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Project Heartbeat 0.10: New Song, Resource Packs, new PPD code with MP4 support

Project Heartbeat 0.10 is here! This update was slightly interrupted by me having surgery so it isn't as big as usual it is also mostly a housekeeping and bug fixing update, but it does bring some new major features and new content!

NEW CONTENT


[h2]NEW SONG: Core Creation[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Core Creation is a song by Renko and Sugano, this song is a cover of the popular "Bad Apple!!" song from the Touhou Project series, the chart was made by blizzin and the artwork was created by Mariale. I hope you will enjoy it!


NEW FEATURES


[h2]Resource Packs[/h2]





Project Heartbeat now has a Resource Pack system, with a brand new editor to boot, you can replace graphics from the game with custom ones, change properties and even upload them to the workshop!

The graphics that can be changed and tuned will be expanded upon in the future.

The options menu now has a Resource Pack section, from here you can select what resource pack you want, you can also override the currently selected resource pack's notes with the notes from another pack in case you are used to them but want to enjoy the rest of the selected resource pack!

[h2]Extended PPD Loader[/h2]



By popular request, I've added a way to import your whole PPD installation's song folder, the only difficulty is that you have to provide the .dll/.so files that are able to load h264 files like the ones PPD uses, the new importer maintains your PPD folder structure and can play MP4 files, AVI files and a long et cetera.

If you are interested in this feature, please hit us up in the discord, we'll gladly help you.

[h2]DSC Loader improvements[/h2]



Initially I was considering removing the DSC Loader altogether, but I was convinced not to do so, this is why I've expanded upon what types of files it can load, I've also given them their own category.

The DSC loader can now load Project DIVA Dreamy Theater 2nd/DIVA F/DIVA F2nd DSCs, this was motivated by the closure of the PlayStation Network on the VITA and PlayStation 3 to be able to preserve those edits in PH, although the closure seems to have been aborted now the code was already done so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The way DIVA OGGs are played has also been improved, the voice and instrumental will now sync better and the loading times will be improved.

You can also load the full song list from a copy of DT2nd, fancy.

[h2]Changes to how some notes are handled[/h2]

Previously, multi notes with two notes of the same type didn't work, this has been fixed, hitting other notes during sliders has also been fixed, this means that some very old charts and some PPD specials work again.

[h2]Editor changes[/h2]

More usability changes have been made to the editor:

[h3]Community charting guide[/h3]

Snail has kindly provided a new charting guide, which you can read here, this guide is also included in the editor, and complements the editor manual.

[h3]Keyboard Lyrics Workflow[/h3]

A new way of working with lyrics has been added, you can now use the following hotkeys:

Control+J: Create phrase start
Control+K: Create lyric
Control+L: Create phrase end

[h3]Editor action notification system[/h3]

The editor will now display some actions as floating text when you enter them, for example pasting, saving, etc.

[h2]Video playback changes[/h2]

The way videos are played back has been radically changed, they should now be much smoother to use, for example when rolling back from a pause the video frame we are seeking to is fetched in the background and not when the rollback is done, which prevents minor stuttering when rolling back, this also makes editor video playback much more accurate.

[h2]Results screen graph[/h2]



There's a new tab in the results screen that lets you see a graph, this graph will help you see where you made a mistake and how close you were to your targets!

[h2]VRAM usage optimizations[/h2]

I discovered some ways to reduce VRAM usage greatly, this is also in part thanks to the new resource pack system.

[h2]Main Menu viewport scaling[/h2]

A new optimization has changed the way the main menu is drawn, this makes it vary some internal resolutions depending on the resolution the game is running at, which should increase performance when using resolutions other than 1080p.

[h2]Color channel swapping filters[/h2]



The ability to swap some of the game's color channels has been added, this has the potential to aid some people with some forms of colorblindness, it's an imperfect solution but it was simple to add and it might be useful to someone.

Other changes
  • Fix scroll list hold to scroll on drifty PS4 controllers.
  • Optimize VRAM usage
  • Add the ability to change sound volume per sound effect
  • Add song count indicator to song list
  • Show difficulty in workshop browser using pre-uploaded metadata (doesn't work for some old charts).
  • Change how note hit effects are drawn to make them faster
  • Entering a property in the inspector will now release focus from the field you are editing.
  • Place the multi note laser behind all graphics
  • Change visualizer algorithm to a smoother one
  • Make menus use the SFX audio bus


Bug Fixes

  • Fix hitting two notes of the same type in a multi
  • Fix hitting notes during slide chains
  • Fix epilepsy warning placement
  • Fix editor note selection with clock arms disabled
  • Make YTDL force IPV4 because microsoft are completely braindead
  • Fix sustain Z order
  • Rework wav loading to prevent crackling noises
  • Make hardware clock option selectable
  • Multiple scroll list bugfixes
  • Fix leaderboard scrolling being disabled sometimes
  • Fix button overlapping in the workshop tabbing system
  • Fix input overlapping issues in song list
  • Fix newlistitem error
  • Prevent subsequent playback issues when finishing a video in the editor
  • Fix issues with controls rebinding

0.9 hotfixes (Updated March 19, 2021)

This article lists the hotfix changes done after the release of 0.9

0.9.8
  • Fix epilepsy warning placement


0.9.7
  • Make YTDL use IPv4 because windows likes to slow downloads down to a crawl if using IPv6 ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


01/04/2021 (0.9.6)
  • Update ytdl


25/03/2021 (0.9.5)
  • Change custom sound loading code to properly load audio chunks and prevent clicking noises.


19/03/2021 (0.9.4)
  • Sands of time lyrics correction
  • Don't show hotfixes in main menu news list
  • Fix running the game with DSCLoader
  • Prevent clicking sound by ignoring anything after the data chunk when loadi…


12/03/2021 (0.9.3)
  • Update ytdl
  • Fix laggy I/O print statements when hitting slide chains


03/03/2021 (0.9.2)
  • Fix holding to scroll in the song list


03/03/2021 (0.9.1)
  • Fix gigantic VRAM leak

Hotfix notes for 03/03/2021 (0.9.2)

- Fix holding to scroll in the song list

Hotfix notes for 03/03/2021 (0.9.1)

Hello Project Heartbeat gamers, this is a small patch issued to fix a small issue with the game.

- Fix gigantic VRAM memory leak

Cheers.

Project Heartbeat Anniversary Update (0.9) now available!

Welcome to Project Heartbeat 0.9 this is our first update of 2021 and also the anniversary update, Project Heartbeat will be turning 1 year old next month, so this update celebrates its release!

Let's get right into the new stuff.

NEW CONTENT


[h2]NEW SONG: Sands of Time[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Sands of Time is now live, the artwork was masterfully made by artist Mariale, the chart was made by Blizzin.

The song comes from the Initial D inspired games "Densha de D" based on the manga of the same name, it's produced by Sugano and sang by Travis Stebbins.

NEW FEATURES


[h2]In-game workshop browser[/h2]



New functionality to browse the workshop from inside the game has been added, this allows you to subscribe from within the game and will automatically download media. You can make the media auto-download only download audio through a new option added to the options menu.

[h2]Mini-tutorial[/h2]



To help new players I've added a mini-tutorial before the song starts that tells you how to hit the notes that it contains.



[h2]Editor minimap[/h2]



The editor now features a minimap to aid with scrolling to sections of the song quickly.

[h2]New latency display[/h2]



A new Osu! inspired latency display has been added, this shows you what the difference between your inputs and the perfect timing is and also shows an average, the different bands show different timing windows (so COOL in the center, FINE next to it and so on).

[h2]Editor slide chain flipping[/h2]



A new transform has been added to the editor's transform tools that allows you to flip slide chains horizontally.

[h2]Audio only downloads[/h2]



It is now possible to download only audio for songs that use videos, before you needed to download the video and then disable audio, this new option disables it and then downloads only the audio.

[h2]New song list[/h2]



The way the song list works has been changed, the new code is more efficient and makes the song list look and animate nicely, it also makes it much more mouse friendly, this code is also used by the workshop browser, and will slowly be used in more places in the game where scrollable lists are involved.

As another change, locally installed, workshop and editor charts are now separated in the song list.

This song list also wraps around, fancy.

The new song list also adds a new look for the song's cover art and an animation when slecting it.

[h2]Controller input changes[/h2]



Previously the game would use the input from the latest controller to press a button, this was problematic because it would cause double inputs and performance issues when using emulated controllers.

The new system only allows for one controller to be used, it will automatically use the first controller it finds the first time and store it, so that every time you run the game that controller will be used.

If when running the game that controller is no longer present, it will default to the first controller it finds.

The controller in use can be chosen in Options -> Input

[h2]Note hit effect changes[/h2]

The note hit effect has been changed, it now feels a bit bouncy, I have also optimized how note hit effects are displayed and removed which should lead to better performance particularly for slide chains.

[h2]Epilepsy warning[/h2]



You can now enable an epilepsy warning in the graphics tab of the song metadata editor, this is encouraged for charts that have videos with rapidly flashing colors.

[h2]Editor scripting[/h2]



Editor scripting allows you to write scripts to change notes around, this is like a supercharged version of the expression editor.

[h2]Chart note usage display[/h2]



Charts in the song list now show what types of notes are used in it, this is per-song and per-chart.

[h2]Intro skip marker[/h2]



You can now mark the point to where the intro skip feature will jump to in the editor.

[h2]Nintendo notes[/h2]



There are new notes for nintendo controllers, the new shapes created for them has been also adapted for use in the xbox icon pack, so they share the shape but not the colors.

[h2]Achievements[/h2]



Achievements have finally arrived to Project Heartbeat, more will be added in the future.

[h2]Engine changes[/h2]

The engine version has been upgraded to a newer version of the godot 3.2.4 branch, also a patch by RandomShaper has been added that should make some threaded operations safer and thus reduce crashing.

BUG FIXES & minor changes


  • Optimizer visualizer code
  • Added the ability to toggle the game's UI (control+H)
  • Fix layering in multiplayer
  • Fix results screen showing info partially before waiting for workshop vote info
  • Optimize slide particle deletion timing
  • Fix long standing bug that caused button prompts to not change when changing them in options.
  • Disable leftover test.png debug feature
  • Add a HACK to fix case issues for charts made on Windows for Linux users
  • Fix issues with folders section
  • Fix audio preview playback being out of order sometimes
  • Fix opening song settings in-game
  • Add new PPD deprecation disclaimer
  • Fix being able to make illegal notes in the editor
  • Update youtube-dl and force it to use the python3 alias
  • Fix editor plugin tools not behaving properly
  • Fix song preview graphics not showing when pausing
  • Fix many memory leaks
  • Remove usage of SFX pooling for ordinary SFX
  • Use song volume normalization in editor playtest
  • Fix returning from a song that's in a folder
  • Make youtube-dl create cache folder in user dir (fixes downloaded video list not being saved when using custom content directories)
  • Fix opening song settings in-game
  • Add new PPD deprecation disclaimer


FUTURE


I'd like 0.10 to have a focus on new UGC stuff, so I would like to have a new tool that facilitates making icon packs, maybe UI packs, I will also be working on linked hearts finally. I've gotten better at writing code so I'll try to get as many things done as possible as always ;)