v0.2.6 — Controller fixes (prerelease)

This is a prerelease: it fixes controllers not working (#8) but has not been tried on Windows with a controller yet. If yours works now, or still doesn't, please say so in #8.

Downloads: the same three setup programs; use these instead of the earlier
ones and run the setup again to rebuild the game.

Fixed

• Controllers not working (#8). Only the first controller found was used;
  on Windows that is often a virtual or idle device (from Steam, DS4Windows,
  vJoy, a racing wheel...), and then nothing pressed on any controller worked.
  Every connected controller now works at once.
• Generic USB pads that SDL does not know the layout of were ignored. They
  are now read with the usual layout: the first buttons as A, B, X, Y, then L,
  R, Select, Start, with the D-pad and the left stick. A device whose stick
  rests at one end (some keyboards and mice report themselves as joysticks) has
  its stick ignored, so the player does not walk on their own.
• The controller now also works while the game window is not focused, as when
  it was started from the setup window.

Tested

• On Linux with a real Xbox Series controller and virtual ones (an Xbox 360
  pad, a generic USB pad, one with a stuck stick). Compiled for Windows, not yet
  tried with a controller there.

v0.2.5 — Widescreen battles

Downloads: the same three setup programs; use these instead of the earlier
ones and run the setup again to rebuild the game (and the APK, on Android).

New

• Battles fill the wide screen instead of having stretched sides. The
  battle scene is drawn wider than the DS screen: the background and the
  platforms continue past its edges, the HP boxes move out to the sides of the
  view, and the wild Pokémon slides over to the right as your own Pokémon is on
  the left. The trainer throwing the Poké Ball walks all the way off screen.
• Move effects stay with the Pokémon they belong to, and the message box is
  left where it is.

Fixed

• The battle strip vanished for a moment between choosing FIGHT and the
  moves appearing, showing the message box under it.

Known limitations

• Tried on 16:9 only; wider phone screens (20:9) are untested in battles.
• A move effect crossing the gap between the two Pokémon can look stretched
  there for a moment.

v0.2.4 — Colour fixes

Downloads: the same three setup programs; use these instead of the earlier
ones and run the setup again to rebuild the game (and the APK, on Android).

Fixed

• Washed-out colours on Windows (#5): the game asked SDL for its OpenGL ES
  renderer, which on Windows (seen with AMD graphics) can convert every pixel
  as if it were linear light, so the whole picture looked pale. Windows now uses
  SDL's default, Direct3D.
• The game was always at night. The DS clock started at midnight on
  1 January 2000 on every launch, so the overworld always had night lighting.
  It now follows your computer's clock, as on a real DS, including after
  loading a quick save. On an existing save the in-game clock jumps forward to
  today, like a DS that was switched off for a while.

v0.2.3 — Android (experimental)

Downloads: the same three setup programs; use these instead of the earlier
ones. There is no APK to download: the Android version contains the game's code,
so it is built from your own ROM on your PC, like the PC version.

New

• Build for Android in the setup program (--android without a window).
  It downloads Google's Android NDK and SDL2 (once, checked against their
  published checksums), compiles the game for 64-bit ARM Android 7.0+, and makes
  a signed APK to copy to the phone or handheld and install. No Java or Android
  Studio is needed: the APK is packed and signed by tools/android/apk.py.
• On Android: full screen in landscape; on-screen buttons (D-pad, A/B/X/Y,
  L/R, Start, Select, Menu), hidden while a controller is being used and back at
  a touch; fingers on the picture touch the game's touch screen, several at
  once; Back opens the pause menu; the save is written when the app goes to the
  background; messages and frame timings go to log.txt in the app's storage.
• Tested in Google's Android emulator (Android 14): installs, updates over
  itself, loads a save, plays with the on-screen buttons and touch, pause menu.
  Not yet tried on a real phone or handheld: reports welcome, with
  log.txt if something is wrong.

v0.2.2 — Windows fixes

Downloads: the same three setup programs as before; use these instead of the
earlier ones. Already built? Start the new setup program and press Build
once: only the changed files are recompiled and your save is kept.

Fixed

• Windows: progress was not saved (#2). Only the first save ever reached
  soulsilver.sav; later ones were left in soulsilver.sav.tmp, because
  Windows does not let a file be renamed over an existing one. Saves now replace
  the file. If you lost progress this way, see the note below.
• Windows: the build stopped with "junk at end of line" in rc_images.S
  (#3). The generated assembly ended with a Linux-only line.
• Windows: "Could not find a package configuration file provided by SDL2"
  (#3). The setup program now uses MSYS2's CMake ahead of any other copy on the
  PATH, tells CMake where MSYS2's libraries are, and says when SDL2, libpng or
  zlib are missing.
• Screen jumping around while saving (#1). During "Saving a lot of
  data…" the layout fell back to the X menu's (the save card beside the
  overworld) and the picture flipped between widescreen and 4:3, because the
  game hardly runs anything else while it writes. The save screen now stays as
  it is until the save is written.
• Clearer install instructions in the setup program (#4): it says to open a
  terminal, has a button to copy the commands, and on SteamOS (Steam Deck)
  gives the container steps, as there programs cannot be installed directly.

Getting back lost progress on Windows (#2)

Close the game, open %LOCALAPPDATA%\ssrecomp, rename soulsilver.sav to
soulsilver.sav.old, then rename soulsilver.sav.tmp to soulsilver.sav. The
.tmp file holds your latest save.

Tested

• The whole game cross-compiled for Windows with MinGW and run under Wine:
  identical to the Linux build frame for frame, and saving in the game replaces
  the save file. Still not tried on a real Windows PC.

v0.2.1 Executables

Added executables for windows, linux, and arm64 linux (appimage)

v0.2.0 gui

Added a gui to make it simpler to setup

v0.1.0 preview

The first public version. Playable from the start of a new game through the
early routes, towns and gyms; the rest of the game has not been played through
with it yet.

No ready-made download. A built program would contain the game's code, so
releases are source only: run ./setup.sh with your own copy of Pokémon
SoulSilver (US) as described in the README.

What's in it

• Static recompilation of the game's ARM9 code from pret/pokeheartgold's
  build output, running on the melonDS core. Checked against melonDS's
  interpreter instruction by instruction (--lockstep).
• One screen, no switching. Each situation has its own layout that takes the
  useful parts of both DS screens: the overworld with dialogue, the X menu beside
  the overworld, the bag, party, Pokédex, Pokégear, PC, shops, the intro and the
  starter choice.
• Widescreen overworld: the 3D world is drawn across the whole 16:9 view at
  a higher resolution (540–1440 lines, "WORLD DETAIL" in the pause menu); trees
  and buildings at the sides are drawn instead of popping in.
• Battles across the whole screen, with the touch-screen buttons as a strip
  along the bottom: FIGHT / BAG / POKéMON / RUN and the four moves, chosen with
  left and right, A to pick, B to go back.
• 60 fps: in-between frames for the 3D scene, which the game updates 30
  times a second.
• Controller first: everything is reachable with buttons; a pause menu (Guide
  button or Esc) holds the settings, save states and fast forward.
• Runs well: about 9 ms of a 16.7 ms frame at 2560×1440 on a 6-core desktop
  CPU; the picture is composed on the graphics card.
• setup.sh installs what is missing, builds the game with the
  decompilation, checks it against the retail ROM's SHA-1 and compiles
  everything in one step.

Known limitations

• Linux only so far (tested on Ubuntu 24.04 in a container on Bazzite).
  Windows, macOS and Android builds do not exist yet.
• Only Pokémon SoulSilver (US). HeartGold and other regions are not supported.
• Later parts of the game, and some screens (radio, contests, the Pokéathlon,
  wireless features), have not been checked and may show a generic two-screen
  layout.
• The widescreen picture has no edge-marking outlines; battles, menus and the
  intro stay 4:3 apart from the battle sides.
• The recompiled code is not yet faster than melonDS's own interpreter; making
  it so is future work.