Chip 1999 August/Chip_1999-08_cd.bin/sharewar/Pulse/History.txt

Text File | 1999-05-02 | 22KB | 476 lines

                        The Pulse Player history file
                            Written by PG /Unreal
                  (c) 1997-99 FD SYSTEM Ltd., Unreal Group

*Note* the build number is set to zero only when a tenth in the version number
       increases (e.g. 0.5x to 0.60)

+ Major changes
* Minor changes/modifications
- Removed
! Bugfixes

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Mar ?? 1999, version 0.95

Player
+ WAV player with Windows internal codecs (like ADPCM or MP3 compressed WAVS)
+ AHX player
+ Sound effects support (4 fx simultaneously, internally up to 256)
+ 4 audio streams mixer
+ New installer and About dialog
+ Language support - English, Czech, German at the time
+ Panning in reverbs
+ Subsong support (AHX, SID)
+ 3D positioning
+ MOL playlist support
+ Fast Use external tool (for enhanced mouse and keyboard control)
+ Design editor (compiler is no more part of Pulse player but a part of editor)
+ New method of amplification reduces clipping (MPx, SID and AHX player)
* Improved playlist (Sorting added)
* Pulse now releases components that are not needed from memory (e.g when you
  stop playing SID file, the component used for playing is removed from
  memory after a short time)
* Now you can enable/disable each single component (like MPx player, etc.)
* Sample length was limited to 2MB, now it can be up to 2GB :)
* Pulse now remembers last used playlist directory
* MOD setup is now fully functional
! Break to order (Bxx) command didn't work properly when it was placed at the
  last line of the pattern
! MPx: When the soundcard's output frequency was different from the one used
  in MPx file, the sound was clicking
! XMs: when the last pattern in order editor was empty and it was also the
  very last pattern among the edited ones, the song length was counted
  incorrectly (and sometimes it killed Pulse)
! WinWave output device sometimes didn't work correctly (quite often under Win
  NT) - it just went silent after a second of playing
! Runtime changes of WinWave properties sometimes hanged up Pulse
! With some drivers, volume changes affected INPUT volume instead of OUTPUT :)
! Sample clicking occured on some circumstances - now it shouldn't
! Fast forward and Rewind in modules didn't work correctly
! Module player ocassionally displayed incorrect pattern in dependance to time
  (especially at the end of longer tunes)
! MPx: when seeking near to end of tune, synchronization was lost
! MPx: when repeating the tune, time didn't work
! MPx: player died when setting file buffer >= 64kB
! When closing Pulse with About dialog opened, Pulse died
! About dialog had a popup menu :-)
! About dialog sometimes died
! Default playlist save format worked incorrectly (The format used differed
  from the format chosen by user
! When you opened popup menu and then tried to open several more popup menus by
  rightclicking on Pulse window, Pulse died

Resources

Designs
+ 'Out of colours' design with up to 4 player's controls
* Added HQ paint (only in vFont at the time)
! When refreshing designs, they were scanned twice instead of once - increased
  time when executing Pulse or opening popup menu
! Keyboard shortcuts were not included in design files (although they would
  work). Now they work :)
! '_' char in proportional text stopped displaying the rest of characters in
  string
! When closing window other way than OVECMD_CLOSE, Pulse died
! System fonts weren't removed from Pulse window when changing design from the
  one that used system font.
! When using PROPORTIONAL font together with USEMASK, it didn't do what
  was expected
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Nov 30 1998, version 0.91

Player
+ New FAAAAST MPx decoder (the old one took 75% on my K5/PR133. Now it takes
  32% :)
+ Software volume, balance, panning and stereo separation controls added
+ Surround sound added
+ Drag'n'drop on Pulse window
+ Shuffle mode
+ Special NNA mode added
+ Auto gain control added
+ Precalculated timetable support (for C64 SIDs). Loading SID musics is now
  faster.
+ MP3 compressed WAVs support
+ MPx shows frame in ORDACT function
* Max. SID playing time increased to 30 minutes
* User echo will remember last used settings if you change to some preset and
  back to user reverb
* 'Autoplay on startup' checkbox in setup
* When you play a single file and you were playing from playlist before,
  Pulse continues in playlist after the song ends (it's not added to playlist)
- Auto gain and Amplify controls in MOD setup were removed (they're unusable)
! When you deleted song that was last played by Pulse before exiting, Pulse
  died when started again. The only way how to solve this was to delete the
  Pulse item in registry or to put the song back.
! Pulse didn't save temporary playlist when you didn't set playlist format
  ('Auto' didn't work)
! When sliding note sample was restarted (except IT)
! Commands E1x, E2x, EAx, EBx did't remember last used value (so it used '0'
  as value)
! Device runtime properties changing (output frequency, etc.) is now much
  faster and shouldn't die :)
! 'No echo' in reverbs was unable to set (was always reset to 'User defined')
! Playing without HQ mixing was too silent
! When player didn't support pattern position, number '1' was displayed as
  pattern position
! Pulse sometimes ignored end of module
! 'Pulse Module' player setup didn't work :-)
! Some SIDs didn't count time properly because Pulse was checking only one
  channel. Added checkbox to check all channels when counting song length.
! Some sound drivers (especially under Win NT) often distorted sound when
  scrolling with text or moving windows. Now it shouldn't appear so often.

Resources
+ Installer!!!
+ Cool About dialog!
* Now you can choose design in popup menu by clicking just on the design name
  (not scheme)
! Some typos :)

Designs
+ System and TrueType fonts support
+ Proportional bitmap fonts support
+ Hotkeys on any action
+ Tooltips on any button (object)
+ ProgressBar object
+ Added 'Disabled' frame for Indicators and IndiButtons (see designs.doc for
  nearer description)
+ User defined text now can be displayed anywhere in design with any font type
+ Some new values can be displayed in design:PULSE_NUM_DEV_BITS (playback
  quality (8/16 bits), PULSE_NUM_DEV_CHOUT (number of channels in song -
  - 0=mono 1=stereo 2=surround), PULSE_NUM_DEV_FREQUENCY (output freq in Hz)
* Added PULSE_BOOL_DISABLED (for design debugging purposes, see designs.doc
  for nearer description)
* Fonts are now graphical objects (not visual as before)
* Actual row in pattern and actual order is now counted from 1 (0 before)
! Now when you have MANY designs or WinAmp skins, the design selector is
  divided to more columns
! If there were more than 2 schemes in a design, the popup menu (Quick design
  select) was showing some nonsenses in scheme list
! Scheme switching with OVECMD_SCHEMExx didn't work
! There could appear some additional chars after 8+3 DOS filename
! The design compiler sometimes crashed while creating the DES file

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Sep 14 1998, version 0.90+ build 24/1353/881, release size: 2,460,181

Player

Resources
+ SID description about adding your music info to 64plrs.inf

Designs
+ New DDK - icon library (ICL) for systray

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Sep 13 1998, version 0.90ß build 24/1353/881, release size: 2,460,181

Player
+ MP1/2/3 player (originally based on FreeAmp MPx engine)
+ C64 SID player (uses the SidPlay v1.36.25 library)
+ Pulse is now component-based (so adding new features is much easier and can
  be done by anybody else than only Unreal)
+ Cool taskbar item info editor (so you can choose what informations do you
  want to see in taskbar)
+ New superb splashscreen!
+ Now you can change playback device properties (output frequency, stereo/mono
  playback, etc.) during playing the song without the need of restarting it
+ Documentation was completely rewritten and saved in Word 6.0 (*.doc) format
+ Hardware panning/volume controls
* Amplify in reverb editor has been implemented
* Better Windows NT compatibility
! The last used echo in reverb editor didn't work (now the reverbs sound much
  better!)
! Using Pause command through popup menu caused Pulse to freeze when module
  wasn't playing
! Also the Pause button status wasn't switched when using the pause from popup
  menu
! Sometimes the Pulse window didn't react on the mouse action
! Pulse sometimes forgot some setup settings after exiting

Resources
+ New 'Component Setup' system
* Better systray setup (with customizable actions for left/right button and/or
  doubleclick)
* Better extension associating with adding to Start menu, desktop and/or
  quicklaunch
* New systray icon set (you can choose from 2 sets, more are coming)

Designs and design compiler
+ Design language is now completely different - with more features - all ppd
  files have to be renamed to *.ds, rearranged and recompiled. Old .DES files
  are now incompatible!
+ WinAmp skin import (nearly 100%)
+ The ultimate design 'Iluminator' by DJ Axl /Nuclear Brothers
+ Another cool design - 'Lift-Up for 1024x768' by PG /Unreal
+ A 'Commy alive!' design for the C64 freaks!
+ Popup menu is defined in design (you can create different menu for each
  button)
+ Animated buttons implemented
+ Added 'clickable' buttons, that show next frame when clicked (nad other when
  active)
+ Songname, long filename, author and origin info
+ Added actual/maximum row values of actually playing module
+ new trackbar and roundslider system with optional figure bitmap (e.g. the
  backgroud of the trackbar can change colour depending to slider position)
* Design sizes were slightly optimized again (saved about 20kB)
- Compact for 1024x768 was removed because it's not enough representative :)

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May 12 1998, version 0.59ß build 1890/2172, release size: 957,342
<versions 0.56-0.58 skipped because of many improvements made to this release>

Player
+ IT 2.14 compressed support!!! Thanx to Jeffrey Lim (16 bits samples are
  unpacked incorrectly - will be fixed soon)
+ New NNA engine! Faster and better :)
+ Reverb editor - just check it out!
+ Whole player was rewritten into Visual C++ (previously Watcom)
* Many sound settings are now described in the documentation
* The Pulse now disappears faster when closing the player
* IT compatible Gxx added
* Added IT instrument global volume (was ignored formerly)
* Tested in Windows 98 build 1633 - and it works there!
- All diskwriters were temporarily removed - will be added again in next
  version
! After pressing FFwd/Rewind 1st row of the pattern was ignored (often a place
  where music speed is defined, so sometimes playing speed was changed)
! When Pulse was installed in a directory with spaces in it (e.g. "Program
  Files\Pulse"), it couldn't find designs (except when run from command line)
! Pulse didn't run from read-only devices (e.g. CD-ROM) because it was opening
  design files for read/write operations
! Empty patterns in S3M caused player to count wrong time on some circumstances
  (something like 180 minutes for song that was actually about 5 mins). Also
  the load time was affected by this error (module loaded about 15 seconds)
! IT Instrument default panning was always on (although the flag was not set)
! IT slides accepted NNAs by mistake
! XM slides also fixed
! XM envelope loop fixed (when loopStart=loopEnd, envelope is switched off)
! S3M / old IT volume slides weren't correct (usually slided faster)
! Pattern loop sometimes ignored commands in other channels than loop command
  was placed
! Note delay command didn't free the channel when delay didn't end sooner than
  some other note begun playing
! Notes without instrument and instruments without notes weren't interpreted
  correctly in many formats
! Unexisting instrument will be NEVER played now (again bugfixed bugfix from
  previous release ;)
! When instrument was changed together with slide command, Pulse changed it,
  but didn't restart the sample (XM)
! When changed design, new Pulse menu appeared in system menu (right click on
  taskbar item) - so you could see three or more identical menus there :)
! Now works better under NT

Resources
+ Again new setup dialog, this one should last longer ;)
+ 'Apply' button in setup now works - you don't need restart tune while
  changing some settings
* 'Cancel' button in setup implemented (or is it a bugfix? ;)
* New 32x32 and 40x40 desktop icon, really nice one :)
* Displaying in taskbar switches much faster when selecting this option
! Systray icons displaying wasn't dependant to Setup settings :)

Designs and design compiler
+ Added schemes (more designs in one file, e.g. for normal/minimized window)
+ Now supports 4 bit BMP and RLE compressed 4/8 bit BMP's - smaller designs!
+ Designs are now fully object oriented (see docs for description)
+ Panasonic walkman design - really cool, the first of the walkman series
+ Smallest designs in Pulse history (converted to RLE)!
* Taskbar-like designs now show on screen by default when changing design and
  close after a while (they were immediately closed before)
! Volume sliders had an ugly bug - sometimes didn't want to shift :)

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Feb 23 1998, version 0.55ß build 939/1399, release size: 934,620
(0.54ß was an internal debugging version - not released)

         Hey! Get the player from the olympic hockey winners! ;)

Player
+ Pause button implemented (finally! ;)
* Reverb time unit is now 10x smaller (10000 ticks per second) than before
! Reverbs finally shouldn't hang up your computer and have much less power
  consumption :) - wasn't fixed 100% in previous release
! Fixed bug presented in 0.52ß in IT player's NNA implementation
! Fadeout in XM volume envelope (BM_GREEN.XM)
! Pattern break command fixed (Dxx in Fast Tracker)
! Pattern loop fixed (BOSSALIT.MDL)
! Note delay fixed
! When the note used unexisting instrument, it was sometimes replaced with last
  used instrument

Resources
* New Desktop and SysTray icons
* Setup dialog slightly improved again
! A small bug in About dialog - build versions were wrong

Designs and design compiler
+ New example design 'Sweets' simple, smaller and funny ;)
* Filesize of some designs was slightly optimized
* Better logic for drawing buttons
* All objects now strictly use UC_NORESET except PC_MOVING to ensure backwards
  compatibility (sux like i8086 ;) Anyway UC_NORESET is recommended to use with
  PC_MOVING too, because we can remove the compatibility in next releases
* BT_STEREO, BT_MINUS, BT_INTERPOL and BT_SURROND now can be mouse sensitive
  and do some UC_ command - such as clicking 'minus' on display to toggle
  elapsed/remaining time to be displayed - for future enhancements
* UC_MOVESENSITIVE replaced for UC_MOUSESENSITIVE
* SNF replaced for SAF (UC_SNF01SEC etc.) - 'Switch to Next Frame' is not as
  exact as 'Switch to Active Frame'
- 'Example' design removed from release, but can be downloaded from our page
! Forgot to implement prev/next function in Compact 1024 :)

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Feb 13 1998, version 0.53ß build 845/1212, release size: 1,377,448

Player
! More power consuming reverbs shouldn't hang up slower computers

Resources
* Quick design selector in popup menu
* Reverb values are now visible in the editor - but still not changeable - wait
  for next versions!

Designs and design compiler
+ Now you don't have to restart the player while changing the design!
! 'Example' design shouldn't hang up slower computers as it did - but there is
  still some bug :( - we'll fix it soon
! When mouse sensitive Play button was blinking it was trying to switch to
  'mouse-on-frame' - now it ignores mouse while playing

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Feb 11 1998, version 0.52ß build 785/1210

Player
+ WAV support - only internal, but wait for the next releases for the loader
! 6 and 8 channel MOD panning positions were wrong - now fixed
! S3M command S8x (set panning position) fixed - changed only panning of the
  following note, then returned to default
! RAW writer caused player to crash - now fixed
! Time was wrongly counted in RAW writer, so the tune was cut at the end
! Error while counting master volume - wasn't linear, small values were ignored
! MDL Pattern loop command fixed (didn't play last notes)

Resources
+ New Setup dialog
! MDL extension wasn't included in 'All known modules' group - this bugfix had
  to be done in the previous version, but wasn't :)
! Some minor bugs in resources

Designs and design compiler
* 'Compact 800' now has mouse sensitive buttons - and a bit bigger file size

(again BIG thanx to Fencer - the betatesting leader - see the About dialog ;)

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Jan 25 1998, version 0.51ß build 731/1141, release size: 1,347,278

               *** The Pulse now should be much more stable ***
Player
* The Pulse is now completely rewritten to objects (so adding new formats is
  much easier)
* Designs are now sorted in ABC order
* The default buffer size was increased to provide better continuous playback
* THEPULSE.DOC was slightly reorganized
* Added Pattern loop command into MDL
! Some MDL commands (such as EFx) caused 'random' effects ;)
! Pulse returned wrong error messages than they really were
! MDL loading sometimes crashed the player
! Module panning position was LRLR - now fixed to LRRL
! FFWD and REW sometimes hanged up the player (wrong synchronization)

Resources
! fixed some resource bugs and typos

Designs and design compiler
* Designs 'Task_800' and 'Cmp_800' are now much smaller (optimized bitmaps).
  The archive is now about 40k smaller and the installed files now occupy
  about 230k less space
* More design descriptions
* Compact 800 now can be moved by dragging any non-active place of the window
* minutes now begin with 0 (0x:xx) - looks better
! timer displaying was sometimes wrong
! fixed bug while moving with whole window (Windows error - the window moves
  1 frame after the cursor)

(thanx to Fencer for discovering many of the bugs)

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Jan 17 1998, version 0.50ß build 699/1092 - first public version!

Player
+ Added MDL loader (8/16 bit samples,some instrument structures ignored, very
  preliminary support)
* Message 'Unknown MOD' appears while trying to load IT 2.14 compressed module
! MMCompressed ITs are no more crashing PP (but not loaded)
! IT fadeout with volume envelope now works correctly
! IT volume envelope fixed
! fixed problems with S3M mapping channels
! fixed several problems with unused paterns in IT at LAST positions

Designs and design compiler
+ Improved design 'Compact for 800x600' (texture added + minor fixes)
+ Improved design 'Taskbar-like 800x600' (texture added + minor fixes)
* UC_CONTINUESEARCH replaced UC_STOPSEARCH
* added UC_TIMERREPEAT, UC_SNFLONG, PC_BALUP, PC_BALDN, PC_VOLUP, PC_VOLDN,
  PC_SETVOL??? and PC_SETBAL???
* in UC_SNF* was logic chaos. New is logic optimal
* support for BT_SOUNDSLIDER finished
! when opening window, all sliders had default position (ignored settings)
! when specified UC_SNFNOWAIT button didn't switch back after command executed
! sometimes BT_TRACKBAR button fuck up system (totally)
! fixed some text problems (Ray's english is not terrible. It's worse...)
! taskbar displaying fixed

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Unfortunately - versions between 0.4 and 0.5 are undocumented because i've lost
the 'history.txt' file :( - I only found old one with 0.1 - 0.4, so this file
has started again since 0.50

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Sep 06 1997, version 0.4 - non public release, testing only version

+ FNK support
+ Volume control, Balance control
+ Surround
* The new user interface becomes functional
* Setup windows divided from player

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Aug 31 1997,version 0.3 - holidays end version ;)

+ Started implementing new user interface (Designed by me!:)

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Aug 27 1997, version 0.2 - non public release, testing only version

+ MTM loader
+ ULT loader
+ STM loader
+ Ffwd/rewind buttons
* Some MOD modifications
! Checkbox functionality fixed (stereo, 16 bit, interpolation were always on)
! Slides and high frequencies were played wrongly
! Volume table

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Aug 20 1997, version 0.1 - non public release, testing only version

+ S3M loader
+ XM loader
+ MOD loader

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To do:
Equalizer
Spectrum analyzer/VU-meters/Oscilliscope
Archive support (ACE, ARJ, PKZIP, RAR)
MDL format bugs (many commands not supported)
OctaMED new formats (MMD3 and more) and format bugs
Module Info page (samples, instruments, comments etc.)
PP will be able to replay some AdLib FM tunes (RAD, AdLib S3M)
AMF, AMS, RTM, DMF loaders (need docs for some of them)
Resonant filters in IT
Zirconia's MMCMP support