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v1.7.0: Linux, the release picked beside Play, the lock-on marker

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@jmafort jmafort released this 04 Nov 01:38
· 37 commits to main since this release
v1.7.0
3c3e4e7

A native PC port of the original Xbox version of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, a fork of
Pazzi7054's CastlevaniaCOD-PC built on
TGP482's Xbox XBE Recomp. Now for Linux too.

You need your own copy of the game: the USA or the European Xbox disc, as an .iso or its extracted files. These
downloads contain no game files, no disc image and no game code; the first start builds the game code from your copy.

This is a personal, non-commercial fan project. It has nothing to do with Konami or Microsoft: it is not
affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by them.

Which download?

  • Windows: CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.7.0.zip
  • Linux: CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.7.0-linux.tar.xz

Both have the same game, the same launcher and the same settings; take the one for your system.

Is it safe?

The programs are not code-signed (this is a free hobby project) and the downloads are new, so browsers and Windows
may warn about them. That is not a virus:

  • VirusTotal scan of the Windows zip: no security vendor flagged its download link (0 of 93), see the report; Microsoft Defender finds nothing in it either
  • VirusTotal scan of the Linux archive: no security vendor flagged its download link (0 of 93), see the report
  • SHA-256 of CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.7.0.zip: f759ce5921a0a83b9f28a1e1aae2d6643fd2839cedb0ff2d6ce71bf20b3baa1b
    (in PowerShell, Get-FileHash CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.7.0.zip shows the one of your download)
  • SHA-256 of CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.7.0-linux.tar.xz: 3750531aea31ef8cf8551098c27a97d2d21bc80d09c33e87edbee633efeb3d26 (sha256sum shows yours)
  • All of the source is in this repository; you can build it yourself.

If the browser blocks the download, open its downloads list (Ctrl+J) and keep the file: in Chrome Keep or
Download suspicious file; in Edge ..., Keep, Show more, then Keep anyway. If Windows says
"Windows protected your PC": More info, then Run anyway.

Install on Windows

  1. Extract the zip anywhere and run Castlevania.exe. The assets folder opens.
  2. Put your .iso (or the extracted disc) in it and run Castlevania.exe again. The first start builds the game code
    in a few minutes; press Start when it is done.
  3. Optional: an HD texture pack in a textures folder beside the exe (see below). CastlevaniaLauncher.exe has
    every setting, and its home page switches the pack on or off.

Install on Linux

  1. Extract the archive anywhere you can write to, your home folder for one:
    tar xf CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.7.0-linux.tar.xz
  2. Run ./Castlevania in the CastlevaniaCOD-PC folder (or double-click it). The assets folder opens.
  3. Put your .iso (or the extracted disc) in it and run ./Castlevania again. The first start builds the game code
    with the compiler that comes in the archive, in a few minutes; press Start when it is done.
  4. Optional: an HD texture pack in textures. ./CastlevaniaLauncher has every setting.

Nothing needs installing and no root: only a Vulkan driver, which desktop Linux has (Mesa for AMD and Intel, NVIDIA's
own driver). glibc 2.35 or later: Ubuntu 22.04 or later, Debian 12, Fedora, Arch, SteamOS and the like, on X11 or
Wayland.

New in 1.7.0

  • Linux: a native Linux build of the game and the launcher, with every feature of the Windows one: both releases
    from any copy of their discs, the HD texture packs, widescreen, the in-game menu, the launcher in its seven
    languages, controllers and rumble (through SDL, as on Windows). The same Direct3D 12 renderer draws through
    vkd3d on Vulkan.
  • With both releases' discs in assets, a list beside Play picks which one plays; Castlevania (.exe)
    started by itself plays the one picked too.
  • The lock-on marker stays on the enemy you lock on to: with the HUD at the screen's corners (1.6.0) it went out to
    the side of the screen whenever the enemy was away from the middle.
  • The in-game menu's (F10) drop-down lists open, on Windows too: until now they closed as soon as they opened.

Linux is new, please report what you find. So far it has been tested in WSL (Ubuntu on Windows), drawing on an
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and an Intel Iris Xe, on X11 and Wayland: both releases install, build their game code and
play at 60 frames per second on the RTX 3060, with the same pictures as on Windows, and the launcher starts the game.
It has not yet run on a Linux PC's own graphics drivers, and controllers are untested there, so problems are
possible; please open an issue with the logs folder's
castlevania.log if it misbehaves.

Still being worked on: with the fog pushed out or off, or Far view on, some rooms' skies show the edges of the
painted cards they are made of. The Abandoned Castle's rampart already keeps its sky as the game shows it; a fix for
the other rooms is on its way.

Since 1.5.0: Calm-Consideration41's field of view, draw distance and fog, HUD at the corners, PS2 stick response,
inverted camera and rumble on both motors (1.6.0).
Since 1.4.0: the European release (1.5.0), in its five languages, with saves carried over between the releases.

New in this fork

  • Linux, besides Windows.
  • Both releases side by side: the launcher picks which one plays.
  • The USA and the European releases, each from any copy of its disc: an xiso, a whole disc dump of either disc layout, or the extracted files,
    including copies whose xbe header was patched for a hard disk loader or another region.
  • Hector's shadow is back under his feet.
  • Widescreen menus: the pause menu, the map, the save screens and message panels fill a 16:9 screen.
  • HD texture packs: .dds packs too, eight more textures matched (96.8% of what the game draws with Panda_Venom and
    Stan21's pack), clean edges on cut-out pictures, and the launcher's home page shows the pack with a switch for it.
  • No stutter the first time an effect is drawn (compiled shaders are kept on disk).
  • Anisotropic filtering works on the game's own textures too.
  • Options: the PS2 button layout, and the Lament of Innocence bonus (the Moai).
  • Field of view, draw distance and fog, the HUD at the screen's corners, the PS2 stick response, the inverted
    camera and rumble on both motors, by Calm-Consideration41.
  • @CRAZY and @TREVOR from the start.
  • The launcher in the game's own look, choosing the graphics card and checking for Direct3D 12 (Vulkan on Linux), in
    seven languages.
  • Newer Xbox XBE Recomp (91146ff).

HD texture packs

Made by fans for the PS2 game, their makers' own work, not included here:

Requirements: Windows 10 (1703 or later) or 11, 64-bit, and graphics with Direct3D 12; or 64-bit Linux with glibc
2.35 or later and a Vulkan driver. See the README for
details.

Assets 4
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