v1.8.5: HDR on Linux

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. 1.8.5 brings HDR to Linux.

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-1.8.5.zip
• Linux: CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.5-linux.tar.xz

Both have the same game, the same launcher and the same settings (Linux has no frame generation yet, and its
HDR needs a desktop in HDR, 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 its download link (0 of 93), see the report, nor the file itself (0 of 67, its 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-1.8.5.zip: 09b60d63655f7f1d8c7b5bf4243d31b5723c7ee9e3f76b9cc9e9a0f81095d8b3
  (in PowerShell, Get-FileHash CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.5.zip shows the one of your download)
• SHA-256 of CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.5-linux.tar.xz: 795adf475934e99d501abf3ef609b2fb3802baf42ec61d6606b7dd2ecfb49afe (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-1.8.5-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 port'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 and 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): Calm-Consideration41's 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 1.8.5

• HDR on Linux: on a desktop with HDR on, on Wayland (KDE Plasma 6, GNOME 48 or later, or a Steam Deck's game
  mode), fire, magic, light and the other brightest parts of the picture shine brighter than the rest, as on Windows.
  The game sends HDR10 and tells the desktop its brightness. The launcher's Display page and the in-game menu (F10)
  have the HDR switch, peak and scene brightness on Linux too, and say whether the desktop has HDR on. The desktop
  doesn't tell the display's own peak, so 1000 nits stands for it until you set one.
• Tested how: the HDR picture Linux makes was measured against Windows' on an HDR display, the same frames alike.
  Showing it on a Linux desktop in HDR is new and not yet tried on one: if you have one, please say how it looks in
  an issue.

Everything else is as in 1.8.4 (the skies with
Far View), 1.8.3 (the settings menu by
controller, in sections), 1.8.2 (Hector's sprint)
and 1.8.0 (Calm-Consideration41's HD movies,
material maps, anti-aliasing and upscaling, frame generation, ambient occlusion, HDR, 16:10).