Headbangers: Rhythm Royale ultrawide and wider solution

Background

Before the game came out, its trailer caught my attention and I found the premise quite interesting. Then it was released and I installed it but had other things to do. A few days ago, I was talking to a friend about the Steam Awards nominations, including the Most Innovative Gameplay category, which prompted her to invite me to check out the game as a possible candidate.

Right after I launched the game, it became clear that it has no ultrawide support at all. It was the usual Unity package of not supporting our resolutions, and of improper UI scaling when using the common workarounds.

Since the limitations were enabled via the engine variables rather than the custom dev code, the only reasonable approach was to make a trainer or a plugin for injection. As with my latest mods, I settled on the latter.

Addressing the issues

Although enabling the game to use the player's resolution was relatively straightforward, I also had to make it reliable and not reset by selecting the related game options. The general UI scaling part was easier, because, as you know, I had cracked that a while back. The problem was that it didn't suffice.

As I often see in Unity games, expanding the view or overriding the UI scaling behaviors tends to expose the devs' oversights or inconsistencies, which fly under the radar when limiting to just one aspect ratio. It can be an element hard-anchored to the left and not scaling with the rest of the UI (like the button at the very start of The Last Faith) or a scene that doesn't follow the behavior of any of the rest (the controls menu in Not For Broadcast, for example). Headbangers had both.

The first issue was that there were three buttons at the settings menu that didn't adapt and they covered the rest. Removing the elements wasn't an option, as two of them were crucial: the audio calibration, and the controls layout. Moving them was problematic too, because if I dynamically padded them by taking the original position, a constant check would cause an endless loop, while a one-time addition is not easy to do when you don't know the dev code to do it reliably and precisely. After a lot of thinking and experimenting, I decided to just align the buttons to the right by using my own values but ensuring that they would stay in the same spot at any aspect ratio. It looks somewhat different from the original but the placement is organic and the buttons work, which is all we need.

The second major issue was that one of the game types reduced the field of view compared to 16:9. Normally, it wouldn't be hard to troubleshoot and experiment with the scene, but this online-only game has 23 minigames which are selected randomly, with each one being time-limited and expecting you to perform. The game is also quite unstable on my end, with frequent disconnects and crashes (and my friend reporting the same, so it wasn't from the modding). These conditions made it super hard to debug any related issues, adding days of time to what could be a simpler task. I'd often idle just to lose, become a spectator and hope for the right area to appear. If not, I'd redo the process. Rinse and repeat after each tiny change to my code. Eventually, I got it done.

The third problem was similar to the buttons issue, but involving the in-game store text covering the 3D previews of the clothing, sometimes to the point of it being impossible to read the signs or see the finer details of the outfits, preventing the player from making informed choices before buying. It's merely an in-game currency, but it's hard-earned, so I decided to tackle it as well. Addressing it was similar to my solution to the buttons, though somewhat easier.

The remaining issues were minor in comparison, like the occasional background that isn't filling the screen. Although it would be possible to manipulate those, every item would have to be targeted and tested individually, and each one would potentially decrease the overall stability of the fix from the introduction of new checks, code, and variables. As you know, I've been trying to stay sane for the long run, so it's important to set boundaries to get to other games with more pressing issues.

The most important part is that the game is now playable in ultrawide, with the view expanded at the game scenes and even enabling a small advantage - if I'm right, the occasional bonuses fly out from the left edge of the screen, but we get to see them sooner because of the view expansion.

Game info

Wondering about the game itself? It consists of memory minigames that also test your hearing and reaction. It's somewhat similar to what I know about Guitar Hero but with its own style and charm reminiscent of Rubber Bandits or Fall Guys. The pigeon characters sound like the worms in Worms, so no wonder it's published by Team17! I really like the experience and I score well but a lot of it is ruined by the crashes and disconnects.