Beta v0.7.9

Seventh beta, ninth update, of the Turok: Evolution (USA, Xbox) static recompilation for Windows.

New since Beta v0.7.8

• New Shadows setting in Video Options (it replaces Shadow detail): Enhanced (the default) or Xbox. Xbox gives the game's original shadows. Enhanced has all of this recompilation's shadow improvements:

  • a much sharper shadow map;
  • shadows reach four times further and fill more of the area around you;
  • creatures just out of view still cast them.

  Enhanced also fixes the dark streaks that ran up walls and buildings next to dead bodies. Changing the map's size takes effect the next time you start the game; everything else changes at once

• Shadow detail never took effect when the game started, only when changed in the menu. The Shadows setting now does

• Scoped weapons and fully drawn bows no longer sway faster at frame rates above 60. Their aim wobble now runs at most 60 times a second, as it did at 60 fps

• Keep Bodies no longer keeps bodies in the stealth levels (blood and other marks still stay). The alarms counted bodies as live Slegs, so reinforcements never arrived and the security gates never locked down

• If the game crashes, it now also writes a crash dump to a CrashDumps folder beside the program. Please include it with turok_log.txt when you report a crash

Known issue

• With Enhanced shadows, an enemy on a balcony or upper floor (for example in Halls of Battle) can cast its shadow down through the floor onto the room below. Set Shadows to Xbox if this bothers you

You need

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with a Direct3D 11 GPU (or Linux with Proton)
• The Visual C++ 2015-2022 x64 runtime (most PCs already have it)
• Your own copy of Turok: Evolution (USA) for the Xbox, as a disc image or extracted folder. No game data is included.

Running
Unzip everything into one folder (keep d3dcompiler_ms.dll beside turok_evolution.exe). Put your disc image beside turok_evolution.exe (or run it and pick the image or an extracted folder when asked), then run it. The first start extracts the image once into a game folder, which takes a little while. Settings live in turok_settings.ini beside the program; see the README for controls and options. On a Steam Deck, add turok_evolution.exe to Steam as a non-Steam game and force a Proton version in its Compatibility settings.

High frame rates (120 fps and up) are still being tested. If something behaves differently at 120 fps than at 60, please report it.