Trouble Makers v0.8.4

Trouble Makers 0.8.4 should now be significantly more stable and have fewer
visual glitches than before, with fixes for audio-related freezes and
widescreen backgrounds across World 3.

What's fixed

• Fixed a crash or freeze when stalled audio playback built up a large
  backlog. The game now discards stale audio safely instead of corrupting
  memory. This was reproduced and tested on Steam Deck, including with
  playback deliberately paused.
• Fixed square background patterning in Lunar (3-8), Clanpot Shake,
  Clance War, and Go Marzen 64 by expanding their original panoramas.
• Fixed broken widescreen background panels in The Day Before (3-9) and
  Missile Surf, preserving their joins and original gameplay coordinates.
• Corrected Missile Surf's brighter central sky rectangle while preserving
  its translucent lighting.
• Restored the existing Chilly Dog and Snowstorm Maze backdrop corrections
  in affected builds, and added a build check to catch missing widescreen
  hooks before they ship.

Validation

• Reviewed captures from all 52 playable progression rows, with additional
  original 4:3 comparisons and targeted 16:9, 16:10, and ultrawide checks.
• Audio backlog and presentation regression tests passed.
• Verified Steam Deck startup through Steam, normal audio playback, and
  resilience to stalled playback. The tested build sustained 60 Hz game
  updates with approximately 90 Hz presentation on the OLED Deck.

Known visual issues

Some boss backgrounds still need work: CERBERUS can show a brighter central
region, and PHOENIX can show separated background strips and black gaps.
The Migen Brawl arena remains centered in the sampled boss sequence. The
capture sweep does not cover every boss phase or replace full playthroughs.

Full changelog: v0.8.3...v0.8.4

Trouble Makers v0.8.3

What's fixed

• Select ROM now works on Linux setups without a desktop file-dialog
  service, such as Batocera and other console-style sessions. Previously the
  launcher stopped with File dialog error: Failed to execute program org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop and offered no way to choose a ROM
  (#46).
• When the native dialog is unavailable, the launcher now opens its own
  controller-friendly ROM browser. Use the D-pad or stick to move, A or Enter
  to open a folder or choose a ROM, and B or Escape to go back. It starts in
  the folder the AppImage was launched from and lists .z64, .n64, and
  .v64 files; turn on Show all files for dumps with other extensions.
• Desktops with a working file dialog still use the native dialog.

Validation

• Without a file-dialog service, both with no D-Bus and with D-Bus but no
  portal (the Batocera case), Select ROM opened the built-in browser. Moving
  between folders, rejecting a non-ROM file, and choosing a US 1.1 ROM all
  worked.
• On a GNOME desktop, Select ROM still opened the native file dialog.
• Linux and Windows CI builds passed.

Full changelog: v0.8.2...v0.8.3

Trouble Makers v0.8.2

What's changed

• Level selection, its stage-clear return animation, and the records menu
  now use native 60 fps presentation. Your selected interpolation setting
  returns when you enter gameplay.
• 3-6: Chilly Dog! and 3-7: Snowstorm Maze stretch their mountain
  backdrop across widescreen, replacing the repeating square filler at the
  sides. Characters, terrain, and the snow layer keep their normal proportions.
• Source builds now verify the required RT64 patches during configuration
  and incremental builds. This prevents stale local renderer checkouts from
  silently reintroducing the previously fixed black right-edge strips and
  border trails. Official builds already applied those renderer patches.

Validation

• Visually checked both snow-stage backgrounds.
• Verified native presentation and restoration of the selected frame-rate
  setting during a simulated stage-clear return.
• Compared 160 first-level captures at 144 fps before and after restoring
  the local renderer fixes: the black sky strip appeared in 9 frames before
  and none afterward.
• Added presentation tests for menu state selection, panorama clipping,
  texture coordinates, and tile joins at 16:10, 16:9, and 21:9.
• Added the presentation tests to Linux and Windows CI.

Full changelog: v0.8.1...v0.8.2

Trouble Makers v0.8.1

What's fixed

• Controller Back/View no longer toggles fullscreen when that button is
  assigned to an N64 gameplay control. This fixes C-right on USB N64 pads that
  expose the physical button as SDL's Back button and prevents the resulting
  display-mode change and renderer crash reported in
  #45.
• Back/View remains the controller fullscreen shortcut on default and other
  layouts where the button is unbound, and F11 remains available on every
  layout.

Validation

• Added regression coverage for default, newly assigned, and reloaded Back
  bindings.
• Passed the controls test and compiled the updated game source.

Full changelog: v0.8.0...v0.8.1

Trouble Makers v0.8.0

What's fixed

• 2-11 Migen Brawl! no longer leaves persistent actor and effect trails in
  the extra widescreen area or the narrow gutters exposed when the original
  side borders are removed.
• 3-3 Missile Surf! no longer leaves persistent scenery, actor, or effect
  trails in widescreen.
• 3-3 Missile Surf! now presents its rapidly replaced player and NPC
  missile exhaust and explosion sprites without the flickering duplicate
  copies produced by high-refresh temporal interpolation. The player's saved
  frame-rate setting is preserved and resumes automatically after the stage.

Validation

• Captured and inspected Migen Brawl! and Missile Surf! in both widescreen and
  original 4:3 presentation.
• Re-tested 2-2 Vertigo! and 2-10 Seasick Climb in original 4:3 at
  180 Hz; both retain their authored viewport and high-refresh interpolation.
• Verified that Missile Surf alone uses the scene-native compatibility path;
  Migen Brawl!, Vertigo!, Seasick Climb, and all other stages retain the
  selected presentation rate.
• Rebuilt the game and passed all telemetry, controls, and session-log tests.

Full changelog: v0.7.1...v0.8.0

Trouble Makers v0.7.1

What's new

• Replaced the launcher splash background with an authentic Clancer block:
  the real two red oval eyes and open oval mouth on a matte cobalt cube, with a
  couple of floating companion blocks, over the burgundy launcher backdrop. The
  right side stays dark for the menu.

That's the only change since v0.7.0 — the build is otherwise identical.

Trouble Makers v0.7.0

What's new

• Added a controller-first launcher with ROM selection, graphics settings,
  input rebinding, support links, and a new Clancer-themed 16:10 presentation.
• Added a dedicated Steam Deck AppImage alongside the generic Linux build.
  It selects Deck-native 1280x800 fullscreen defaults, expanded widescreen,
  display-rate interpolation (90 FPS on OLED and 60 FPS on LCD), VSync, and
  antialiasing disabled.
• Added Steam Deck detection matching the shared recomp frontend convention,
  including Valve board-vendor detection and the SteamDeck=1 override.
• Added a cartridge-inspired Trouble Makers title lockup and bundled launcher
  assets to Linux AppImages and the Windows archive.

What's fixed

• Restored launcher navigation on Steam Deck controllers. RT64's custom ImGui
  SDL backend intentionally omits gamepad support, so the launcher now bridges
  SDL controller buttons and axes into ImGui navigation itself.
• Added deterministic initial focus to the launcher's primary action, making
  physical A select Start Game immediately.
• Added controller Back/View as an in-game fullscreen toggle so Deck users can
  always leave fullscreen without a keyboard.
• Added clear guidance for launching through Steam Gaming Mode instead of the
  Desktop keyboard-and-mouse controller profile.

Validation

• Built the release configuration against SDL 2.32.10 and packaged both Linux
  AppImage variants successfully.
• Passed telemetry, controls, and session-log tests.
• Deployed the Deck AppImage through Steam and verified the native Steam Deck
  controller mapping, 1280x800 launcher, bundled artwork, and imported EEPROM
  save on hardware.

Full changelog: v0.6.0...v0.7.0

Trouble Makers v0.6.0

What's fixed

• Fixed the stage 3-8 Lunar ending taking minutes to complete after Marina
  flies away. The camera's widened logical boundary was following her beyond
  the authored arena instead of allowing the scripted exit to fire.
• Original 4:3 and cinematic gameplay now retain the game's authored camera
  boundaries, while widened actor culling remains active during real
  widescreen gameplay.

What's new

• Vertigo and Seasick Climb now honor the widescreen preference and render
  their rotating rooms across the expanded field instead of remaining
  pillarboxed.
• The rotating-stage regression harness now verifies the requested runtime
  aspect mode in addition to textures, geometry, and motion stability.

Validation

• Reproduced Lunar's grounded defeat and complete ending path in both 4:3 and
  widescreen. The right boundary remained fixed at the authored value and both
  runs transitioned normally to stage completion.
• Captured and inspected 64 moving widescreen frames each in Vertigo and
  Seasick Climb; both expanded-mode gates passed.
• Rebuilt the game and passed all telemetry, controls, and session-log tests.

Full changelog: v0.5.0...v0.6.0

Trouble Makers v0.5.0

What's new

• Pause transitions now deliberately return to the original 4:3 presentation
  before the closing iris is drawn. The pause menu therefore has a fully black
  backdrop across the entire widescreen display instead of leaving live
  gameplay visible in the side wings.
• Resuming keeps the original presentation through the opening iris, then
  restores expanded gameplay before the first visible unpaused frame. The
  game no longer reopens in 4:3 and waits before returning to widescreen.
• The original pause animation and native 4:3 presentation remain unchanged.

Validation

• Captured and inspected all 240 compositor frames around a normal-speed
  widescreen pause and resume transition.
• Confirmed that the first closing-iris frame already has black side wings and
  that the frame immediately after the opening iris is fully expanded.
• Captured and inspected a native 4:3 pause/resume run and passed all telemetry,
  controls, and session-log tests.

Full changelog: v0.3.8...v0.5.0

Trouble Makers v0.3.8

What's fixed

• Fixed the intermittent vertical black line at the original 4:3 right
  boundary in widescreen mode. It could flash for a frame as Marina and the
  camera moved horizontally through a stage.
• RT64's rectangle-edge correction now only expands an underfilled edge. It
  no longer shrinks a valid background tile that extends slightly beyond the
  original 4:3 scissor, so adjacent widescreen tiles meet without exposing the
  black wing clear underneath.
• The fix preserves the per-frame wing clear, avoiding the stale sprites and
  scenery trails that appear when the clear is disabled.

Validation

• Captured and inspected 360 consecutive widescreen frames across multiple
  occurrences of the affected scroll phase, with no remaining black seam.
• Captured and inspected a 120-frame original-aspect run to confirm that 4:3
  framing, background layers, sprites, HUD, and movement remain unchanged.
• Rebuilt the release target and passed all telemetry, controls, and session
  log tests.

Full changelog: v0.3.7...v0.3.8