Progress update #5: v0.1.6, new player names (callnames), Switch optimizations on PC, lighter graphics

[HopeAero]

Hi everyone!

v0.1.6 is out (release). Three things in this one: the commentators can now say new player names, the PC version gets the optimizations that took the Switch port to 60 fps, and there are lighter graphics options for modest PCs and the Steam Deck.

New player names (callnames)

The game only knows the names its commentators recorded in 2008. Now a mod can add new ones: Acuña Jr., Chourio, Ohtani, Yamamoto, anyone.

• SETTINGS > TOOLS > CALLNAME EDITOR: create a mod, Add, type the name the way the game will list it, choose your audio (WAV or MP3, up to 5 s), Listen, Save.
• Each name can have three recordings: the main commentator saying it, the same name excited (after a big play), and the color commentator with the full name.
• The new names appear in the game's own voice editor (Arrange › VOICE SETUP › Select Type) and in PowerUp+ as Callname .
• You bring the audio: your own recordings, a TTS voice you are allowed to use, etc. Nothing from the game's audio is shipped.

How it works (technical): the game keeps every spoken phrase in sound/voiceN.bin banks (a header, then DSP-ADPCM mono at 22,050 Hz per phrase, and an index of sectors and lengths at the end). A player's name is a phrase id computed from the player's voice number through hard-coded ranges: bank 14 for the normal name, 15 for the excited one, 17 for the full name. Voice numbers 7223–10239 land in gaps of those ranges, so the runtime builds the banks again at startup with the new phrases appended (encoded to DSP-ADPCM and cached), serves them as virtual disc files, and teaches the game's range checks and its voice-list readers (env_voice_data.pack) about the new ids. Every replaced function was compared against the original running in a PowerPC interpreter for all inputs. The full write-up is in docs/en/reverse-engineering.md.

Switch optimizations on PC

Getting the Switch to 60 fps meant making the game's own work cheaper, and most of that work also runs on PC:

• Native, bit-exact versions of the heaviest game routines: the helmet and bat reflection math (per vertex, the most expensive game function in a match on Switch), per-mesh light colors, the reverb and two math routines. Each one was compared against the translated original on hundreds of thousands of real cases with zero differences.
• Translator: registers are written back only when they changed.
• Graphics commands, indirect calls and mipmaps take faster paths.

On the test PC (Ryzen 5 5500 + RX 5500) the game thread now does 13% less work per frame (6.16 → 5.38 ms, four paired 60-second runs). The game already ran at 60 fps there, so the fps counter does not move; the room it frees is for modest CPUs and the Steam Deck. Splitting the work across more cores (as on Switch) was left out on purpose: PC does not need it.

Lighter graphics options

SETTINGS > VIDEO: PLAYER SHADOWS (full, simple, off), CROWD (full, less, off), PLAY CAMERA (100% down to 60%) and REFLECTIONS (on/off). Everything stays as the original game by default. All of them on the lightest setting cut the game thread from about 5 ms to 4.4 ms per frame.

Also

• MLB Life two-way creation: a new Pitcher + second position keeps being a pitcher, and you also choose batting advantages and a batting disadvantage.
• Windows Defender: the Setup and the launcher no longer start programs the way antivirus heuristics flag.

Next: ROADMAP.md (ABS challenges, modern postseason, modding tools).

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Español

¡Hola a todos! Ya salió la v0.1.6 (release).

• Nombres de jugador nuevos (callnames): AJUSTES > HERRAMIENTAS > EDITOR DE CALLNAMES crea un mod con nombres nuevos (Acuña Jr., Chourio, Ohtani, Yamamoto…): escribe el nombre como lo listará el juego, elige tu audio (WAV o MP3, hasta 5 s) y guarda. Cada nombre puede tener la versión normal, la emocionada y el nombre completo del comentarista de fondo. Salen en Arrange › VOICE SETUP › Select Type y en PowerUp+ como Callname . El audio lo pones tú.
  • Cómo funciona: las frases están en los bancos sound/voiceN.bin (DSP-ADPCM mono a 22.050 Hz con un índice al final); el nombre de cada jugador es un id de frase calculado desde su número de voz con rangos fijos (banco 14 normal, 15 emocionado, 17 completo). Los números 7223–10239 caen en huecos de esos rangos: el runtime reconstruye los bancos al arrancar con las frases nuevas, los sirve como archivos virtuales del disco y amplía las comprobaciones y las listas de voces del juego. Cada función sustituida se comparó con la original en un intérprete PowerPC para todas las entradas.
• Optimizaciones de Switch en PC: nativas exactas de los reflejos de cascos y bate, colores de luz por malla, reverb y rutinas matemáticas; traductor, comandos gráficos, llamadas indirectas y mipmaps más rápidos. En la PC de prueba el hilo del juego trabaja un 13 % menos por cuadro (6,16 → 5,38 ms). Sigue a 60 fps; el margen es para CPUs modestas y la Steam Deck. Repartir el trabajo en más núcleos, como en Switch, se dejó fuera a propósito.
• Opciones gráficas más ligeras (AJUSTES > VIDEO): sombras de jugadores, público, cámara de jugada y reflejos. Por defecto, como el original.
• También: creación de jugadores de dos vías en MLB Life (sigue siendo pitcher y eliges ventajas y desventaja de bateo) y el Setup ya no lo marcan las heurísticas de Defender.