v0.7.7

Corrects palette-command dispatch across all three cartridges and keeps scripted palette fades on their original instruction paths. Widescreen presentation retains complete bonus-stage boards and menu layouts, stable ship and water-current scrolling, and the proper sprite artwork during explosions and boss movement. Imported Star Light Zone pylons follow the expanded camera and its limits.

The AIZ2 chase retains its unique outgoing ledge, complete grove artwork and waiting character through the native scene handoffs. Doomsday keeps Hyper Sonic visible while its camera scrolls beyond the scenery layout. Gameplay, native saves and explicit saved display choices are preserved; fresh configurations default to Fit to screen.

Windows x64 ZIPs and Linux x86_64 AppImages are provided for Sonic 3, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic & Knuckles. Supply your own supported ROM. Linux AppImages require Ubuntu 24.04 / glibc 2.39 or newer.

v0.7.6

Sonic 3 startup save-state loads resume the saved scene and palette continuation. Sonic & Knuckles startup now follows the original queued decompression timing, correcting title-module overlap and the intro fade.

Includes Windows x64 ZIPs and Linux x86_64 AppImages for Sonic 3, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic & Knuckles. Supply your own supported ROM. Widescreen defaults to Fit to screen; saved preferences and native game saves are preserved.

Linux AppImages target Ubuntu 24.04 / glibc 2.39 or newer. Checksums are supplied for every package.

v0.7.5

Blue Spheres quickstates now resume active and paused play in Sonic 3 & Knuckles and standalone Sonic & Knuckles, including fresh-process loads.

Modern saves checksum and replace immutable files in the background. The slot browser reports completion after replacement and preserves the previous slot and preview on failure. Diagnostic replay retains accepted save ordering. Valid long-running native loops no longer exhaust the cumulative dispatch budget; non-progressing loops retain the runaway guard.

Widescreen rendering corrects save-menu scenery, Competition lighting, card visibility, independently scrolling race margins, and competitor/start-pole visibility beyond the original viewport, special-stage sky intensity, and retained AIZ scenery and actor handovers. Standalone Sonic & Knuckles now verifies its canonical ROM checksum.

Includes all three games as Windows x64 ZIPs and Linux x86_64 AppImages. Fresh packages enable Fit widescreen. Existing explicit display choices, native in-game saves and settings are preserved.

The bundled Sonic 1 campaign allocates every authored Star Light scroll row, preventing a stack-buffer overflow.

Sonic 3 family v0.7.4

This Sonic 3-family bugfix update addresses 25 report groups. Another 17 groups have explicit original-behavior, nonreproduction or deferred decisions; those are not counted as fixes.

• Restore the full Blue Spheres field in standalone Sonic 3 by reading its native board address. Standalone S&K's actual special stage was separately checked and works.
• Keep the visible Hydrocity tunnel's colors until it leaves the wide view, and repair the current's missing edge fill and surface strips.
• Correct Angel Island and Hydrocity art, map and title-card handovers in the extended view; retain revealed hollow trunks and coherent level-select lettering.
• Restore the original interrupt bookmark during Angel Island's bombing transition. The redraw now takes 8 wall frames instead of 32 in both Sonic 3 and S3&K. Variable loading time still differs with widescreen headroom; exact cycle parity is not claimed.
• Repair the HCZ act-transition splash-slot conflict and discover the original camera-sabotage continuation handlers in both hosts.
• Restore bright Competition/Special Stage backgrounds and correct standalone S&K title/Mushroom Hill intro art publication.
• Accept the specifically verified Sega Classics Steam S3&K image without modifying its bytes. Unqualified variants remain subject to the normal ROM checks.

Fresh packages default to adaptive Fit widescreen and diagnostics. Explicit saved choices and native saves are preserved. The included diagnostic replay helper supports current-build captures; old save states remain build-specific. Disk saves retain the existing frame-loop restart limitation and do not promise immediate uninterrupted phase parity.

No ROM or converted stage bank is included. Use your own supported game image.

Qualified source candidate: game d0c6bfa7891cb34d741ba589e571b14ac1074a4a, engine 3ebf1fc50e0bb665f0378bdae6f2e7be31a5ad61, UI aee41e1dc834c105fd290d7c833bbbd7fbc71c1e. Detailed per-report evidence and bounded deferrals are retained in the project feedback ledger.

Sonic 3 family v0.7.3

Sonic family v0.7.3

This update includes rendering, game-state and presentation corrections for Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.

• Keep widescreen framing coherent across the AIZ bombing transition using the original neighboring maps. Repair the native graphics-decompression queue so stale entries cannot overwrite Tails' AI state and corrupt post-fire terrain.
• Correct original-size title-card/results entry and retirement, menu and bonus transitions, HUD/character palette ownership, stage-boundary scrolling and animated save-preview motion.
• Keep sprites and terrain on the same published camera scene. Preserve matching presentation through local rewind, and retain native activation/timing during recorded demos.
• Correct interrupted signpost spinning, late companion catch-up, Shadow menu fades and imported-stage boss anchor/defeat progression.
• Keep Windows gameplay and audio advancing while the window is dragged or resized. Keep launcher content imports responsive and wait safely for them when closing.

Fresh profiles use Adaptive Fit widescreen and diagnostic replays by default. Existing saved aspect/mod choices and native saves are preserved. Supply your own matching game media; no ROM or converted campaign bank is included.

Some reports match the original game or were closed for this pass after bounded nonreproduction or approved artwork deferral. These are separate from fixes. Missing character poses/artwork remain deferred when suitable existing frames are unavailable. Exact joined-fire native-only rewind was not observed; native-intro rewind, joined-scene first-render roundtrips and settled disk-state checks are separate evidence.

Imported Sonic 1 packs made before the lossless palette fixes still need source-media reimport; this update cannot reconstruct colors discarded by older packs. Save states remain build-specific. Keep cartridge saves (*.srm) and explicit settings when upgrading.

Sonic family v0.7.2

Sonic family v0.7.2

Infinite time now counts past 9:59, up to 99:59, using the original digit artwork. At 99:59 the displayed clock stops, but play can continue without Time Over.

The original 100,000-point time bonus applies only during the actual 9:59 second. Finishing at 10:00 or later receives the normal late-finish bonus of 100 points. Turning the time limit back on after ten minutes restores the native Time Over behavior on the next active timer update.

The option remains off by default. Native/widescreen HUD positions, high-FPS presentation, saved clock values and unrelated timers retain their normal behavior. No new assets. All three S3-family variants retain default-on diagnostic replays and v0.7.1's fixes and supported media imports.

Supply your own matching game media; public packages exclude ROMs, converted content, saves and settings.

Sonic family v0.7.1

Sonic family v0.7.1

Five further player-reported fixes for Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

• Restores source-placed AIZ floating platforms in widescreen. Native platform lifetime checks now match their expanded activation window; visible movement and actual landings pass in Sonic 3 and the combined game.
• Removes the black left-edge region during the AIZ1 plane intro. Native output and the later coastline are unchanged.
• Fixes imported GHZ spring/fall sprite jitter by matching the installed foreground camera. GHZ/SYZ fractional presentation uses that same camera basis; other stage deformation rules are preserved.
• Fixes imported Marble Zone blocks creeping after input release and push sounds restarting continuously. Normal pushes, slides, falls and lava movement remain intact.
• Displays the actual three-digit life count above 99 using the existing digit artwork. Earned lives, awards and native save behavior are unchanged. Sonic, Mighty and Shadow, CD colors/badges, current-build save/load and 144 Hz presentation are covered.

Carries forward v0.7.0's corrected Blue Spheres widescreen, automatic owned-media
imports (including ISO, BIN/CUE and ZIP), optional gameplay/presentation/audio
features and default-on replayable diagnostics. No new character assets.

Supply your own matching game media. Public packages exclude ROMs, converted
packs, personal saves and settings. Preserve native saves and campaign journals
when upgrading. Older save states remain build-specific.

Sonic family v0.7.0

Sonic family v0.7.0

Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles for Windows x64 and Linux x86_64.

• Restores corrected Blue Spheres widescreen: checkerboard and sphere positions stay aligned. Enabled automatically with widescreen; native mode retains its original view.
• Adds optional 120/144/display-rate presentation while gameplay and music keep their native speed. Finite views and scripted scenes may repeat full frames.
• Adds optional infinite lives/time, easier native level select/debug controls and shielded Super/Hyper transformation. All are off by default.
• Adds an unfiltered-audio option. The normal filtered sound remains the default.
• Sonic 3 & Knuckles Mods can import owned Sonic 1, Sonic 2 and Megamix cartridges, or Sonic CD ISO, BIN/CUE, raw data BIN/IMG and SGCD images, including ZIPs. The bundled offline importer prepares the content without a separate Python/Pillow installation.
• Keep CUE files with their referenced audio tracks for CD music. Data-only images contain stages, embedded Past music and voices; missing CD audio is reported and previously verified music is retained when available.
• Adds optional Sonic 1 checkpoint bonus stages and companion Tails giant-ring follow.
• Preserves the v0.6.4 gameplay/menu fixes, default-on replayable diagnostics and the newer v0.6.5 engine, video ownership and per-game compilation policies.

Bring your own matching game media. Public packages exclude ROMs, disc images,
converted packs, personal saves and settings. Preserve native saves and campaign
companion files when upgrading. Current-build states work; older save states are
build-specific.

Sonic family v0.6.5

Sonic family v0.6.5

Windows x64 updates for Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Includes the current main-branch game fixes from v0.6.4 and pins the shared
engine to merged optimization-campaign commit fe9168fe8ed22f84bd9bcda07dbfac878f54605b
(core 03ba2787da829369bbc2d958621b10330885c8f8).

• Carries the qualified execution, persistence, capture and rendering ownership improvements, including optional GPU high-resolution presentation.
• Sonic 3 & Knuckles uses qualified native IPO/profile-guided optimization. Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles retain ordinary compilation: their IPO-only experiments were rejected; ordinary-compilation timing was neutral/inconclusive under shared-host variation. No universal speedup or zero-overhead claim is made.
• Keeps current-build rewind/save-load, native saves, clean gameplay captions and replayable feedback. Native saves and campaign companion files must be preserved when upgrading.

Bring your own matching game media. Public archives exclude game media,
converted packs, recordings, personal saves and settings. Private local owner
archives include only the matching owned ROM in addition to the verified public
payload. Build metadata records exact title, engine, UI and disassembly pins.

Preserves current native/imported palette and menu features through the reviewed
shared-engine presented-raster compatibility contract; renderer callbacks use
designated fields so viewport ownership and capture requests remain distinct.

Existing shared launcher, sample-rate, input, discovery and interrupt behavior
from the current supported engine branch is preserved in this update.

v0.6.4: Widescreen and campaign fixes

Sonic 3 family v0.6.4

This update improves widescreen presentation, imported campaigns, bonus stages, saves and HUD graphics. It reuses original game data and existing project assets; no new replacement artwork is included.

Updating Sonic 1 stage packs

Rebuild/reimport your Sonic 1 stages from your owned source ROM with the updated conversion tools to receive the Marble Zone window and Spring Yard color corrections. Existing packs still load, but their earlier conversion already lost distinct colors, so updating the executable alone cannot restore them. See the bundled docs/STAGE_PACKS.md for the conversion and independent-pack steps.

The S1 checkpoint alignment, LZ water/slide and imported boss-music fixes also work with existing packs. Preserve native .srm saves, their campaign-progress companions/backups and your settings when upgrading. Checkpoint validation covers ordinary in-game saving, death and retry; quickstates, rewind and netplay remain unavailable with experimental campaign/character mods.

Qualified fixes

• Title and save-select scenery retain the intended widescreen composition through the tested title, demo, save, stage and special-stage entry fades. Actors, portraits and interface elements keep their native proportions. Competition menus retain consistent width and the original submenu brightness.
• Animated Sonic 3 stage previews use matching original stage art, blocks and colors. Imported Sonic 1 parallax stays stable at the tested Green Hill and Labyrinth left boundaries.
• AIZ2 heat deformation no longer adds the reproduced horizontal actor jitter, including standalone Sonic 3. The Flying Battery chase now preserves the ship, bombs and ground composition, and foreground trees correctly obscure Eggman during the tested overlap.
• Knuckles is visible on his ledge before the native AIZ-to-HCZ actor is allocated. The preview reuses the original pose and colors, stays anchored to the displayed scenery, and hands over continuously without advancing the cutscene.
• The slot-machine bonus controller completes its spin and releases the player. Slot and gumball bonus stages have clean widescreen margins; their separate machine-art reports remain deferred below.
• Imported S1 Labyrinth transfers its complete underwater palette at late waterlines, removing the reproduced orange/brown flicker without moving the water split. The LZ2 waterfall-slide join preserves its placement flips.
• Imported S1 checkpoints align their feet with the original placement and retain correct activation, spinning, checkpoint saving and retry. Native S3 and imported S2 checkpoint placement stays unchanged.
• Reconverted Marble Zone windows retain their original black and neutral gray details. Reconverted Spring Yard scenery and level objects retain their original colors independently of Sonic, Super Sonic, Shadow and Mighty.
• Imported S1 bosses retain boss music when invincibility expires; ordinary-stage expiry still restores the level theme.
• Imported native CLEAR saves keep their cleared status, emeralds and lives instead of automatically starting an unplayed addon campaign. Selecting a replay stage remains available.
• Shadow's HUD head, compact name lettering and multiplication glyph reuse the verified Megamix donor graphics and preserve live life-count digits.
• Sonic CD HUD/tally labels keep consistent yellow text and dark outlines through the tested Amy scenes. Palmtree Panic life digits use neutral colors, and the time-period badge sits beside the life display.
• CD signposts stand grounded before the actual crossing and then spin into the native tally. PPZ3 displays ACT 3 using the existing numeral asset; its Good/Bad Future boss-arena waterfalls reproduce the original palette animation. The PPZ red diagonal-spring cap keeps its intended red shades.
• Launcher sample-rate choices persist and reach the audio device. Runtime options-menu navigation suppresses local gameplay input while preserving held/released input across closing the menu.

Deferred or unqualified reports

• The owner deferred full Blue Spheres gameplay widescreen to a separate renderer task. Keeping its entry fade wide does not add side content or change its projection.
• The owner deferred asset-dependent LZ current tumbling, Shadow's Blue Spheres poses, PPZ2 spinning/balancing poses, Shadow save-select icon replacements and the low-priority PPZ 3D-ramp poses. Their requested artwork/animation changes are not part of this update.
• Slot-machine artwork corruption, the suspected red life-text tint and the exact gumball inner-ball/player corruption phase remain unresolved. The sampled native/wide comparisons do not establish original-cartridge artwork or tint equivalence.
• Bounded captures did not reproduce the reported AIZ1 left-edge black lines or brief GHZ2 title-card corruption. Four-tick sampling and the tested settings do not qualify every transient or the owner's exact all-mod configuration.
• Conveyor failure with the supplied saves, imported spring/slope jitter, the reported life-counter route, MZ push speed/sound, missing AIZ objects, HCZ's specific bar-grab glitch, CPZ drowning and Sonic 2 spring flicker retain their individual bounded or unverified dispositions. No speculative fix is claimed for these reports.

A complete replay of the owner's original all-mod route has not been qualified. The feedback tracker retains each report's tested scope and remaining gaps.

Diagnostics remain enabled by default. Feedback recordings stay local; nothing uploads automatically. After a recurring problem, quit normally and retain the feedback replay with its save/configuration/mod sidecars, as described in the bundled docs/PLAYER_FEEDBACK.md.