v2026.5.0

🚨 Breaking changes

• Some txt checks have been deferred until the song is actually played. If you need to have all the issues at startup, use the -check-songs switch #1121 #1257

⭐ Features

• Count in songs that have lyrics soon after starting them #1203 #1274
• Re-scan audio devices when entering Options - Record. This allows for hotplugging audio devices without restarting the entire game. Startup now only scans devices that are assigned to players #1174 #1262
• Add more precise volume controls #1093 #1253
• Emulate MIDI #1131
• Loading screen reports song loading progress #1100 #1259

📈 Enhancements

• Switch Windows to 64-bit #1149
• Use OpenCV C++ wrapper on macOS #1243

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Blacklist vdownmix device in Portaudio #1231
• Don't insert null bytes at the end of a string in the database #1173
• Fix overlaping buttons on statistics screen #1242
• Fix MIDI notes getting stuck in the Editor #1265
• Fix medleys with deferred txt checks, and medleys should not affect difficulty level #1264
• Don't crash if config.ini is not writable in some cases #1178

Other Changes

• Update linter job to support Node.js 24 #1228
• Remove unused soundfonts #1237
• Remove unused Bamboo CI scripts #1232
• Use full path for song errors #1205
• Fix packaging output for macOS #1251
• Refactor scoring #1246
• Remove obsolete cover.db #1255
• Do not play MIDI when clicking a note with the mouse #1269

v2026.4.0

🚨 Breaking changes

• Remove support for the #RESOLUTION header

⭐ Features

• Support Lua 5.5 #1216

📈 Enhancements

• Update Noto fonts #1218 #1221

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Fix crash if more microphones are configured than the game supports #1191
• Flush FFmpeg audio resampler when seeking #1204
• Fix memory leak in lyrics #1223

Other Changes

• Remove unused credits tune #1187
• Rename Apple builds to macOS + replace some IRC references with Discord #1214 #1222
• Remove unused internals that allowed multiple BPMs throughout a song #1198
• Prepare projectM wrapper for building as DLL #1220
• Link release page #1202
• Improve management of option menu interactions #1224

v2026.3.0

🚨 Breaking changes

• Remove Carousel, Slot Machine, Slide and Tile song selection modes. Custom theme providers, see wiki page #1163
• Line bonus is no longer optional, it is always on #1162 #1175

⭐ Features

• Allow ordered playlists. Toggle with O #1096

📈 Enhancements

• Improve text editing in the editor and add mouse support #1088

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Fix party mode bugs: hide duets, refresh songs, correctly use playlists, scrolling #1128
• Fix memory leaks in sing screen and score screen #1161
• Fix random song selecting a song not in the current playlist/search
• Fix various song selection bugs #1168
• Correctly size P2 track when editing a duet #1172
• Correct editor help for pasting notes + remove references to non-existing modes #1171
• Fix texture bug on pre-SSSE3 systems #1181
• Fix chessboard desyncing when rapidly scrolling #1182

Other Changes

• Refactor some player-related fields #1157
• Remove credits screen and replace it with a text on the About screen #1164
• Fix flathub linter warning #1154
• Reject songs that use P1/P2 but are not actually a duet #1166
• UltraStar Manager and UltraStar Creator are no longer included in the Windows installer #1170
• Update credits #1185

v2026.2.0

📈 Enhancements

• Refactor theme system, see Theme changes#2026.2.0 #1135 #1143

Other Changes

• Fix Linux AppImage build #1152
• Less unnecessary compiler output #1142

v2025.12.1

⭐ Features

• Report txt errors (e.g. overlapping notes) in the Editor #1106

📈 Enhancements

• Editor automatically corrects displayed staves #1115
• Cache player names in party mode #1119

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Fix crash in audio playback #1110
• Use correct avatar frame color when using multiple screens #1090
• Fix crash when changing theme multiple times #1126
• Allow q in new playlist titles #1087
• Fix crash when using MIDI output #1113
• Fix display bug in editor if startbeat is not 0 #1117
• Display duets correctly #1120
• Remove empty lines from songs #1092
• Respect negative #VIDEOGAP when seeking #1118
• Fix missing background in fullscreen mode #1127
• Fix crash on certain recording devices #1122
• Show proper stacktraces on installed Linux versions #1132

Other Changes

• Tracks is no longer a global variable #1099
• Cache CI build environment #1124
• Resolve many compilation warnings #1104
• Fix UScreenSongMenu line endings #1097

v2025.12.0

🚨 Breaking changes

• Refactor how the Options screens work internally, see wiki page for details if you provide or use a custom theme #1094 + #1108 + #1102

⭐ Features

• Improve where linebreaks are set when fixing timings in the Editor (T) #1059
• Reload playlists automatically #1049

📈 Enhancements

• Default difficulty for new installs changed to Medium #1067

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Do not log error if a score didn't increase #1054
• Do not attempt instrumental mode by default if the song doesn't have one #1058
• Use correct song length if preview from previously-selected song is still active #1065
• Fix crash when restarting a song with more players than there are lyrics tracks #1074
• Fix only saving scores for actually completed songs #1084
• Fix crash when moving the mouse on the score screen #1095
• Fix popup and menu z-index when using multiple screens #1091
• Highlight correct button when returning from the Options - Themes screen #1086

Other Changes

• Use Lazarus 4.2 / FPC 3.2.2 for Windows builds #1068
• Remove most compilation spam about inline hints #1075
• Compile Linux and Mac builds with -Ciro flags for stricter error checking #1081
• Add documentation on how to fix the pipeline when the mxe token expires #1080
• Do not echo every single file that's being copied #1076
• Allow running game/ultrastardx on self-compiled Mac versions #1101
• Update Mac images used by CI #1105

v2025.10.1

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Fix scores not saving #1062

v2025.10.0

⭐ Features

• Support MIDI keyboards in the Editor (Windows-only) #1000
• Add config.ini option to start songs in #INSTRUMENTAL by default #1015
• Reload player names if config.ini has changed #1048

📈 Enhancements

• Check only relevant sentences for every beat, not always all sentences #1051
• Save scores for songs where the audio ends earlier than the lyrics #1020
• Show full backtraces on the console if an error occurs #1019
• Show error popup with full backtraces on Linux + Mac #1007
• Update Slovenian translation #1055

v2025.9.0

📈 Enhancements

• Support FFmpeg 8 #1038

🪲 Bug Fixes

• Fix some category images on case-sensitive file systems #1042

Other Changes

• Fix some image names #1040
• Fix various typos #1041
• Add keywords to desktop file #1043
• Remove unused Zlib #1044
• Use CPPFLAGS #1046

v2025.8.0

⭐ Features

• Support #AUDIO and #TAGS in txt format 1.0.0 #1016

📈 Enhancements

• Escape'ing a song that only has freestyle remaining now saves scores #1003
• Very basic mouse support when using song selection screen in list mode #1036

🪲 Bug Fixes

• No longer write #INSTRUMENTAL tag if the song doesn't have one #1029
• Fix medley crash when using multiple screens #1024
• Fix timing bar in medleys #1025
• Remove delay at the start of Editor tick sound #1013

Other Changes

• Fix Windows CI #1023
• Update Noto fonts #1027
• Refactor Editor keyboard handling #1032
• Document old SVN repository #1014
• Smarter/toggleable debug logging #1033
• Debug logging during song loading #1034
• Remove joystick debug logging #1035