v0.6.2 — Update by rerunning setup

Changes

• Running setup again updates an existing installation. Choose the folder you installed to and setup updates it to the latest release and rebuilds it, keeping hc09.ini and your saves. The wizard shows that it found an existing installation, fills in your saved disc image and update setting, and the button reads Update. This is also how to change the disc image.
• A development clone on a git branch is still built as it is, without updating.

Install or update

• New install: download HC09Setup.exe below and run it. You need your own NFL Head Coach 09 (Xbox 360) disc image; no game data is included. See the README for the requirements.
• Existing install with automatic update checks on: the game offers this update the next time it starts.
• Existing install without them: download HC09Setup.exe below, run it and choose your install folder.

v0.6.1 — Graphics fixes for long sessions

Fixes

Graphical errors that built up after playing a full game or starting and quitting several exhibition games (stadiums not rendering, blocky crowds, glitched menu backgrounds, parts of the screen not updating):

• GPU memory no longer grows with every game: textures and render targets unused for about a minute are released.
• Textures the game loads into memory it previously used for rendering are now shown correctly, instead of the old rendered image.
• Each of the four strips the game renders a frame in now always lands in the right target, so no part of the frame (or its shadows) is left stale.

Install or update

• New install: download HC09Setup.exe below and run it. You need your own NFL Head Coach 09 (Xbox 360) disc image; no game data is included. See the README for the requirements.
• Existing install with automatic update checks on: the game offers this update the next time it starts.
• Existing install without them: set AutoUpdate=1 in hc09.ini in your install folder and start the game (it then offers the update), or run build\installer\HC09Setup.exe --update "<install folder>".

v0.6.0 — Setup wizard

Install

Download HC09Setup.exe below and run it. You need your own NFL Head Coach 09 (Xbox 360) disc image (.iso); no game data is included.

The wizard checks for the build tools, then imports the game from your disc image and builds it on your PC (about 1 GB of downloads and 10–20 minutes):

• Visual Studio 2022 or later (Community is fine) with Desktop development with C++, C++ Clang Compiler for Windows and C++ CMake tools for Windows
• Git for Windows

It can also turn on automatic update checks: the game then checks for a newer release at each launch and asks before updating.

Changes

• New setup wizard (HC09Setup.exe) and opt-in update checks
• The game reads the disc image location from hc09.ini
• Fixed the instant-replay cache (delete-on-close was ignored, so replay files could not be recreated)
• More debugging options (see the README)

Known issue: the video and ribbon boards at the Colts' stadium render as a flat bright slab; this comes from the game's own data (see the README).