OpenCrossing-Xbox v1.1

A small fix on top of v1: fixes a crash on some consoles with an upgraded CPU and a custom BIOS (#3). Nothing else changed.

To update, copy the new default.xbe and default.tbn over the old ones. Your saves and settings carry over.

OpenCrossing-Xbox v1

The first full release of OpenCrossing-Xbox: Animal Crossing (GameCube, USA) running natively on an original Xbox.

Download OpenCrossing-Xbox-v1.zip below and follow the install steps in the README. You need your own Animal Crossing (USA, GAFE01) disc image. Coming from a beta? Copy the new default.xbe over the old one. Your saves and settings carry over.

Steadier and faster

This release is mostly about the game holding up for long sessions and keeping its frame rate.

• Fewer crashes and freezes. The GPU is waited on properly, so it can't stall the console, the sound chip starts and stops cleanly, a bad pointer in a model is skipped instead of crashing, and Clu Clu Land D no longer takes the game down. The watchdog that catches hangs can't get stuck itself any more. When something does go wrong, the game writes a crash or hang report and keeps the previous run's logs too.
• Smoother frame rate. Town holds 58 to 60 fps at 720p, frames are paced to the TV's refresh instead of a timer, and the game no longer waits on the GPU at the end of every frame. Busy spots got cheaper too: a texture lookup that ate almost a tenth of a frame is now nearly free.
• NES games at full speed. They run at close to 60 fps (up from about 50), in proper 4:3 with side bars, and at 720p.
• Sound that keeps up. The audio no longer stutters when the game is busy.
• Memory to spare. Textures take far less room, and 720p no longer runs out of texture space in busy scenes.
• Faster loading. The disc image is read in big chunks instead of 1 KB at a time, which also fixes the stutter in the first title demo after a cold boot.

New

• Automatic video setup. The game picks the best mode your dashboard allows (720p, 480p or 480i) and follows its widescreen setting. You can still pin a mode in Options. If your TV goes black, hold Back while the game starts for 480i.
• A redesigned Options menu, drawn in the game's own style, with help for each setting.
• Screenshots (click the right stick) and an FPS counter, both off by default, in Options > Video.
• Saves under any name load, so a Dolphin export like 01-GAFE-DobutsunomoriP_MURA.gci works as it is.
• Visiting a friend's town with their save in save\card_b. This one is new on the Xbox, so back up both saves first.
• 40% stick dead zones by default, so older controllers with loose sticks don't walk on their own. Lower it in Options > Controls if yours is in good shape.

Fixed

• The in-game clock no longer starts in 2083 or jumps hours after a reboot. It follows your dashboard's time zone.
• The player's shirt and the glove in the pockets menu no longer flicker.
• Restart from Options brings you back into the game instead of the dashboard.
• With no other town to visit, the train no longer drops you on the title screen.
• "Clear village data" and erasing a player now actually stick instead of coming back on the next load.
• 128 MB consoles and consoles with an upgraded CPU are handled properly.

Known issues

• Clu Clu Land D is a Famicom Disk System game and doesn't run yet. Picking it sends you back to the room.
• At 16:9 some 2D art, like the title logo, is a little too wide, and the title menu text sits behind the player and the trees.
• No sound after a crash? Power the console fully off and on.

The full list is in docs/known-issues.md. ac_xbox.map is only for reading crash logs.

Beta 3

Beta build 3 from main at 1f5be0a.

Download OpenCrossing-Xbox-beta-3.zip, then follow the install steps in the README. You need your own Animal Crossing (USA, GAFE01) disc image.

What's new

• Options menu on the title screen (Start Game / Options / Quit Game), and Settings in the pause menu (Back button). No more editing settings.ini over FTP.
  • Video: widescreen (4:3, 16:9, or Auto to follow the dashboard), texture filter, and output mode.
  • 720p output, tested on real hardware at 60 fps. It needs a component cable and 720p enabled in the dashboard, and runs in 16-bit colour. If it can't start, the game falls back to 480 on its own.
  • Controls: left stick dead zone with a live readout of your stick's tilt, rumble strength, and button remapping.
  • Gameplay: Mr. Resetti, shop upgrade, borderless acres, NES aspect. The shop upgrade now defaults to Singleplayer, so Nook upgrades to Nookington's without a visitor from another town.
• Quit Game goes back to the dashboard.
• Your left stick dead zone from controller.ini is copied into the Options menu the first time you start this build.

Fixes

• Furniture can be put down in the house again. Before, anything you picked up couldn't be placed back ("can't put any more items out").
• The same compiler problem affected the exits from the museum, the igloo and the buggy, the museum's fish and insects, and a few effects. Those are fixed too.
• Quitting to the dashboard a second time in one session no longer hangs on a looping sound or gives error 21.

Known issues

• NES games run choppy.
• The town can hitch now and then.

Full list: docs/known-issues.md

ac_xbox.map is only for reading crash logs.

Beta 2

Beta build 2 from main at f3b76f8.

Download OpenCrossing-Xbox-beta-2.zip, then follow the install steps in the README. You need your own Animal Crossing (USA, GAFE01) disc image.

ac_xbox.map is only for reading crash logs.

Known issues: docs/known-issues.md

Changes since Beta 1

• Fixed the console freezing near the train station (walking up to the station, Resetti, Tortimer, lightning). Textures that ended up at odd memory addresses made the renderer read unmapped memory.
• A GPU error no longer halts the console; it's logged and the game carries on.
• If the game does crash, it shows a report on screen and writes crash.log to E:\UDATA\4f430001\. last.log keeps the most recent log lines.
• The NES games inside the game now display.
• The left-stick dead zone can be set in E:\UDATA\4f430001\controller.ini (default 43%; lower it for a controller in good shape).
• Faster rendering: fewer vertex-constant uploads and a quicker combiner-cache lookup.

Beta 1

Beta build 1 from main at 58e9576.

Download OpenCrossing-Xbox-beta-1.zip, then follow the install steps in the README. You need your own Animal Crossing (USA, GAFE01) disc image.

ac_xbox.map is only for reading crash logs.

Known issues: docs/known-issues.md