Xeno Fighters R (2019 GM Studio Port)

[EddyMRA]

For what it's worth, this game is absolutely bloody amazing and you've done a fantastic job on what's there so far already.

Thanks. That has been my aim with this game: to be as faithful to the Seibu Kaihatsu style of shmups, while adding some elements from other companies like Cave and Psikyo.

I've had times of bordering on going a bit nuts.. usually just take a break, come back later - remember that everyones pretty cool and sink back in to it

It is not because I was burnt out, it is because of life's priorities taking precedence over it; I just cannot devote much time these days to work on the game. The depression hit at the wrong time too. Yeah, an official break from anything related to game development is what I need to get things straightened out.

[emphatic]

Really sad to hear about your hardship, Alluro.

[nZero]

Long time no see, haven't gotten to chat with you ever since Messenger went away! Good luck with getting everything sorted out and glad to hear you've taken the steps to get some help, hope you'll be feeling better soon. Thanks for all of your hard work on the game up to now

[n0rtygames]

Yeah, an official break from anything related to game development is what I need to get things straightened out.

Completely understand that. Good luck and hope things start going right

[MH5]

Hey everyone. I'm new to this site and i wanted to say that i play Xeno Fighters R and quite like it. I've read that recently Alluro is putting the project on Hold due to life problems and i totally respect his decision. His dedication to the game gave me many hours of fun playing the many ships and stages included. I've never seen a SHMUP crossover and after playing Xeno Fighters R, i feel like i found the perfect SHMUP for me.

However, after some months without playing the game, i felt like playing some more and downloaded it again. Turns out it always crashes after a random amount of time, so i can only play the first two stages or so. I've read about the issue and turns out Gamemaker executables have issues with directsound on Windows 8, and so they crash after some time. I've tried compatibility mode, run as admin but no luck, and it seems, by what i've read, there's no way to fix this on the user end. (Unless you count installing Windows 7, but i can't since this computer is communal. I can't just format it.)

So far, it seems that just building the source with a newer version of Gamemaker fixes the issue, or maybe using another audio backend (OpenAL), but without the source to build, i can't play the game

I'm not asking you, Alluro, the source, nor i'm asking you a new version of it. I just wanted you, if possible, to look into the issue, and see if you can fix it, so i can enjoy the game.

IF you can't do that, no sweat. The game was made entirely on your free time and is available as freeware, so i can't really demand a fix, but please, hear my pledge. I really want to play his game once again...

If i can help you in any way (That doesn't involve money ), feel free to ask me. I'll be glad to help you with the game in any way i can.

LONG LIVE XENO FIGHTERS R! LONG LIVE ALLURO!

Thanks in advance.

[EddyMRA]

Hey everyone. I'm new to this site and i wanted to say that i play Xeno Fighters R and quite like it. I've read that recently Alluro is putting the project on Hold due to life problems and i totally respect his decision. His dedication to the game gave me many hours of fun playing the many ships and stages included. I've never seen a SHMUP crossover and after playing Xeno Fighters R, i feel like i found the perfect SHMUP for me.

However, after some months without playing the game, i felt like playing some more and downloaded it again. Turns out it always crashes after a random amount of time, so i can only play the first two stages or so. I've read about the issue and turns out Gamemaker executables have issues with directsound on Windows 8, and so they crash after some time. I've tried compatibility mode, run as admin but no luck, and it seems, by what i've read, there's no way to fix this on the user end. (Unless you count installing Windows 7, but i can't since this computer is communal. I can't just format it.)

So far, it seems that just building the source with a newer version of Gamemaker fixes the issue, or maybe using another audio backend (OpenAL), but without the source to build, i can't play the game

I'm not asking you, Alluro, the source, nor i'm asking you a new version of it. I just wanted you, if possible, to look into the issue, and see if you can fix it, so i can enjoy the game.

IF you can't do that, no sweat. The game was made entirely on your free time and is available as freeware, so i can't really demand a fix, but please, hear my pledge. I really want to play his game once again...

If i can help you in any way (That doesn't involve money ), feel free to ask me. I'll be glad to help you with the game in any way i can.

LONG LIVE XENO FIGHTERS R! LONG LIVE ALLURO!

Thanks in advance.

I have long since recovered from my personal problems. I'm still keeping XFR on hold because past people who have actually contributed to the game (people I have sent the source to and implemented their own additions) have practically ruined the game to the same degree that people have ruined Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, a Mario crossover fangame I founded. Both games were turned into bloated games with no semblance of balance and cohesiveness.

Luckily, the Windows 8 sound issue is easy to fix without using a new version of Game Maker. In code, I just need to stop an instance of a sound playing before playing that same sound again. GM8.x games crash on Windows 8 machines whenever multiple instances of the same sound resource is played at the same time. If you can recall where these crashes happen the most, it can help me pinpoint where the biggest culprits for crashing are and focus my attention in addressing those problems.

I am planning to overhaul the scoring system for Arcade mode, as well as remove the branching stage progression. For the latter, I will take all current stages in the game and arrange them into Raiden DX-like Missions. For example, the current A stages will be Mission Alpha, the current B stages will be Mission Bravo, and the EX stages will be Mission Charlie. BPzebanshee has implemented a ship unlocking system, so the current stage objectives for branching will instead be used to unlock ships.

If you are proficient in Game Maker, I would gladly welcome you aboard to help out with Xeno Fighters R. I will gather all of my current overhaul plans for the game and pass them to you.

[MH5]

Hey everyone. I'm new to this site and i wanted to say that i play Xeno Fighters R and quite like it. I've read that recently Alluro is putting the project on Hold due to life problems and i totally respect his decision. His dedication to the game gave me many hours of fun playing the many ships and stages included. I've never seen a SHMUP crossover and after playing Xeno Fighters R, i feel like i found the perfect SHMUP for me.

However, after some months without playing the game, i felt like playing some more and downloaded it again. Turns out it always crashes after a random amount of time, so i can only play the first two stages or so. I've read about the issue and turns out Gamemaker executables have issues with directsound on Windows 8, and so they crash after some time. I've tried compatibility mode, run as admin but no luck, and it seems, by what i've read, there's no way to fix this on the user end. (Unless you count installing Windows 7, but i can't since this computer is communal. I can't just format it.)

So far, it seems that just building the source with a newer version of Gamemaker fixes the issue, or maybe using another audio backend (OpenAL), but without the source to build, i can't play the game

I'm not asking you, Alluro, the source, nor i'm asking you a new version of it. I just wanted you, if possible, to look into the issue, and see if you can fix it, so i can enjoy the game.

IF you can't do that, no sweat. The game was made entirely on your free time and is available as freeware, so i can't really demand a fix, but please, hear my pledge. I really want to play his game once again...

If i can help you in any way (That doesn't involve money ), feel free to ask me. I'll be glad to help you with the game in any way i can.

LONG LIVE XENO FIGHTERS R! LONG LIVE ALLURO!

Thanks in advance.

I have long since recovered from my personal problems. I'm still keeping XFR on hold because past people who have actually contributed to the game (people I have sent the source to and implemented their own additions) have practically ruined the game to the same degree that people have ruined Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, a Mario crossover fangame I founded. Both games were turned into bloated games with no semblance of balance and cohesiveness.

Luckily, the Windows 8 sound issue is easy to fix without using a new version of Game Maker. In code, I just need to stop an instance of a sound playing before playing that same sound again. GM8.x games crash on Windows 8 machines whenever multiple instances of the same sound resource is played at the same time. If you can recall where these crashes happen the most, it can help me pinpoint where the biggest culprits for crashing are and focus my attention in addressing those problems.

I am planning to overhaul the scoring system for Arcade mode, as well as remove the branching stage progression. For the latter, I will take all current stages in the game and arrange them into Raiden DX-like Missions. For example, the current A stages will be Mission Alpha, the current B stages will be Mission Bravo, and the EX stages will be Mission Charlie. BPzebanshee has implemented a ship unlocking system, so the current stage objectives for branching will instead be used to unlock ships.

If you are proficient in Game Maker, I would gladly welcome you aboard to help out with Xeno Fighters R. I will gather all of my current overhaul plans for the game and pass them to you.

Unfortunately, i'm nothing but a beginner on GML so i can't really help with this, but i dabble with spriting so i may be able to help with graphics.

I could also help you with beta testing, though i never did it before, it shouldn't be hard.

Also, i """"may"""" be able to help with game design, but don't take my word for it.

So far, the sound issue can happen anywhere there's a lot of shit happening on screen (Particularly stage 2). If you had a way to "Log" the game it could help you a lot.

I'm sorry i can't help any more than this. XFR is a really good fangame, and i know you're spending your free time to improve it. Be assured there's a lot of people really glad you're working on it. Keep on keeping on, Alluro!

[emphatic]

I have long since recovered from my personal problems.

Very glad to hear this! Let me know if you want custom (produced by me) sfx or music!

[S20-TBL]

Well look what the cat dragged in. Welcome back.

Ran into the Win8 sound issue myself recently and had to do the exact same fix as you did. Of note is that Win8's dmsynth.dll doesn't like it either when GM8.* uses the sound_loop() function or when multiple sounds are replayed in quick succession (Judge Spear's napalm missiles + regular shot SFX come to mind), but it's bit more forgiving for those than for playing multiple overlapping SFX at the same time, which outright forces the DLL to call illegal functions and freeze the application.

If anybody's willing to test Alluro's builds for this error as he noted, those are three clues you can look at. For example MHS mentioned Stage 2 which has large enemy waves fly in at certain intervals.

Another fix seems to be to implement a sort of forced channel priority loop which would stop certain sounds until a higher priority one is finished playing. GM Studio has it in its updated sound engine, but it's perfectly doable in GM8.* as well--it just takes longer because you have to categorize things manually.

[MH5]

A question. Is there, in the code, a limit of how many sounds can be playing at once (AKA the number of sound channels). If there's no limit this could be potentially be the problem. Maybe implement an option where you can change the number of sounds that can be played at once?

Oh, and PS.: It's MH5, not MHS

[Udderdude]

I have long since recovered from my personal problems. I'm still keeping XFR on hold because past people who have actually contributed to the game (people I have sent the source to and implemented their own additions) have practically ruined the game to the same degree that people have ruined Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, a Mario crossover fangame I founded. Both games were turned into bloated games with no semblance of balance and cohesiveness.

This is why fangames will almost always be cancer ..

[S20-TBL]

A question. Is there, in the code, a limit of how many sounds can be playing at once (AKA the number of sound channels). If there's no limit this could be potentially be the problem. Maybe implement an option where you can change the number of sounds that can be played at once?

Oh, and PS.: It's MH5, not MHS

Heh, sorry, I misread.

There's really no built-in method in Game Maker 8.* and earlier versions that limits how many sounds could be played at any given moment. You have to manually script SFX playback limitations yourself, such as the method Alluro described.

[BPzeBanshee]

I'm game to help out with any programming side of things as well once the new week begins. I remember implementing quite a few things apart from the ship unlock functionality and I'm not sure I did it without breaking some things, so let me know if that was the case Alluro.

[Camo Yoshi]

Hey there. Recently lurked on this thread and saw Alluro is back (congrats on beating depression!). I have server space and plenty of bandwidth so if you want to use a FTP client to upload the game to my server, I'd be happy to host it. No more dealing with Sendspace stupidity!

Shoot me a PM if you're interested (it'll forward to my email).

Big fan of the game and the Win8 sound crash always happens on Stage 2 for me as the game tries to load the song for the Boss. Hopefully when/if development begins to pick up soon the issue will be fixed.

-Camo

[MH5]

Hey, how are everyone doing?

So, how's the fix going? Not asking to hurry up, of course, but since you said it was an easy fix, i thought a week or so would be enough. Of course simple doesn't mean fast and Alluro and others on Team XF probably have higher priorities, and i don't know GML that much so i dunno if it's hard to implement such a thing. So, yeah, sadly i still can't play the game properly...

Best of luck to all of Team XF, and hope you can all get into development soon enough.

Also, a bit offtopic, but there is any games like XFR? I mean, Shmups Crossovers? (Either paid or free). I'd love to check out some alternatives!

[BPzeBanshee]

You have to understand this is a project that's effectively been on hold for about 3 years if not more. Nothing's going to be instantaneous nor is it going to be worked on immediately, but at some point it will happen and it'll do a world of good to be patient - he's not "back" until you hear it from his digital internet-analogue mouth. Trust me, I know the feeling of frustration too waiting for something to get done.

As for crossover projects, the G-Wange engine exists as does its streamlined variant GwangeDash, fusing characters from games into a predominantly Cave-style fangame. The folks involved don't like "gaijin" westerners playing and being public about it, however, so finding current-version downloads may not be easy to find and if you find a bug/problem/something you don't like you're on your own. I've seen a few oddball ones around as well but can't recall the names of them right now (and to be honest that's not because of memory issues, they weren't very memorable). AFAIK Xeno Fighters R is the only game that really focuses on the older manic shmups, most of the rest I've seen are either horis or danmakus.

[S20-TBL]

You have to understand this is a project that's effectively been on hold for about 3 years if not more. Nothing's going to be instantaneous nor is it going to be worked on immediately, but at some point it will happen and it'll do a world of good to be patient - he's not "back" until you hear it from his digital internet-analogue mouth. Trust me, I know the feeling of frustration too waiting for something to get done.

You have to admit: this project has gotten a lot more gamers than expected really, really, really hyped up about the whole thing over the years because of the quality.

The folks involved don't like "gaijin" westerners playing and being public about it

I once DLed GuwangeDash and played it for a bit, but I never heard of this anti-Westerner attitude on the devs' part until now. I don't think I'd be surprised if I found out why though.

[Udderdude]

I once DLed GuwangeDash and played it for a bit, but I never heard of this anti-Westerner attitude on the devs' part until now. I don't think I'd be surprised if I found out why though.

It has more to do with not wanting to get on the radar of copyright enforcers going after fangames ..

[S20-TBL]

It has more to do with not wanting to get on the radar of copyright enforcers going after fangames ..

Oh ok. That's reasonable enough.

[MH5]

You have to understand this is a project that's effectively been on hold for about 3 years if not more. Nothing's going to be instantaneous nor is it going to be worked on immediately, but at some point it will happen and it'll do a world of good to be patient - he's not "back" until you hear it from his digital internet-analogue mouth. Trust me, I know the feeling of frustration too waiting for something to get done.

As for crossover projects, the G-Wange engine exists as does its streamlined variant GwangeDash, fusing characters from games into a predominantly Cave-style fangame. The folks involved don't like "gaijin" westerners playing and being public about it, however, so finding current-version downloads may not be easy to find and if you find a bug/problem/something you don't like you're on your own. I've seen a few oddball ones around as well but can't recall the names of them right now (and to be honest that's not because of memory issues, they weren't very memorable). AFAIK Xeno Fighters R is the only game that really focuses on the older manic shmups, most of the rest I've seen are either horis or danmakus.

I completely understand it's a fan game and done in someone's free time, but i'm not directly involved with the development so i don't know how things are going up internally, and, to be fair, i've only known XFR fairly recently so i don't know how development was going before the hiatus. So i apologize if my last post seemed harsh-sounding. It's a little hard to be patient when you're completely unable to play the game past the initial stages, but i'll try harder.

I think i'm gonna install a Win7 VM just to be able to play this eventually.

[BPzeBanshee]

Part of the G-Wange/GwangeDash issue was getting Cave's ire but there was a lot of anti-westerner sentiments on the 2ch thread for it which I experienced first-hand when I last dabbled in the G-Wange code (unlike the latter the game runs off text files and folder structure so you could almost make your own game based from it, but the EXE source code was lost and left unfinished). Not the nicest bunch to get a logical response from if you're asking questions.

I recommend the latest VirtualBox for going the VM route with anything GM-related. Get either XP or 7 going on that and you shouldn't have too much issues providing your computer can perform emulating an entire OS on top of yours. Make sure when installing the Guest Additions to run in Safe Mode and then enable the experimental D3D drivers, otherwise by default I'm pretty sure Vbox won't do much with DirectX/Direct3D which Game Maker games need present to run. There's quite a lot of stages in XF-R so if you can't get through them all with Arcade mode (which has bugs anyway on EXPERT/ARCADE difficulty) try Conquest mode instead.

[MH5]

Hey everyone. Just passing here to say i've found a workaround for the sound problem. It was so simple i thought i wouldn't work but i had to take that back as i finally was able to finish the game.

just open xfconfig.ini in notepad or similar, find "SoundVol = X" where "X" is a number, and change X to 0. Simple, yet effective. Of course you won't get any sounds but at least now you can actually play the game on Win 8. It doesn't remove the problem completely, though, since it still crashes, only much less frequently than it did with Sounds enabled.

I tried changing MusicVol to 0 to see if it completely removes the problem, but it seems it doesn't do anything at all, since i still have music and it still crashes occasionally. Also tried deleting xfmusic.ini but i get this annoying dialog (That i can't even press enter to clear) every time it needs to load a music, so i assumed it does more harm than good after all.

Hope this helps. Although it feels a little weird playing with the music on but without sounds, i can finally beat it.

[BPzeBanshee]

Music is run external to GM's internal sound engine via GMFMODSimple (therefore doesn't have crash issues aside from possible misuse) and is configurable via xfmusic.ini. Don't mess with what works.

[Udderdude]

You might have better luck running it under an emulator. Yeah, a PC emulator running winderp. D:

[MH5]

You might have better luck running it under an emulator. Yeah, a PC emulator running winderp. D:

Actually, i've tried that. VirtualBox running XP plus Guest Additions with D3D support. It always crashes moments before loading fully.
Also tried Linux running WINE, no go too. :/

[Udderdude]

Not a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination, but you could try out DXWnd. http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/

[MH5]

Not a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination, but you could try out DXWnd. http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/

I use that already, and as far as i know it's a directx wrapper to run fullscreen-only games on a window. how could that help?

[BPzeBanshee]

Strange, VBox was working fine for XF-R aside from performance issues in the last version I tried. Are you sure VirtualBox (and the installed Guest Additions installed via Safe Mode and not in normal Desktop mode) is up to date?

[tiaoferreira]

Is because of these things that I say: WIN XP FOREVER

[MH5]

So...well, since this thread has been empty since mid-October, and no mention of this news has been made on this topic, i guess i can cross-post this here from the Fusion Gameworks, written by Alluro himself:

Following the footsteps of Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, Xeno Fighters R will be released as open source soon.

I have lost a lot of interest in this project due to the big mess it became thanks to the contributions of other people going out of control, and my lack of restraint in monitoring those contributions. I've done some damage control by removing hideously unbalanced ships, streamlining some unpolished game mechanics, and rebalancing some enemies. G.M.O.S.S.E. developer BPZeBanshee has helped out once about a year ago to clean up some code and add a few new features, such as a true TATE (a display orientation that allows the game to be displayed fully on vertically-aligned monitors) and a rudimentary ship unlock system.

Regardless of the problems XFR has technically, several people have gone on record to tell me that XFR is one of the most solid shmup engines out there.

Like MKF, anyone out there who would like to look at the source and fix up any long-standing problems can do so...maybe even perhaps perfect that Raiden mk-II Plasma Laser algorithm! In time, I will provide the complete XFR source for public download as soon as I optimize the soundtrack.

So yeah, i guess this may help development, but since Alluro himself warned of the dangers of having "Too many Cooks" this could completely ruin the game if used in a wrong way. Of course, i hope things will all work out.

So of now, i haven't heard of Alluro since these news or how he's going to open-source the game, and i don't know what he means by "Optimize the Soundtrack" since it's mp3. All I wish is good luck for Alluro, his project, and all that contributed to it.