v0.71 — Time Attack mosaic and crash fix · New launcher

Install the game on an SSD or NVMe drive for area changes without stutters.

🔧 Fixes & Optimizations

Crash & Texture Corruption Fixes

• Time Attack Stability: Resolved a critical bug (T38) causing consistent crashes around the 5th colossus across all versions.
• Color Mosaic Fix: Fixed a major issue where color-corrupted mosaic textures appeared after loading a save.
• The Root Cause: The game's 64 KiB page pool freed specific physical pages twice (sceKernelVirtualQuery), leading to memory corruption and heap crashes.
• The Solution: The port now tracks the last address each physical page was mapped to, safely skipping pages already allocated to another block. Tested on Maximum settings with zero crashes. (Disable via SOTC_POOL_OWNER=0).
• Flexible Memory Management: Fixed a flaw where splitting a flexible mapping left its right half pointing incorrectly to the left half's storage.
• New Diagnostic Tools: Added advanced tracking variables (disabled by default): SOTC_POOL_FREE_TRACE=1, SOTC_WRITE_TRACE=1, SOTC_ALIAS_LOG=1, and SOTC_VIEW_CHECK=1.

Visuals & Stutter Reduction

• Motion Blur Disabled: Native motion blur is now turned off by default to eliminate "shadow trails" in dark areas. (Re-enable via Effects > "Motion blur").
• Sharper DLSS: Upgraded to DLSS Preset E with a current-frame bias for sharper imagery during fast movement. (Adjustable via SOTC_DLSS_PRESET and SOTC_DLSS_BIAS, default 0.4).
• Smoother Area Transitions: Reduced stuttering during map changes using optimizations adapted from developer Oussama268's fork (opt12):
• New shader files now take priority over the older v0.70 cache pack.
• Small CPU-written textures are now verified as a whole instead of in fragments.
• Contended game mutexes now spin for 20 µs before sleeping to eliminate CPU bottlenecks. (Disable via SOTC_MUTEX_SPIN_US=0).
• Large staging buffers are now preserved between frames. (Disable via SOTC_STAGING_LARGE_POW2=0).
• Note: The shader cache will be fully rebuilt upon your first launch.

🖥️ New Launcher

An entirely redesigned interface inspired by the Bloodborne PC launcher. It features a custom Shadow of the Colossus aesthetic with a night-stone theme, golden Cinzel typography, sword-light highlights, and smooth fade transitions.

Key Launcher Features

• 4 Tailored Play Modes (Play Page):
• Normal: The authentic, baseline PS4 experience.
• Pro: Enhanced PS4 Pro quality mode.
• Extreme: Pro mode locked at 60 FPS, maxed-out textures, extended grass/shadow rendering distance, and DLSS enabled for RTX graphics cards.
• Custom: Full control over every configuration toggle.
• Save Manager: Displays your game progression percentage and total playtime. Import or export saves via .zip, local folders, or directly from shadPS4. Features one-click manual backups and automatic backups whenever the game closes or crashes.
• Global Search (Ctrl+F): A sidebar search utility that lets you instantly find any setting by name, description, or everyday keywords, jumping straight to its menu location.
• Help Page: A dedicated troubleshooting section featuring common issues with direct shortcuts to the correct settings.
• First-Time Setup: A thematic 5-step interactive guide (The Awakening, The Shrine, The Ancient Sword, Agro, The Forbidden Land) featuring a built-in PC hardware check (CPU, RAM, GPU, Storage) that automatically recommends the ideal Play Mode for your setup.
• Controller Tester: A visual gamepad diagram on the Controls page that lights up buttons in real time as you press them.
• Additional Features: Multi-monitor selection, a Report button (generates a log .zip for debugging), a "What's New" window, a custom title bar, an Expert View switch (reveals Advanced and Debug options), minimize-to-tray support, and a smooth-scrolling layout.
• Backward Compatibility: Future updates will automatically apply performance improvements to configurations saved by older versions (e.g., HUD-less frame generation, skipping logos, and disabling motion blur).

➕ Miscellaneous

• Experimental HDR10 Output: Added an experimental HDR10 output option for the base SDR game. (Enable via SOTC_HDR=1 — Currently untested on native HDR displays).
• Input Remapping: Custom key and mouse remapping within the sotc.ini file is now fully documented.