BallancePlayer

Overview

BallancePlayer is a new player for the game "Ballance" created by decompiling and improving the original version. It enhances the gaming experience with several modern features and optimizations.

Features

• Out-of-the-box and portable, zero-configuration to start game
• Support .ini file configurations
• Support command-line options
• Support 32-bit color mode
• Support the monitor without 640x480 resolution
• Support high refresh rate monitor
• Support in-game resolution switching
• Add hotkeys for switching fullscreen and closing game
• No registry operation
• No dependency on Dsetup.dll
• Integrated ResDll.dll
• Fix some bugs that exist in the original player
• Performance improvement

Environment

Supports Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11.

Instructions

1. Extract the package into Bin directory of your game folder.
2. Start the game by clicking on Player.exe without setting compatibility mode.

Building from Source

Pre-requisites

Virtools SDK: Required for building the project. Obtainable from Virtools-SDK-2.1.

Please set the environment variable VIRTOOLS_SDK_PATH to the path of the Virtools SDK before building the project.

Building with CMake

• Install CMake: Ensure CMake is installed on your system.
• Navigate to Project Directory: Change to the directory where the BallancePlayer source code resides.
• Run the Command in Console: cmake -B build -G "Visual Studio 16 2022" -A Win32. This command generates Visual Studio project files and solutions tailored for 32-bit architecture.
• Open Solution in Visual Studio: Navigate to the build directory, then open BallancePlayer.sln.
• Build the Solution: Use Visual Studio's build tools to compile the project.

Building with Visual Studio 6.0

• Install Visual Studio 6.0: Ensure it's installed on your system.
• Open the Project: Locate Player.dsw in the project directory and open it with Visual Studio 6.0.
• Build the Project: Use the build tools in Visual Studio 6.0 to compile the project.

Notes

The release package is built with Visual Studio 6.0 for maximum compatibility.

Hotkeys

• [Alt] + [Enter]: Switch between windowed and fullscreen mode.
• [Alt] + [F4]: Force close the game.
• [Alt] + [/]: Display an about box.

INI Settings

There are several settings in Player.ini.

Startup

• ManualSetup:
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1
• LoadAllManagers:
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1
• LoadAllBuildingBlocks:
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1
• LoadAllPlugins:
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1

Graphics

• Driver:
  • Driver ID: The id of the graphics card driver to display
• BitsPerPixel:
  • 32-bit: 32
  • 16-bit: 16
• Width:
  • Screen Width: The screen width which can be found in your monitor resolutions
• Height:
  • Screen Height: The screen height which can be found in your monitor resolutions
• FullScreen:
  • Windowed Mode: 0
  • FullScreen Mode: 1
• UnlockFramerate:
  • Lock: 0
  • Unlock: 1
• UnlockWidescreen:
  • Lock: 0
  • Unlock: 1
• UnlockHighResolution:
  • Lock: 0
  • Unlock: 1
• Antialias:
  • Anti-aliasing Level: The number of multi-sample for anti-aliasing (minimum: 2)
• DisableFilter:
  • OFF: 0
  • ON: 1
• DisableDithering:
  • OFF: 0
  • ON: 1
• DisableMipmap:
  • OFF: 0
  • ON: 1
• DisableSpecular:
  • OFF: 0
  • ON: 1

Window

• Borderless:
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1
• AlwaysHandleInput
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1
• PauseOnDeactivated
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1
• X:
  • Window Horizontal Coordinate: Any integer between negative window width and screen width
• Y:
  • Window Vertical Coordinate: Any integer between negative window height and screen height

Game

• Language:
  • German: 0
  • English: 1
  • Spanish: 2
  • Italian: 3
  • French: 4
• SkipOpening:
  • Disable: 0
  • Enable: 1

Command-line Options

Player.exe [OPTIONS]

• -m, --manual-setup: Always show setup dialog box at startup
• --load-all-managers: Control whether player loads all managers
• --load-all-building-blocks: Control whether player loads all building blocks
• --load-all-plugins: Control whether player loads all plugins
• -v <driver>, --video-driver <driver>: Set the id of the graphics card driver to display
• -b <bpp>, --bpp <bpp>: Set the bit per pixel of the screen (32 or 16)
• -w <width>, --width <width>: Set the screen width
• -h <height>, --height <height>: Set the screen height
• -f, --fullscreen: Startup in fullscreen mode
• -u, --unlock-framerate: Unlock the frame rate limitation
• --unlock-widescreen: Unlock non-4:3 resolutions
• --unlock-high-resolution: Unlock resolutions higher than 1600x1200
• --antialias <level>: Enable image antialiasing (minimum: 2)
• --disable-filter: Disable texture filtering
• --disable-dithering: Disable image dithering
• --disable-mipmap: Disable mipmap
• --disable-specular: Disable specular highlights
• -c, --borderless: Startup in borderless mode
• --always-handle-input: Allow player handle input while window is in background
• -p, --pause-on-deactivated: Pause the game once the window is deactivated
• -x <X>, --position-x <X>: Set the position x of the window
• -y <Y>, --position-y <Y>: Set the position y of the window
• -l <lang>, --lang <lang>: Set the language id
• --skip-opening: Skip the opening animation

Contact

If you have any bugs or requests, please open an issue in this repository: BallancePlayer.

ChangeLog

v0.3.0 (2023-05-20)

News

• Add a new setting ChildWindowRendering and corresponding command-line option --child-window-rendering to control whether to render in a child window.

Bug Fixes

• Fix a possible black screen problem during full-screen switching.

Changed

• No longer to rendering in a separate window by default.

v0.2.4 (2023-03-23)

Bug Fixes

• Fix game initialization failure when no screen mode is selected in setup dialog.
• Fix improper render driver initialization process.

v0.2.3 (2023-03-13)

News

• Allow to run multiple instance.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game crashes upon exit.

Changed

• Deprecate Resizable.
• Deprecate ClipMouse.
• Improve error messages.
• Refactor codebase to simplify implementation.

v0.2.2 (2023-01-23)

News

• Add a new setting ManualSetup and corresponding command-line option --manual-setup to control whether to show setup dialog box at startup.

Bug Fixes

• Fix broken command line short option parsing.

Changed

• Deprecate AdaptiveCamera.
• Deprecate delay-loaded DLL.
• Deprecate path customization.
• Simplify the workaround for enumeration of driver and screen mode.

v0.2.1 (2022-11-24)

News

• Support console log.
• Add a new setting LoadAllManagers and corresponding command-line option --load-all-managers to control whether player loads all managers.
• Add a new setting LoadAllBuildingBlocks and corresponding command-line option --load-all-building-blocks to control whether player loads all building blocks.
• Add a new setting LoadAllPlugins and corresponding command-line option --load-all-plugins to control whether player loads all plugins.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the problem that player changes screen mode incorrectly.
• Fix the problem that player can not startup if a wrong path setting exists.

Changed

• Remove dependency on the modified version of TT_InterfaceManager_RT.dll. Avoid to modify original files.

v0.2.0 (2022-10-15)

News

• Add the Chinese version of README.

v0.2.0-rc1 (2022-10-09)

Bug Fixes

• Fix possible crash problem upon exit.

Changed

• Improve game loop.

v0.2.0-beta4 (2022-10-02)

Bug Fixes

• Fix the problem that player can not switch between fullscreen and windowed mode when using OpenGL.
• Fix error-prone task switching.

v0.2.0-beta3 (2022-10-01)

Bug Fixes

• Fix the problem that UI will crash on task switching in fullscreen mode.
• Fix the problem that specifying a display driver has no effect.

Changed

• Swap the positions of Driver and Screen Mode in FullScreen Setup Dialog.

v0.2.0-beta2 (2022-09-28)

Bug Fixes

• Fix pop-up black screen after exiting.

v0.2.0-beta1 (2022-09-28)

Bug Fixes

• Fix forced fullscreen Vsync.
• Fix window position restoration.

v0.2.0-alpha4 (2022-09-25)

Bug Fixes

• Fix the black screen error on the monitor which is not support 640x480 resolution.

v0.2.0-alpha2 (2022-09-23)

News

• Support in-game debug mode.
• Support new command line options style like --root-path=<dir>.

v0.2.0-alpha1 (2022-09-17)

News

• Support more resolutions.
• Support skipping the opening animation.
• Support mouse clip.
• Support off-site startup.
• Support game path customization.
• Support Virtools console output.
• Add many new settings and corresponding command-line options.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the problematic fullscreen setup.
• Fix the problem that player will be stuck when using custom resolution.

Changed

• Unify log and error output.
• Rearrange settings and corresponding command-line options.

v0.1.9 (2022-08-30)

Bug Fixes

• Fix the incorrect position saving mechanism when it comes to exiting full screen.

Changed

• If the window is resizable (window has a title), it shows in the upper-left corner with a title and a slim margin from the screen edge when the window position is set to 0.
• The saved value of window position can be negative.
• Save last game mode (fullscreen or windowed) and restore it next time the game startups.

v0.1.8 (2022-08-17)

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game locks at 60 FPS on 144Hz monitor when v-sync is enabled.
• Fix the bug that the game can not find multiple drivers.

v0.1.7 (2022-08-15)

News

• Add two new settings X and Y, and corresponding command-line options -x and -y to set the screen coordinate of the upper-left corner of the window.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game window resizes unnaturally before starting.

Changed

• Save last window position and restore it next time the game startups.

v0.1.6 (2022-08-05)

News

• Add a new setting Borderless and corresponding command-line option -c to startup in borderless mode.
• Add a new setting Resizable and corresponding command-line option -s to make window resizable.

Changed

• Make window not resizable by default.

v0.1.5 (2022-07-20)

News

• Support 32-bit color mode.
• Add command-line long option support.
• Add a new setting Language and corresponding command-line option -l to set game language.
• Add a new setting UnlockFramerate and corresponding command-line option -u to unlock the frame-rate limitation.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game UI will be disordered between task switching.

Changed

• Change the command-line option for disabling task switching from -d to -e.
• Reimplement initialization configuration mechanism.
• Rewritten the command-line support.
• Integrate the function of ResDll.

v0.1.4 (2022-05-12)

News

• Add a new setting PauseOnTaskSwitch and corresponding command-line option -p to enable game pause on task switching.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game exits early.
• Fix the bug that the game crashes upon exit.

Changed

• Remove unnecessary virtual functions to improve performance.
• Remove the Interface Sprite that will not be used in the game.
• Improve Error-Handling.

v0.1.3 (2022-05-09)

News

• Support command-line options.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game will crash in fullscreen mode.
• Fix the bug that the game will be stuck between task switching.
• Fix the bug that the game will show resolution duplicates in Graphics Options.

Changed

• Remove dependency on Dsetup.dll since it is normally needless to check the DirectX version on a modern PC.
• Disable Exception Handling to improve performance.

v0.1.2 (2022-05-08)

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game maybe crashes when upon exit.

Changed

• Change to generate default config file when no configuration file is found.
• Replace the remaining registry operation in the main function.
• Disable Exception Handling to improve performance.
• Remove an unnecessary class FixedString.

v0.1.1 (2022-05-04)

News

• Support initialization file configuration.

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the game displays incompletely in windowed mode.

Changed

• Remove some unknown class members.

v0.1.0 (2022-05-03)

Bug Fixes

• Fix the bug that the memory checking gets the wrong result.