v0.1.2

v0.1.2

This release focuses on fixing a lot of reported bugs, tackling critique, and making Kakera more reliable as a real launcher: better Flatpak support, clearer launch errors, stronger Wine/Proton tooling, improved Add VN flow, launch logs, and a fix for cached cover art on Windows.

Highlights

Flatpak is now a much better option for Linux and Steam Deck users. Kakera can now detect host Wine/Proton runners from inside the Flatpak, launch games through the host, access /run/media for external drives and SD cards, and reject fragile Flatpak document portal paths before they get saved.

Launch tooling is more useful. You can now run extra tools inside the selected Wine/Proton prefix, such as installers, patchers, texthook helpers, or config tools, without replacing the VN’s main executable.

Launching is easier to debug. Kakera now writes launch output to log files and exposes clearer notifications when launches fail, including when UMU is missing.

Features

• Added Flatpak support with host runner detection and launching.
• Bundled UMU Launcher in the Flatpak build.
• Added Steam prefix detection, including Bazzite/Steam Deck-style Proton locations.
• Added launch logs for process output.
• Added custom launch environment variables.
• Added “Run tool” support for launching extra executables in the selected Wine/Proton prefix.
• Added cached cover refresh from VNDB.
• Added focused tabs in the detail panel.
• Added pinned launch actions in the detail panel.

Fixes

• Fixed native Godot/Linux games by launching from the executable’s working directory.
• Fixed Flatpak host launching by forwarding display environment correctly.
• Fixed Wine/Proton settings showing stale values when switching VNs.
• Fixed Steam Deck Flatpak launch paths under /run/media.
• Fixed unclear failure when UMU Launcher is missing.
• Fixed Flatpak document portal paths being saved as executable, prefix, or cover paths.
• Fixed empty route names silently failing by showing validation feedback.
• Fixed VNDB Add VN flow feedback when loading a result.
• Fixed VNDB results pushing the modal layout by showing results as selectable cards.
• Fixed cached/local cover rendering on Windows by rendering local covers as data URLs.
• Fixed Wine locale UX with clearer presets and custom input.
• Fixed AppImage bundling issues around graphics library exclusions.

What's Changed

• Feat/flatpak support by @enotan in #2
• Fix/godot game launching by @enotan in #3
• feat(wine): detect steam wine prefixes by @enotan in #4
• fix(launch): show saved wine and proton runners by @enotan in #5
• feat(notifications): warn when umu is unavailable by @enotan in #6
• Fix/steam deck launching by @enotan in #7
• Feat/bundled umu by @enotan in #8
• feat(add-vn): unify manual and vndb add flow by @enotan in #10
• feat(add-vn): unify manual and vndb add workflow by @enotan in #11
• feat(detail): split panel into focused tabs by @enotan in #12
• feat(covers: refresh cached cover from vndb by @enotan in #13
• Feat/launch feedback by @enotan in #14
• feat(detail): pin launch action in detail panel by @enotan in #15
• feat(launch): support custom env vars by @enotan in #16
• fix(routes): show validation for empty route names by @enotan in #17
• fix(add-vn): show feedback when loading vndb results by @enotan in #18
• fix(add-vn): show vndb results as selectable cards by @enotan in #19
• fix(launch): show clear error when umu is missing by @enotan in #20
• fix(flatpak): warn about doc portal paths by @enotan in #21
• feat(launch): run tools in selected prefix by @enotan in #22
• fix(launch): clarify wine locale selection by @enotan in #23
• fix(covers): use file:/// for cached cover paths on windows by @enotan in #24

New Contributors

• @enotan made their first contribution in #2

Full Changelog: v0.1.1...v0.1.2

v0.1.1

What's Changed

Added

• Added automatic detection of installed Wine/Proton runners
• Added a Wine runner dropdown with support for selecting a custom binary
• Added Proton support through umu-launcher
• Added resize handles for undecorated windows on floating Linux window managers

Improved

• VNDB searches now return more results and sort them by relevance
• Improved Linux AppImage portability by building against an older glibc version on a stable system like Ubuntu 22.04

Fixed

• Fixed AppImage failing to load its application icon
• Fixed AppImage crashes caused by missing WebKit helper processes

Notes

• Proton launching requires umu-launcher to be installed and available in PATH.

v0.1.0

May contain bugs but should work just fine on Linux, less Windows testing has been done so please open an issue to submit any bugs. If you can fix it please send a PR that would be very appreciated.

Either install using one of the binaries provided or follow the README.md on instructions for building from source