Heart of the Woods 2.1.7 and 2.1.6
Hello, everyone!
Heart of the Woods 2.1.7 and 2.1.6 have just been released, which fix a few minor issues that were either reported by the community, or were found in testing.
We’ve also optimised and reduced the game’s install size by 102 MB (8%) with no quality loss!
As always, thank you all for continuing to support Studio Élan…!
〜 Karen/あけみ (akemin_dayo)
Changelog for 2.1.7:
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.3.5.606.
- In an effort to further bring all our titles in line with each other, the keyboard key “A” can now be used to toggle Auto Mode on and off. ※ The legacy Ren’Py accessibility (AX) menu can still be accessed by pressing “Shift-A” instead.
- Deleting save files from the savescreen is now possible again using the “Delete” key on your keyboard, or Square / X (Left Button) on your controller.
- Made improvements to localisation system.
- When available, audio cues are now translated.
- Save files created on old versions of the game while set to non-English languages will now have their names display correctly in the savescreen, regardless of your current language setting.
Changelog for 2.1.6:
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.3.5.606.
- Optimised and reduced game install size by 102 MB (8%) with no quality loss!
- Fixed an issue with consistency between the game text and voice line in Act 1, Scene 1-4.
- Fixed an issue with consistency between the game text and voice line in Act 5, Scene 5-1 Part 2.
- Fixed a typo in Act 3, Scene 3-5.
- Fixed an issue where a visual effect in a certain scene would not always display correctly.
- Removed UI font that is no longer used.
- Fixed a minor UI layout issue that could occur under rare circumstances.
- Merged changes and improvements made in common code shared with other Studio Élan games.
- The game will now automatically switch to the game language that best matches with the current operating system language upon first boot, if available.
- Save data location is now written to the log.
- Improved graphical sharpness and presentation on the Holo Deck when launched via Holo Gaming Mode (gamescope). (※ Specifically, the game will now always launch in fullscreen mode if launched from Holo gamescope. Running the game from the KDE desktop environment is unaffected by this change.)
- You can now scroll CGs with the keyboard in the CG viewer by holding down the arrow keys instead of having to rapidly tap them.
- Made various other internal refactors and improvements.
Heart of the Woods 2.1.5 — Holo Deck compatibility fixes and more!
Hello, everyone!
Heart of the Woods 2.1.5 has just been released, which fixes all known compatibility issues with the Holo Deck!
It also fixes a few minor issues that were either reported, or were found in testing.
As always, thank you for continuing to support Studio Élan!
〜 Karen/あけみ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa
Changelog for 2.1.5:
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.3.5.606.
- Fixed all known UI layout issues that were affecting the Holo Deck when the game was run from Game Mode in Holo.
- Fixed an issue that could potentially cause videos to not play in certain very specific circumstances.
- Made various other internal refactors and improvements.
Heart of the Woods 2.1.4, 2.1.3, 2.1.2, 2.1.1.1, and 2.1.1 — Brand new controller UI and navigation support, native Apple Silicon (arm64 / AArch64) support on macOS, and more!
Hello, everyone!
We’ve just released a fairly big update for Heart of the Woods!
… In fact, we released five whole versions in rapid succession just now — 2.1.4, 2.1.3, 2.1.2, 2.1.1.1, and 2.1.1! (※ More on this below.)
Our apologies for the large delay in getting these versions out — various external factors beyond our control prevented us from properly releasing these updates, despite them being feature-complete for the longest time.
The main highlights of this release mostly have to do with our brand new controller UI and navigation support, which can be enabled and configured from within the game’s preference pane, as well as native Apple Silicon (arm64 / AArch64) support on macOS!
All that being said, we thank you all for remaining patient, and as always, for supporting Studio Élan across these many years!
〜 Karen/あけみ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa
Changelog for 2.1.4:
※ This is the most recent version.
This version includes all changes listed in this changelog.
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.3.5.606.
- Fixed an issue where the font path validator could potentially cause a crash when reading values from some users’ persistent save data.
Changelog for 2.1.3:
※ This version combines Heart of the Woods 2.1.2 with changes that were made in 2.1.1.1 and 2.1.1 (both of which chronologically were finalised after 2.1.2 due to external factors, despite what the version numbers may indicate).
This version includes all changes from 2.1.2, 2.1.1.1, and 2.1.1.
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.3.5.606.
- Merged all changes below.
- Made the UI more clearly indicate when a scrollbar or slider is in a selected state.
- Fixed an issue introduced in 2.1.1.1 where the “Welcome to the music room.” string would not be localised.
- Heart of the Woods now officially supports Ren’Py SDK version targets 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.3.5.606.
Changelog for 2.1.2:
※ This is the version that is used in the physical PC releases that are currently being sold on our webstore and were offered as backer rewards on Kickstarter.
All changes made in this version are not present in Heart of the Woods 2.1.1.1 or 2.1.1.
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.1.0.23051307 〜 7.3.5.606.
- The Studio Élan bootlogo has been completely recreated from the ground up using new internal tools, but this time with brand new high-resolution assets!
- Apple Silicon (arm64 / AArch64) is now natively supported on macOS, without any need for Apple’s Rosetta 2 x86_64 translation layer!
- Updated names in the credits screen and attribution in the guest art screen.
- Further clarified and improved wording in the README.
- Heart of the Woods now officially supports Ren’Py SDK version targets 8.1.0.23051307 〜 7.3.5.606.
Changelog for 2.1.1.1:
※ This is the version that is used in the upcoming SCE Sony PlayStation 5 and 4 updates for Heart of the Woods, which also includes all changes made in 2.1.1, 2.1, 2.0.4, and 2.0.3.
All changes made in this version are not present in Heart of the Woods 2.1.2.
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.0.3.22090809 〜 7.3.5.606.
- Improved wording in the music room.
- Made non-user-facing minor internal changes.
Changelog for 2.1.1:
※ This is the version that is used in the upcoming Nintendo Switch update for Heart of the Woods, which also includes all changes made in 2.1, 2.0.4, and 2.0.3.
Two minor changes made in this version are not present in Heart of the Woods 2.1.2. (※ Specifically, 2.1.2 includes changes up to 2.1.1rc20, but the final version of 2.1.1 is actually 2.1.1rc21.)
On PC, it targets Ren’Py SDK versions 8.0.3.22090809 〜 7.3.5.606.
New features
- Added a brand new controller UI! It can be enabled and configured from within the game’s preference pane.
- Our new controller buttons (which will be used in all mainline Élan games going forward) are slightly modified versions of Nicolae (Xelu) Berbece’s controller buttons, which are CC0-licensed (※ public domain).
- You can obtain a fresh copy of the original unmodified assets here: https://thoseawesomeguys.com/prompts/
- ※ If you’d like to use the exact files and/or naming scheme found in our games, feel free to do so.
- Controller support has been completely reworked, making the game fully controller (and keyboard) navigable for both normal gameplay and UI navigation! More keyboard controls have also been added!
- Please check the help screen for a full list of controls.
- The controller UI is now enabled by default on Holo Deck and Big Picture.
- The large text size option is now enabled by default on the Holo Deck and Nintendo Switch.
- A new version of the Studio Élan bootlogo has been created, using new internal tools that allow for both higher quality and framerates.
- The game now supports arbitrarily high framerates for super smooth animations!
- Fully reworked various view layouts in the preference pane for easier UI navigation.
- Added a patch API and content compatibility validator that runs at boot for certain user-installed patches and mods.
- Added a loose file validator that runs at boot to check for certain leftover user-installed loose files that are known to cause issues.
- Added the “changeTaraCustomShirt()” console command, which lets users change Tara custom shirts easily.
- Example: changeTaraCustomShirt(“minute”) will change Tara’s custom shirt to the specified “minute” custom shirt.
- changeTaraCustomShirt(“off”) or simply changeTaraCustomShirt() will remove the custom shirt and restore the usual default behaviour of Tara’s shirts that change according to the current in-game moon phase.
- Added a proper bundle identifier: com.vnstudioelan.heartofthewoods
- ※ This will be our standardised bundle identifier format going forward for all of our games.
- Added all missing Info.plist keys to the macOS app bundle.
- Added compatibility with older Ren’Py SDK runtime versions, tested all the way down to 7.3.5.606! (※ Older versions than this may work, but are untested.)
- Ren’Py SDKs patched with the modern API for Holo Deck compatibility are compatible, too! (※ With the Python 3 script provided by Ren’Py.)
General improvements and bug fixes
- Fixed a crash that would occur if the user performed specific actions on older versions of the game that could result in the incorrect font path being written to persistent save data.
- Fixed an issue where certain users would end up with incorrect font size values written to their persistent save data.
- The current version of the game is now shown in the top left corner of the preference pane.
- Clarified and improved wording in the README.
- Re-centred and re-aligned certain UI elements that were previously incorrectly aligned.
- Adjusted and improved padding on UI elements.
- Fixed an issue where the dynamically changing UI tint colour (based on the current character PoV) would sometimes be inconsistently updated, leaving certain elements in the wrong colour. All UI elements are now correctly updated. No more carrots! This is now a carrot-free household!! (
Heart of the Woods 2.1 — Celebrating our 4th anniversary!
Hello, everyone!
Right on the heels of Heart of the Woods’ 4th anniversary, we’ve just released a major update to Heart of the Woods!
Heart of the Woods 2.1 fixes many long-standing issues of varying severity, vastly improves controller support, and even adds native support for ARM Linux (arm64 / AArch64, armv7) — notably including Asahi Linux (arm64e / Apple Silicon)!
To go along with the 4th anniversary, we also have a new short story and artwork featuring Tara and Morgan! You can see them in our Patreon post here: https://patreon.com/posts/78737674
As always, thank you all for supporting Studio Élan across these many years!
〜 Karen/あけみ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa
Changelog for 2.1:
※ Note regarding native Apple Silicon (arm64 / AArch64) Mach-O slices on macOS: Ren’Py unfortunately does not support this configuration upstream yet, and attempts at building it manually have failed due to toolchain issues.
For the time being, Apple’s Rosetta 2 x86_64 translation layer (which will be installed automatically) will still be required to play Heart of the Woods.
New features
- Added a detailed README found in the game directory — please give it a read!
- Added a macOS DMG background. It is also available as bonus content in the game directory.
- Added native support for ARM Linux (arm64 / AArch64, armv7) — notably including Asahi Linux (arm64e / Apple Silicon)!
- Vastly improved controller support as well as general keybinds for both controller and keyboard. The list below is incomplete and only lists what’s changed — a full list of all bindings can be found in the Help menu.
- Controller: Added a new configurable preference that allows you to set your preferred confirmation button. Available options are:
- A / Cross / Bottom Button (※ Default)
- B / Circle / Right Button
- Controller: Submenus can now be exited by pressing your configured cancel button (which is whatever the opposite of your configured confirm button is).
- Controller: Scrollable views can now be scrolled using the right stick.
- Controller: Pressing L1 / Left Shoulder and R1 / Right Shoulder buttons now changes pages in the save screen, load screen, gallery, and CG viewer.
- Controller: In the gallery CG viewer, pressing X / Square / Left Button now toggles the zoom.
- Controller: In normal gameplay, pressing X / Square / Left Button now toggles auto mode.
- Controller: Pressing R1 / Right Shoulder button now toggles the skip functionality.
- Controller: Pressing R2 / Right Trigger button now rolls forward the dialogue, instead of acting as a second confirm button.
- Controller, Keyboard: The gallery CG viewer can now be moved using the right stick on the controller, and the arrow keys on the keyboard.
- Controller, Keyboard: Fixed an issue where some keyboard and controller bindings were erroneously left active in the ED video player, which could result in it severely breaking if accidentally pressed.
- Keyboard: Pressing Escape now exits the gallery CG viewer, as well as the Extras submenus.
- Keyboard: Pressing the [ ] keys now changes pages in the save screen, load screen, gallery, and CG viewer.
- Keyboard: Pressing Z now toggles the zoom in the gallery CG viewer.
- Keyboard: Pressing H now also hides the UI in the gallery CG viewer, just as it does in normal gameplay.
- Keyboard: Pressing L now opens the history/log screen.
- Keyboard: Pressing K now toggles auto mode.
- Keyboard: Pressing F6 now opens the save screen.
- Keyboard: Pressing F7 now opens the load screen.
- Keyboard: Pressing ` now opens the developer console.
- Updated the Help screen to be more complete.
- Controller bindings are now always displayed for easier reference.
- Clarified and localised all controller button names.
- Completely reworded many of the binding descriptions.
- Added all new bindings introduced in 2.1, in addition to documenting existing ones that were previously not included.
- Updated credits screen.
- Re-encoded all videos using the VP9 (libvpx-vp9) codec, muxed into MKV containers. Audio quality in videos have also been improved, as we now use lossless FLAC audio tracks for your listening pleasure.
- Made improvements to the Studio Élan bootlogo.
- Made changes to how Unified builds are generated to facilitate for easier conversion between Unified and macOS Standalone builds.
- Improved the UX for the first boot accessibility onboarding flow.
- Updated the developer console UI.
- Added proper padding for the zoom button in the gallery CG viewer.
- Added proper padding for the “Skip Credits” button in the ED video player.
- Added missing transitions to some scenes.
- Updated the text shown in the gallery CG viewer to reflect the new keybinds.
- Modified the behaviour of all scrollable views to also allow dragging.
- Updated all outdated Twitter usernames in the Guest Art gallery, and corrected all capitalisation.
- Completely re-rendered most name plates.
- Updated some UI assets.
- Updated all fonts to the latest versions.
- Restored a train whistle that plays when players step off of the train to Eysenfeld.
- Restored menu item hover and click sounds.
General bug fixes
- Completely rewrote procedural forest generation functionality. Issues fixed by this change are listed below.
- Rendering errors no longer occur when characters move through the forest.
- Fixed an issue where it would be possible to spawn into a completely empty forest if a very specific chain of actions were made by the player.
- Fixed an issue where some trees would erroneously render multiple times.
- Fixed an issue where some procedural forests may spawn with less trees than intended.
- Fixed an issue where a race condition could occur while generating a procedural forest.
- Improved performance by removing unnecessary draw calls.
- Completely changed how fonts work. This fully fixes the rendering of bold, italics, and bold italics which were all previously rendered incorrectly.
- Use the correct name for Source Han Sans / 源ノ角ゴシック.
- Use the correct name for OpenDyslexic.
- Fixed an issue where the animated snowflakes shown in menus would sometimes erroneously appear in the incorrect position for a few frames.
- Fixed an issue where some character facial expressions would not display correctly.
- Fixed an issue where the outdoors train whistle would play when players are actually indoors.
- Fixed an issue where the second train CG variant would not be unlocked in the gallery. (※ Start a new game to unlock it.)
- Fixed a rendering issue that would occur for a few frames while transitioning away from the ED videos.
- Fixed a rendering issue that would occur where some UI elements would incorrectly render behind the NVL UI.
- Fixed a rendering issue that would occur where the PoV switching animation would incorrectly render behind the NVL UI.
- Fixed all known issues with missing voice lines.
- Fixed all text formatting tags that were erroneously left open.
- Fixed some text formatting issues.
- Fixed some minor typos.
- Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur while entering the guest art gallery.
- Fixed an issue where the images in the gallery CG viewer could not be dragged when zoomed in.
- Fixed an issue where an empty page would be shown in the guest art gallery.
- Fixed an issue in the Help screen where an incorrect font would sometimes be used after changing languages.
- Fixed an issue where the wrong font would sometimes show in some of the Extras submenus.
- Fixed an issue where the text scrolling animation would render incorrectly when using the OpenDyslexic font.
- Fixed an issue where the line spacing would incorrectly render too tightly when using the OpenDyslexic font.
- Fixed an inconsistency where menu elements for the Extras screen were not centered.
- Fixed an issue where the Help menu would always open scrolled all the way at the bottom.
- Fixed a text rendering issue with the CG “You, Me, and the Snowflakes” in the gallery.
- Fixed an issue where the developer console would not be able to be opened using the standard ` key.
- Fixed an issue where the gentle screenshake effect used in the train CG would sometimes not work.
- Fixed an issue where the graphical buttons in the extras menu were not consistently aligned correctly.
- Fixed an issue where some background images would not correctly fill the screen due to using the wrong dAR.
- Fixed the alignment of the right and left buttons shown in the gallery CG viewer.
- Fixed all incorrect image paths.
- Fixed an issue where the history/log screen would open scrolled all the way to the top.
- Fixed an issue where the first boot accessibility onboarding flow would render slightly incorrectly when choosing to enable or disable image descriptions.
Localisation bug fixes
- Fixed an issue where some strings and dialogue in the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文), Simplified Chinese (简体中文), German (Deutsch), and Spanish (Español) would erroneously display completely empty.
- This also fixes an issue where some preference categories would appear to be missing from the preference pane.
- Fixed all known lines that would erroneously still appear in English despite having another localisation enabled.
- Fixed all known issues regarding missing text in the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) and Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations.
- Fixed all known issues regarding text rendering errors in the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) and Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations.
- Added missing localised name plates for Traditional Chinese (繁體中文), Simplified Chinese (简体中文), and German (Deutsch).
- Fixed an issue where the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) and Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations would always display entirely with a bold font weight.
- Fixed an issue where the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) and Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations was erroneously missing all bold text tags.
- Fixed an issue where the names shown in the PoV switcher would not be translated when using the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) or Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations.
- Fixed an issue where the font picker would erroneously remain enabled when using the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) localisation, which does not support changing the font.
- Fixed an issue where the name of some CGs in the gallery would not display correctly when using the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) or Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations.
- Fixed an issue where the error handler would not render correctly when using the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) or Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations.
- Fixed an issue where the “Calibrate” button would display in English when using the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) or Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations.
- Fixed an issue where changing the font to Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) or Simplified Chinese (简体中文) and then back to English, German (Deutsch), or Spanish (Español) would result in the incorrect font being used until either PT Sans or OpenDyslexic was chosen again from the font preference pane.
- Fixed an issue in one location where the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) and Simplified Chinese (简体中文) would attempt to reference an old font that no longer ships with the game.
- Fixed an issue where the names shown in the translated name plates for Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) and Simplified Chinese (简体中文) would be inconsistent with how they were translated in the actual game text.
- Fixed an issue where some instances of italicised text would not render correctly when using the Spanish (Español) localisation.
- Fixed an issue where menu elements for the Extras screen would draw over the menu header when using the Spanish (Español) localisation.
- Fixed an issue where some preference pane tooltip strings in the Spanish (Español) localisation were missing newlines, resulting in the line being too long and cutting into other UI elements.
- Fixed a UI layout issue in the Help screen when using some localisations that have longer strings for the bindings.
Scene-specific bug fixes
- Improved the presentation of the title logo scene across the aerial shot of Eysenfeld shown at the end of Scene 1-1.
- Fixed an issue where the title logo scene would persist for longer than intended.
- Fixed some rendering issues that would occur while transitioning between Scene 1-1 and 1-2.
- Fixed an issue in Scene 1-4 that would erroneously alter the behaviour of all procedural forests generated afterwards while the game is still open.
- Fixed an issue in Scene 1-8 where the incorrect transition would play.
- Fixed missing fade transitions in Scene 3-1.
- Fixed an issue where a certain character would be wearing the wrong clothing in a scene.
Changes that affect modders and dataminers
- Wondering where some defines went? They’ve probably been moved inside MorganKit.
- Rearranged many assets internally and removed all erroneously duplicated assets.
- Removed unused font assets.
- Changed the way how unused, non-canonical cut content content is stored. This means that you can no longer view cut content the old way.
- ※ To get around this, you can set the console variable showNonCanonicalCutContent = 1 while ingame. Please note that this is an unsupported configuration!
- Made various internal improvements to the codebase, including large-scale refactoring.
