Sure, maybe there's no point when you get to the same stage anyway, but without the road splits it feels less Outrun and more Turbo Outrun (although Turbo Outrun done right IMO - never liked that game much). Again, just a personal preference and I don't expect it to change. I'm not a coder and you're doing this for free so I'm not going to demand any changes at all (except for the bug mentioned above obviously).

How is the game ending handled? Due to the bug crashing the game I wasn't able to see it, but do we see the ending for stage 5A or just the generic ending you used in the Time Trials mode? I think the best way (if not done this way already) would be to randomly select one of the five different game endings. Again, just a suggestion.

I would like to heard any thoughts you have on what I have written above.
Thanks for reading.

RalphUp said...

thanks yt, this is what I have been waiting for XBOX360 split axis support! thanks

yt said...

Adam - Most of this stuff has already been discussed in the forums, so you're probably best to join the debate there.

The crash is now fixed.

LopezTheEternaut said...

I'm happy that you have fixed the bug before being too busy with other things!
Come back soon. :)