v0.2.1 release

Changes

v0.2.1 (2026-10-25)

Updating

Replace hpps.exe, hpps_launcher.exe, README.txt, licenses\ and shadercache\base_shaders.bin. Keep your hpps.toml, saves\ and the rest of shadercache\.

New options

• 5.1 surround sound (F10 > Audio > Speakers). The console's own speaker mix is played with each channel on its own speaker, instead of folded down to stereo. It needs Windows' speaker setup set to 5.1, or a 5.1 HDMI receiver, and applies at the next start. Stereo is still the default and mixes exactly as before.
• Movement pace for the keyboard (mouse wheel, or F10 > Controls > Movement keys): Sneak, Walk or Run. The movement keys always pushed the stick all the way, so Harry could only run, or sneak with the Caps Lock toggle. The wheel now steps the keys' pace down to Walk and Sneak and back up. The Sneak and Walk speeds can be set under F10 > Controls; the Caps Lock sneak toggle uses the Sneak speed too, and sneaks a little quicker than before. Run is the default, so nothing changes until you turn the wheel.
• Use controller (launcher and F10 > Controls). Turn it off to play with keyboard and mouse while a controller is plugged in. The game then ignores the controller and doesn't make it vibrate.

Smoother play

• Shaders prepared ahead. Every effect the game has drawn on your PC is recorded (shadercache\pipelines_list.bin). From the next start, it is all prepared in the background while you're in the menus ("Preparing shaders" shows in the corner). Areas you've visited before then load without the first-visit pause.
• Game clock ticks every millisecond, as the console's does. Windows' own timer moves in steps of about 15.6 ms, which made the game's timing slightly uneven.
• Freed memory is given back, as the console does. The game no longer retries the same memory request thousands of times in a session.
• Softer sound starts. A sound that starts or stops now fades over about 5 ms, as the console's audio chip smooths it, instead of clicking.

Fixes

• Saved games' times: saves are stamped with your PC's local time and time zone. Before, every save was stamped as if the player were in UTC+5.
• Game region: the port now reports the region the game disc is made for, as a console of that region would. Before, it reported no region at all.
• Cache partition: the console's hard-disk cache for the game is kept between starts instead of being formatted at every start. The first start after updating formats it one last time; saves aren't affected.
• Lines are drawn the way the original console draws them, one console pixel wide on console pixel edges. Thin line-drawn details no longer come out slightly offset or too thin at high resolutions.
• Scrolling 2D layers (fog and similar effects) no longer snap to a single texel after a long session.
• Folder listings: a search with an empty pattern lists every entry, as the console's file system does.
• Startup window is black until the first frame, instead of white.
• F10's Defaults resets only the page you're on. On Graphics it resets the graphics settings, on Controls the controls, and so on; the other pages keep your settings. Before, it reset every page at once. The aspect ratio is still kept, as before.