Wave Race 64: Recompiled, PC VR edition 1.3

Wave Race 64: Recompiled, PC VR edition 1.3

Free Roam gets an advanced people-watching system. Every course now has
eight riders and the dolphin going about their own business, each with a
mind of its own, so relaxing on the water or messing around has company:
riders to watch, follow, show off to, or just sit back and see what they
get up to. Plus a fix for the left eye's white flicker, quicker menus, and
a more readable settings menu.

Getting started

1. You need your own Wave Race 64 (USA) (Rev A / v1.1) .z64 dump.
   No game data is included.
2. Download WaveRace64Recomp-1.3.0-vr-windows-x64.zip below and extract
   all of it to a folder you can write to (over 1.2 is fine, or a new one).
3. VR: connect your headset so its OpenXR runtime is running, then run
   Play in VR.bat. Monitor: run WaveRace64Recomp.exe.
4. Pick your dump in the launcher the first time. After that the game starts
   straight away; hold Shift while starting it to see the launcher again.

Needs Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and a Direct3D 12 graphics card. The
debug-symbols zip is optional, only for investigating crashes.

SHA-256 of WaveRace64Recomp-1.3.0-vr-windows-x64.zip:
3c227e18692b3235af902029ee475f6a3d90b5a2223405345cc00d8a1e916e5a

What's new

People-watching in Free Roam: riders on every course

Eight riders share the water with you on all nine courses: a solo rider, a
pair, a trio riding in a wedge, and two more solo riders. None of them
follow a script. Each group runs a utility AI:

• Personalities. Each rider gets one of six (daredevil, sightseer,
  social, loner, show-off, practiser) at the start of an outing. A
  personality weights six wants (thrill, sights, company, showing off,
  rest, curiosity), which rise while unmet and fall while an activity
  meets them. When a rider tires of what it is doing, every activity open
  to it is scored by want × weight × how well the activity meets it, with
  some chance, and it picks one.
• Activities. Laps of the course's buoy line (jumping the ramps on it),
  a long way round the whole course out past the buoys (Sunny Beach, Port
  Blue, Glacier Coast, traced from recorded rides), sightseeing, resting,
  riding along beside you, the pair's weave and synchronised ramp jump, and
  stopping to watch something that caught a rider's eye, like your big air.
• Finding their way. Each course is mapped into open-water squares at
  the start of a ride, from the sea floor and the game's own course
  boundary, ramps and mines. Riders route round land on it and steer
  clear of each other and of you.
• Ramps by their real shape. Riders ride the game's own ramp collision
  (its slope pieces), slow up the face, take off at the angle of its last
  climb and land clear of what's beyond, like Sunny Beach's spiked mines,
  which they also route round.
• Port Blue's helicopter is a sight of its own: the pair ride under it
  to watch, and follow it when it moves.

The dolphin, everywhere

The dolphin is on every course (Dolphin Park keeps the game's own). It
picks someone to perform for, you or any of the riders, swims over and
leaps, dances and calls. Each rider's own mind decides whether to stop and
watch, follow it, or ignore it, by how much its personality likes the
dolphin and how curious it is just then.

Fixes and improvements

• Left-eye white flicker (course select, the attract scene, entering
  initials): with anti-aliasing on, the HUD's over-white pass was the last
  thing drawn into the frame's own picture, and the headset sometimes
  showed the left eye straight from it. The left eye is now drawn last, and
  frames the game shows again without redrawing reuse the last eye images.
  Fixed or much rarer.
• The pages before a race or ride (WAVES, the Free Roam options and so on)
  open with CONTINUE selected, so one press gets you going.
• Settings menu readability: long rows of choices wrap onto more lines
  instead of squeezing together, and on narrow or 4:3 screens the tabs move
  onto a second row.
• Setting up the riders at the start of a ride is about six times quicker,
  so there's no stall on big courses like Twilight City.
• F2 marks your spot even when the game window isn't focused (handy in
  the headset).

Known issues

• Riders sometimes clip through walls and ice, most of all on Glacier Coast
  and the walled courses. A fix is planned for 1.3.1.
• In the attract scene the title's logo sometimes shows over the sky for a
  few frames.
• The new riders throw no spray yet.
• Brief flashes at some menu/race transitions; the black screen-wipes look odd
  on the floating panel.
• Menus animate at the game's 20 fps on the panel.
• Climbing back on, the view briefly looks into the jet ski.
• At Dolphin Park, a swimmer diving by the piers can swim through the beach.
• In Free Roam, passing where a hidden buoy is can still give POWER UP /
  POWER DOWN; very far out, the water's physics get odd.
• 2P VS with two controllers and other OpenXR headsets are untested; reports
  welcome in Issues.

For modders

How the riders think, find their way, ride the ramps and watch the dolphin
is written up in
docs/RIDER_PERSONALITIES.md
and
docs/DOLPHIN.md,
including what we found of the game's ramp slope pieces, its mines and its
animals table (the dolphin, fish, seagulls and Port Blue's helicopter).

Licence and source

The executable is a GPL-3.0 combined work (N64ModernRuntime and RecompFrontend
are GPL-3.0); its complete source is this repository at the v1.3.0-vr tag,
with the submodules it pins and the patches in tools/ applied by the build.
Each bundled component's licence text is in the zip's licenses folder. See
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for the full list. Unofficial; not affiliated with
Nintendo.

Directed and play-tested by Dooder; written by Claude in Claude Code. Built on
the work of the original port's authors and the N64Recomp, RT64 and
Wave Race 64 decompilation communities.

Wave Race 64: Recompiled, PC VR edition 1.2

Wave Race 64: Recompiled, PC VR edition 1.2

Free Roam comes alive: the sun now rises and sets as you ride, and the
Dolphin Park riders each have a personality of their own. Plus fixes for
the LAP counter and Glacier Coast's Free Roam.

Getting started

1. You need your own Wave Race 64 (USA) (Rev A / v1.1) .z64 dump.
   No game data is included.
2. Download WaveRace64Recomp-1.2.0-vr-windows-x64.zip below and extract
   all of it to a folder you can write to (over 1.1 is fine, or a new one).
3. VR: connect your headset so its OpenXR runtime is running, then run
   Play in VR.bat. Monitor: run WaveRace64Recomp.exe.
4. Pick your dump in the launcher the first time. After that the game starts
   straight away; hold Shift while starting it to see the launcher again.

Needs Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and a Direct3D 12 graphics card. The
debug-symbols zip is optional, only for investigating crashes.

SHA-256 of WaveRace64Recomp-1.2.0-vr-windows-x64.zip:
ddde354a56cfd557d880f51536797d47d2df22e5695be3ed9348d63480808ec0

What's new

Day and night in Free Roam

• A DAY AND NIGHT row on the Free Roam page: a whole day passes in
  24 minutes, fading through the courses' own looks (night, dawn, day,
  sunset), with the sky, fog, water and lighting all changing together.
  While it's on, the SKY row is greyed out.

Riders with personalities

• Dolphin Park's riders in Free Roam each have a personality: daredevil,
  sightseer, social, loner, show-off or practiser. Each one decides for
  itself what to do next, like doing stunts or laps, sightseeing, following
  or watching you for a while, or taking a rest. Their choices depend on
  what they want and what they notice.

Fixes

• The LAP counter at the top no longer flickers, and the LAP message on
  crossing the line shows the right lap in races longer than 3 laps.
• Races have at most 9 laps (a tenth ended a ten-lap race early).
• Glacier Coast in Free Roam: no more invisible walls or throws in open
  water from the land added behind the course's islands and cliffs.
• Room for many more ramps on a course (256 slope pieces instead of 32).
  You won't see any change yet; it gets things ready for future ramps.

Known issues

• On Glacier Coast, the game's own collision reaches into open water in two
  places Free Roam's lap passes: beside the ice ramp before the final turn,
  and by the arrow sign at the turn to the finish. It's the same in the
  original game, where the buoys keep you away from both.
• Brief flashes at some menu/race transitions; the black screen-wipes look odd
  on the floating panel.
• Menus animate at the game's 20 fps on the panel.
• Climbing back on, the view briefly looks into the jet ski.
• At Dolphin Park, a swimmer diving by the piers can swim through the beach.
• In Free Roam, passing where a hidden buoy is can still give POWER UP /
  POWER DOWN; very far out, the water's physics get odd.
• 2P VS with two controllers and other OpenXR headsets are untested; reports
  welcome in Issues.

For modders

How day and night and the riders' minds work is written up in
docs/DAY_NIGHT.md
and
docs/RIDER_PERSONALITIES.md.
Research toward a course creator, guest courses, and target and daredevil
modes is in the same folder.

Licence and source

The executable is a GPL-3.0 combined work (N64ModernRuntime and RecompFrontend
are GPL-3.0); its complete source is this repository at the v1.2.0-vr tag,
with the submodules it pins and the patches in tools/ applied by the build.
Each bundled component's licence text is in the zip's licenses folder. See
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for the full list. Unofficial; not affiliated with
Nintendo.

Directed and play-tested by Dooder; written by Claude in Claude Code. Built on
the work of the original port's authors and the N64Recomp, RT64 and
Wave Race 64 decompilation communities.

Wave Race 64: Recompiled, PC VR edition 1.1

Wave Race 64: Recompiled, PC VR edition 1.1

Everything you'd want to change is now set in the game's own menus, styled
like the game's, with no settings menu needed. Plus requests from players:
more misses and laps in Championship, starting straight into the game, and
update checks.

Getting started

1. You need your own Wave Race 64 (USA) (Rev A / v1.1) .z64 dump.
   No game data is included.
2. Download WaveRace64Recomp-1.1.0-vr-windows-x64.zip below and extract
   all of it to a folder you can write to (over 1.0 is fine, or a new one).
3. VR: connect your headset so its OpenXR runtime is running, then run
   Play in VR.bat. Monitor: run WaveRace64Recomp.exe.
4. Pick your dump in the launcher the first time. After that the game starts
   straight away; hold Shift while starting it to see the launcher again.

Needs Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and a Direct3D 12 graphics card. The
debug-symbols zip is optional, only for investigating crashes.

SHA-256 of WaveRace64Recomp-1.1.0-vr-windows-x64.zip:
f69e342da66dc1d56b8ba746dc88d121313ec91b67ea5cf64969b19b34985ef2

What's new

Free Roam is its own mode

• FREE ROAM on the main menu, above OPTIONS: any of the nine courses,
  with no clock, no laps, no buoys or rings, no COURSE OUT, and the land
  free to explore.
• After picking the course, its own page: WAVES (still water up to far
  past the game's roughest), SKY and water from any course, MUSIC
  (each track previews as you scroll past it), FOG, the Dolphin Park
  RIDERS.
• On Dolphin Park, LAYOUT: Stunt Mode's, or the championship's
  Warm Up, starting by the beach with the dolphin to follow.

Before every race

• WAVES after the difficulty in Championship (once for the whole
  championship), Time Trials and 2P VS, and after the course in Stunt Mode.
• MISSES and LAPS in Championship, next to WAVES: up to 10 of each,
  for Reverse too. (They're the game's own CHANGE CONDITIONS settings, now up
  to 10; Reverse gets its own.)

OPTIONS → EXTRAS

• Speed in KPH or MPH, chase camera or first person, first-person tilt,
  controller feedback, textures, water quality and style, ripples, spray,
  and unlock all.

First person on a monitor

• Click either stick (or F5) to switch views. The right stick looks around,
  up to 80 degrees either side and 30 up or down, and the view comes back
  when you let go.

Also

• Starts straight into the game once your dump is set up (Shift shows the
  launcher; Settings → General to turn it off).
• Checks GitHub once at start for a newer release: the title screen shows
  "VERSION 1.1.0: LATEST VERSION" or "NEWER VERSION AVAILABLE", and Settings
  → General can open the download page or turn the check off.
• Every new menu word is in sharp HD, along with some of the game's own text
  the HD pack lacked (RESTART, the Warm Up help text, BEST SCORE and others).
• The replacement soundtrack is always on (the Original/Custom switch is gone,
  since Free Roam's music choice needs it).

Known issues

• In races longer than 3 laps, the LAP message on crossing the line can show
  the wrong number (the lap counter at the top is right).
• Brief flashes at some menu/race transitions; the black screen-wipes look odd
  on the floating panel.
• Menus animate at the game's 20 fps on the panel.
• Climbing back on, the view briefly looks into the jet ski.
• At Dolphin Park, a swimmer diving by the piers can swim through the beach.
• In Free Roam, passing where a hidden buoy is can still give POWER UP /
  POWER DOWN; very far out, the water's physics get odd.
• 2P VS with two controllers and other OpenXR headsets are untested; reports
  welcome in Issues.

For modders

How the game's menus work, and how these pages were added to them, is
written up in
docs/MENUS.md.

Licence and source

The executable is a GPL-3.0 combined work (N64ModernRuntime and RecompFrontend
are GPL-3.0); its complete source is this repository at the v1.1.0-vr tag,
with the submodules it pins and the patches in tools/ applied by the build.
Each bundled component's licence text is in the zip's licenses folder. See
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for the full list. Unofficial; not affiliated with
Nintendo.

Directed and play-tested by Dooder; written by Claude in Claude Code. Built on
the work of the original port's authors and the N64Recomp, RT64 and
Wave Race 64 decompilation communities.

Wave Race 64: Recompiled, PC VR edition 1.0

Ride Wave Race 64 in seated PC VR, or on your monitor with a set of new ways
to ride its courses. This is a fork of
elliotttate/wave-race-64-recomp:
everything from that port (HD textures, the replacement soundtrack, modern
water, haptics) is here too.

Getting started

1. You need your own Wave Race 64 (USA) (Rev A / v1.1) .z64 dump.
   No game data is included.
2. Download WaveRace64Recomp-1.0.0-vr-windows-x64.zip below and extract
   all of it to a folder you can write to.
3. VR: connect your headset so its OpenXR runtime is running (built and
   played on a Meta Quest 3 through the Meta Quest Link app), then run
   Play in VR.bat.
   Monitor: run WaveRace64Recomp.exe.
4. Pick your dump in the launcher the first time.

Needs Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and a Direct3D 12 graphics card. The
debug-symbols zip is optional, only for investigating crashes.

SHA-256 of WaveRace64Recomp-1.0.0-vr-windows-x64.zip:
5dc8b6d7068773caa604ad89fcfc8579f4b2652fa3eeef193504442d9be615d4

What's new

In the headset

• Seated stereo VR with full head tracking around the game's chase camera;
  menus, HUD and the screens between races on a floating panel.
• First person (left stick click, or F5), leaning and rolling with the rider.
• Thrown off, you go with the rider: tumbling, sinking with bubbles and
  muffled sound, swimming back or walking up the beach, and climbing on.
• Seafloors under all nine courses, so there's something below you.
• Dolphin Park's warm-up has three other riders out on the water.

Free Roam (Settings → Free Roam; Time Trials and Stunt Mode, any course)

• No clock, no finish, no disqualification, no COURSE OUT; explore the land.
• Buoys and stunt rings on or off, waves from Stillest to Extreme, any
  course's sky and water.
• Sunny Beach's island and Glacier Coast's walls are filled in all the way
  round.

For every race

• Speed in mph or km/h, fog on or off (Settings → Graphics).
• Any course's music in any race (Settings → Sound → Race music, with the
  replacement soundtrack).
• First person also works on a monitor.

Touch controllers

Left stick steers; right trigger or A is throttle; B, left trigger (Z), grips
(L/R), right stick (C buttons), menu (Start) as on the N64. Left stick click:
first person. Right stick click: recentre. Y: back onto the jet ski after a
fall. X: throw yourself off.

Known issues

• Brief flashes at some menu/race transitions; the black screen-wipes look odd
  on the floating panel.
• Menus animate at the game's 20 fps on the panel.
• Climbing back on, the view briefly looks into the jet ski.
• At Dolphin Park, a swimmer diving by the piers can swim through the beach.
• Free Roam with buoys off can still give POWER UP / POWER DOWN where a hidden
  buoy is; very far out, the water's physics get odd.
• Race music needs the replacement soundtrack.
• Other OpenXR headsets and runtimes are untested.

Licence and source

The executable is a GPL-3.0 combined work (N64ModernRuntime and RecompFrontend
are GPL-3.0); its complete source is this repository at the v1.0.0-vr tag,
with the submodules it pins and the patches in tools/ applied by the build.
Each bundled component's licence text is in the zip's licenses folder. See
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for the full list. Unofficial; not affiliated with
Nintendo.

Directed and play-tested by Dooder; written by Claude in Claude Code. Built on
the work of the original port's authors and the N64Recomp, RT64 and
Wave Race 64 decompilation communities.