Cxbx-Reloaded Progress Report (July 2020)

This month was fairly quiet progress wise, but we still have some results to show you all, the improvement that’s already been done but was not that visible due to the lack of testing (all results from the “Notable Game Improvements” were compiled from a short testing section I did recently, so this is far from being an exhaustive list on everything that actually improved).

General Improvements

Update issue template + add action to automatically close issues not following the template (PR #1928)

Indirectly related to the emulator, this change will help reduce the amount of invalid issues and reports we receive on the repository (that’s sadly something very common).

Add Argument Results Verbose (PR #1929)

With this in place we’ll be able to get more information to help debug some issues.

Notable Game Improvements

Everything covered here this month was listed as IN-GAME because I didn’t have enough time to dedicate more time for each individual title, so there’s a chance one or more games are actually playable (if you have any of the games below, feedback is appreciated)

AND 1 Streetball [IN-GAME]

In-game for the first time, but not playable due to a visual issue that will happen after running the game for a long (20+ minutes) time. You should try the game anyway, as the issue is actually pretty funny (no spoilers).

Crash Nitro Kart [IN-GAME]

In-game for some time now, but instead of just crashing after some seconds you’ll be able to play for some time. Still very unstable and slow.

Gravity Games Bike - Street Vert Dirt [IN-GAME]

In-game for the first time with most visual issues fixed, enough to play around and probably playable (performance isn’t the best, but remember that I make my tests with a toaster…)

Gene Troopers [IN-GAME]

In-game with not much being rendered (even with wireframe rendering enabled, most of the screen is covered).

Outlaw Golf [IN-GAME]

Geometry explosions solved, running with good performance, but still unstable (you’ll probably be able to play 1 or 2 matches before the game crashes).

Outlaw Volleyball [IN-GAME]

Same as Outlaw Golf, geometry rendered properly but unstable.

Playboy The Mansion [IN-GAME]

Reaching in-game for the first time, mainly issues being the floor textures not being rendered properly and some eventual random crash.

Reservoir Dogs [IN-GAME]

It’s possible to progress a bit further now, but still impossible to finish due to visual issues.

Torino 2006 [IN-GAME]

Confirmed as in-game for the first time, further testing required.

WhiteOut [IN-GAME]

In-game for the first time, but slow. Even if you have hardware fast enough to run it at full speed, using the turbo will destroy the game resolution (as if it’s zoomed in the corner of the screen), so yes, you can finish it but I’ll not list it as playable yet as it’s not working as intended including a major game mechanic.

Final Words

The PR that will bring visual improvements mentioned the last two months isn’t finished yet (as I’ve mentioned, regressions could block the code from being merged and we’ve found plenty of them, so, for now, the code is on hold until the developer has some free time to work on it), but as I’ve said on discord, many games improved since the latest report wasn’t even touched yet, so if you have results from any game not listed on the compatibility list pdf, please report. See you all next month ;)