Monday, March 15, 2021

CannonBall V0.31 - Maintenance Release


This release focuses on upgrading the libraries and compilation tools CannonBall uses, as I hadn't maintained the codebase in a number of years. Most of these changes will be invisible to most users. Right now, I'm trying to get the house in order as opposed to add lots of wild new features! :)

The most exciting news is the upcoming SmartyPi support, but until the hardware is released, that's kind of a mute point!

Changes:

[audio] Audio updates at the correct rate and resolves the longstanding issue with music and sound being very slightly 'off'

[roms] ROMs are now read by CRC 32 value. Filenames no longer matter - so long as they are present they can be renamed to anything.

[roms] Fixed expected Z80 rom file length

[controls] Start Button behaviour less 'sticky' and buggy

[controls] Analog axis for accelerate and brake can now be configured via the in-built menu system

[menu] Reduced delay when scrolling through menu with analog controls

[config] ROMs and save data can be relocated to separate locations

[bug fix] Time Trial mode no longer crashes if used as the first mode played

[timing] Code tries to use V-Sync for timing OR internal timing, as opposed to both at once

[source] SDL 2 used by default. SDL 1 removed from codebase. This appears to have fixed compatibility bugs for some people

[source] Added compatibility for upcoming SmartyPi hardware (Pi 4 based) to run on original arcade hardware

[source] A general clean-up in many areas

7 comments:

tred said...

Do you have any plans to add new gameplay feature?

yt said...

Yes hopefully :)

tred said...

I know you're trying to not skew too far from the original game concept, but some of my suggestions would be:

1) Modify color of ferrari sprite
2) Race the tracks backwards (is this easily doable?)
3) Invulnerability mode (similar to on 3DS version)
4) This one is a bit out there, but maybe being able to use the bike from Hang-on

yt said...

These are all nice ideas. I've got some car handling enhancements coming next that will please you.

I've always wanted reversed tracks, and car colour customization too.

I do have some (really crazy) ideas that would be complete game changers. I'm just not convinced I have the time to do them, until coding OutRun all day pays as well as a day-job! :-D

Roblove2007 said...

Hi there Rob here. I have noticed when nearly completing a level you get a board saying "vulture street<- left & Dalton bayside -> right" could these be changed to the proper names for each level, Could that be possible?

Ludwick said...

Im dying for custom vehicles in outrun.

Unknown said...

Hi! Do you have any plans to add support for ultra-wide aspect ratio to be able to play at resolutions such as 2560x1080 or 3440x1440 ?