Proving Ground Recompiled 1.1.0

A big performance release: much of the work the emulated GPU did on every draw now takes a native fast path, and frame pacing is fixed at every frame rate limit.

Performance

Measured on PC: Ryzen 5 5600X, Radeon RX 6700 XT, Windows 11, Vulkan renderer. The test is a recorded controller route through the skatepark, replayed the same way every time, with the frame rate uncapped and the window at 960 x 540 so the screen size does not change the result. "Heavy frames" are the busiest ones (1500+ draws), where the game used to slow down.

What changed (skatepark route, uncapped)	Before	After
Static index buffers converted once (720p heavy frames)	7.80 ms (128 FPS)	6.43 ms (156 FPS)
Resolves straight into textures (1440p heavy frames)	7.31 ms (137 FPS)	6.45 ms (155 FPS)
Native draws keep their texture sets (720p, average)	~575 FPS	~610 FPS
Unlimited: repeated frames shown	48%	1.4%
144 FPS limit: 99th percentile frame interval	46.8 ms	26.9 ms
30 FPS limit: frame intervals	17/33 ms alternating	steady 33.3 ms

Other speed-ups each saved a fraction of a millisecond per heavy frame: skipping unchanged render target updates, reusing textures and samplers for meshes drawn again, constants uploaded in runs, and drawing known engine meshes from a kept state. The FPS counter and the achievement toast no longer make the window repaint hundreds of times a second.

New

• Resolution from your screen's list, applied at once in game (Vulkan). The effects and the HUD have their own setting: Effects and HUD 1x, 2x, 3x or Automatic.
• Sharpness slider (AMD FSR 1), Off by default, applied at once.
• Performance tab in the in-game menu (Insert): the native renderer's shortcuts, each with a description, so you can turn one off if you see a glitch.
• Linux: the folder dialog prefers kdialog (Steam Deck desktop mode); Steam Deck notes in the README. The Linux build is still untested on real hardware.

Fixes

• Frame pacing: no stutter after a late frame, and only new game frames are presented (before, up to half the frames shown were repeats).
• Switching to 30 FPS in game no longer freezes the picture.
• Meshes no longer show stale geometry after loading another area.
• People no longer flicker with direct depth resolves.
• No crash when there is no audio device: the game runs silent.

Changed

• AMD FSR 3 / FSR 4 are turned off for now. They ran on the finished image, already at the effects and HUD size, so they cost GPU time and the picture looked the same. They will come back once FSR scales the 3D scene itself. The Sharpness slider covers the sharpening.

How to play

1. Download ProvingGroundRecomp-1.1.0-windows-x64.zip and extract it anywhere (you can replace your 1.0.x folder; your settings in pg.toml are kept if you copy it over).
2. Run ProvingGround.exe. In the launcher, click Browse... and choose your extracted game folder.
3. Press Play.

No game files are included: you need your own Xbox 360 copy of the game. See PLAYING.md for the options, controls and troubleshooting.

SHA-256 of the zip: C3EB528992B649C0029DD17006F5C12FE9E7F653762100057D76B3677403884A

Linux (work in progress): ProvingGroundRecomp-1.1.0-linux-x64-wip.tar.gz, not tested on real hardware or a Steam Deck yet. SHA-256: E80D044817EEA7384683A684A03C116047382EC01F590411E3C71E4664BC2926