v1.8.1: the launcher's crest on Linux and in the downloads

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, for Windows and Linux. 1.8.1 is a small
update to 1.8.0: the launcher's crest.

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-1.8.1.zip
• Linux: CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.1-linux.tar.xz

Both have the same game, the same launcher and the same settings (Linux has no HDR or frame generation yet, see
below); take the one for your system. Optional, and not part of these downloads: Calm-Consideration41's HD movies and
textures (below).

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 the file (0 of 67), see the report, nor its download link (0 of 93), see that 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-1.8.1.zip: d6ffe122e039a8f16ccb32256015e6ebdb24a32ab4b194ea39cf5306015e48bd
  (in PowerShell, Get-FileHash CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.1.zip shows the one of your download)
• SHA-256 of CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.1-linux.tar.xz: 9a322c780ade0323a6d60bc572edf765519701cbed700e4ed18553d4fcac1e07 (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: HD movies and an HD texture pack (below). CastlevaniaLauncher.exe has every setting. For AMD FSR or
   NVIDIA DLSS (anti-aliasing, upscaling, frame generation), its Graphics page downloads their files from AMD and
   NVIDIA.

Install on Linux

1. Extract the archive anywhere you can write to, your home folder for one:
   tar xf CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.1-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: HD movies and an HD texture pack (below). ./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). The HD movies play with the FFmpeg that comes in lib, and anti-aliasing and upscaling are the game's
own TAA, which needs nothing either. glibc 2.35 or later: Ubuntu 22.04 or later, Debian 12, Fedora, Arch, SteamOS and
the like, on X11 or Wayland.

HD movies and textures (optional)

Calm-Consideration41's own downloads, his work, linked here with thanks (not part of this release):

• HD movies (Google Drive,
  3.9 GB): every story movie upscaled. Extract it and put its movies folder beside Castlevania.exe (or
  Castlevania). The launcher's View page and the in-game menu (F10) turn them off and on and set their size (Fit,
  Fill, Original), at once, a movie playing too. On the N editions of Windows they need Microsoft's Media Feature Pack.
• Textures v4 (Google Drive,
  12 GB): his HD texture pack, with material maps for the light and the stones' depth. Extract it and put its
  textures folder beside the game, in place of another pack's. The launcher's Textures page has Material maps
  and Surface depth.

New in 1.8.1

• The launcher's crest, on Linux and in the Windows download: the game's crest on the launcher's home page and
  beside its name, made from your own copy of the game when the launcher starts (your HD texture pack's picture of
  it in its ring of runes, else the crest of your disc's title image). Until now only a launcher built from the
  source had it, as the downloads pack nothing of the game.
• Linux: an HD texture pack's title logo shows on the launcher's home page with a .dds pack too (Panda_Venom
  and Stan21's, for one), not only with a .png one.

Everything else is as in 1.8.0: Calm-Consideration41's HD movies, material maps, anti-aliasing and upscaling, frame
generation, ambient occlusion, HDR, 16:10 and the rest; see
1.8.0's notes.