rac1-native 0.5.0: the launcher, Vulkan (experimental), the widescreen HUD and the reworked modern lighting

The launcher, Windows for real, and a lot of new graphics and sound

This is the first release from the new home of the project, the RAC-Native organization: https://github.com/RAC-Native/rac1-native-game (the old address redirects, and the updater, the update check and the launcher use the new one). Windows is no longer experimental: players have played through the game on it, and the new launcher installs, builds and updates the game with a double-click, on Windows and on Linux.

0.4.0 was played through to the end, and 0.5.0 has been playtested on Linux. Players have played its development builds on Windows. The Vulkan renderer is experimental and off by default (OpenGL stays the default), and the modern lighting is still experimental too. Expect some bugs and glitches, and please keep the reports coming!

Thanks to everyone who reported, tested and helped others in the issues:

• @Anya-Thoughtmane, for the long test logs and the triage, and for the reports behind the Controls page and the mouse (#61), the sun rays in the ship's flights (#66), Mirrored Levels with strafing (#95) and the gamepads (#98).
• @Brukkenn, for finding why the Windows setup failed to download GLFW (the empty certificate files, #79), and @Linuxpenguinnerd (#69), @theygotti (#63) and @EidolonEntropy (#88) for the Windows setup reports.
• @AlryFireBlade, for the Python crash during the code generation (#72).
• @MrFrikki0, for the Windows test sessions, the first one with the Vulkan renderer among them (#97), and the help in the setup issues.
• @SaloD37, for the Windows reports (#62, #77).
• @supergameromegaclank, for the title menu at a high Field of View (#68).
• @B-Nerd, for the thin lines in scaled-up text (#76).
• @mothlight-agent, for starting the ARM64 / Android groundwork (#78, #84; it goes on in the port/android branch).

Highlights

• The launcher: one file, attached to this release, rac1-launcher.exe (Windows) or rac1-launcher-linux-x64 (Linux, x86-64). It downloads the game, builds it from your disc image, updates it (and itself), starts it, and backs up, restores and deletes your saves. See The launcher.
• Vulkan (experimental, opt-in): Options > Graphics > Renderer. It draws everything the modern renderer does, and the game falls back to OpenGL when Vulkan cannot start. See Vulkan.
• Widescreen HUD: Options > Graphics > HUD (4:3 Original, 16:9, 21:9, 32:9, Fit Screen) spreads the HUD over a wider box in a widened view.
• The modern lighting reworked: the level's own sun, Sun Rays, six ambient occlusion modes.
• 5.1 and 7.1 sound, and the sound driver closer to the PS2's.
• Less CPU time for the game's own update, the game's state the same bit for bit.

Graphics

• The full frame, always: the Overscan row is gone; the thin slivers a TV used to hide at the frame's edge are not drawn.
• Widescreen: water, lava and the sand sea are cut at the sides in fewer places (Gaspar's lava; a few surfaces are still cut), the Visibomb's view covers the whole screen, Aridia's sand sea is no longer dropped at the sides of a 32:9 view.
• The title menu's frames and the Vendor's monitors line up at any Field of View and in widescreen (#68); scaled-up text no longer shows lines from the neighbouring letters (#76).
• V-Sync and the frame-rate cap: with the cap on Unlimited the pictures now come evenly, 60 a second, as with the other caps.
• Faster Gadgetron Vendor screens and GPU work; no hitch when the pause menu opens (with Vulkan too).

Lighting (optional, still experimental; with Lighting on Original the picture is unchanged)

• Shadows without tiers, and the world lit by our sun, so lit and shaded ground follow the same sun.
• The level's own sun: turned where the game's direction left whole areas in the shade (Novalis, Kerwan, Eudora, Oltanis, Quartu), and to the sky on Aridia (the big planet) and Gemlik Base (the skybox's sun).
• Interiors from the level files, where the sun turns off with a short fade.
• Lights per object class: Novalis's neons and bulbs, Kerwan's street lamps, Oltanis's plaza lamps light their surroundings.
• Sun Rays (Off, Low, Medium, High): shafts of light through the openings, no more veil over the whole picture when you face the sun, none in the ship's flights (#66).
• Ambient Occlusion with six modes, each one now visible and different (#75), and AO Intensity and Shadow Strength options.
• The original's drop shadows are no longer drawn with the lighting on.

Audio

• The game's sound is no longer 6 dB quieter than the movies (#21).
• The sound driver closer to the PS2's: an SPU2-style reverb, routed as on the PS2 (#86), the original's autopan, ADPCM decoding fixes, volume changes that no longer click. No more static in the slide down Novalis's sewer pipe.
• 5.1 and 7.1 output: Options > Sound's last row (Mono, Stereo, 5.1, 7.1). See Settings.

Launcher and setup

• The launcher follows the update channel (stable releases, or development: main), the same setting as the game's own; on Linux it offers to install the packages the build needs; when the game closes right after starting, it shows why.
• An update from the source zip leaves the unchanged files as they are, so the build recompiles only what changed (an update with nothing new: a few seconds instead of minutes).
• An update stopped before it changes anything no longer leaves its backups behind.
• ./setup.sh --native-arch on builds the game for your own CPU, about 8 % faster again (off by default: such a build runs on that CPU only).
• The generated code is compiled without debug info: a faster setup and a program of about 140 MB instead of 335 MB.

Windows

• The setup no longer fails downloading GLFW with "error adding trust anchors" when the game's folder has a space in its path (#79, #69, #63).
• A code generation job whose Python crashes is run once more on its own (#72); a clearer message when an antivirus removes the program after the build (#69).
• The setup checks the C compiler too, and installs it again when it is missing (#88).
• The game no longer drops RAC1_PYTHON, which the setup sets for the game's setup mode.

Fixes

• Pre-rendered movies no longer add to the time played, as on the PS2 (#24).
• The Controls page: a mouse movement no longer rebinds the D-pad, only the sticks (#61).
• Gamepads: every gamepad is read and merged, so a virtual or silent device can no longer hide your real pad (#98).
• Mirrored Levels: strafing no longer unmirrors the level (and reverses the controls), and the Modern aiming camera stays over the right shoulder (#95).

Debug tools (--debug-tools)

• Profiler tab and overlay: the frame time, every stage of a frame on the CPU and the GPU, the threads, the memory; exports to CSV and to a Chrome trace.
• Unlocks tab: gives and takes back the items, weapons and ammo, gold bolts, skill points, cheats, Challenge Mode and the planets, one by one or all at once.
• Sun tab: the level's sun, edited live.

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Installing or updating:

• With the launcher (Windows and Linux): download rac1-launcher.exe or rac1-launcher-linux-x64 from this release's assets, open it, click Install and choose your disc image. It keeps the game, and itself, up to date.
• From the source: git clone https://github.com/RAC-Native/rac1-native-game.git, then ./setup.sh --iso /path/to/your/ratchet.iso (setup.cmd on Windows). To update a clone: git pull, then ./setup.sh (or setup.cmd), or Update now from the in-game notice. See Setup.

Source only, as always: the game is built from your own disc (NTSC-U SCUS-97199 or PAL SCES-50916), and no release contains the game. Full list of changes: CHANGELOG.md.