RetroRecomp v1.5.1 — the shared base syncs, points at once, no more Visual Studio

RetroRecomp v1.5.1 — the shared base syncs, points at once, no more Visual Studio

• The shared base works both ways. Signed in, before each batch
  RetroRecomp fetches, in one request, the paths other players already found
  for the games of the batch, even if nobody confirmed them yet. They only
  guide the conversion, which always rechecks them (a failure retries
  without them and sets them aside). When they come from a scan at least as
  thorough as yours, the game is rebuilt from them with a quick check
  instead of a new discovery. After each batch, your new discoveries are
  sent automatically. Both are on by default and can be turned off in
  Options › Common › Account.
• Points at once, coins on confirmation. The first player to send a path
  the base did not have earns its points immediately, all of them (no more
  decreasing value on big games). When another player finds it again, it is
  confirmed: its class may rise (Platinum, Diamond), the first finder earns
  RR coins, and the confirming player earns a few too. A path nobody
  confirmed keeps its points. Coins unlock titles on your account page;
  the chosen title shows under your name, in the header and on the
  leaderboard, beside your coins.
• No more Visual Studio on Windows. Before the first conversion,
  RetroRecomp now installs a portable compiler beside itself: llvm-mingw,
  CMake and Ninja, pinned and SHA-256-checked, about 245 MB to download and
  380 MB on disk, without administrator rights. Visual Studio is still used
  if it is already installed and the portable tools are not. Games built with
  the portable tools need Windows 10 or later.
• Same games, measured. Sixteen games of the nine profiles were converted
  with both compilers from the same source: native, CPU, RAM, video and image
  proofs are identical, with no extra interpreted cycle or opcode. Host time
  per frame (same PC, one pinned core, no window) is 0.75× to 1.01× that of the
  Visual Studio builds. This measures host cost only, not gameplay or latency.
• Your 1.4.1 games are upgraded, not converted again. Their game code is
  unchanged, so each export of Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, NES, Mega
  Drive, Super Nintendo, Neo Geo and CPS-1 is rebuilt with the current tools
  and rechecked on the quick routes, without rediscovery; if that check does
  not pass, the game is converted in full and the earlier export stays until
  a new one passes. Quick states (F8/F9) of Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, Neo
  Geo and CPS-1 games keep working; Master System, Game Gear and Game Boy
  states are unchanged; NES states work in the same work folder, as before.
  Super Nintendo games redo their ROM analysis once (a few minutes, no
  rediscovery). X68000 exports are converted again in full once, and their
  earlier quick states are refused (its state key includes the compiler).
• Smaller Linux games. Linux exports are now compressed with the same
  UPX 5.2.1 as Windows, after their validation: about a third of their
  size or less (Super Nintendo ActRaiser 36.4 → 7.5 MB, X68000 Active Shoot
  14.8 → 3.8 MB), measured on all nine profiles on Debian 13 with native
  validation passed and no interpreted instruction before or after; quick
  states load across raw and compressed builds. A compressed
  Linux game moved without its datas folder is no longer recognized from
  its file alone (it is kept, never overwritten), as on Windows.
• No build leftovers. Once a game is converted and published, its build
  project (generated C, object files, raw executables, checks; 20 to 100 MB
  or more per game) is deleted, on Windows and Linux; a failed or stopped
  conversion keeps it for diagnosis. Options › Common › Disk space shows
  how much earlier conversions left behind and frees it, keeping the shared
  caches every conversion reuses. A reconversion then rebuilds from scratch.
• Linux starts again, and installs with a double-click. Linux releases
  1.3.1 to 1.4.1 could stop at startup ("invalid command name
  PyImagingPhoto"): download 1.5.1 again, since those versions cannot open
  their updater. Debian and Ubuntu also get a .deb package: double-click
  it, and RetroRecomp appears in the applications menu; each user keeps a
  private copy where settings, games and in-app updates work without a
  password. The .run installer remains for other distributions.
• A lighter header. A more compact banner; your portrait with
  Leaderboard and Sign in / Sign out beside it; help (?) moved to
  the toolbar; Options › Common gathers your RetroRecomp account and box art.
  The help page and the leaderboard open only once, however often you click.
  The status line at the bottom is about half as tall. Every Options tab
  scrolls when the window is short: a light scrollbar appears, and the wheel
  scrolls anywhere on the page (no longer changing a list under the
  pointer). Signing out asks for confirmation.
• Stop means stop. The Stop button now interrupts the running conversions
  at once (their compiler and validation processes are killed) instead of
  waiting for them to finish; it asks first, and earlier exports are kept
  since nothing is published before a conversion ends. Stopped rows are
  marked as such, and a Retry button converts the failed or stopped games
  again, in one more batch. During a batch, the compiled games, the help, the
  leaderboard and the credits stay open.
• Right-click in the queue. The ROM list has the same kind of menu as the
  compiled games: play, convert the selection, retry, box art, video
  standard, open the ROM or game folder, remove from the list (the ROM files
  stay on disk; Delete does the same), clear, select all. The remove button
  left the toolbar.
• Enter is Start, Shift is Select. On every console whose pad has Start
  (Game Gear, Game Boy, NES, Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, Neo Geo, CPS-1),
  the keyboard default is Enter = Start and either Shift = Select (Coin on
  arcade, Mode on the six-button Mega Drive pad). On Game Gear, the game
  menu moves from Enter to P, as on Game Boy. Master System keeps Enter as
  Pause, since its pad has no Start. Saved bindings are kept; only defaults
  changed. Default pad buttons were checked on every console.
• Starting feels like starting. A small picture with the logo shows
  while the converter unpacks; on Linux the desktop's starting cursor
  follows it. Clicking the launcher again brings the open window to the
  front instead of opening a second converter.
• Ready before the first game. Right after the build tools, the shared
  pieces every conversion needs (engine sources, Z80 → C translator, a
  static SDL2) are downloaded and compiled once behind the same progress
  window, so the first conversion starts at once.
• Credits on small computers. The credits page measures its frame rate:
  below 20 fps it drops the spheres and boxes, below 15 the stars and
  curves too, and remembers it; a faster computer gets the effects back.
  On Windows it also no longer stalls at 21 fps because of the system
  timer.
  Your portrait and score come from a local cache, refreshed at most every 30
  minutes, instead of a request at every start.
• What counts on the leaderboard. Only Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy,
  NES, Mega Drive and Super Nintendo discoveries are shared and counted; Neo
  Geo and the experimental CPS-1 and X68000 count for nothing until they join
  the shared base. The sending cards now say so.
• Credits. Capcom CPS-1 has its own credits (MAME, ymfm, Geolith,
  m68k-recomp-core); the unused Super Mario World notice is gone; the portable
  compiler's runtime licences ship with the converter and in every exported
  game.

Measured on Windows; Linux remains qualified on Debian 13 / glibc 2.41 (GCC,
unchanged toolchain).