v1.4.13

A Desktop entry that answers for itself and a Command Center that stays where you left it. Nova 1.4.13 is matched with Polaris 1.4.13. Experimental PyroWave is available in Android beta builds and the separate Linux bundle described below; the stable Android APKs do not enable it.

PyroWave on Android (experimental, beta builds only)

• Nova can decode PyroWave, an intra only wavelet codec that runs as plain Vulkan compute rather than on a hardware video decoder. A lost packet costs one frame instead of everything up to the next keyframe.
• In the Android beta, v1.4.13-beta.3 (the app named Nova Pre), pick it under Settings → Client Stream Defaults → Change codec settings → PyroWave (experimental). The per-game Video Codec row in Play Setup came after that beta, so it offers PyroWave from the next beta on. The beta installs beside stable Nova with separate pairing and preferences. Use a compatible Polaris host with the PyroWave encoder, such as the official Polaris 1.4.13 Linux packages; custom builds can omit it.
• It wants a wired link at a couple of hundred megabits. It is not a codec for wifi, and it is not a replacement for HEVC or AV1.
• The Android decoder supports 4:4:4 and HDR10, but HDR also needs compatible client presentation and host capture delivering ten-bit frames with HDR metadata. End-to-end PyroWave HDR has not been validated here. Ordinary KDE/GNOME desktop portal capture cannot satisfy the HDR request; on a KDE HDR display, KMS capture can also deliver FP16 frames that PyroWave cannot read, even for an SDR request. Start with a supported SDR capture path.
• The HUD reports the network's loss rather than your device's, and it tells you the bitrate this codec wants rather than judging it at a setting it cannot meet.
• A damaged frame can still be drawn when both lowest-frequency bands are intact and at least 90 percent of its blocks are present. Frames below the decoder's minimum are dropped; packet loss can still cause visible freezes.

Desktop, and the screen it runs on

• Desktop opens from a client that has picked a display mode of its own. Nova used to be refused by the host for asking, and the refusal now says what it was about.
• The Desktop entry answers for itself. It mirrors the screen on the desk by default, whatever the host's default display is, and its picker offers only what can actually happen.
• Screen To Add and Screen Scale are per device, in Play Setup. A screen the host creates is sized from this device rather than from the stream, and the scale decides whether it can be read: a 2560x1600 desktop is comfortable on a monitor and unusable on a ten inch tablet.

Command Center

• It stays open when you change a setting, instead of closing and making you find your way back.
• The Play Setup legend follows the card you are on by name rather than by position.

Nova Linux (Alpha)

• Releases built with the separate-asset workflow include Nova-Linux-PyroWave-x86_64-alpha.flatpak and its checksum for explicitly testing PyroWave. It replaces the standard Linux app under the same ID; reinstall Nova-Linux-x86_64-alpha.flatpak from the same release to return, keeping your app data. Older releases, including beta.3, did not attach this experimental bundle.

• Choose PyroWave · Experimental in Play Setup → Video Codec, with a compatible Polaris host and the normal Desktop destination. This Linux route supports SDR 8-bit 4:2:0; HDR, 4:4:4 and Spaces are not supported. Auto does not choose the codec. Vulkan device compatibility, sustained performance and real stream quality still need device testing. The bundle has no automatic stable/beta feed.

• It says what the host said. A refused launch now carries the host's own reason instead of a generic failure.

• It ships Nova's own icon.

Beta releases

• A beta is published as a prerelease, tagged v1.4.13-beta.N. On Android it installs beside stable Nova with separate pairing and preferences. Linux Flatpak bundles use the same app ID and replace the installed Nova bundle; they are not separate beta apps. Testing is opt-in.
• A beta's APKs are named Nova-Beta-Android-<abi>.apk, so an updater watching the stable filenames never picks one up by accident. To follow the beta channel, add it to Obtainium as its own app: add Nova Beta to Obtainium. It tracks com.papi.nova.pre, which is the package a beta installs as.