0.1.34: saves fixed (no lost progress, right save dates)

Saves: an older save no longer replaces your progress

Since 0.1.30 the launcher could copy a save from another install of the game (an older version folder) over
yours, without asking, whenever that save had a newer file date. One checkpoint in an old install was enough:
on the next launcher start your chapter 22 went back to chapter 19, and again after every play there.
Now the launcher only fills in a save when there is none here. It never replaces an existing save at start-up.
The Saves page's "Find lost saves" button still offers the other save, says that dates are not story progress,
and its default answer is No. Restored or imported saves are no longer left read-only.

Lost progress? It was not deleted. The replaced save is in gamedata\replaced-saves\<date-time>\:
close the game and copy that save folder back into gamedata\dev_hdd0\home\00000001\savedata\.
Older copies are in the launcher's Saves page (Restore picks one of the backups).

Online

• The "Pick a server" list now follows the address in the Server box (it could show an old "Other:" address).
• European-disc players see a note that online they only meet other European-disc players (the two discs carry
  different multiplayer data).

Saves: the right save date

The save date in the game (and in Explorer) stayed at the first save's date, or showed 1970: Windows does not move a
folder's date when the files in it are overwritten, and the game only got the folder's date. The game now gets the
newest save file's date, and each save also sets the folder's date.

• Game exe: 0.1.32 + the save-date fix.

0.1.33: cheats no longer block online play

Online: cheats no longer block online play

With any cheat patch ticked, the game turned online off and only showed "signed out of PlayStation Network"
(80010001). Now an online run leaves cheats and other gameplay patches out by itself (only Unlock FPS and the
visual Disable ... patches stay on, the ones the game allows online), and the launcher says how many it left out.
Your ticks stay as they are: single player still uses all of them.

• Launcher-only update: the game executable is the same as 0.1.32.

0.1.32: online multiplayer, 5.1 surround, ambient occlusion

Online multiplayer is back in the port

Community online multiplayer is now part of the normal download (it was only in test packages before).

• New Online page in the launcher: play on a community server, on your own network (LAN), or host your own
  server (https://github.com/bc160201983/gowa-community-server).
• No server is built in. Type the address of a community server in the Server box, use LAN, or host one.
• Match codes for private games with friends, a server list with ping and players searching, leaderboards, and an
  optional Discord status with a Join button.
• You need your own Online Pass (INDEX.EDAT from your PS3) and the same game region as the other players.
  README-ONLINE.txt in the download explains everything.
• Offline Multiplayer patches are back too (Patches page, experimental).

5.1 surround sound

The game mixes 5.1 sound, but the port always folded it down to stereo, so surround speakers stayed silent.

• When Windows is set to 5.1 or 7.1 speakers, the port now sends real 5.1. Stereo setups are unchanged.
• Measured on a recording of the 6 channels: front, center, subwoofer and both surround channels all carry sound.
  We could not test it on real surround speakers: please tell us how it sounds.

Ambient occlusion (new option, off by default)

• Graphics page -> Lighting -> Ambient occlusion: soft contact shadows in corners, under ledges and where
  characters stand. Not part of the PS3 game.
• No measurable frame-rate cost on our RTX 5080 test PC (the game is limited by the CPU there).

For modders

• Texture packs: LD_TEX_DUMP=<folder> writes every game texture as a PNG; LD_TEX_PACK=<folder> loads your
  edited or upscaled PNGs (any size) in their place. About 1% slower with a full pack in our test.
• Shader edits: LD_HLSL_DUMP=<folder> writes the game's shaders as HLSL; put an edited ps_<hash>.hlsl /
  vs_<hash>.hlsl in the folder named by LD_HLSL_REPLACE and the game uses it.
• Both are off unless you set them. Packs are made from the game's own art: share them as the community does,
  they are not part of this project.

0.1.31 (beta) - final update

The final update

0.1.31 is the last update of this port. Thank you, everyone, for playing, testing, sending logs and reporting bugs.
Your help made this port much better than we could have made it alone. Enjoy the game!

Smoother glow at high resolutions

At render scales above 1x the glow (bloom) around fire, magic and bright light looked dotty and checkered.

• The glow is now made at full resolution and matches the PS3 look: in our test scene (2x) the final glow brightness
  is within 1% of the PS3 picture at 1x, and the dotty pattern is gone.
• Frame rate is the same: 60 fps at 2x and 3x in our tests (60 fps limit).
• It is on by default. Nothing to change in the launcher.

Faster graphics thread for everyone

• The graphics thread now does less work per draw (lower time per draw in all 7 of our test runs). This helps most
  when you play with a high or unlocked frame rate.

"Fewer shader stutters (NVIDIA, experimental)" is better

The option is still off by default (Graphics page, NVIDIA only). With it on:

• Fewer stutters right after a loading screen.
• It now also covers vertex shaders.
• In our heavy-fight test (one run each, empty shader cache, our own settings) the time spent waiting for shaders during
  play went from 873 ms (measured with the 0.1.29 build) to 419 ms.

Other fixes

• Wireless controllers (for example 8BitDo): vibration is now sent less often, which should stop the short
  freezes some of you had while the pad vibrates. We could not test this with a real wireless pad.
• PLAY with an .iso: the launcher remembers where the image is mounted and uses it again, instead of asking
  Windows to mount it on every PLAY.
• Your saves from older port folders are still found and copied in, as in 0.1.30.

How to update without losing your saves

• Easiest: extract GodOfWarAscension-0.1.31-windows.zip over your old folder and say yes to replace the files.
• Or extract it into a new folder and start the new launcher once: it copies your saves from the old folder.
• Do not delete the old folder until your progress shows in the new one.
• The -update.zip is only for extracting over an existing port folder.

Tested for this release

• Heavy fight 180 s at 2x with the option on: 59.8 fps average, lowest 5 s 56.6, no crash.
• Rooftop 120 s at 2x: 59.6 fps average, no crash.
• Clean folder: the game starts, 60 fps, no crash. Update over 0.1.30, 0.1.29 and 0.1.28 gives the same files as the
  full zip. Save copy from a 0.1.30 folder works and the save loads.

Known issues

• Videos can show a black screen when Skip cutscenes is off (sound plays). Keep Skip cutscenes on (default).
• Kratos can look yellow in the chapter 29 cutscene ("This is Sparta").
• Kratos keeps dying in a cutscene near the end of the game: turn on Skip cutscenes for that part.
• "Fewer shader stutters" is tested on NVIDIA only. AMD and Intel are untested, so the option stays NVIDIA only.
• The new glow builds a few new shaders the first time: a short wait before the first loading screen (in our tests
  0.05-0.16 s at 2x, about 2 s at 3x).
• Frame generation runs the game at half your screen's refresh rate: below 120 Hz use Off or Anti-aliasing.
• Older CPUs without AVX2/FMA cannot run the game (the launcher says so).
• The first visit to a new area can still stutter briefly while its new shaders compile.
• Heavy fights can still drop below 60 on 8-core CPUs and smaller.
• Box-shaped patches in some floor lighting (for example the Village of Kirra).
• Offline Multiplayer: leaving a match back to the main multiplayer lobby with the buttons does not always work
  (hold SELECT+START to quit; your profile is saved after every match). In Team Favor on the Labyrinth of Daedalus the
  altar stays inactive when you play alone.
• Online multiplayer stays hidden in this release.
• The save search looks only next to the port folder, one level up, in Downloads and on the Desktop. If your old
  folder is somewhere else, copy its ascension-recomp\ascension\gamedata folder into the new one by hand.

Thank you again for everything. Have fun with Kratos!