v1.8.7: NVIDIA DLSS on Linux (untested on NVIDIA's driver)

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. 1.8.7 brings NVIDIA DLSS to Linux:
anti-aliasing and upscaling on a GeForce RTX.

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-1.8.7.zip
• Linux: CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.7-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 65, 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-1.8.7.zip: 45858ab29d97082e21c525fa4f2acbd64fef6536df899f2b5d8daf4345df2894
  (in PowerShell, Get-FileHash CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.7.zip shows the one of your download)
• SHA-256 of CastlevaniaCOD-PC-1.8.7-linux.tar.xz: 8aa6fac0dc25edfc21e34ec338d3e6fed5eaae37106bc97361737b2c8969f2e5 (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-1.8.7-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. For NVIDIA DLSS,
   its Graphics page downloads NVIDIA's files from NVIDIA.

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 AMD FSR 3's anti-aliasing and upscaling are
built into the game, which needs nothing either; NVIDIA DLSS needs NVIDIA's own driver and its files (the launcher's
download, with curl or wget, which desktop Linux has). 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 1.8.7

• NVIDIA DLSS on Linux: anti-aliasing and upscaling by NVIDIA DLSS, as on Windows, on a GeForce RTX with NVIDIA's
  own Linux driver. Choose it on the launcher's Graphics page, which downloads NVIDIA's DLSS SDK files from NVIDIA's
  own GitHub (about 60 MB, each checked against its SHA-256, under NVIDIA's licence, which it saves in licences).
  At its next start the game links itself to them on your PC, in about a second, with the compiler that comes in the
  archive: this download carries nothing of NVIDIA's. Upscaling (Quality, Balanced, Performance) works with it as on
  Windows. On another driver (Mesa's NVK, or an AMD or Intel card) AMD FSR takes DLSS's place, and the launcher and
  logs/castlevania.log say so.
• Not yet tested on NVIDIA's own Linux driver: in WSL, where the card is Mesa's dozen, the download, the game's
  link to it and AMD FSR taking DLSS's place were tested, and NVIDIA's DLSS itself ran there (through NVIDIA's NGX),
  but not in the game. If you play on a GeForce RTX with NVIDIA's driver, please say how it runs in an
  issue, with logs/castlevania.log and logs/ngx.
• Still not on Linux: frame generation.

Everything else is as in 1.8.6 (AMD FSR on Linux),
1.8.5 (HDR on Linux),
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).