VZX Player News

Hi,
we invite you to try a public beta which is available at the beta branch:

"public_beta"

To opt in, go to settings (in Steam not inside VZX Player), betas and click the drop-down to select it.

[h2]What's new?[/h2]

• A new visual using our new rendering engine available in the "beta" pack. If this pans out, we have more visuals in the works for a DLC pack later on.
  
• Auto-gain, a feature which will mitigate low volume settings
  
• Watermark is removed for those who don't own DLC
  
• Lots of internal / smaller bug fixes
  

[h2]I have something to report![/h2]
Check the list of known issues available here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/981590/discussions/0/3428949623343211282/

If it's addressed there, you don't have to report it.

[h2]It's not on the list, where do I report it?[/h2]
Join our discord server ( http://vovoid.info ) and report it in the channel #vzx-player-beta. Thanks!

Improvements:

• On dual GPU gaming laptops with NVidia or AMD GPUs where an Intel HD Graphics GPU is also present, VZX player should now start on the discrete GPU by default even if the control panel is set to use the Intel HD Graphics by default. This could solve issues for laptop users and hopefully prevents some crashes which inevitably happen when starting on Intel HD Graphics. Also means you don't have to change the setting to make VZX Player work.
  
• A garbled dialog showing when Steam is not started has been fixed.
  
• The garbled one-time question about ignoring intel cards has been removed. Instead a warning if you launch the player on an Intel GPU comes up every time.
  
• Added some minor logging for the tweak bar in an attempt to diagnose a rare crash the we have seen but which is hard to understand.
  

Bug fixes:

• Watermark was not updated with VZX Logo.
  

If this version causes problems for you, you can go back to a number of previous versions.

They are available under Settings -> Betas along with release date.

Let us know in our discord if you have any problems!

[h2]Getting Support[/h2]

[h3]Important! If you experience bugs/problems:[/h3]
With every new release there are going to be some hiccups. We have tried our best to test thoroughly but there is always something.

We would like to try to help you fix any issues. Please contact us at [email protected] or via our discord server. In 95% of cases bugs affect others too so investigating is worth it. Using the review system to write a negative review is not very good for you since it makes it difficult for us to get back to you - many people ignore Steam notifications.

[h3]What you can do right now about problems[/h3]

• Several previous releases are now available with version numbers in "betas" in the Steam settings so you can still run "what worked before" until we have helped you fix the problems in the new release.
  

Now on to the new stuff...

"Space Rings" from "Voyages" DLC pack

[h2]New visual pack: "Voyages"[/h2]

This visual pack has more design elements than any one before. We hope you will enjoy it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812940

[h3]Visuals included[/h3]

• MMI: Inspired by the gateway scene in the movie 2001.
  
• Ecumenopolis: An abstract landscape, a vast habitat in space.
  
• Ethereal Space Station: Is it really there?
  
• Neuron Torus: Sparkling neurons.
  
• Space Rings: An instalment of Rings.
  
• Torus Spectrum: Spectrum analyzing stacks of hexagonal tori.
  
• Meta Swarm: A nebula made out of Meta Balls.
  

We have created a bundle so you can get a discount:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15307/VZX_Player_Complete/

[h2]Name change[/h2]
VSXu is now VZX and we have a new web site at: https://www.vzx-visualizer.com

Please bear with us while we update all nooks and crannies in our Steam pages, there will be a mix of VSXu and VZX for a whille.

[h2]VZX Player 0.9.3 Release Notes[/h2]

• Bug fix which caused colors to turn pink when Hue slider was pushed to the very right.
  
• New crash reporting backend which anonymously collects crashes so we can pinpoint where they are and fix them promptly
  

Hope you like the new release.

[h3]What are we working on?[/h3]
In parallel with this visual pack we have been working on finalizing VZX Creative which is a combined product containing both Pro Player and Artiste. The store page for that is live on Steam but there is still some work left to do.

[h3]Discord Server[/h3]

As always, you are welcome to join, this link redirects to our discord server:

http://vovoid.info

Take care!

[h2]Getting Support[/h2]

[h3]Important! If you experience bugs/problems:[/h3]
With every new release there are going to be some hiccups. We have tried our best to test thoroughly and have had an extensive public beta, but there is always something.

We would like to try to help you fix any issues. Please contact us at [email protected] or via our discord server. In 95% of cases bugs affect others too so investigating is worth it. Using the review system to write a negative review is not very good for you since it makes it difficult for us to get back to you - many people ignore Steam notifications.

[h3]What you can do right now about problems[/h3]

• The previous major release (v0.9.0) is available as "previous_version" in "betas" in the Steam settings for VSXu so you can still run "what worked before" until we have helped you fix the problems in the new release.
  

Japanese language support! Many thanks to 香月 a.k.a. DJ/VJ LogiQ!

[h2]New in this version[/h2]

• Bug fix: Tweak values would not save and duplicates of certain values would be saved (but not used)
  
• Japanese language support by 香月 a.k.a. DJ/VJ LogiQ
• Error dialogs would display text as a bunch of question marks making them useless.
  
• Much better error message when audio backend communication does not work; the most common culprit being a non-standard/thirdparty firewall.
  
• Detection of trying to launch two instances of player which causes problems with port bindings for the audio backend
  
• Bug fixes in font engine causing certain characters to not render properly (not a visible bug because there were workarounds in place, but an improvement enabling the Japanese translation and future projects)
  

New Luna Design, get the desktop wallpaper in our discord!

[h2]Getting Support[/h2]

[h3]Important! If you experience bugs/problems:[/h3]
With every new release there are going to be some hiccups. We have tried our best to test thoroughly and have had an extensive public beta, but there is always something.

We would like to try to help you fix any issues. Please contact us at [email protected] or via our discord server. In 95% of cases bugs affect others too so investigating is worth it. Using the review system to write a negative review is not very good for you since it makes it difficult for us to get back to you - many people ignore Steam notifications.

[h3]What you can do right now about problems[/h3]

• The previous release is available as "previous_version" in "betas" in the Steam settings for VSXu so you can still run "what worked before" until we have helped you fix the problems in the new release.
  

Now on to the new stuff...

[h2]VSXu Player 0.9.1 Release Notes[/h2]

[h3]The New Audio Engine[/h3]
Main point is stability and fixing crashes and audio errors people were having when using the WASAPI backend. Here's the complete list:

• Entirely new audio backend which solves "no sound" driver issues which manifested as multiple crashes right when starting VSXu Player when one has certain peripherals connected.
  
• Seems to fix the “Unknown HRESULT” issue when recording audio which happened to quite a few users.
  
• API Selection now moved inside the player, no need to restart it to switch between audio APIs.
  
• WASAPI: Audio reporting rate has increased from 42Hz to 100Hz which makes a big difference on monitors that can do more than 60 Hz
  
• WASAPI backend used to downsample/resample the audio which caused issues with the frequency response. DirectSound and ASIO might still use this resampling, which will possibly be addressed in a future update.
  
• The new audio backend is implemented as 3 EXE files - one per API type. They communicate back to the player over UDP packets via localhost. This shouldn’t need any port openings in the Windows Firewall but you will see the open ports in some port monitoring software.
  

[h3]Design Improvements[/h3]

• Luna has been redesigned
  

[h3]Font rendering engine[/h3]

• While it should not be visible, the font rendering system is totally new. This improves performance quite a bit and does not rely on old OpenGL API calls.
  

[h3]Performance improvements[/h3]

• GUI drawer was rendered even though not visible
  

[h2]Improvements to Visualizations[/h2]
Generally, the updated visuals have been given (more) color customizations (tweaks). Full list as follows:

[h3]Classics pack[/h3]

• Plane Worlds: New granular color handling.
  
• Techno Stripes: You can now set line thickness.
  
• Glowstick Hyperspace: Added full color tweak support.
  
• Kaleidoscope: Judging from the community screenshots, this one is quite popular. It's gotten a larger overhaul with improved gamma correction, bloom and better color tweaks.
  

[h3]Particle Bliss pack[/h3]

• Anemone: Now limiting particle size in the visual so it doesn't get too intense.
  
• Exploding Star: Reduced default FX level somewhat. Less jumpy in 120 FPS. Added color support.
  
• Exploding Star Slow: Color support
  

[h3]Spectrums & Oscilloscopes pack[/h3]

• Space Spectrum: The particle fountain in the middle now follows the color of the round spectrum.
  
• 3D Oscilloscope: Default FX level reduced a bit. Feedback color can now be changed.
  
• Polar Oscilloscope Wave: More color tweaking supported.
  

[h3]Networks pack[/h3]

• Cyber Dive: Secondary color can be changed.
  
• Spectrum Flight: Proper color selection instead of separated sliders.
  
• Spectrum Pool: Full color selection support added.
  
• Three Body: Full color selection support added.
  
• Dream Pool: Full color selection support added.
  

Hope you like the new release.
Next we are going to be working on a new visual pack as well as Artiste and the Pro Player.
As always, if you have questions/feeeback you are welcome to join our discord server which is redirected to from http://vovoid.info.

Take care!