10.2 Preview r3659-r3715 - Lots of stuff

Archived development update discussion from past versions
Archived development updates.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Korados wrote:I tried to take away the background image I had but the flickering is still there.
Would you happen to know which video hardware your computer has? This actually might be a case of some new underlying tech in the engine not working correctly. If you switch between OpenGL vs. DirectX rendering (hold Shift while starting the dev preview), does the flickering go away?
Birdman87 wrote:... and being able to choose how thick the letter outline is?
You're right, those outlines get pretty thin when the labels are small. I just adjusted it to have a more consistent outline weight throughout the whole range. (A byproduct is a tiny bit of label "pop" as you zoom in/out. Not nearly as bad as before though.)
NewDefault.png
NewDefault.png (9.8 KiB) Viewed 28972 times
There still isn't any adjustment for it (and doing this actually adds quite a bit more behind-the-scenes rendering work for the labels), but the heavier outline is important. The right answer is to get a 1440p monitor and change Graphics.ScaleOverride to 2! Then the outlines are super thick! ;) Even at 1080p you might be able to get away with a 1.5 scale.
revilo2 wrote:So much time spent on design details... and always no sheet music mode :D
Soon. That is all Synthesia 11 is about. I suspect people will be complaining in the other direction: too much time spent on sheet music and not enough on new features! :lol:
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

PREVIEW r3690
Download from the pink box above.

Changes since last time
  • Added support for the Jamboxx.
  • Labels are white with outlines again. Use Keyboard.LabelBonusSize and Keyboard.LabelContrast to adjust.
  • Synthesia for Mac will no longer scan for songs inside apps.
  • Dramatically simplified Windows installer. (You guys will see it soon.) ;)
  • Fixed new song list "natural sort" to handle case (in)sensitivity correctly.
  • Increased Windows MIDI reset delay.
  • Prevented duplicate pre-first-note events from being sent at the start of songs.
  • Fixed a crash if you set song speed to 0%.
Tablet Fixes
  • Hopefully Synthesia will start successfully on a few more Android devices out there.
  • Synthesia for Android should handle wonky manufacturer/product names reported by MIDI devices a little better.
  • Fixed 11 minor issues in the iPad's sound set.
Birdman87
Posts: 61

Post by Birdman87 »

I think you have a bug on the alignment of the letters, as you can see in the picture below, the white keys letters are significantly higher than the black keys letters, which makes them stick out a little up. EDIT: Also if the notes are the same length, shouldn't the letter size be the same regardless of whether it's a white or black key? it just seems a little uneven...

http://i.imgur.com/Eg8PqiL.jpg

Although it is nice to be able to choose how big the letters are and the fact that they adjust size proportionally to the letter i still find the actual black border around the letters too thin, especially when the letters are big size, do you think it would be possible to make it at least twice or three times as thick and show us a few examples?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Birdman87 wrote:I think you have a bug on the alignment of the letters...
The text is always bottom-aligned (with a padding of 2 or so pixels). So, "bonus size" refers to the amount the labels are allowed to escape outside the boundaries on the left, top, and right sides. (If the text were centered, the label would fall off the bottom and obscure the note's onset time!)

So in this case, you've got your own control knob now. If you don't like the text falling off the top of the note, dial the bonus size down until you find something you like. At 0, it won't fall out. ;)
Birdman87
Posts: 61

Post by Birdman87 »

But at 0 the letters are incredibly small and unreadable.. not really helpful.

http://i.imgur.com/uK6El2w.png

EDIT: and at 0 the alignment is also wrong...
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

And now you get to see all the things I've been struggling with for the last few builds! :lol:

(You are right. When the label is fully inside the note, it could be vertically centered a little better.)
rumpole
Posts: 22

Post by rumpole »

Hello Nicholas,

Your quick response and adaptability is appreciated.

1: Minimization of blue and green bars worked a treat with "Gameplay.PinMenuDrawer.Open" by unticking the box. Not any more. Any clues?

2: The re-adjustment of the size of the notes is a big improvement. Some may now wish to argue that the individual user should be able to re-size their own notes, as perhaps different graphic cards, monitor quality and sizes and an individual's eyes have different outcomes. Any thoughts on this one?

Regards,

Frank
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

rumpole wrote:Minimization of blue and green bars worked a treat with "Gameplay.PinMenuDrawer.Open" by unticking the box. Not any more. Any clues?
The official version of Synthesia stores its data in a different location than development previews. It sounds like you might be changing the PinMenuDrawerOpen setting in one place but not the other.

Starting with these 10.2 previews, the new way to open the configuration window is to hold the Shift key while launching Synthesia. Do you have the box unticked there? Hopefully that will help.
rumpole wrote:Some may now wish to argue that the individual user should be able to re-size their own notes...
That is precisely what we did in yesterday's new preview to accommodate as many users as possible! :D In the same configuration window you'll find two new options: Keyboard.LabelBonusSize and Keyboard.LabelContrast. The first will adjust the size and the second lets you switch between white/outlined vs. black note labels.
qazxsw21000
Posts: 39

Post by qazxsw21000 »

Has it been mentioned that short notes do not show on the software keyboard? They still play, but the keys don't light up and there are no particle effects.

Wasn't it said some time back that the underlying code for custom track colors is already in place? If so, is it currently possible to use custom colors? Or are we still waiting for a method to enter them to be implemented?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

qazxsw21000 wrote:Has it been mentioned that short notes do not show on the software keyboard? They still play, but the keys don't light up and there are no particle effects.
This changed a couple releases ago. See this video at 2:48.

Open the configuration window (hold Shift while starting Synthesia) and change "Gameplay.ForcedBreakBetweenNotes" to "0" to revert that behavior back to the old one.
qazxsw21000 wrote:Wasn't it said some time back that the underlying code for custom track colors is already in place?
See the large, bold, red text here. ;)

(Technically there is a tiny bit more work left. If you look closely in that video you'll see that the keyboard keys still just show green. The black keys need an art update and a little code in order to draw using arbitrary colors.)
rumpole
Posts: 22

Post by rumpole »

The re-sizing of the notes in r3690 is terrific. It really aids faster reading and is so much easier on the eye.
Korados
Posts: 64

Post by Korados »

Nicholas wrote: Would you happen to know which video hardware your computer has? This actually might be a case of some new underlying tech in the engine not working correctly. If you switch between OpenGL vs. DirectX rendering (hold Shift while starting the dev preview), does the flickering go away?
I tried this, but with OpenGL, the flickering is even more noticeable. Stretching or crouching the notes doesn't help, the black notes still flicker. Did you actually see it or is it just me? My video hardware is NVidia GeForce GTX 765M.

What are your plans about the black notes now? Are you going to revert them to look like in Synthesia 10.1?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Hmm, I still haven't seen the flicker myself. One of the technology changes since 10.1 was texture mipmapping support, which I suspected was the problem. But your graphics hardware is very new, so it's definitely not that. (Mipmaps have enjoyed universal support for over a decade now.)

Regarding the black note texture: the change there is that it's now exactly the same as the white notes. They only vary by color now. I'm also not sure I've seen the other (not-flicker related) problem with the notes. You mentioned their size was wrong when notes became very small? Did you have a screenshot or an example song showing that happening?

Thanks!
Korados
Posts: 64

Post by Korados »

I tried it on my brother's laptop and he doesn't have the problem. But the screen has a resolution of 1600x900 while I have 1920x1080. So I tried lowering the resolution of my PC. The flickering
is more subtle then but not completely gone.

To the other issue: When there are very short black notes, they appear to be much smaller than in Synthesia 10.1 and they are also smaller than the white notes.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Hmm, do you know if you have any forced settings in your Nvidia driver? Things like forcing a particular type of filtering or anti-aliasing? Those sorts of settings could have an impact.

(Otherwise, yes: the black notes are capable of being a little shorter than they used to be. Their width is the same as it ever was though.)
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

PREVIEW r3699
Download from the pink box above.
NearFinal.png
NearFinal.png (9.43 KiB) Viewed 28727 times
Changes since last time
  • More label tweaks: heavier outline, better centering, better sizing.
  • Synthesia for iPad should now be able to restore transactions more reliably.
  • Improved support for the Jamboxx.
This is getting close to final. I am going to send the language changes off to be translated and we're looking at a final 10.2 release sometime next week. :D
Birdman87
Posts: 61

Post by Birdman87 »

Ok, this is definitely an improvement over the last one, i played for a bit and it's not bad, just takes a bit of time to get used to the font being different sizes also looks way more professional. If you think it's possible to make it even a tad thicker i wouldn't mind, but it's overall good.

Also maybe the black version could do with some borders too, when the notes are too small, the label exits the note and isn't very readable against the dark background as seen here.

http://imgur.com/YMlm7X7
Korados
Posts: 64

Post by Korados »

Nicholas wrote:Hmm, do you know if you have any forced settings in your Nvidia driver? Things like forcing a particular type of filtering or anti-aliasing? Those sorts of settings could have an impact.

(Otherwise, yes: the black notes are capable of being a little shorter than they used to be. Their width is the same as it ever was though.)
You was right. For an unknown reason, the FXAA was enabled in the NVidia settings and the frequency rate was set to 60 Hz instead of 120 Hz. I guess this
happened because I tried out to switch to Windows 10, and during the installation the graphics driver was updated and apparently changed some settings. (But I hate Windows 10, so I reverted back to 8.1 soon).
Now everything is fine but I still have to say that I'm not very fond of the new look of the black notes.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Birdman87 wrote:Also maybe the black version could do with some borders too, when the notes are too small, the label exits the note and isn't very readable against the dark background as seen here.
Yeah, the intent with Keyboard.LabelContrast is that you'll also set LabelBonusSize down to something 2 or below. There could definitely be a better answer for that mode when there is a larger bonus.

That said, I'm happy to hear the rest is better... because I have spent way more time tweaking labels this cycle than I had intended! :lol: (I do agree that the time was well-spent. Now we get the nice style from before but all the efficiency from the technology improvements this time. The Android version in particular suffered very badly when zooming the keyboard. Now it's nice and smooth!)
seanjohnson
Posts: 2

Post by seanjohnson »

Hello, yesterday I was doing an evaluation of your production version with Win10 and had no audio, so I came here and tried your PREVIEW r3659. This solved the Win10 audio problem and I was enjoying it so much I purchased a key and a few songs. After entering the key, the preview version stopped recognizing my Midi-keyboard. I read somewhere that it needs to reacquire the midi connection thru restart. So I shutdown the app and disconnected the midi keyboard. Reconnected, and started the app...no help there.

Any ideas?
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