Beta v0.1.3

Fourth beta of the Serious Sam (Xbox, USA) static recompilation for Windows: smoother mouse look and a widescreen fix.

You need your own copy of the game (original Xbox, USA release). Unzip, put your disc image (.iso or .xiso) beside serious_sam_recomp.exe and start it; the disc is extracted once into a game folder. Keep d3dcompiler_ms.dll next to the exe. Existing game folders and saves from earlier betas carry over.

Fixed since Beta v0.1.2

• Mouse look was uneven: mouse movement reached the game in bursts every 15.6 ms, so at high frame rates some frames got none and others two at once. It now arrives every frame
• Widescreen/ultrawide: resuming from the pause menu flashed to 4:3 for half a second while the menu slid away; it now stays wide

Known issues

• Only the first levels have been played (up to Tomb of Ramses)
• If an enemy is ever invisible, press F11 while it is on screen and attach the capture_*.txt it writes beside the exe
• A rare freeze during the boot movies
• One crash once seen after firing in Hatshepsut, and one stack overflow when loading Sand Canyon (neither reproduced since)
• The main menu has no music, and a Kleer only bursts into bones from a heavy enough hit; both are how the original plays

If it crashes, please attach serious_sam_log.txt from beside the exe.

Beta v0.1.2

Third beta of the Serious Sam (Xbox, USA) static recompilation for Windows: fixes from playing into the third level, Tomb of Ramses.

You need your own copy of the game (original Xbox, USA release). Unzip, put your disc image (.iso or .xiso) beside serious_sam_recomp.exe and start it; the disc is extracted once into a game folder. Keep d3dcompiler_ms.dll next to the exe. Existing game folders and saves from earlier betas carry over.

Fixed since Beta v0.1.1

• Frame rate halving with a frame limit set: Tomb of Ramses fell from 120 to 64 fps in places while uncapped play was fine; it now holds the limit
• Enemies (werebull, biomech) sometimes drawn invisible apart from their shadows and effects
• NETRICSA and the level briefing: the arrows, W/S and the mouse wheel now scroll the text, and A/D or left/right change message

Known issues

• Only the first levels have been played (up to Tomb of Ramses)
• If an enemy is still ever invisible, press F11 while it is on screen and attach the capture_*.txt it writes beside the exe
• A rare freeze during the boot movies
• One crash once seen after firing in Hatshepsut, and one stack overflow when loading Sand Canyon (neither reproduced since)
• The main menu has no music, and a Kleer only bursts into bones from a heavy enough hit; both are how the original plays

If it crashes, please attach serious_sam_log.txt from beside the exe.

Beta v0.1.1

Second beta of the Serious Sam (Xbox, USA) static recompilation for Windows: stability and smoothness fixes after playing into the second level.

You need your own copy of the game (original Xbox, USA release). Unzip, put your disc image (.iso or .xiso) beside serious_sam_recomp.exe and start it; the disc is extracted once into a game folder. Keep d3dcompiler_ms.dll next to the exe. Existing game folders and saves from Beta v0.1 carry over.

Fixed since Beta v0.1

• Crash when DirectSound worked on a sound that was being torn down (seen at the start of Sand Canyon)
• Stutter: periodic 30-70 ms hitches in torch-lit rooms and in combat; now a steady frame rate
• Lens flares in widescreen: split in half, off their lights, or shining through walls
• Sam starting a level looking up after the mouse moved on the statistics screen or during loading
• Trees and models losing detail and fading out close up in widescreen
• End-of-level statistics and NETRICSA screens: keyboard/mouse now continue them, and they stay 4:3
• The level briefing can be skipped with keyboard or mouse
• Game exceptions the engine catches can now always recover (8 cases could not before)
• Larger native stacks, and much more detail in the crash log if something goes wrong

Known issues

• Only the first two levels have been played through
• A rare freeze during the boot movies
• One crash once seen after firing in Hatshepsut, and one stack overflow when loading Sand Canyon (neither reproduced since)
• The main menu has no music; that is how the original plays

If it crashes, please attach serious_sam_log.txt from beside the exe.

Beta v0.1

First beta of the Serious Sam (Xbox, USA) static recompilation for Windows.

You need your own copy of the game (original Xbox, USA release). Unzip, put your disc image (.iso or .xiso) beside serious_sam_recomp.exe and start it: the disc is extracted once into a game folder (about 1.8 GB). Without an image beside it, the program asks for one, or for an extracted default.xbe. Keep d3dcompiler_ms.dll next to the exe.

What works

• Native Direct3D 11 rendering at up to 4.5x resolution, with MSAA and anisotropic filtering
• Widescreen and ultrawide (Hor+), set under Options > PC Settings > Aspect ratio (Auto by default)
• Xbox/XInput controllers, plus keyboard and mouse with rebinding (Options > PC Controls)
• Mouse in every menu: hover, click, right-click for Back, wheel
• Escape, Enter, Space or a click skips movies
• Fresh installs straight from the disc image, with saves in the game folder

Known issues

• Only the first level (Hatshepsut) has been tested in depth
• A rare freeze during the boot movies
• One crash seen after firing in Hatshepsut, and one when DirectSound shuts down
• The main menu has no music; that is how the original plays

If it crashes, please attach serious_sam_log.txt from beside the exe.