WACUP Development Update December 2021 (Patreon)

Four in a row, woo :) Well another month & I suspect like a lot of us it's been another weird one in either not meeting the goals planned or things just getting in the way. However it's gone I can only hope it's been as best as possible whatever the circumstances.  So onto this month's summary which I'm not sure how much there'll be as I'm writing this as I realised early on in the month that I wasn't going to hit some of my goals.

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In the end the 2 beta builds (though they basically count as just one build) that did get released ended up focusing on resolving some of the weirder issues I'd been putting off due to not knowing how long they might take (i.e. a few hours to a few days as was the case at times) which did impact on doing the new coding that is needed to get a preview build out.

The positive is that the build & the one from the end of last month have been behaving which bodes well for me going in & finally adding in the new bits that are needed but might break that run of improving stability :)

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Now onto the hopefully more fun part which if you've already looked at the images will have given it away as I've also technically had a break from normal WACUP development. I have however tried to do like I initially did when I first started on WACUP & the holiday period was when I'd have a play around with a few ideas.

For the end of year I've spent my free time between IRL duties trying to get a basic WACUP 64-bit compile up & running... which it's now just about doing :)

As I'm writing this, the core of WACUP (which consists of some supporting dlls & libraries needed to just get the program running) mostly work along with most of the output & media library plug-ins that currently ship with the normal WACUP build.

I've not yet got it to play anything as that needs a bit more time & there's definitely been some weird quirks so far (e.g. the internet radio database wouldn't load due to a build setting that came from the open source copy of the NDE library) but it's definitely gone quicker than I thought.

However that doesn't mean I'm going to just drop a 64-bit build as there's still a load of plug-ins & additional testing that's needed along with sorting out the installer (which in hindsight relies on bits of the WACUP core to work but that doesn't work well in a 32-bit vs 64-bit mismatch as now exists) before I'm happy to do it but it's started which is something I'd been hoping to maybe be close to achieving for 2021 :)

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From the second image I've already made sure to try & account for the 'beris' scenario of those who'll trying to use original Winamp dlls & 3rd party plug-in dlls that are all 32-bit which will not load in a 64-bit program. Additionally how I'm going to manage the different builds I'm still not sure (e.g. sharing an existing configuration or copying or not) as I suspect for most a change from the 32-bit WACUP to the 64-bit WACUP wouldn't make a difference though it will for some (e.g. any one using modern skins & relying on 3rd party plug-ins).

Otherwise it's made me realise that's there's possibly more that needs to be replaced before I can be offering a mostly Winamp-free 32-bit build let alone an all WACUP 64-bit build but it's got to start somewhere. It's also rather sparse on what's going on when it's not able to play anything for now but that'll come hopefully within the next few days before I get back on with normal WACUP development & all of what's needed for that (e.g. trying to get the non-legacy mode comparable to legacy mode).

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I can't think of anything else notable to mention so I think I'll leave at that for this month's update & wish you all a happy new year & hope you can enjoy it as best as possible wherever & whatever you may be doing. Also once again, thank you putting up with me & keeping supporting WACUP as it's always appreciated & we shall hopefully see a more productive 2022 as the current preview build really needs to be replaced ;)

-dro