SpeedBreaker v0.2.1 for Windows (beta 4)

SpeedBreaker v0.2.1 for Windows: beta 4

This is a beta. It's Windows beta 3 with one change: the sun's shadows take less work for the graphics card.
The picture is the same. Nothing else is different from beta 3. Please try it and
tell us how it runs, especially if you have an NVIDIA or AMD graphics card.

Download

SpeedBreaker-0.2.1-windows-x64-beta.zip, below, with its .sha256 checksum file. (It has the same file name
as beta 3's zip; the checksum tells them apart.)

What's new since beta 3

• Cheaper sun shadows. Every frame the game draws the sun's shadow map and then copies it, twice, into a
  texture the scene reads. That copying was a big share of each frame's work on the graphics card. Now the scene
  reads the shadow map directly and the copy is skipped when nothing else needs it. The Mac, iPhone and Android
  versions have worked this way since v0.2.0; now Windows does too.
• On our test laptop (Intel UHD Graphics 620, Core i5-10210U), in the same session as beta 3: the main menu
  went from about 31.4 to 36.8 fps, and a busy race from about 26.9 to 30.6 fps. The graphics chip spent about
  4.5 ms less per frame on each (31 to 26 ms in the menu, 36 to 32 ms in the race). CPU use, power and
  temperature didn't change. On a PC that already holds 60 fps you won't see a higher frame rate, but the
  graphics card should be less busy (lower GPU usage).
• The picture is unchanged: the game checked every shadow map it drew this way against the old way, texel
  for texel, in the menu and in a race (no difference at all), and our screenshots of the same moments are
  identical to beta 3's.
• NVIDIA and AMD cards aren't measured yet. We expect a saving there too, but we don't know how big. That's
  what we'd like your help with (below).

That's the only change. If your graphics driver can't read the shadow map directly (the game checks once at
start), it simply works as in beta 3.

If something looks or runs worse

You can turn the change off without going back to beta 3. Open a Command Prompt in the game's folder and run

set NFSMW_SHADOW_DEFER=0
SpeedBreaker.exe

which draws the shadows exactly as beta 3 did. If that fixes it, please tell us (see the test below).

Help us measure: one test, two runs (about 5 minutes)

This beta draws the sun's shadows with less work for the graphics card (the picture should be exactly the same).
To see what it does on your PC, please run the same short test twice, once as it comes and once the old way, and
send us both bug reports.

1. Start the game normally. Go to the main menu and leave it there, without touching anything, for 1 minute. Then
   start a Quick Race (any track, but use the same one both times) and drive for 2 minutes.
2. Still in the race, press F1 (Back + Start on a controller), go to Advanced, and choose
   Save Bug Report. Quit the game.
3. Open a Command Prompt in the game's folder and run:

   set NFSMW_SHADOW_DEFER=0
   SpeedBreaker.exe
   

   Do exactly the same as in step 1 (the same menu minute, the same track, 2 minutes), then Save Bug Report again
   and quit.
4. Attach both zips to one issue titled "Windows beta: shadow test", with your graphics card, CPU, monitor
   refresh rate, and whether either run felt different (smoother, choppier, hotter, louder). If you can, also
   note the GPU usage % (Task Manager > Performance > GPU) in the menu in each run.

Keep every setting the same in both runs (don't change Internal Resolution, Frame Rate or Shadow Resolution between
them). Each zip holds the game's logs for its last five sessions, with the frame rate and the GPU time every few
seconds; nothing else is measured.

If the shadows look wrong in the first run (missing, flickering, blocky, shadow "acne", black or white patches,
shadows in the wrong place) but right with NFSMW_SHADOW_DEFER=0: save a bug report while it's on screen (it
includes a screenshot), then one at the same spot with NFSMW_SHADOW_DEFER=0, and say so in the issue: that's the
most useful report we can get. If the game crashes or freezes only in the first run, play with
NFSMW_SHADOW_DEFER=0 until a fix (the variable has to be set in the same Command Prompt each time), and attach the
crash or hang file as in "Reporting a problem" (for a freeze: wait about 20 seconds before closing it).

Updating from beta 3

Extract the new zip into a new folder and run SpeedBreaker.exe from there: the installed game, your saves
and your settings in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SpeedBreaker carry over (no disc image needed). Then delete the old
folder. In portable mode, move your portable.txt and the data and cache folders next to the new
SpeedBreaker.exe. The version number stays v0.2.1, so the game doesn't show a "What's new" note this time;
Settings > Advanced shows the new build line (below).

What's been tested, and what hasn't

Tested on a laptop with Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Core i5-10210U, Windows 11 25H2) and a 60 Hz screen,
against beta 3 in the same session: the main menu and a race (frame rate, frame pacing, GPU time, CPU, power and
temperature), the picture (the shadow-map check above, and screenshots), 14 race loads including pausing and
resuming, a bug report, and the unit tests.

Not tested yet: AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards, desktop PCs, 120 and 144 Hz monitors, HDR output on
Windows, recent Intel Arc graphics, and Windows 10.

What you need

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
• A CPU with AVX2: Intel Haswell (2013) or newer, or any AMD Ryzen. Without it the game says so
  and closes.
• A graphics card with Vulkan 1.2 and a current driver.
• Your own backup of your own Xbox 360 disc of Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005), the USA
  (NTSC-U) or the European (PAL) Spanish one: an .iso, or the extracted disc files. No
  game files come with SpeedBreaker.
• About 7.5 GB of free space. A controller is recommended; the keyboard works too.

Install

1. Download the zip, right-click it, choose Extract All, and open the extracted folder.
2. Double-click SpeedBreaker.exe.
3. SpeedBreaker isn't signed, so Windows may show "Windows protected your PC" (Microsoft
   Defender SmartScreen doesn't recognize the app yet). Click More info, then Run anyway.
   You can check the download first: put the .sha256 file next to the zip and run
   certutil -hashfile SpeedBreaker-0.2.1-windows-x64-beta.zip SHA256 in a Command Prompt; the
   hash must match the file's. If Windows blocks it with no "Run anyway" (Smart App Control does),
   it can't be started on that PC for now.
4. The installer looks for your .iso in your user folder, Downloads, Desktop, Documents and Games
   and on your other drives, or you browse for it (or for an extracted disc folder). It checks the
   game, says which disc it is, and shows where the game will go (Internal storage, another drive,
   or Choose a folder...). It copies and verifies every file (a few minutes). Then Start the
   game.

Saves, settings, logs and the installed game go in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SpeedBreaker. Check for
Updates isn't available on Windows yet; watch the Releases page. README.txt in the zip has
controls, portable mode and uninstalling.

Reporting a problem

1. In the game, open the settings (F1, or Back + Start on a controller), go to
   Advanced, and choose Save Bug Report. A zip appears on your Desktop.
2. Open an issue with
   "Windows beta" in the title: your graphics card, CPU and monitor (and its refresh rate), what you
   did and what happened, and attach that zip. Your Windows user name is left out of it.

If the game freezes, wait about 20 seconds before closing it: it then writes a hang-....txt file into
%LOCALAPPDATA%\SpeedBreaker\logs, which tells us where it stopped. Please attach it. If the game doesn't
start at all, attach the newest files from that folder and a screenshot of any message.

Unofficial Windows builds made by others (for example from forks) aren't supported here:
we can't tell how they differ from this one. If you used one, please try this beta and report
with it.

Thanks

Thanks to rafidwayne, whose Windows port (pull request #39) fixed how the audio thread waits on Windows (in
since beta 1).

Source code

This build is commit 01b7969,
v0.2.1 plus that one change; the first line of the game's log, and Settings > Advanced, say
SpeedBreaker v0.2.1 Windows beta 2026-11-03 (01b7969). The source of the LGPL code by others in it (FFmpeg
and libmspack, and how FFmpeg was configured for Windows) is
SpeedBreaker-0.2.1-windows-third-party-source.tar.xz, below (the same as beta 3's; only its README names
this commit).

Checksums

File	SHA-256
SpeedBreaker-0.2.1-windows-x64-beta.zip	fe8a499bca54d06dd439dcd7d407f5771bb0fca63ffb9fb357a67a1a8aebdea5
SpeedBreaker-0.2.1-windows-third-party-source.tar.xz	c9bf614ef745f0b213abed349e129683659b370e878cb0392be332c913c4c9c4