Release Hookshot v2.0.12 · NotRexed/Hookshot

Hookshot v2.0.12

The biggest update yet: about 110 pull requests from 40+ contributors, tested together.

Fewer hitches when new areas load. A frame's texture uploads have a time budget: when an area load sends a burst of
new textures, the rest come in over the next frames instead of one long freeze (RX_VK_UPLOAD_BUDGET_MS).
Render targets are reused from a pool instead of being made and destroyed every time the game's temporary targets
change size (#1416, #1436), and they sit in memory blocks of their own.
8 GB cards (RTX 3060 Ti, 3070, 4060 and others) keep more VRAM free: the texture budget is 45% of what the driver
allows instead of 70%, so the game no longer spills into system RAM and drops to 14-25 fps after a few minutes.
The pipeline notes are opened before play, not at the first new pipeline in play (#1417); stage libraries the driver
has not compiled yet are built by a worker instead of in the draw (#1429).
Multi-waits only wake for the objects they watch (#1353); the synchronous replay runs on the reserved core (#1158).

Sharper shadows: shadow edges are filtered (percentage-closer) instead of showing stair steps.
Floating trees fixed (#1334), BC render targets drawn through raw views and OoT's noise volume pass no longer
left out (#1338), the Deku Tree's web lighting on NVIDIA (#1442), 40 vertex programs drawn again (#1437), FXAA on
cards without the upscaler network (#1115).

Button prompts (Controls page): Auto, Switch, Xbox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 or Steam Deck icons everywhere the
game draws a button, following your own bindings (#1321). A ButtonPrompts mod's own files still win.
AMD FSR 3.1 upscaling and frame generation (#1386), beside NVIDIA DLSS / DLAA / Reflex (#841, builds with the
NVIDIA DLSS tick). Measured on an RTX 4060 Ti at 2560x1440: the game's own upscaler 52-53 fps, DLSS 48-49 fps, DLAA
41-43 fps, with no more stutters than without them.
HDR10 output (Off, On, Native) with paper white and peak brightness.
Frame rate cap (60, 90, 120, 144, 165, 240; past 60 the game keeps real time). Frame generation Auto (#1121).
5120x1440 (32:9) output (#1290); Monitor's shape for 4:3, 16:10 and 5:4 screens (#1224).
Motion controls with gyro aiming, sensitivity, inverts and deadzone (#1114, #1237, #1302); HD rumble on
Switch Pro Controllers and Joy-Cons (#1213); a Stick dead zone row (#1298); Audio output Auto / Stereo / 5.1.
Discord status: "Playing Hookshot" and the time played (Gameplay > Discord status, on by default).
Restart and Quit rows (#1266, #1255); a Debug tab for the OoT debug tools (#785).
Native mouse camera now only turns the active camera: slingshot aiming and shops work (#1462, #1356).

Shaders are prepared at the end of the build (a tick, on by default) instead of behind a black window at the first
start (#1026).
Updates are quicker: the compiled objects of the last build stay, so an update compiles only what changed.
Needs 45 GB of free space, not 60. Many robustness fixes for damaged dumps, interrupted unpacks, read-only folders
and full disks (#1308, #1393, #1395, #1391, #1412, #1397, #1363).

UTF-8 text and the right font in the Insert menu (#1389, #1371, #1405); the OoT debug tools (#1292); Wayland mouse
capture (#1251); several update-safety fixes (#1327, #1343).

Two rounds of hardening of what files, downloads and guest memory hand to host code (#1398, #1422), https-only
downloads in the updaters (#1470).

On an RTX 4060 Ti at 2560x1440 (docked), walking Kokiri Forest, Hyrule Field and Kakariko:

52 fps median, 2.6% of frames over twice the median (v2.0.11's build of the same walk: 48 fps, 4.0%).
A simulated 8 GB card stays inside its VRAM (6.7 of 7.3 GB, textures held to 3.3 GB) at 44 fps, 1.7% stutters.
Upscalers: the game's own 52-53 fps, DLSS 48-49, DLAA 41-43, AMD FSR 3.1 51 (fewer stutters: 1.8%).
Shadow filtering and the frame rate cap cost nothing measurable.
No one-frame flashes and no crashes in 5,000-6,000 recorded frames for every setting checked.

Thanks to everyone who contributed, tested and reported bugs.