PortGaGotoku v0.1.2-alpha

Third alpha of PortGaGotoku: Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4, CUSA12781) running on
Windows. Early alpha: expect bugs. Tested on one machine only.

What's new

• The launcher starts from a downloaded zip. Windows marks the files of a zip downloaded with a
  browser, and the launcher of 0.1.0/0.1.1 then stopped with "needs Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime
  (Failed to resolve Python.Runtime.Loader.Initialize ...)" unless the zip was unblocked first. 0.1.2
  ships PortGaGotoku.exe.config, which lets the launcher load its files anyway: no "Unblock" step is
  needed.
• Clearer messages when the launcher window cannot open: files blocked by Windows, WebView2
  Runtime missing, or another error (with PortGaGotoku-data\logs\launcher-error.log).
• Louder audio on stereo outputs (speakers, headphones): the game's 7.1 output is now downmixed by
  the port itself instead of SDL, whose conversion played it 12-13 dB quieter. 5.1 outputs get their own
  downmix, 7.1 outputs the 7.1 stream as before; a limiter keeps the sound from clipping.
• "Not enough memory" message: the game reserves about 6 GB. When Windows cannot give them (other
  heavy applications open, a small page file) the launcher now says so, instead of a technical error.
• "Report a bug" link in the launcher, to the issue forms.
• The Asian edition, CUSA10053, was reported working by a tester as an experimental try (from the
  prologue to the first save of chapter 1, texts in traditional Chinese). It is still not supported:
  the launcher asks for a confirmation before starting another edition.

Requirements

• 64-bit Windows 10 or 11
• A CPU with AVX, BMI1, MOVBE, LZCNT and POPCNT
• A Vulkan 1.3 graphics card with a current driver
• About 6 GB of free memory for the game: with 16 GB of RAM, close other heavy applications
• Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (part of Windows 11) for the launcher window
• Your own legal dump of Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, CUSA12781, version 01.00 (the
  folder with eboot.bin and sce_sys). Other editions: experimental only, see above.

How to use

1. Download PortGaGotoku-0.1.2-alpha.zip and extract it to a folder you can write to (not
   Program Files).
2. Start PortGaGotoku.exe. The executables are not signed: at the first start Windows SmartScreen may
   show "Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway. Then choose your CUSA12781
   folder. The launcher checks it, prepares the boot image (your game files are only read) and starts
   the game.
3. Later, Start Hokuto.exe starts the game directly with the saved settings.

Updating from 0.1.0 or 0.1.1: extract the new zip next to the old PortGaGotoku-data folder (or move
that folder next to the new one) to keep your settings and saves.

In the game: Insert or L3+R3 opens the port's menu, F11 the statistics HUD. Close the game
with the window's X (Alt+F4 in fullscreen). A save in progress is finished first.

Everything the port writes (settings, boot image, saves and their backups, logs, shader cache) goes to
PortGaGotoku-data, next to the extracted folder.

Known issues

• Tested on a single machine (Windows 11, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, XInput controller). Other GPUs,
  AMD/Intel drivers and Windows 10 are untested.
• About 60 FPS while walking, with occasional drops; on weaker PCs, drops and pauses of a few seconds
  have been reported.
• Movies play at 30 FPS; occasional audio crackle; about 1 s of delay on some tutorial prompts.
• Fullscreen with Alt+Tab has not been tested much.
• The package is large (about 180 MB extracted): the FFmpeg build it uses brings many DLLs. A smaller,
  LGPL FFmpeg is planned.

Details: docs/STATUS_AND_ROADMAP.md.

Antivirus warnings

The executables are not code-signed and the launcher is frozen with PyInstaller. Windows SmartScreen
("Windows protected your PC" → More info → Run anyway) or an antivirus may flag them. The full source
is in this repository, and you can build the package yourself (docs/BUILDING.md).

SHA-256:

• PortGaGotoku-0.1.2-alpha.zip: 5dbda0d01910f764c145f31a26616906ad050573a5ae47d154a0304b973171f7
• PortGaGotoku-0.1.2-alpha-third-party-sources.zip: 671efbbd161da4ed34094b15e2b7f426535a5b3a46bb0e6c7687b1106199629f

Feedback

Use Report a bug in the launcher, or open an
issue with the bug report form, and
attach the log of the run (PortGaGotoku-data\logs\). Logs can contain your Windows user name in file
paths: replace it before attaching if you prefer. Do not report this project's problems to shadPS4 or
bbport.

Licenses

PortGaGotoku's source code is GPL-2.0-or-later. The binary package
PortGaGotoku-0.1.2-alpha.zip includes third-party components under GPL-3.0-or-later (FFmpeg, built
with --enable-gpl --enable-version3), GPL-2.0-or-later (x264, x265, Xvid...), LGPL, MIT, BSD,
Apache-2.0 and other licenses. For these components, the binary package is distributed under
GPL-3.0. Every component, its license and its source are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt, and the
license texts are in licenses\. The source packages of all GPL and LGPL components, at the exact
versions shipped, are in PortGaGotoku-0.1.2-alpha-third-party-sources.zip on this release page
(unchanged from 0.1.1: the same components at the same versions).

Legal

No game files are included, and none will be provided: use your own dump. This is an unofficial
project, not affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Sony Interactive Entertainment
or the rights holders of Fist of the North Star, nor by shadPS4 or bbport.

PortGaGotoku v0.1.1-alpha

⚠️ Windows: before extracting, right-click the zip → Properties → check Unblock → OK. Otherwise the launcher won't start (fix coming in the next version).

Second alpha of PortGaGotoku: Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4, CUSA12781) running on
Windows. Early alpha: expect bugs. Tested on one machine only.

What's new

• GPU fixes from bbport 0.6: fewer crashes while loading. Each GPU submission is copied before it is
  decoded, so the game can no longer rewrite it while it is read (BB_COPY_GPU_BUFFERS=0 restores the
  old behaviour). Also fixes to the GPU scheduler (a crash when a command chunk was replaced, the
  present's wait) and to a barrier in the temporal upscaler.
• Saves written safely: save files, param.bin and icon0.png are written to a temporary copy that
  replaces the old file only when it is complete. A crash or a forced close while saving no longer
  leaves a truncated save (bbport 0.6).
• Experimental support for other editions of the game: a game folder with another title ID (for
  example CUSA10053, the Asian edition) is no longer only refused. The launcher shows a warning and,
  after an explicit confirmation ("Try it anyway (experimental)"), starts it. These editions are
  not supported and have never been tested: they may not start, or may have errors. If you try one,
  please attach the log to an issue.
• The launcher's log now starts with the game's title ID, version and the SHA-256 of eboot.bin.
• The save list in the launcher uses the save folder named in the game's param.sfo.
• The README has a download link and screenshots.

Requirements

• 64-bit Windows 10 or 11
• A CPU with AVX, BMI1, MOVBE, LZCNT and POPCNT
• A Vulkan 1.3 graphics card with a current driver
• Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (part of Windows 11) for the launcher window
• Your own legal dump of Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, CUSA12781, version 01.00 (the
  folder with eboot.bin and sce_sys). Other editions: experimental only, see above.

How to use

1. Download PortGaGotoku-0.1.1-alpha.zip and extract it to a folder you can write to (not
   Program Files).
2. Start PortGaGotoku.exe. At the first start, choose your CUSA12781 folder. The launcher checks it,
   prepares the boot image (your game files are only read) and starts the game.
3. Later, Start Hokuto.exe starts the game directly with the saved settings.

Updating from 0.1.0: extract the new zip next to the old PortGaGotoku-data folder (or move that folder
next to the new one) to keep your settings and saves.

In the game: Insert or L3+R3 opens the port's menu, F11 the statistics HUD. Close the game
with the window's X (Alt+F4 in fullscreen). A save in progress is finished first.

Everything the port writes (settings, boot image, saves and their backups, logs, shader cache) goes to
PortGaGotoku-data, next to the extracted folder.

Known issues

• Tested on a single machine (Windows 11, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, XInput controller). Other GPUs,
  AMD/Intel drivers and Windows 10 are untested.
• About 60 FPS while walking, with occasional drops.
• Movies play at 30 FPS; occasional audio crackle; about 1 s of delay on some tutorial prompts.
• Fullscreen with Alt+Tab has not been tested much.
• The package is large (about 180 MB extracted): the FFmpeg build it uses brings many DLLs. A smaller,
  LGPL FFmpeg is planned.

Details: docs/STATUS_AND_ROADMAP.md.

Antivirus warnings

The executables are not code-signed and the launcher is frozen with PyInstaller. Windows SmartScreen
("Windows protected your PC" → More info → Run anyway) or an antivirus may flag them. The full source
is in this repository, and you can build the package yourself (docs/BUILDING.md).

SHA-256:

• PortGaGotoku-0.1.1-alpha.zip: 0f1769f9f57e35f2f7d40043e7a34c8c82e24fd98ba43b4a871d6868163bed6e
• PortGaGotoku-0.1.1-alpha-third-party-sources.zip: fdb77c91a81541faccee9f0fae0898438e95bcddec63facc8ce1a5a4e1ac549a

Feedback

Please open an issue with the bug
report form and attach the log of the run (PortGaGotoku-data\logs\). Logs can contain your Windows
user name in file paths: replace it before attaching if you prefer. Do not report this project's
problems to shadPS4 or bbport.

Licenses

PortGaGotoku's source code is GPL-2.0-or-later. The binary package
PortGaGotoku-0.1.1-alpha.zip includes third-party components under GPL-3.0-or-later (FFmpeg, built
with --enable-gpl --enable-version3), GPL-2.0-or-later (x264, x265, Xvid...), LGPL, MIT, BSD,
Apache-2.0 and other licenses. For these components, the binary package is distributed under
GPL-3.0. Every component, its license and its source are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt, and the
license texts are in licenses\. The source packages of all GPL and LGPL components, at the exact
versions shipped, are in PortGaGotoku-0.1.1-alpha-third-party-sources.zip on this release page
(unchanged from 0.1.0: the same components at the same versions).

Legal

No game files are included, and none will be provided: use your own dump. This is an unofficial
project, not affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Sony Interactive Entertainment
or the rights holders of Fist of the North Star, nor by shadPS4 or bbport.

PortGaGotoku v0.1.0-alpha

⚠️ Windows: before extracting, right-click the zip → Properties → check Unblock → OK. Otherwise the launcher won't start (fix coming in the next version).

First downloadable build of PortGaGotoku: Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PS4, CUSA12781)
running on Windows. Early alpha: expect bugs. Tested on one machine only.

What it is

A fork of bbport adapted to Lost Paradise. "Native"
refers to the CPU side only: the game's own x86-64 code runs directly on your CPU, and a runtime
reimplements the PS4 system libraries (HLE). Graphics are translated to Vulkan by a renderer derived
from shadPS4. It is not a recompilation or a rewrite of the
renderer.

Requirements

• 64-bit Windows 10 or 11
• A CPU with AVX, BMI1, MOVBE, LZCNT and POPCNT
• A Vulkan 1.3 graphics card with a current driver
• Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (part of Windows 11) for the launcher window
• Your own legal dump of Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, CUSA12781, version 01.00 (the
  folder with eboot.bin and sce_sys)

How to use

1. Download PortGaGotoku-0.1.0-alpha.zip and extract it to a folder you can write to (not
   Program Files).
2. Start PortGaGotoku.exe. At the first start, choose your CUSA12781 folder. The launcher checks it,
   prepares the boot image (your game files are only read) and starts the game.
3. Later, Start Hokuto.exe starts the game directly with the saved settings.

In the game: Insert or L3+R3 opens the port's menu, F11 the statistics HUD. Close the game
with the window's X (Alt+F4 in fullscreen). A save in progress is finished first.

Everything the port writes (settings, boot image, saves and their backups, logs, shader cache) goes to
PortGaGotoku-data, next to the extracted folder.

Known issues

• Tested on a single machine (Windows 11, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, XInput controller). Other GPUs,
  AMD/Intel drivers and Windows 10 are untested.
• About 60 FPS while walking, with occasional drops.
• A flicker on the soldiers' hoods at the gate of Eden (not verified on this build).
• Movies play at 30 FPS; occasional audio crackle; about 1 s of delay on some tutorial prompts.
• Fullscreen with Alt+Tab has not been tested much.
• The package is large (about 180 MB extracted): the FFmpeg build it uses brings many DLLs. A smaller,
  LGPL FFmpeg is planned.

Details: docs/STATUS_AND_ROADMAP.md.

Antivirus warnings

The executables are not code-signed and the launcher is frozen with PyInstaller. Windows SmartScreen
("Windows protected your PC" → More info → Run anyway) or an antivirus may flag them. The full source
is in this repository, and you can build the package yourself (docs/BUILDING.md).

SHA-256:

• PortGaGotoku-0.1.0-alpha.zip: db4e80506e280f24ac09734f1eb9291d2c5317524892a56c80542c3f8b5ea460
• PortGaGotoku-0.1.0-alpha-third-party-sources.zip: 2b5cc972bb6ec3cf60cefaf9eb6e63dac1d6756d07cb148c4d835489e87a6c79

Feedback

Please open an issue with the bug
report form and attach the log of the run (PortGaGotoku-data\logs\). Logs can contain your Windows
user name in file paths: replace it before attaching if you prefer. Do not report this project's
problems to shadPS4 or bbport.

Licenses

PortGaGotoku's source code is GPL-2.0-or-later. The binary package
PortGaGotoku-0.1.0-alpha.zip includes third-party components under GPL-3.0-or-later (FFmpeg, built
with --enable-gpl --enable-version3), GPL-2.0-or-later (x264, x265, Xvid...), LGPL, MIT, BSD,
Apache-2.0 and other licenses. For these components, the binary package is distributed under
GPL-3.0. Every component, its license and its source are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt, and the
license texts are in licenses\. The source packages of all GPL and LGPL components, at the exact
versions shipped, are in PortGaGotoku-0.1.0-alpha-third-party-sources.zip on this release page.

Legal

No game files are included, and none will be provided: use your own dump. This is an unofficial
project, not affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Sony Interactive Entertainment
or the rights holders of Fist of the North Star, nor by shadPS4 or bbport.