v0.20.0 — first stable release

The first stable release of 5thPlanet. Earlier 0.x releases are now flagged as pre-releases.

Download

5thplanet-v0.20.0-linux-x64.tar.bz2 (below) is a self-contained x86-64 GNU/Linux package: the jupiter-linux-x64 binary with SDL3 statically embedded — no system SDL needed. No BIOS or game discs are included: they are copyrighted, so place your own legally-obtained dumps in the package's bios/ and roms/ directories (each contains a README with the details). Verify with the .sha256 next to it and the SHA256SUMS inside. The ..._gpu-presenter variant additionally compiles in the experimental SDL_GPU/Vulkan presenter with an optional CRT shader (off by default at runtime — enable via Settings → Graphics or the gpu/shader config keys; needs a Vulkan-capable GPU). If unsure, take the standard archive. Built by the package workflow.

The Super Robot Wars F / F Final release: the three emulation gaps that
kept SRW F stuck at a black scenario intro, a loud XA-audio buzz, and a
combat-entry stall are fixed, and both titles are now fully playable
(user-verified). The same push lands the VDP2 line-colour extended colour
calc (roadmap C9 EXCC_LINE) and two headless debugging probes. The
bios_boot golden 0x0B1BA6E5180766F7 and all five game render goldens are
unchanged, and the savestate format stays at v16 — 0.19.0 states load.

Added

• VDP2 line-colour extended colour calc (C9 EXCC_LINE, CCCTL bit 5) —
  under extended colour calc a line-colour-enabled top layer now blends with
  avg(line colour, pushed-down 2nd layer) per Mednafen's
  MIXIT_SPECIAL_EXCC_LINE_CRAM0/12, instead of the raw line colour (the
  gradient EXCC variant stays deferred).
• SAT_SRAM_DUMP_* headless probe (jupiter) — hex-dump + PCM stats of a
  SCSP sound-RAM window at the end of a chosen frame, for diffing streamed
  audio against the Mednafen oracle.
• SAT_SAVESTATE_AT_FRAME hook (jupiter) — write a faithful save state at
  the end of frame N of a headless run, giving sdbg a bit-exact foothold in
  the real per-frame timeline.
• PGO ship-features knob (PGO_SHIP_FEATURES) — tools/pgo/build_release.sh
  can compile extra cargo features (e.g. gpu-presenter) into the shipping
  binary only.

Fixed

• CD-XA Form-2 sectors deliver their full 2324-byte payload — a Mode-2
  Form-2 sector (subheader submode bit 5) was truncated to 2048 bytes, which
  misframed SRW F's 2324-strided software XA-ADPCM stream into a runaway IIR
  decoder → a loud saturating buzz.
• RGB888/RGB555/2048 direct-colour tile characters render — the VDP2 tile
  path only handled 4bpp/8bpp paletted cells, so an RGB888 tile layer (SRW F's
  scenario-intro FMV) rendered fully black; the character number now also steps
  by the correct per-depth cell size.
• Direct-colour transparency keys on the dot MSB (bit 31 RGB888 / bit 15
  RGB555) across all three sample sites (NBG bitmap, NBG/RBG tile, RBG bitmap),
  replacing the "visible colour ≠ 0" approximation; NxTPON forces opaque.
• A buffer-full pause no longer consumes the pending play-end IRQ — a long
  streaming Play that backed up on the 200-block pool lost its PEND, so the
  range's real end raised no IRQ (SRW F polled the CD forever: black screen,
  BGM playing).
• Mednafen-faithful CD drive timing (seek, pause, resume) — the
  direction-split per-FAD seek cost, Seek-pause-in-place settling BUSY→PAUSE
  through the periodic walk at the 150 Hz cadence (not an instant park), and
  buffer-full-pause resume as a timed re-seek triggered promptly on any block
  free. Fixes SRW F's combat-entry stall, a timing-latent loader race
  (debugging playbook CASE#16).
• Headless SRAM-dump probe stats (jupiter) — the nonzero-word count now
  covers the full requested window (not just displayed rows), and the
  env-supplied window can no longer overflow the offset arithmetic.

Gameplay

Super Robot Wars F — newly fully playable in this release:

Title, the in-scenario strategy map, and an in-combat attack animation — reaching the combat scene is what the CD drive-timing fix unblocked.

Wachenröder — the isometric tactical battle (the RBG0 rotation floor with the coefficient-fed line colour) and a story scene:

Panzer Dragoon Zwei — the opening FMV and in-flight gameplay:

Greatest Nine '98 — the pre-game matchup and on-field play: