MHForever 0.5.0: North America is here

New

• The North American release is playable. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (North America, disc ID ULUS10391, version 1.01) now runs next to the European one. Add your own .iso of either release, or both: the launcher recognises the disc, checks it and starts the program that belongs to it.
• Choose your copy in the Library. With both releases added, clicking one in the Library makes it the one that Home, Play, the settings and the save import work on. Your choice is remembered, and Remove only deletes that release's copy.
• Settings for each game. Home's Game settings now belong to the copy you chose, with its name and region at the top, for example Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (NA): video, audio, controls, saves and the copy's files. The Japanese release has different controls, so each release keeps its own. The launcher's Settings keep what is shared: your profile, whether to keep a copy of the disc image, and About. What you had set before carries over.

Notes

• Windows: MHForever-0.5.0-windows-x64.zip (73 MB). Keep the .dll files next to mhfu.exe and mhfu-us.exe, the games need them. Your settings and saves live outside the program folder, as before.
• Linux: MHForever-0.5.0-linux-x64.tar.gz. Built on Ubuntu 24.04, so it needs glibc 2.38 or newer (Ubuntu 24.04 or later, current Fedora or Arch). FFmpeg is inside the programs, and they can play sound through PulseAudio or PipeWire (PulseAudio protocol) or ALSA. The launcher needs WebKitGTK 4.1 and GTK 3, and the game needs a graphics driver with OpenGL 3.3.
• Tested on Windows 11 with the North American release: the language menu, the opening movie with its sound, a controller, the village with its music, and saving and loading. Not tested: sound on Linux (it was built with PulseAudio and ALSA, but nobody has heard it yet), the Steam Deck and other distributions. Reports are welcome.
• Saves belong to one release: a European save only works with the European release, and a North American save with the North American one.
• A small stutter just before the save and load message appears; it has not been compared with the European release.
• Only Freedom Unite (European and North American releases) is playable. The Japanese release is planned. Saves from a PSP or PPSSPP can be imported from Game settings > Saves (your own version of the game only).
• Early software, expect rough edges. Online multiplayer is not available yet: it is planned for 0.6.

Download

Windows: MHForever-0.5.0-windows-x64.zip. Unzip it anywhere you can write to and run MHForever.exe. MHForever.exe, mhfu.exe and mhfu-us.exe are not digitally signed, so Windows SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC": choose "More info" and then "Run anyway".

Linux: MHForever-0.5.0-linux-x64.tar.gz. Extract it and run ./MHForever (if your file manager removed the execute permission: chmod +x MHForever mhfu mhfu-us).

You need your own copy of the game; the launcher prepares what it needs from your disc image on your PC. The archives contain no game data.

The code is on GitHub under GPL-3.0-or-later. MHForever includes FFmpeg (LGPL); its licence and source notes are inside the archives.