RE4 Dreamcast look test: fog, colour and character options

RE4 Dreamcast look test: fog, colour and character options

This is a test build for real Dreamcast consoles with GDEMU. It is the same game as the latest console test (the lake and beyond), with look options you can switch while playing. It is not a new release.

How to switch

Hold X and press START to go to the next option. Its name shows in the top left corner for 3 seconds. Hold X and Y and press START to keep the name on screen.

The options

Scenery:

• GD: GameCube style fog. Thinner fog in the middle distance, with the sky and treeline shown.
• GM: GD plus GameCube colours for the opening area (darker and warmer).
• GS: GD plus extra screen smoothing. On a TV it looks the same as GD, because the console already smooths the picture. It only differs on a VGA box.
• GA: GD, GM and GS together.
• DC: the current look.
• GX: GD with the screen smoothing switched off (sharper, more flicker on a TV).

Characters (the scenery stays in the current look, so compare each one with DC):

• CA: soft shadows baked into the characters.
• CS: CA plus soft light from the sky.
• CG: CS with the characters coloured like the GameCube.
• CV: Leon's texture compressed to save video memory. Look for blocky patches on his jacket.
• CQ: CG with Leon's compressed texture.

The draw distance is the same in every option: the fog options change how thick the fog looks closer in, not how far you can see. Apart from GM, which adds one extra full screen pass, the options cost no extra time.

Known gaps

• The freeze at the bridge door is not fixed in this build yet.
• The music on the third chapter results screen is silent.

How to install

Download the ZIP, extract the gdemu folder and copy its four files to your GDEMU card as you normally would. Flycast can also open disc.gdi directly, but judge the look on a TV if you can: Flycast does not show the console's screen smoothing.

Please tell us

Which option you like best for the scenery and which for the characters, and whether you play on a TV or a VGA box. Photos of your favourite and of DC at the same spot help a lot. Good places to compare: the first outdoor view after the opening, standing still, and next to a villager.

Thank you for testing!

RE4 Dreamcast console test d74b8ec8 (the lake and beyond)

RE4 Dreamcast console test: the lake and beyond

This is a test build for real Dreamcast consoles with GDEMU. It is not a new release.

What is new

• The game now plays through the end of the third chapter: the lake, the boat ride and the fight with the lake monster, then the chapter results and save screen.
• After saving you continue into the start of the next chapter: the lake shore where the wolves attack, and the path to the next village area. A Coming Soon screen marks the current end of the game.
• The lake water is now drawn as dark water instead of a pale grey sheet.
• The music and voice fixes from the previous test builds are still here.
• This build includes a possible fix for the freeze at the bridge door, and the error screen shows more information to help us if a freeze still happens.

Known gaps

• The music on the third chapter results screen is silent.
• Doors that lead past the current end of the game show a Coming Soon screen.

How to install

Download the ZIP, extract the gdemu folder and copy its four files to your GDEMU card as you normally would. Flycast can also open disc.gdi directly.

Please help us test

Play through to the lake, ride the boat, fight the lake monster, save at the end of the chapter and keep going past the wolves. Please also try the bridge door again if it froze for you before.

If the game stops and shows the error screen, please take a photo of the whole screen, making sure every line can be read. Tell us which room or area you were in when it happened (for example the village, the bridge, the lake, the boat or the lake shore) and what you were doing just before.

Thank you for testing!

RE4 Dreamcast console test 631cb271 (transparency order and failure screen)

What changed

Scenery transparency order. Transparent scenery such as the bridge scaffolding is now drawn back to front, which restores the scaffold faces that showed black and fixes background objects drawing over nearer ones. Inventory, pickup and movie screens keep their correct order. Gameplay is unchanged.

A more detailed failure screen. If the game stops, the screen now keeps the first failure reason and the state of the graphics hardware at that moment, instead of only the last wait. A photo of it tells us much more about the console crashes.

Everything from the combined console test 254eab3 is included.

Please test on a Dreamcast

This build is mainly for console testing of issue #9 (the hang at the bridge door) and issue #2 (the freeze when walking after loading a save). Neither is confirmed fixed: the emulator does not reproduce them.

Cold boot, load your save, walk before opening inventory, then go through the door at the end of the bridge. If the game stops, please post a clear photo of the whole failure screen and say which Frame pacing setting you used.

Downloads

Dreamcast / GDEMU: extract the ZIP and copy disc.gdi, track01.bin, track02.raw and track03.bin together into a new numbered SD folder. Keep the filenames unchanged. Flycast can also open disc.gdi with the three track files beside it.

No BIOS or personal VMU saves are included. Download checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.

Test status

In Flycast the exact disc passed six minutes of play from an existing save: walking, inventory Combine and Examine, rotation and repeated memory restores, with no errors. Bridge and inventory gameplay comparisons matched the previous build exactly. This is an experimental prerelease through r10a; the r10b door shows Coming Soon. Combat remains below the 30 fps target.

Release source: 631cb271.

RE4 Dreamcast console test 19f62e62 (issues 9 and 15)

RE4 Dreamcast console test for issues 9 and 15

This is a test build for real Dreamcast consoles with GDEMU. It is not a new release.

What is new

• The battle music and the radio voices no longer sound distorted. They now play cleanly, the way they should (issue 15).
• Voices and sound effects are converted with a better filter, so they sound a little cleaner and less grainy.
• The error screen shows extra information that will help us find the cause of the freeze at the bridge (issue 9).

How to install

Download the ZIP, extract the gdemu folder and copy its four files to your GDEMU card as you normally would. Flycast can also open disc.gdi directly.

Please help us test

Play through the bridge scene and the radio calls, and listen to the music during fights.

If the game stops and shows the error screen, please take a photo of the whole screen, making sure every line can be read, and attach it to issue 9 on GitHub. Tell us whether the music and voices now sound right on your console in issue 15.

Thank you for testing!

RE4 Dreamcast combined console test 254eab36

What changed

Corrects inventory memory handling when leaving the case, restores the selection glow and grid, and adds missing herb, fish and other item textures. Examine now refreshes reused textures correctly when switching between items.

Hanging lamps now show their impact flame and smoke. Graphics presentation checks now confirm whether a frame has finished before reporting a timeout. This does not yet establish a fix for the reported bridge crash.

The earlier room music, performance, pickup, object animation and movie corrections are included.

Downloads

Dreamcast / GDEMU: extract the ZIP and copy disc.gdi, track01.bin, track02.raw and track03.bin from the gdemu folder together into a new numbered SD folder. Keep the filenames unchanged.

Already have Flycast? Open gdemu/disc.gdi with all three track files beside it. This release contains the GDEMU image; separate desktop packages remain on r22j.

No BIOS or personal VMU saves are included. Download checksums are in the separate SHA256SUMS.txt; the ZIP also contains checksums for its disc files.

Test status

Normal save loading, walking, repeated inventory and Examine checks passed in Flycast. Lamp flame and fade passed their matched gameplay regression check. Bridge transitions and fresh save walking checks also passed across the available pacing settings. Every archive member and both published downloads were read back and hash checked.

The bridge door crash in issue #9 and save load walking freeze in issue #2 remain unresolved. The emulator did not reproduce either console failure or enter the bridge timed wait, so these passing checks do not confirm a fix.

For console testing, cold boot, load your existing save and walk before opening inventory. Then check inventory, Examine, lamp fire and the door at the end of the bridge. If a failure returns, report the Frame pacing setting and attach a clear photo of the complete diagnostic screen. No additional VMU export is needed.

This is an experimental prerelease through r10a. The unfinished r10b door shows Coming Soon. Combat remains below the 30 fps target. Continuous playthrough, mixed audio listening and physical Dreamcast acceptance remain unverified.

Release source: 254eab36.

Play build r22j (room music and performance), 2026/10/07

What changed

Room music is restored in r104 and r107.

Indoor enemy culling avoids more hidden drawing work. A CPU optimization avoids repeated failed collision list preparation while retaining the complete collision checks and their order.

The separate tested stair and cabinet scenes improve from 39.264 to 38.369 ms and 41.310 to 39.832 ms per tick in the SH4 model. These gains are not additive and do not establish physical console speed or 30 fps.

All r22i herb, pickup layering, object animation and movie fixes are included. All three grenade types were also verified to consume their item and trigger the mapped sound sample; no grenade audio patch was needed.

Downloads

Windows: extract the ZIP and run Play-r22j.cmd. Flycast and keyboard/DualSense support are included.

Steam Deck / SteamOS: extract in Desktop Mode and run play.sh. It uses Flathub Flycast.

CachyOS / Arch: extract and run ./play.sh. It uses native Flycast when available, otherwise Flathub Flycast.

Dreamcast / GDEMU: copy disc.gdi, track01.bin, track02.raw and track03.bin together into a new numbered SD folder. Keep the filenames unchanged.

Already have Flycast? Open disc/disc.cue from an emulator package with disc.bin beside it. No BIOS or personal VMU saves are included. Download checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.

Test status

Combined New Game, movie completion, radio return and logic comparisons passed in Flycast. The exact GDEMU image boots to the VMU prompt, and all 1,195 disc files match their expected contents. Every archive member was read back and hash checked.

This is an experimental chapter 1 to 3 prerelease through r10a. The unfinished r10b door shows Coming Soon. Combat remains below the 30 fps target. Continuous playthrough, mixed audio listening and physical Dreamcast acceptance remain unverified.

The save load freeze reported in issue #2 is still unresolved. If it happens, please attach a photo of the expanded freeze screen and, if possible, the VMU save. Rifle sound remains lower quality.

Release source: 8b0b9623. The clean runtime was built at 10eb831 with the CPU option enabled; the release commit records the matching recipe activation and validation.

Play build r22i (inventory and animation fixes), 2026/10/06

What changed

Green and red herbs now appear in the inventory. Pickup items draw in front of the menu background.

Cupboards, lids and puzzle parts now animate. Checks cover the well, cupboards, kiln and cemetery puzzle, including opening its covers and revealing the item. Already opened cupboards restore correctly after loading.

Movie buffer allocation has also been repaired. All fixes from r22f are included.

Downloads

Windows: extract the Windows ZIP and run Play-r22i.cmd. Flycast and keyboard/DualSense support are included.

Steam Deck / SteamOS: extract in Desktop Mode and run play.sh. It uses Flathub Flycast.

CachyOS / Arch: extract and run ./play.sh. It uses native Flycast when available, otherwise Flathub Flycast.

Dreamcast / GDEMU: copy disc.gdi, track01.bin, track02.raw and track03.bin together into a new numbered SD folder. Keep the filenames unchanged.

Already have Flycast? Open disc/disc.cue from an emulator package with disc.bin beside it. No BIOS or personal VMU saves are included. Download checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.

Test status

This is an experimental chapter 1 to 3 prerelease through r10a. The unfinished r10b door shows Coming Soon. Combat remains below the 30 fps target.

Flycast checks passed for New Game, movie completion, inventory rendering, animated interactions, merchant access and all three grenade equips. The exact GDEMU image boots to the VMU prompt. Every archive member was read back and hash checked. Continuous playthrough and physical Dreamcast acceptance remain unverified.

The save load freeze reported in issue #2 is still unresolved. If it happens, please attach a photo of the expanded freeze screen and, if possible, the VMU save. Music is still missing in r104/r107 and grenade sound remains under investigation.

Build source: c36a08cc.

RE4 Dreamcast console crash diagnostic (2026/10/07)

This GDEMU diagnostic build adds the saved main thread return address, timed wait distance and active inventory overlay address to the crash screen. It is for investigating #8, #9 and #2. Those issues remain unresolved.

The disc passed readback of all 1,195 files and boots to the title menu in Flycast. Cold and warm save loading tests on our own save did not reproduce the faults. Physical console acceptance is still pending.

Download and extract the GDEMU archive. It contains the disc, checksums and test instructions, with no VMU image, scripted input or forced crash file. Use your existing save and keep it unchanged.

Please record the Frame pacing setting and whether you started New Game before loading. If a fault appears, photograph the entire new crash screen, including all main thread, backtrace and inventory overlay lines. A VMU export is not required.

Runtime source: c9776451. Qualification details.

Play build r22f (puzzle and crash screen fixes), 2026/10/06

RE4 Dreamcast r22f

What's new

A more helpful freeze screen. If the game ever stops responding, the report screen now lists everything the game was waiting on, so a photo of it tells us much more about what went wrong. If you see it, please open an issue with a photo of the screen.

The chief's house puzzle now works. The crystal ball turns when you choose a direction, and after the right turns the door opens. Before this build the ball stayed still and the door never opened.

Moving doors and scenery now show. Other doors, gates and pieces of scenery that the game moves or hides now appear the way they should, instead of staying frozen in their starting position.

Also in this build (since r22c)

Equipping the shotgun or grenades no longer stops the game, even when you combine and use herbs in the same visit to the case. The merchant's rifle, rocket launcher and TMP now load, and the scoped rifle stays equipped in the cabin room. Enemies in the r104 area now appear.

The village haze and the window light now look as they do on the PS2. The white glare at the upstairs window is fixed. The staircase in the first house is faster. Weapons other than the handgun now make sound when fired.

Known issues

The merchant room and the room after it have no background music. The rifle's sound is lower quality than the other weapons.

Downloads

Windows: extract the Windows ZIP and run the included r22f launcher. Flycast and keyboard/DualSense support are included.

Steam Deck / SteamOS: extract the SteamOS archive in Desktop Mode and run play.sh. It uses Flathub Flycast.

CachyOS / Arch: extract the CachyOS archive and run ./play.sh. It uses native Flycast when available, otherwise Flathub Flycast.

Dreamcast / GDEMU: copy disc.gdi, track01.bin, track02.raw and track03.bin together into a new numbered SD folder. Keep the filenames unchanged.

Already have Flycast? Open disc/disc.cue from an emulator package, keeping disc.bin beside it. No BIOS or personal VMU saves are included. Archive checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.

Test status

This is an experimental prerelease, not the complete game. The route extends through r10a and stops at the unfinished r10b door. Combat remains below the 30 fps target. The r103 hang is still under investigation; the new report screen helps diagnose it.

The GDEMU image boots to the VMU prompt in Flycast. Recorded checks cover New Game, the puzzle door, movie completion, gameplay comparisons and the diagnostic freeze screen. Every file in the four download archives was read back and hash checked. A continuous playthrough and physical Dreamcast acceptance of this exact build remain unverified.

Build source: 3b6cbd17, with ROUTE_CH13=1.

Play build r22c (chapter 1-3 test), 2026-10-05

Public test build r22c, 2026-10-05. Includes the r22 performance changes and enables chapter 1-3 rooms through r10a. The door into the unfinished r10b room shows Coming Soon.

Downloads

• Windows — RE4DC-r22c.zip: extract the whole archive and double-click Play-r22c.cmd. Includes Flycast and the established keyboard/DualSense launcher. Python 3 is optional for game-log capture.
• Steam Deck / SteamOS — RE4DC-r22c-SteamOS.tar.gz: extract in Desktop Mode and run play.sh. Uses Flathub Flycast.
• CachyOS / Arch — RE4DC-r22c-CachyOS.tar.gz: extract and run ./play.sh. Uses native Flycast when available, otherwise Flathub Flycast.
• GDEMU — RE4DC-r22c-GDEMU.zip: copy disc.gdi and all three track files together into a new numbered SD-card folder. Keep filenames unchanged. If using a card manager, save its changes before safely ejecting the card.

The emulator packages contain the title disc as disc/disc.cue + disc/disc.bin. Open the .cue in an existing Flycast installation if preferred. Archive checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt; build identity is in each archive's BUILD-INFO.json.

No BIOS or personal VMU saves are included. Keep your existing saves separately.

Changes since r21y

• The r22 performance work: lazy skinning palettes, faster effect sprites, retained actor/world preparation, animation/cloth optimizations and revised code placement.
• Chapter 1-3 data and room support through r10a, enabled with ROUTE_CH13=1.
• A corrected texture pack: all 3,249 r22 packages retained with identical bytes, plus 498 chapter 1-3 packages (3,747 total). All 1,147 r22 files remain, with five expected chapter/code updates and 23 additions.
• Retains r21y's camera crash repair and the earlier radio-call/inventory fixes.

This publishes the existing r22c disc; it does not incorporate later experimental maths or Leon-pipeline changes.

Verification scope

• This r22c GDEMU image booted in Flycast from its high-density track to the VMU system-info prompt. The recorded run had no fault, HALT or MISSING lines.
• Its staged content passed the recorded superset comparison with the r22 play disc.
• For publication, both main image hashes matched the r22c build record. Every file in all four archives was read back and SHA-256 checked against its packaged source; launch-script syntax was checked.
• Earlier chapter 1-3 route checks used separate builds. A continuous r22c playthrough and physical-console acceptance are not established by these checks.

Known limitations

• This is an experimental prerelease, not the complete game. Chapter 1-3 stops at the r10b door; some rooms use substitute music. Scene/model/effect gaps remain.
• Combat is below the 30 fps/full-speed target. The separate r22g console test recorded about 10 fps at 70% speed in the r100 outdoor fight; this is context, not a new r22c performance measurement.
• Room-entry loading is visible. Normal chapter 1-2 key-item pickups and saved-game reload coverage still need checking.
• Fast pacing is the default. Hold R + START to cycle Smooth / Fast / Off. A VMU in controller slot 1 shows FPS, game speed, CPU percentage and pacing.

Build source: 2bb24730, with ROUTE_CH13=1.

ELF SHA-256: 0f4283794e1c30c0844dfbceffd9c87a6389c3b06a5a4a81e7f49f7aa218241b.