Mario Kart World 1.8.0 - pre-release 2026-10-30 (VRAM fix, clean shutdown)

Pre-release for testing. Mario Kart World 1.8.0 on experimental Switch 2 emulation, based on Takoroka's eden-nx2.

What's new

• No more video memory overflow. Texture cache limits now follow the driver's real budget (re-checked during play), and Switch 2 games automatically use BC3 texture recompression on cards under 12 GB. This fixes the garbage textures followed by a crash after a few minutes, especially on 8 GB cards. Tested with an 8 GB card simulated on a 16 GB one: peak 6.6 GB of 7 GB, no failed texture, same frame rate. Details: NX2_VRAM.md.
• Stopping emulation and closing the window no longer hang (fixes from Takoroka and Eglantine).
• The driver pipeline cache is written atomically, so killing the emulator can no longer break later boots (Eglantine PR Djihads80#29).
• A memory leak on every shader build is fixed.
• Still in: Mario Kart World 1.8.0 boot fixes, "option C" (fewer freezes when new shaders appear), and the real game version shown in game.

How to run

No keys, firmware or game files are included: use your own dumps. Put prod.keys in %APPDATA%\eden\keys\, start eden.exe, then File > Load File and pick <game>\updates\917504\exefs\main.

Recommended settings: Vulkan, 1x resolution, GPU Mode: Fast, asynchronous shaders on, ASTC recompression: BC3, VRAM usage Conservative (8 GB cards) or Aggressive (16 GB), reactive flushing off, VSync FIFO Relaxed. Full guide: docs/nx2-mkw/getting-started.md.

If you used an older build, clear the shader cache once: delete %APPDATA%\eden\cache\shader\0400c3f00006e000.

Known issues

Some task/mesh geometry is missing; below 60 fps on heavy courses; short slowdowns the first time a course is played.

AI disclosure: the changes on top of eden-nx2 were written with Claude Code (Claude Opus 5.5) and tested by a human. GPL v3.