Lambda Enigma News

[h2]Graphics[/h2]

• [p]Fixed a critical issue that prevented all Windows 11 users from playing the game due to videos not working at all.[/p]

[h3]Details:[/h3][p]A recent Microsoft update to all Windows 11 systems seems to have rendered the AV1 Video Extension component useless. The legacy Windows Media Player is no longer able to play AV1-encoded videos with that package installed. My game is built on WPF and was using MediaElement to render AV1 videos through the WMP, which required the AV1 Video Extension to be installed. After the Microsoft update, videos were no longer working at all in the game on Windows 11 systems.[/p][p]To resolve the issue, I've rewritten the entire video component in the game from scratch to no longer depend on MediaElement. Instead, it now relies on the Edge WebView2 runtime's WPF component and a new control that I made to render and manage the state for an HTML5 video element. My testing shows that this not only works on Windows 10 and 11 without installing the AV1 Video Extension, but it also appears to be a lot more stable. Apparently it still uses GPU acceleration for AV1 video plackback as well.[/p][p]The cost to this new approach is that Windows 10 does not come with the Edge WebView2 runtime pre-installed, although Windows 11 does. However, using the \winget\ tool I was able to update the game's installer to simply check if the OS is Windows 10 and, if so, it installs the runtime package automatically. This works similarly to how the installer already uses \winget\ to install .NET 8, which is the platform on which the game runs.[/p][p]If you run into any issues with the installation, then please let me know![/p][p]\Note that Windows 10 systems with all of the latest Microsoft updates should already have Edge WebView2 runtime installed, but I've included the installation anyway just to be on the safe side.\[/p][p]If you wish to uninstall these components, I've provided an uninstallation script that you can run manually. Note that it does not run automatically when uninstalling Lambda Enigma, because .NET 8 and the Edge WebView2 runtime are global system components that other applications likely depend on, and as such uninstalling them may cause other applications to stop functioning. So uninstall these at your own risk![/p][p]{SteamLibrary}\\steamapps\\common\\LambdaEnigma\\Install\\Uninstall.bat[/p][p][/p][p]\Special thanks to the player that reported it...\ getting COMExceptions in the log when starting the game :: Lambda Enigma General Discussions [/p]

Join me while I work on various game development tasks for Lambda Enigma, such as coding in C#, creating 3D artwork and animations, sound design and much more.



Anyone interested in Lambda Enigma, or simply game development in general, is welcome!

I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts about my game if you've played it already.

• What do you like about it?
  
• What don't you like about it?
  
• Did you run into any major or minor issues while installing or playing? Need any help with that?
  
• Did the game meet your expectations based on its Steam Store page?
  

See you there!

- Dave

[h2]General[/h2]

• Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash when accessing the Controls tab in the Settings menu (Esc).
  
• Suppressed the Windows Alt+Space system menu key combo so that the Alt key for axis restriction (default) and the space key for flipping an object (default) can be pressed simultaneously in game without accidentally and frustratingly opening the system menu.
  
• After starting a New Game while on the first gear or laser tablet puzzle, the player's last code solution is also cleared now, so that it's no longer filled in automatically when they progress to that point again upon replaying the game.
  

[h2]Workbench[/h2]

• Disabled the tablet navigation button while the laser is active in laser puzzles.
  

[h2]Computer[/h2]

• Improved one of the computer puzzle story screens to be more consistent with a prior screen. (Leaving out the details here to avoid any spoilers.)
  
• Changed one of the final puzzle's success message to indicate that it's "Higher-order", to be distinct from a previous puzzle.
  

[h2]General[/h2]

• When starting the game a new HUD animation with devices and measurements is displayed, and it searches for a signal until the animation sync frame is reached before transitioning to flying into the workshop.
  
• Added an indicator at the top right corner of the screen to indicate when the intro video is skippable by left mouse clicking.
  
• Fixed clicking to skip on the intro so that the player doesn't have to click again after the intro animation begins when they click while it's "loading" to wait for the sync frame. Now it just skips directly to the workbench when they click.
  
• Several general bug fixes and optimizations.
  

[h2]Controls[/h2]

• Added a new navigation button to access the toolbox under the workbench, displayed in various scenarios, and remaining until the player progresses past the point when it's no longer needed.
  
• Updated trackpad camera orbit so that the right mouse button isn't required anymore while the alternate orbit key (Z, by default) is pressed, making orbiting much easier and similar to using a middle mouse button.
  
• Displayed the alternate orbit key in the HUD after the "Orbit" label.
  
• Moved the flip key label after the "Flip" label on the mouse button and removed the separate key indicator, and also called it "Spacebar" instead of "Space" (Space is the default key).
  
• Fixed a bug in which the right mouse button cannot flip a workbench object that is currently being dragged if the player was in orbit mode and orbiting the camera while the previous puzzle was solved; e.g., when the laser hit the catcher.
  

[h2]Workbench[/h2]

• A battery is now displayed in the HUD at the lower right corner of the screen, indicating the player's total progress.
  
• When completing particular groups of workbench puzzles, an inventory HUD is shown and the player must take the new machine into their inventory before proceeding.
  
• Fixed the tablet so that it no longer says "Initializing..." before it turns on, automatically.
  
• Fixed a bug in laser puzzles that caused the mouse cursor to not change properly during and after the laser is animated.
  
• Fixed a bug in laser puzzles that caused the mouse cursor to remain visible when a puzzle is solved.
  
• Fixed a bug in laser tablet puzzles that allowed the tablet to receive keyboard focus with a click, and to remain editable while the laser is being animated, allowing the player to interact with the tablet program during the laser animation and to possibly effect the outcome.
  
• Shrunk the maximum zoom out limit slightly because it was allowing the player to see a bit under the left or right corners of the workbench while orbiting almost to its extent.
  

[h2]Graphics[/h2]

• Re-rendered the workbench to computer, and the computer to workbench videos so that the texture on the computer and its dials match the real time 3D model in the game.
  
• Re-themed all of the HUD and navigation buttons to match the new devices and measurements story HUD and inventory slots.
  
• Added dynamic scaling of HUD elements for consistency across devices.
  
• The puzzle boxes and the computer are now faded out during scene transitions, since the 3D camera animations generally don't match the video precisely enough due to video lag, which looks terrible. Even when it's a very subtle difference in 1080p with a high-end GPU and CPU, it's fairly noticeable. Fading out the real-time 3D elements isn't ideal, but it looks much better than the alternative in most cases.
  

Join me while I work on various game development tasks for Lambda Enigma, such as coding in C#, creating 3D artwork and animations, sound design and much more.



Anyone interested in Lambda Enigma, or simply game development in general, is welcome!

I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts about my game if you've played it already.

• What do you like about it?
  
• What don't you like about it?
  
• Did you run into any major or minor issues while installing or playing? Need any help with that?
  
• Did the game meet your expectations based on its Steam Store page?
  

See you there!

- Dave