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2.0 beta 2

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@macmillan333 macmillan333 released this 14 Jul 04:48
2.0-beta.2
f0bcaf0

About this beta

  • This beta is meant for public testing, and may be less stable than the full 2.0 release. Please read through this release note carefully to understand your risks before deciding whether to install this beta.
  • If you install and run this release, then view or change any option (including no video and background brightness on individual tracks), the options file on your disk will be upgraded to a new format (version "3"). Later if you run 1.1 again, it will be unable to understand the new format, and therefore revert all options to default.
  • This beta also serves as a feature freeze. No new features will be introduced between this release and the full 2.0 release.

Highlight

TECHMANIA now supports themes, allowing you to customize almost the entirety of TECHMANIA's UI.

  • Most of the existing UI is migrated to the "default theme".
    • The editor is not migrated at this moment, and will remain outside of themes for the foreseeable future.
  • Added an option to change theme.
    • A theme is a single .tmtheme file. Once you place a theme in the Themes folder next to TECHMANIA.exe, it will show up in the theme list.
    • You can also change the location of your themes folder, the same way as tracks and skins.
    • Please note that each theme is specific to a platform, and specific to certain TECHMANIA versions. Please double check whether a theme is compatible with your platform and TECHMANIA version before downloading. The theme developer should provide these information when releasing their theme.
    • Please also note that themes contain executable scripts, which may contain malicious code. We have made our best effort at locking down themes' access to the user's device and data, but we cannot make guarantees. Please exercise caution when choosing, downloading and using themes, the same way you would with downloading software from the internet.
  • When TECHMANIA launches, it will now display a boot screen, where it loads skins, the track list, and the current theme. TECHMANIA will display the theme only after these resources are loaded.
    • If using a non-default theme, on the boot screen you will have a chance to revert to the default theme. This is so that you can continue to change themes even if your chosen theme does not provide that option.

If you are interested in making themes, please note that documentation on the Theme API is not yet complete, but you can start reading what is there in the 2.0 branch of the documentation repo. Keep in mind that there may be significant, undocumented API changes between this beta and the full 2.0 release.

Other changes

  • Reduced lag spikes.
  • Added "modified time" as a sort basis of tracks.
  • Pausing the game now temporarily hides VFX and combo text, so they don't obscure the pause menu.
  • The game will now correctly extract zipped tracks without a directory in it.
  • Added an option on how to pause the game via the pause button. Choices are "single tap" (default), "double tap" and "hold".
    • This does not affect pausing by pressing the Esc key, or pausing by switching to another window.
  • New modifiers
    • Sudden death: instant fail on any MISS or BREAK.
    • Shifted half speed: similar to half speed, but the entire pattern is shifted by half a scan. This may produce more musically "correct" grouping of scans than half speed.
      half speed
  • Editor changes
    • Added a new field in track metadata: preview BGA. The default theme does not use them, but other themes may.
    • When sorting patterns automatically, the sort is now first by control scheme, then by playable lanes (new), then level.
    • Scan and beat numbers now start from 1 instead of 0.
    • Entering preview no longer resets zoom.

On shaders

UI Toolkit currently does not support shaders. Therefore, until supported is added, TECHMANIA will be unable to display any element that uses custom shaders on UI Toolkit. This includes skin elements that use additiveShader, as well as any visual element in themes that wish to use a custom shader.

  • We see VFX as a fundamental part of TECHMANIA's visual experience, so there is a workaround: VFX will be displayed in Unity UI, in a layer above everything in the theme. This unfortunately means it is impossible for any element in the theme to obscure VFX.
  • The combo text is displayed above VFX, so it gets the same workaround.
  • scanCountdownBackground, scanCountdownNumbers and touchClickFeedback in the game UI skin are displayed below notes, so no workaround is available. These elements will be hidden if they use additiveShader.
  • If Unity adds support for shaders in the future, we will promptly update TECHMANIA to fix this issue.

On records set on 1.0 and 1.0.1

If you don't care about records, or have already read this in 2.0 beta 1, you can skip this section.

TECHMANIA 1.0.2 changed the way pattern fingerprints are calculated. This would cause all records set on 1.0 and 1.0.1 to become invalid, but special logic was added to recognize these records and fix their fingerprints when you play the same pattern again on 1.0.2 and onward. This causes extra complexity in the logic that reads and updates records, so starting in 2.0, it will be removed.

This means, if you set a record on 1.0 or 1.0.1, and never played the same pattern on the same ruleset again on 1.0.2 or 1.1, these records will no longer be recognized by 2.0. To check whether you have such records:

  1. Open TECHMANIA\records.json in your documents folder
  2. Check if any record contains the line "gameVersion": "1.0" or "gameVersion": "1.0.1"
  3. If such a record exists, take a note of its ruleset and guid
  4. Open the track.tech file inside each track with a text editor, and search for the guid until you find the pattern that contains it

Unfortunately there is no easy way to automate this process at this moment. If there is significant need from the community, we may release a tool for it.

To fix records set on 1.0 and 1.0.1, you need to play the same pattern on the same ruleset (0 is standard, 1 is legacy) in TECHMANIA 1.0.2 or 1.1. You do not need to achieve a higher score than your record. There is no UI to tell you if a record is fixed, but if done correctly, the record in records.json should no longer say "gameVersion": "1.0" or "gameVersion": "1.0.1".

Known issues

  • scanCountdownBackground, scanCountdownNumbers and touchClickFeedback in the game UI skin will not display if they use additiveShader. Refer to the "On shaders" section for an explanation.
  • After selecting a track to edit, sometimes the entire window stops responding to clicks. A workaround is to press Alt+Tab to switch to another application then back to TECHMANIA.
  • (NEW) The title screen despite saying "press any key", does not respond to keystrokes.
  • (NEW) The keyboard shortcuts F11 and F12 in practice mode do not update corresponding toggles in the UI.
  • (NEW) The first keystroke to the application cannot be received by any element.

Fixed issues

  • An issue where upgrading some pre-1.0 tracks may fail due to missing fields.
  • An issue where changing language causes some option dropdowns to stop working.
  • An issue where input feedback may remain on screen if the finger is lifted while the game is paused.
  • An issue where the select track screen does not scroll to the previously selected track.

Which files to download

Existing players: download TECHMANIA.zip and overwrite the previous version.

New players: download TECHMANIA.zip and Skins_and_Tracks.zip from 2.0 beta 1, then extract them to the same folder.

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