Witch Time v0.2.5

Witch Time v0.2.5

This update fixes blown-out glows on AMD GPUs under Windows, and gives the launcher a round of polish. Your existing build carries over. The next setup run translates and relinks only what changed.

Linux (x86_64) and Windows 10/11 (64-bit). macOS and Android are planned.

Download and run

Linux

1. Download WitchTime-v0.2.5-linux-x86_64.tar.gz and, if you like, check it against the .sha256 file.
2. Unpack it and run ./witch-time.

Windows

1. Download WitchTime-v0.2.5-windows-x86_64.zip and, if you like, check it against the .sha256 file.
2. Unzip it to a folder you can write to. A short path with no special characters works best.
3. Run witch-time.exe.

What you need is the same as in v0.2.0: a Vulkan-capable GPU and driver, plus OpenGL and FreeType on Linux, or the Media Feature Pack on Windows "N" editions.

What's new

• Launcher animations. Screens fade and rise in, the menu items come in one after another, and hover marks and switches glide. The running build step pulses. The launcher only redraws at your display's rate while something is animating.
• The title dial shows your local time.
• Smoother switches. Toggle switches now have antialiased edges, and the knob no longer shifts on hover. The "Copy the game data here" note fits on one line, so the row keeps its height when you flip the toggle.

Fixes

• Windows, AMD GPUs: fixed white blobs in the bloom and blown-out glows. AMD's Windows driver was dropping NaN/Inf checks that the translated shaders rely on. Every shader stage now asks the driver to keep them. Cached shaders are translated again once, on first launch.

For testers and modders

• WT_FPS_CENSUS=1 at lift time and SSBU_FPS_CENSUS=<file> at run time record what every frame-counter site adds per visit. scripts/fps_census.py compares a run at 60 with one above 60 to find sites that are still tied to the frame rate.
• SSBU_FPS_COUNTERS=0 turns off the frame-counter conversion above 60.

Not tested yet

Please report anything you see with these:

• Frame rates above 60 across the whole game. 11 frame-counter sites have been converted and checked. If something runs too fast or too slow above 60 fps, tell us the scene and your frame_rate.
• Playing on Windows in general, playing inside the launcher window on Linux on real hardware, controllers, and Wayland/HiDPI. All of these carry over from v0.2.0.

If something fails, include build/run/witch-time-game.log, the files in build/logs/, your OS and your GPU.

This release contains no game code or assets. Everything derived from the game is made on your PC from your own dump. Please never share it.

What's Changed

• Add Witch Time logo to the README by @Zexyen in #8
• Launcher: smooth switches, one-line note for the copy/move toggle by @Zexyen in #9
• Frame rates above 60: uncapped clock and frame counters at any rate by @Zexyen in #10
• Launcher: animations, and the title dial shows the local time by @Zexyen in #11
• Vulkan shaders preserve NaN / Inf: blown-out glows on AMD's Windows driver by @Zexyen in #13

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.2.5

What's Changed

• Add Witch Time logo to the README by @Zexyen in #8
• Launcher: smooth switches, one-line note for the copy/move toggle by @Zexyen in #9
• Frame rates above 60: uncapped clock and frame counters at any rate by @Zexyen in #10
• Launcher: animations, and the title dial shows the local time by @Zexyen in #11
• Fix blown-out glows on AMD's Windows driver (preserve NaN / Inf in shaders) by @Zexyen in #13

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.2.5

What's Changed

• Add Witch Time logo to the README by @Zexyen in #8
• Launcher: smooth switches, one-line note for the copy/move toggle by @Zexyen in #9
• Frame rates above 60: uncapped clock and frame counters at any rate by @Zexyen in #10
• Launcher: animations, and the title dial shows the local time by @Zexyen in #11
• Fix blown-out glows on AMD's Windows driver (preserve NaN / Inf in shaders) by @Zexyen in #13

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.2.5

Witch Time v0.2.0

Witch Time v0.2.0

This release brings the first Windows build and moves the whole build from Python to a native tool. Nothing besides a GPU driver needs to be installed any more: each download includes its own compiler, the build tool and a prebuilt runtime.

Linux (x86_64) and Windows 10/11 (64-bit). macOS and Android are planned.

Download and run

Linux

1. Download WitchTime-v0.2.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz and, if you like, check it against the .sha256 file.
2. Unpack it and run ./[witch-time](https://github.com/home/kalvarez/git/b3recomp/witch-time).

Windows

1. Download WitchTime-v0.2.0-windows-x86_64.zip and, if you like, check it against the .sha256 file.
2. Unzip it to a folder you can write to. A short path with no special characters works best.
3. Run witch-time.exe.

On first run, point the launcher at your dump: one folder with exefs/ and romfs/, extracted from your own console. Nothing is downloaded, decrypted or sent anywhere. The game's code is translated and compiled on your PC, so the first build takes a while. Later starts are quick.

What you need

• A Vulkan-capable GPU and driver. Current AMD, NVIDIA and Intel drivers include Vulkan.
• Linux: OpenGL and FreeType from the system. Most desktops already have both.
• Windows "N" editions only: Microsoft's free Media Feature Pack, for the movies. The setup check tells you if it's missing.

You no longer need Python, clang, lld, SDL3 development files, Vulkan headers, glslang or OpenSSL.

What's new

• Windows build. The launcher lists mods, edits graphics settings, builds the game and starts it. On Windows the game always runs as a separate program and the launcher waits for it. Movies and sound use Windows' own Media Foundation and audio. The romfs folder is linked into build\ with a directory junction, which needs no administrator rights.
• The build is now native (wtbuild). Setup, verify, convert, lift, tables, mods, text, compile and link are a single Rust tool, and the launcher runs it directly. Every step was checked against the old Python scripts and produces byte-for-byte the same output: for example, 5 million random instructions through both lifters gave 0 differences. A build made by the old Python setup is taken over without recompiling.
• Prebuilt runtime, bundled toolchain. The runtime ships prebuilt. It contains nothing from your dump: it reads the dump-derived values from game.so / game.dll, which is linked on your PC. Each release bundles clang 23 + lld, FFmpeg 7.1.5 (LGPL, shared libraries; Linux) and glslang. The game code is compiled freestanding, so system headers and libraries are not needed.
• No more libcrypto. The runtime has its own SHA-1 and MD5, tested against OpenSSL on 20,000 random inputs.
• Terminal build: build/wtbuild setup --dump <dump folder> (build\[wtbuild.exe](https://github.com/home/kalvarez/git/b3recomp/build/wtbuild.exe) on Windows) runs the whole build without the launcher.
• Renamed from B3 Recomp to Witch Time everywhere: window, process, binaries (build/witch-time-game, libwitchtime.so) and the PC settings mod (mods/witchtime-pc-settings). An existing build relinks on its next setup run, and the old b3recomp-pc-settings folder is removed automatically.

Fixes

• Linux: release builds now compile against current Vulkan headers (extended dynamic state 3) and work without the kernel headers for PAGEMAP_SCAN/userfaultfd. The kernel is still asked for support at run time.
• Windows: game.dll failed to link with an undefined sdk_trap_call. It now reaches it through game_bind, the same way it reaches sdk_host_call.
• Windows: the stand-in build used by the tests runs ld.lld.exe correctly.

Not tested yet

Please report anything you see with these:

• Playing on Windows. CI runs the build and link on a real Windows machine, but nobody has played the game, watched the movies or checked the launcher's look there.
• Playing inside the launcher window on Linux on real hardware, controllers, and Wayland/HiDPI. All of these carry over from v0.1.0.
• Windows antivirus may scan or hold back the programs the build makes. If the build stalls, try allowing the folder.

If something fails, include build/run/[witch-time-game.log](https://github.com/home/kalvarez/git/b3recomp/build/run/witch-time-game.log), the files in build/logs/, your OS and your GPU.

This release contains no game code or assets. Everything derived from the game is made on your PC from your own dump. Please never share it.

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.2.0

What's Changed

• Rename the project from B3 Recomp to Witch Time by @Zexyen in #3
• Move the build to Rust, prebuild the runtime and bundle clang: players install almost nothing by @Zexyen in #4
• Windows build: prebuilt runtime, game.dll linked on the player's PC by @Zexyen in #5
• Launcher Play finds sdk.elf; check lists scroll; setup relinks; portable game folder by @Zexyen in #6
• Windows: game.dll reaches sdk_trap_call through game_bind by @Zexyen in #7

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.2.0

What's Changed

• Rename the project from B3 Recomp to Witch Time by @Zexyen in #3
• Move the build to Rust, prebuild the runtime and bundle clang: players install almost nothing by @Zexyen in #4
• Windows build: prebuilt runtime, game.dll linked on the player's PC by @Zexyen in #5
• Launcher Play finds sdk.elf; check lists scroll; setup relinks; portable game folder by @Zexyen in #6
• Windows: game.dll reaches sdk_trap_call through game_bind by @Zexyen in #7

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.2.0

Witch Time v0.1.0

Witch Time v0.1.0

The first release of the Witch Time launcher. It replaces the old Python launcher with one native window that sets up the build, shows its progress, manages mods and settings, and then plays the game in that same window.

Linux (x86_64) only for now. Windows, macOS and Android are planned.

Download and run

1. Download WitchTime-v0.1.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz. If you want, check it against the .sha256 file.
2. Unpack it and run ./witch-time.
3. On first run, point it at your dump: one folder with exefs/ and romfs/, extracted from your own console. Nothing is downloaded, decrypted or sent anywhere.

The archive holds the project source, the launcher and the SDL3 library it was built with. It contains nothing from the game itself: the game is built on your machine from your own dump.

What you still need installed

For this version, building still runs the existing build pipeline in the background. You need the same tools as before:

• Python 3.10+ with lz4 and Pillow
• clang and lld
• SDL3 development files
• Vulkan headers and loader
• glslang

You also need a Vulkan-capable GPU. FreeType must be present to run the launcher; most desktops already have it.

What's in it

• Title screen: Play, Rebuild, Mods, Settings, Change dump and Quit. A status line shows whether the game is built.
• First run: choose your dump, check it (the version check shows what passed or failed), and then begin the build.
• Build screen: a progress dial and the five build stages with timings, live compile progress, and the last lines of the log. You can stop the build at any time, and the next build resumes where it stopped.
• Mods: lists the mods in your mods folder, each with an on/off switch that is saved to config/mods.ini.
  • Data mods apply at the next start.
  • Code mods offer a rebuild from the mods step.
  • An "Open mods folder" button opens the folder.
• Settings: internal resolution, cutscene frame rate, display mode, vsync, anisotropic filtering and aspect. Changes are saved to config/graphics.ini as you make them, and your comments in that file are kept.
• Plays in the same window: the game takes over the launcher's window, and you return to the launcher when you quit the game. If that can't load for any reason, the launcher starts the game in its own window instead.
• Input: mouse, keyboard (arrows, Enter, Esc) and controllers (A/Cross selects, B/Circle goes back, left/right changes a setting).
• Version: shown in the launcher's footer.

What isn't there yet

• Other platforms: Windows, macOS and Android builds.
• Python still runs the build: the launcher replaces the Python front end, but the build steps behind it are still the existing Python scripts. Replacing them is later work.
• No in-app updater: to update, download the next release.
• No folder picker on some desktops: Browse uses the system's folder dialog. If your desktop has none, type the path instead.
• Controller remapping and in-game settings are not in the launcher. The game's own settings panel (F1, or L3 + R3) still has them.

Not tested yet

Please report anything you see with these:

• Playing inside the launcher window on a real machine: this release was tested on screens and build flow only, with a stand-in build. If it fails, the fallback that starts the game separately should still work.
• Controllers: the controller mappings haven't been tried on real hardware.
• Wayland and HiDPI: behavior on Wayland and on HiDPI displays.

What's Changed

• Add better-design skill + MCP and ponytail plugin by @Zexyen in #1
• Add the Witch Time launcher for Linux (SDL3 + RmlUi, plays in its own window) by @Zexyen in #2

New Contributors

• @Zexyen made their first contribution in #1

Full Changelog: https://github.com/Zexyen/B3Recomp/commits/v0.1.0

Windows-test-1

Witch Time: first Windows test build

This is the first build for Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit). It is a test build: it passes our automated checks on a real Windows machine, but nobody has played it on Windows yet. Please report what works and what doesn't.

What you need

• A 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 PC with a Vulkan driver. Current AMD, NVIDIA and Intel drivers include one.
• Your own dump of the game, with exefs/ and romfs/ in one folder.
• On Windows "N" editions only: Microsoft's free Media Feature Pack, for the movies. The setup check tells you if it's missing.

Nothing else needs to be installed. The zip brings its own compiler, the prebuilt runtime and the build tool.

How to try it

1. Download WitchTime-windows-x86_64.zip and unzip it to a folder you can write to. A short path with no special characters is best for a first try.
2. Run witch-time.exe and pick your dump folder. The launcher checks the dump, builds the game on your PC with live progress, and then starts it.
3. If you prefer a terminal, run build\wtbuild.exe setup --dump <your dump folder>, then run build\witch-time-game.exe.

The first build takes a while, because the game's code is translated and compiled on your PC. Later starts are quick.

What's new on Windows

• A Windows launcher, which also lists mods and edits graphics settings.
• The game runs in its own window, and the launcher waits for it.
• Movies play through Windows' own Media Foundation, and sound plays through Windows' own audio.
• The game's romfs is linked into build\ with a directory junction, which needs no administrator rights.

Known limits of this test

• Not tested yet: actual play, graphics, movies, and how the launcher looks on Windows. Expect rough edges.
• If the game doesn't start, look at build\run\witch-time-game.log and the files in build\logs\. Please include them in your report.
• Antivirus software may scan or hold back the programs the build makes. If the build stalls, try allowing the folder.

Reporting a problem

Please include:

• your Windows version and GPU;
• the step where it failed;
• the logs listed above.

This release contains no game code or assets. Everything derived from the game is made on your PC from your own dump. Please never share it.