UNCANNY Engine 5 — STRATA Preview cad2556

UNCANNY ENGINE 5 — STRATA

UNCANNY has gotten way bigger than where it started. STRATA is the new Engine 5 line and the goal is to bring the launcher, real-time graphics, REVENANT and neural rendering together into one actual remastering platform.

whats new

• new STRATA Engine 5 graphics/reconstruction work
• much better launcher + game library
• games you manually add actually stay saved
• faster/more consistent scanning
• themes + fullscreen launcher work
• Control Deck profiles/themes
• stronger install / repair / remove / restore handling
• REVENANT captured texture packs for PCSX2
• build a REVENANT pack once and play it later without keeping reconstruction running
• safer texture pack backups + restoration
• native PC REVENANT D3D9 capture/reconstruction work
• newer neural rendering bridge work across D3D9, D3D11 and D3D12
• better cache handling and REVENANT pause behavior
• a ton of cleanup across the whole project

REVENANT

PCSX2 is still the strongest REVENANT path right now.

saved packs are working. UNCANNY can build accepted captured textures into a pack, verify them, play the pack without the reconstruction worker running, and restore the original files afterward.

native D3D9 REVENANT has also moved forward a lot. Deadpool successfully captured real textures and produced real validated neural replacement assets automatically.

the final visible D3D9 replacement A/B from that exact test is still open, so im not gonna pretend that part is 100% finished yet.

neural rendering

the current bridge has real provider create/evaluate/output-use proof on:

• D3D9
• D3D11
• D3D12

Vulkan, OpenGL and AMD are still being worked on and im not marking them finished before they actually earn it.

STRATA

STRATA is the start of the next generation of UNCANNY.

the long term goal is way beyond filters:

• stronger temporal reconstruction
• better motion + ghosting handling
• material-aware graphics
• better lighting
• reflections
• water
• skies
• characters
• REVENANT asset reconstruction
• neural reconstruction
• one unified quality/performance system

theres still a lot i want to push harder.

still being worked on

• final D3D9 REVENANT visible replacement proof
• Vulkan / OpenGL parity
• AMD hardware testing
• more sky / water / motion work
• full controller + handheld acceptance
• bigger shader/profile archive
• replay + automatic on/off comparison clips

this is a preview, not me saying every STRATA feature is done.

i would rather tell you exactly whats working and keep pushing the rest than slap “finished” on something that isnt.

install

1. download the ZIP
2. extract the whole folder
3. run UNCANNY.exe
4. add your game or use Scan PC
5. install/update UNCANNY
6. launch the game
7. press Home for the Control Deck

do not mix files from older builds.

download verification

UNCANNY-STRATA-PUBLIC-PREVIEW-cad2556-POLISHED.zip

SHA-256:

d41be8a9794cbe0426cfb9a1840b00c509b946bd1056a869e8ad80dd3fe408ac

this is just the beginning of STRATA.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.2 - Final Alpha

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.2 — FINAL ALPHA

last alpha before beta.

ELYSIUM

• cleaner source-bounded detail reconstruction
• major reduction in crunchy/high-frequency noise
• reduced edge overshoot and haloing
• reduced flat-surface noise
• better color/tone preservation while detail guards are active
• stronger protection against unsupported/invented detail
• expanded controlled motion testing across faces, foliage, thin geometry, specular surfaces and water

WATER

• new depth/history-gated water recovery
• matched water OFF/ON testing
• temporal/disocclusion/confidence protection
• false-positive protection for non-water surfaces
• automatically backs off when required frame data is not trustworthy

REVENANT / GEOMETRY

• verified restricted D3D11 rigid-mesh replacement path
• adaptive subdivision on approved rigid geometry
• controlled geometry test: 48 → 120 triangles
• actual rasterized depth changes verified
• corrected silhouette moved closer to an independent dense reference
• unrelated scene geometry remained unchanged
• smooth-normal recovery
• normal-only enhancement can preserve original depth exactly
• hard-edge / UV-boundary protection

MATERIALS

• content-identified material targeting
• replacement through the actual D3D11 binding path
• 65,536 target pixels changed
• 65,536 unrelated pixels remained exact
• exact original restoration verified

RUNTIME / COMPATIBILITY

• continued D3D11 runtime/attachment stabilization
• D3D12 compatibility work preserved
• PCSX2 recovery work preserved
• legacy/API bridge regression coverage
• provider lifecycle regression coverage
• safer fail-open behavior when advanced processing cannot be trusted
• protected-resource regression checks
• Control Deck regression coverage

VALIDATION

• production x86 + x64 builds passed
• WARP + NVIDIA GPU testing
• x86 + x64 geometry/material testing
• expanded static, Windows, provider, geometry and Control Deck suites
• lossless image/depth evidence + SHA256 manifests
• 1080p GPU timing instrumentation
• exact-candidate private CI passed
• public package boundary audit passed
• Microsoft Defender publication gate passed

IMPORTANT

this is the stable checkpoint before beta. controlled geometry/material tests are not being passed off as real-game certification.

the newer DLSS5 bridge work was intentionally kept out of Final Alpha because it is not finished/certified yet.

NEXT: BETA

• finish + optimize the universal DLSS5 bridge
• reduce neural performance cost
• real-game proof across DX12 / DX11 / PCSX2 / legacy routes
• deeper REVENANT geometry
• better rock / concrete / gravel reconstruction
• stronger water
• push geometry beyond the current restricted rigid path

Exact private candidate: 748f80b6a63f64bc811479b185e00dc45d34c373
Validation run: 35683346915

ZIP SHA-256:
673fa1a7ee9dbee10f67d656da24f0c4a53df2e5f384cc6f3026f1145263dc8a

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.9

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 — ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 — HF18.9

HF18.9 is a stability and route-recovery hotfix based on two real hardware findings: Fallout 4's D3D11 safe path works, Stray reproduces the same hard-lock class, and PCSX2's previously working UNCANNY/DLSS5 path is Direct3D 12 rather than D3D11.

Universal direct-D3D11 stability floor

• Removes the Fallout-only D3D11 safety exception.
• Every direct D3D11 title now uses the proven current-frame ELYSIUM compatibility floor after native Present stabilization.
• Native-depth acquisition, temporal history/flow and D3D11 neural interop remain deferred on that compatibility floor instead of being allowed to hard-lock a title after startup.
• The game still owns native Present; UNCANNY preprocessing remains optional and fail-open.
• External feeder surfaces retain their separately proven synchronization path.

This is intended to cover the same failure class observed on Fallout 4 and Stray without adding executable-name allowlists.

PCSX2 D3D12 / Feature-18 route recovery

• Restores the known-good PCSX2 graphics route explicitly: EmuCore/GS Renderer=15, which PCSX2 maps to Direct3D 12.
• Applies the renderer setting transactionally to PCSX2's main configuration and existing per-game overrides alongside UNCANNY's REVENANT texture settings.
• Records PCSX2Renderer=Direct3D12 and PCSX2RendererValue=15 in the UNCANNY launch record.
• Same-build verification now treats PCSX2 renderer drift away from D3D12 as stale so an update can repair the route instead of claiming the install is current.
• The existing native D3D12/Feature-18 execution stack remains preserved; HF18.9 does not replace it with the D3D11 fallback.
• HF18.8's sidecar launch, OneDrive/Cloud Files profile support, legacy-wrapper recovery and transactional rollback remain preserved.

Release gate

The exact published ZIP passed:

• static/generated-resource regressions
• x86/x64 production and Engine 4.5 acceptance builds
• universal direct-D3D11 safety contracts
• dedicated PCSX2 Direct3D12 configuration regression
• HF18.8 current-state and legacy-wrapper migration regressions
• Windows PowerShell parse + launcher/install/rollback regressions
• package boundary and SHA-256 audit
• Windows HLSL compilation
• D3D11 WARP rendered slider/quality matrix
• packaged same-build install/update speed regression
• packaged cache/logo and scanner execution
• packaged untouched PCSX2 + generic sidecar launch
• normal launcher startup
• AllSigned launcher startup
• Microsoft Defender ZIP + extracted-tree scan with 0 detections

The CI gate verifies routing, configuration, package integrity and synthetic/native test harnesses. Final confirmation of PCSX2 D3D12/Feature-18 rendering and Stray stability still requires the real target PC/GPU.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.8

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 — ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 — HF18.8

HF18.8 is a stabilization hotfix focused only on the two launch failures reproduced from the HF18.7 user logs.

Post-install state repair

• Fixes valid sidecar installs being marked UPDATE again immediately after a successful install.
• Accepts Windows CRLF line endings when validating recorded target and sidecar SHA-256 values.
• A verified same-build install now remains current instead of re-running the installer on every click.
• Preserves the HF18.6/HF18.7 fast no-op update path.

PCSX2 legacy-wrapper recovery

• Detects the poisoned migration state where a sidecar record says PCSX2 is current but pcsx2-qt.exe is still byte-identical to the old UNCANNY wrapper.
• Detection requires byte identity with the adjacent legacy UNCANNY.NativeLauncher.exe; it does not guess from filenames alone.
• Transactionally restores the preserved pcsx2-qt.uncanny-original.exe as the canonical pcsx2-qt.exe.
• Keeps the normal HF18.7 verified UNCANNY.Launch.exe sidecar architecture after recovery.
• OneDrive/Cloud Files PCSX2 profile support and transactional REVENANT configuration remain preserved.

Library integrity repair

• Rebuilt UNCANNY-Library.ps1 from the known-clean HF18.7 baseline after validation caught an intermediate corruption.
• Reapplied only the HF18.8 installed-state and legacy-PCXS2 recovery deltas.
• No rendering, shader, Control Deck, scanner, or feature expansion was added in this hotfix.

Release gate

The exact published ZIP passed:

• static/regression contracts
• x86/x64 production and Engine 4.5 acceptance builds
• Windows PowerShell parse + launcher/install/rollback regressions
• dedicated HF18.8 CRLF current-state regression
• dedicated poisoned PCSX2 wrapper migration regression
• package boundary and SHA-256 audit
• Windows HLSL compilation
• D3D11 WARP rendered slider/quality matrix
• packaged same-build install/update speed regression
• packaged cache/logo and scanner execution
• packaged untouched PCSX2 + generic sidecar launch
• normal launcher startup
• AllSigned launcher startup
• Microsoft Defender ZIP + extracted-tree scan with 0 detections

UNCANNY remains unsigned, so Windows may still show Unknown Publisher / SmartScreen until trusted Authenticode signing is configured.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.7

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 — ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 — HF18.7

HF18.7 is a launch/runtime compatibility repair built from the exact CI-green candidate that passed the complete Windows package gate.

Universal launch repair

• Replaces wrapper-in-place executable replacement with a verified UNCANNY.Launch.exe sidecar.
• Keeps the selected game/emulator executable at its original filename and preserves its bytes.
• Validates the target SHA-256 and sidecar SHA-256 before launch.
• Migrates legacy wrapper-in-place installs transactionally back to the real target filename.
• Preserves original working directory and forwarded arguments.
• Packaged acceptance verifies untouched PCSX2 and generic target launch through the sidecar.

D3D11 startup and hard-lock repair

• Keeps shader compilation and D3D11 neural/provider initialization off the game's Present path.
• Present uses non-blocking ownership and falls open to the native game frame while maintenance work is active.
• Re-arms a native-only stabilization window after resize, fullscreen, target-mode and color-space transitions.
• Defers temporal/neural work during the D3D11 transition ramp instead of risking a startup or splash-screen stall.
• Adds a subtle click-through Press HOME to open startup hint without adding D3D work.

PCSX2 / OneDrive profile repair

• Supports PCSX2 profiles stored under OneDrive/Cloud Files without treating normal cloud placeholders as unsafe links.
• Continues blocking true symlinks, junctions and other name-surrogate redirects.
• Preserves automatic, transactional REVENANT texture-replacement configuration and rollback.
• Retains the HF18.6 verified same-build fast update path and neural-core reuse.

Launcher/library repair

• Recovers UNCANNY-Library.ps1 from a duplicated-tail corruption and reapplies only the intended HF18.7 sidecar install/integrity logic.
• Manual Add Game, scan/cache normalization and existing HF18.5/HF18.6 launcher behavior remain preserved.
• Sidecar installs are marked stale if the target or launcher bytes no longer match the recorded SHA-256.

Release gate

The exact published ZIP passed:

• static/regression contracts
• x86/x64 production and Engine 4.5 acceptance builds
• package boundary and SHA-256 audit
• Windows HLSL compilation
• D3D11 WARP rendered slider/quality matrix
• PowerShell launcher/install/rollback regressions
• Cloud Files vs symlink/junction reparse classification
• packaged install/update speed regression
• packaged cache/logo and scanner execution
• packaged untouched PCSX2 + generic sidecar launch
• normal launcher startup
• AllSigned launcher startup
• Microsoft Defender ZIP + extracted-tree scan with 0 detections

UNCANNY remains unsigned, so Windows may still show Unknown Publisher / SmartScreen until trusted Authenticode signing is configured.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.6

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 — ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 — HF18.6

HF18.6 is a focused installer/update performance and PCSX2 launch repair based on real tester evidence.

Fixed

• Removes duplicate full release-binary verification during normal game install/update.
• Uses streaming PE header/import inspection for architecture checks instead of loading whole binaries into memory.
• For 32-bit games, validates only the required isolated x64 neural helper/bridge route instead of re-verifying the entire x64 runtime set.
• Carries the verified original-game SHA-256 forward through the transaction so the same large game EXE is not repeatedly hashed.
• Compares planned installed files against the new package and skips byte-identical files entirely.
• Same-build healthy updates now take a verified no-op fast path instead of rebuilding the full transaction.
• Reuses an already verified neural asset core when its pinned hashes match instead of unpacking/re-hashing the same package again.
• Provider discovery now prefers a bounded installed-target fast path and stops once the required roles are found.
• Creates rollback backups only for files that actually change.
• Keeps staged-temp verification, current-destination verification, atomic replacement and committed-destination verification for changed files.
• Adds real progress sub-stages through the formerly opaque 24–95% range.

PCSX2 launch repair

• Normal ELYSIUM installs no longer run an unnecessary engine-switch transaction before PCSX2 can open.
• Optional REVENANT proof recovery is bounded and fail-open; it can no longer prevent PCSX2 from starting.
• PCSX2 runtime attachment uses a shorter bounded startup budget so the emulator is not held suspended for a long pre-window wait.
• If optional attachment/engine preparation is unconfirmed, the emulator is allowed to resume instead of being blocked.
• Packaged acceptance now verifies that the installed PCSX2 wrapper starts the verified original executable and successfully loads/initializes the UNCANNY runtime.

Preserved

HF18.5 Scan PC/runtime-root repair, cache/manual/scan normalization, authoritative Add Game retention, official Library logo, startup-policy recovery, rollback, Universal API Bridge and HF18 rendering behavior remain preserved.

Release gate

HF18.6 is published only from the exact candidate that passes:

• static/regression suite
• x86/x64 production + Engine 4.5 acceptance builds
• Windows HLSL compilation
• D3D11 WARP rendered-quality validation
• launcher/install/rollback regressions
• packaged HF18.6 game install/update speed regression
• packaged official-logo/cache validation
• packaged scanner execution
• packaged PCSX2 wrapper → verified original launch/runtime smoke
• normal packaged launcher startup
• AllSigned packaged launcher startup
• exact ZIP hash/extraction
• Microsoft Defender ZIP + extracted-tree scan

UNCANNY remains unsigned, so SmartScreen / Unknown Publisher can still appear until trusted Authenticode signing is configured.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.13

UNCANNY HF18.13

HF18.13 is the launch/runtime recovery build for the failures reproduced in the Sept. 19 hardware logs.

PCSX2 / Direct3D 12

HF18.12 moved heavy D3D12 processor initialization off Present, but that introduced a bad resize interaction.

HF18.13 fixes both sides of it:

• D3D12 Present stays fail-open and nonblocking.
• Once UNCANNY owns swapchain resources, ResizeBuffers gets a bounded transactional handoff instead of immediately returning DXGI_ERROR_WAS_STILL_DRAWING.
• While off-Present D3D12 warmup is actively building resources for a swapchain, that exact swapchain can no longer slip through the native startup resize passthrough and resize underneath the resource build.
• PCSX2 remains on the known Direct3D 12 Renderer=15 preload route.

That targets the reproduced pattern where PCSX2 reached gameplay for a few seconds and then wedged as the renderer transitioned.

Cyberpunk / Spider-Man 2 / modern dynamic targets

HF18.13 also hardens launch ownership and deferred attach:

• dynamically-bound non-PCSX2 targets start natively first;
• UNCANNY waits for a stable visible top-level game window before late runtime attach;
• verified stale/headless UNCANNY sessions can be reclaimed on retry/update;
• a visible game is never auto-terminated by stale-session cleanup.

The Windows gate includes a real hidden-process recovery test proving unowned targets are left alone while a session proven by the verified sidecar + session log can be reclaimed.

HOME / Control Deck

The HOME/Deck logic itself was not rewritten. Its direct code path predates this regression. The dead HOME key seen during the PCSX2 failure is consistent with the runtime/renderer becoming wedged before the Deck can remain responsive.

Build

BuildId: elysium45-hf18.13
updateSerial: 1930
ABI: 143

ZIP SHA-256:

c4faffd66ca5addfd7c200b08d46d279c5aa3274fabdae643280242845fca522

Exact validation:

• source candidate: 982baa13dd2612e8368921ade4322bc99d6d6578
• dev merge: 7d1087276c4eac9b0e4ddfdf64ff8d23d439cd96
• validation run: 35459233640
• build-contract: PASS
• Windows HLSL/WARP: PASS
• PCSX2/D3D12 regression: PASS
• packaged PCSX2 + generic sidecar launch: PASS
• launcher smoke: PASS
• AllSigned: PASS
• Microsoft Defender: PASS, 0 detections

Real PCSX2/Cyberpunk/Spider-Man hardware behavior still needs the actual machine retest. CI proves the build and the contracts it can exercise; it cannot simulate the exact game/GPU session.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.12

UNCANNY HF18.12

This one is focused on the three launch/runtime failures from current hardware testing.

PCSX2

PCSX2 could get into gameplay, run for a few seconds, then hard-freeze right when the D3D12 path moved out of startup protection.

HF18.12 moves first-use D3D12 frame-processor setup off Present. Native Present keeps moving while UNCANNY prepares the D3D12 resources in maintenance instead of doing the heavy setup on the game thread.

D3D12 resize/resource retirement is also fail-fast now instead of waiting behind UNCANNY-owned GPU work.

PCSX2 stays on the same Direct3D 12 Renderer=15 route.

Cyberpunk / Spider-Man 2

Some modern targets were dying before a usable game process stayed up, then leaving a stale sidecar session behind.

HF18.12 adds a deferred startup attach route for non-PCSX2 executables that do not expose a static graphics API import. The game gets to establish native startup first, then UNCANNY attempts the runtime attach. If that attach cannot be confirmed, the game is left running instead of being killed by the optional runtime path.

Stale crashed sidecar ownership is also bounded and recoverable, so repeat launches should no longer get trapped behind SESSION_ALREADY_TRACKED PID=0.

Preserved

HF18.11's staged D3D11 neural promotion is preserved.

The current launcher, rollback, scanner/manual-add, Motion Guard, Ghosting Guard, Adaptive Realism, REVENANT, and the verified sidecar architecture are preserved.

Build

BuildId: elysium45-hf18.12
updateSerial: 1920
ABI: 143

ZIP SHA-256:

9a7e439967af1b7930769aa29b0a1830afee606ce6246291f4035c5a4927dce6

The exact replacement package passed static/regression tests, x86/x64 production builds, Windows HLSL/WARP, packaged installer/update/rollback/scanner checks, packaged PCSX2 + generic sidecar launch tests, AllSigned, and Microsoft Defender before publication. The repack also fixes stale README/usage/release-note text inside the ZIP; runtime code is unchanged.

Real PCSX2/Cyberpunk/Spider-Man hardware behavior still needs the actual machine test. CI proves the build and contracts it exercises, not the final game-specific result.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.11

UNCANNY HF18.11

This release fixes one specific D3D11 problem: the safety path from the earlier stability fixes was also keeping the neural route disabled forever.

HF18.11 keeps the safe startup behavior, but now lets neural resources warm up after the D3D11 route has been stable long enough.

What changed

• direct D3D11 can promote into the neural path again
• the game still gets a protected native/current-frame startup first
• neural warmup stays off Present
• the riskier depth/temporal path stays disabled on the D3D11 safe route
• resize/fullscreen-style transitions reset the promotion window instead of carrying stale state forward

The current promotion window is 240 processed frames and at least 9 seconds after the last relevant DXGI transition.

Still included

HF18.10's D3D12 startup/resize fix is unchanged.

PCSX2 still uses the Direct3D 12 Renderer=15 route, and the current sidecar launcher, rollback, scanner/manual-add fixes, Motion Guard, Ghosting Guard and REVENANT are all preserved.

Build

BuildId: elysium45-hf18.11
updateSerial: 1910
ABI: 143

ZIP SHA-256:

7e4d0f990ab33f10abec01a23ff467e487ad45da2b250cd49b6823b321c3d800

The published package passed the normal build, regression, Windows, package, WARP and Defender checks before release.

Real game/GPU testing still matters. CI can prove the build and runtime contracts it actually exercises; it cannot prove every title behaves perfectly on every machine.

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 - ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 - HF18.10

UNCANNY v0.20.0-alpha.1 — ELYSIUM Engine 4.5 — HF18.10

HF18.10 is a direct-D3D12 startup and resize stabilization hotfix based on two separate real-hardware failures: PCSX2 could open in Direct3D 12 but remain at No Image / GPU 0% / FPS N/A, and Spider-Man 2 could install successfully but fail to launch through the current DX12 runtime path.

Universal direct-D3D12 startup stabilization

• Extends the long native-only startup/transition stabilization floor from protected D3D11 routes to direct D3D12.
• D3D12 receives 180 successful native Presents plus a 5-second post-transition native-only window before optional UNCANNY preprocessing can activate.
• Native Present remains authoritative and fail-open.
• This is route-wide behavior. The runtime contains no PCSX2 or Spider-Man executable-name exception.

D3D12 ResizeBuffers / ResizeBuffers1 repair

• Before UNCANNY has acquired resources from a D3D12 swapchain, application resize calls pass straight through to the native DXGI implementation.
• UNCANNY no longer manufactures DXGI_ERROR_WAS_STILL_DRAWING during early D3D12 renderer bring-up just because the Present mutex is briefly busy.
• After UNCANNY has acquired D3D12 resources, resize uses the older safe contract: wait under the Present mutex, retire owned resources with bounded waits, then call the application's native resize.
• Resize success re-arms the native-only stabilization window before ELYSIUM / Feature-18 work resumes.

This specifically targets the failure class where installation is correct but the direct-DX12 renderer never reaches a usable image/presentation state.

Preserved HF18.9 behavior

• Stray's working direct-D3D11 path is unchanged.
• The universal D3D11 current-frame safe floor remains active.
• PCSX2 remains explicitly configured for Direct3D 12 with Renderer=15.
• PCSX2's existing D3D12 / Feature-18 execution path is preserved; HF18.10 does not downgrade the emulator to D3D11.
• HF18.8 launch-state repair, legacy-wrapper migration, verified sidecar launch, Cloud Files support, transactional rollback, scanner/library fixes, Motion Guard and Ghosting Guard remain preserved.

Release gate

Exact tested candidate: 8d9aa23d56f775bd8109f3a6229f6b658c2712da
Dev-main merge: 7f2c26719136b6f3a4b315f380b2403482bbb958
Validation run: https://github.com/coye2/uncanny-dev/actions/runs/35423058024
ZIP SHA-256: 2518c47e36d1f392477a2a2cf7caa0bc44225152cad7bbbbecf65c95991eb11c

The exact package passed:

• generated-resource and static regression suite
• dedicated universal D3D12 startup/resize regression
• x86/x64 production and Engine 4.5 acceptance builds
• Windows HLSL compilation
• D3D11 WARP rendered visual-quality gate
• PowerShell launcher/install/update/rollback regressions
• HF18.8 PCSX2 migration/state regression
• HF18.9 PCSX2 D3D12 Renderer=15 regression
• packaged same-build install/update speed gate
• packaged cache/logo and scanner execution
• packaged untouched PCSX2 + generic sidecar launch
• normal launcher startup
• AllSigned launcher startup
• Microsoft Defender ZIP + extracted-tree scan with 0 detections

CI validates the package/runtime contracts above. Final PCSX2 and Spider-Man 2 confirmation still requires the real target machine/GPU.