Whirligig News

Hi everyone

I've finally manged to get Whirligig on Applab. It's been on SideQuest (itch.io) for a while but I wanted to move that build to applab to make it easier to get on the Quest.

The reason I'm posting here is that I want to get a few people to check it out and let me know how they get on. Basically if they have any problems etc.

I'm offering free codes to anyone who already own it on Itch.io/Sidequest and that won't change indefinitely. I'm also offering codes to anyone who owns Whirligig on any other store/platform. So if you've got it on PC on Steam for example give me a shout and I'll send you a code. That offer might change depending on how many people take me up on it.

So how do you get your code? Email me [email protected] with any details you have to say you've already purchased it and I'll send you back a code.

Probably the biggest thing in the last update is the positional sound for 5.1 audio. This is also in the Quest version (only in the Exo Player video path). It's something I've wanted in there for a while :)

So give me an email. Feel free to ask me any questions here as well.

All the best and happy watching.

Phil

Hi everyone

So we have a new update with some exciting improvements. First a couple of images:





Thumbnails option added to Explorer
You can now choose a thumbnail view in the explorer. This is a relatively new update and I think it will struggle with folders with a large number of files. Give it a go though and let me know what you want improved on it.


Audio menu
With audio getting more complex I've given it it's own menu. This allows for more control and new features to be added.

Audio Tracks
With the new menu I've been able to provide a much easier way to select audio tracks and also give more details on what each track is. Simply click the track you want and it'll be selected, also which ever audio track selected will be remembered when the same media file is opened later.

Surround Sound
So this is the exciting one. Basically I've wanted to be able to have positional audio for multi track videos for a long time. Many videos come with 5.1 audio and all the programs you use to play them merges them down to a stereo output. This is generally OK for headphones but with VR you are missing the opportunity to place that audio in a 3D space. This also allows you to take advantage of spatial sound. With direct access to each channel I can now place them in 3D space and give volume options for all channels. If the dialog is too quite you can boost the centre channel for example.

Other options also include showing speakers so you can see where the audio is coming from and lock rotation so that is plays as stereo instead of being head tracked.

Subtitles
With the update to the audio track selection I've also worked on including this for subtitles. There is also support for muxed subtitles in Media Foundation (These will be displayed at their correct times but the time they disappear is based on the length of the subtitle, hopefully I'll be able to fix this soon).

Trying the beta
It's very easy to try the betas but if you've not done it before I've made a tutorial to help:
https://youtu.be/z9pv-cgn4IE

Thoughts
This is a big update and for this reason there is a good chance it'll still have bugs in some way. Please let me know if you run into any problems [email protected] or post on the Whirligig Steam forum. I'd also like to know what other options you would want regarding these new features. Are there some kick ass features I could include in the next update :)

Final Thoughts
Work on Whirligig still continues and will continue to continue. Whirligig is a long term project for me and I intend to support it as long as I can. In saying this I also have other jobs so I can't work on Whirligig full time so updates tend to come in spurts. Many have suggested new features and bug reports and I continue to fix and add these in subsequent updates. Not always straight away depending on complexity.

All suggestions are welcome, and I really appreciate feedback. Most of the features I add have been requested so it's worth suggesting something if there is a feature you'd really like.

I hope you like the updates and I look forward to your feedback.

Happy watching :)

Phil

Hi

It's been requested a few times to have thumbnails show up in the explorer. In this update I've added a system that allows you to switch to a thumbnail view.

So this is the first version of this to be released. I think it's working ok, it does go through each file so if you have a very large number of files in a folder it might have problems. I'm hoping that all you can let me know what you think, what problems you have and what improvements I can make.

Here are some screenshots that illustrate the update:





So as I said it's the first iteration of this and will probably have problems. So be careful not to throw too much at it to begin with. I very much want to here everyone's feedback on this :)

Hope you like it :)

Phil

Hi everyone

So after the default update I've been working on all your feedback and bug reports and done my best to fix any issues with the latest version. This is now available as a beta whirligig_early_access_v.4.886 for people to give it a go before it gets pushed to the main build.

What issues have I addressed. Well I've struggled a lot with the VR SDK's and Unity3D so I've spent a lot of time trying to get the Oculus SDK and the SteamVR SDK working nicely together. Hopefully this should fix issues with VR not always working. It should also mean that the SteamVR control panel should only open when using a non Oculus headset. Oculus will use it's own SDK. Apart from that update (which was a pain in the arse to get working) I've worked on getting issues fixed where countries where they use "," for a decimal (this is mainly resume feature issues), small fixes, general stability and any issues that people have had since the last default update.

I've also removed the different loading options at start up as I don't think they were helping and were causing more problems that solving.

If you've not tried the betas before then here is a tutorial to help you get start, hint, it's really easy to try the betas in Steam:
https://youtu.be/z9pv-cgn4IE

So please give it a try and let me know if you have any problems. I'll be updating the default with this very soon so if I can quash any bugs before then the better.

Happy watching

Phil

One last thing. If you have Whirligig on the Oculus store and want to try the beta on Steam email [email protected] and I'll send over a code. The reverse is true as well. I am very close to updating that version as well. This is the last push before I hit go on the Oculus Store version.

Hi everyone

Welcome to the long overdue update to Whirligig's default build. I've put this off for far too long, which means there are a lot of updates.

Backend updates:

• Unity3D updated to 2919.4.23f1.
  
• AVPro Video plugin updated to AVPro 2.x.
  
• Oculus SDK updated to latest build.
  
• SteamVR updated to latest build.
  
• Performance improvements in UI and video playback for Media Foundation.
  
• Improvements to the UI control system.
  

Features:

• Desktop Mirroring updated and moved to the explorer menu as a tab
  
• Webcam support added to the Explorer menu.
  
• Sharpness added to Image Adjustment Menu.
  
• Added support for external VLC installation.
  
• Added extra movement options to key assigns.
  
• Added thumbnails to save slots.
  
• Proper none VR support.
  
• Disable VR mirroring has been improved and now also displays a Whirligig mirroring disabled.
  
• Command -forcesteam if you wish to force Oculus to use Steam instead of Oculus SDK.
  
• compatibility with Quest/2 link cable.
  
• Virtual Desktop support remote play supported through -forcesteam
  

Bug fixes:
There has been numinous bug fixes and to be honest to much to mention. If you find more let me know. They seem to keep breeding regardless of how many I squash.

[h3]If you have issues with the update[/h3]
I've tried very hard to make this update not break Whirligig for people already using it. However it is important to note that it's very difficult to know how this update will effect all uses. Here are some suggestions that might help if you run into problems.

Return to previous default version
If you find that you are having problems with the update you can easy return the previous default build which will remain in the betas section in Whirligig Steam properties. I've created a tutorial to help people who haven't done this before, although I will say it's very easy to do. The build to return to is whirligig_early_access_v.4.762. Here is the tutorial:
https://youtu.be/z9pv-cgn4IE

Reset Whirligig to factory settings
Whirligig doesn't hold any information in the registry and saves all it's files out to ini files contain in a folder called Whirligig in the roaming folder of windows. By deleting this folder Whirligig is effectively return to factory settings. Here are instructions to remove this folder:

Close Whirligig.
Navigate here :
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming
Find the folder called 'Whirligig' and rename or delete it.
Restart Whirligig.

That should reset Whirligig back to factory settings. To fully be sure that it's a clean install uninstall Whirligig from Steam and check it's install folder to make sure the Whirligig folder has been removed. My install location is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Whirligig" but yours my be installed in a different location. Steam when uninstalling a program should remove the install folder but I've had a couple of reports where this hasn't happened properly and when updating old files aren't overwritten which causes problems.

Contact me
If you are having a problem with the update and wish to help me fix it please contact me or post on the Whirligig Steam forum. I'll do my best to find the problem and post a fix or help with getting Whirligig working for you again. The more bugs I can find and fix the better for everyone.

Email: [email protected]

Steam Forum: https://steamcommunity.com/app/451650/discussions/0/

[h3]Final Thoughts[/h3]

This update has been a long time coming and will hopefully help me move forward with more features, more improvements and more bug fixing in the future. I've been making Whirligig since 2016 and although there are several video players on the market now, I think that Whirligig still has a place for a certain type of user who just want that little extra control, projection format options or Whirligig has a specific function that isn't present in the other apps.

To everyone who has support Whirligig over the years I'm eternally grateful and look forward to updating and improving Whirligig in future versions for you all.

You've already supported me by buying Whirligig but if you want to do something else a good review is always gratefully received.

I look forward to hearing your feedback and wish you all the best of health and hopefully a great year ahead.

Until next time, keep watching

Phil

P.S.

I'm also working on a game and games engine (actually based around Whirligig). If you want to see what this is all about check out http://pageone-adventure.co.uk/