FelipePrado0/SpartanPort windows-v2.6.0

SpartanPort 2.6.0

on GitHub

gow3_pc is now SpartanPort. Updating from 2.5.0 through the launcher keeps your saves and settings: on the first start, the game settings, the launcher settings and, on Linux, the data folder are copied to their new names, and the old files stay where they were. These notes cover the 9 pull requests merged since 2.5.0, through 8ad72a8 (#803), including the rename (#755) and the version bump to 2.6.0 (#800).

SpartanPort

• New name and icon (#755): the launcher, the executables, the game window (#803), the packages and the docs are now SpartanPort, with the SP monogram as icon. The Windows package is spartanport-windows.zip and the Linux one spartanport-x86_64.AppImage.
• Nothing to redo after the update (#755): game settings, launcher settings, saves, mods and the desktop shortcut carry over. Shortcuts and Steam entries that start Play God of War III.exe keep working, and variables set by hand with the old GOW3_ prefix still apply.
• Linux: the AppImage keeps its data in ~/.local/share/spartanport. The GPU caches stay in the old folder, so the first game after the update compiles its shaders again and can stutter for a while. Steam launch options that call the AppImage by its old file name need the new name.

Game

• Automatic QTE (#729): new option in the in-game menu (Game → Cheats), off by default and toggled live. Single presses, stick rotations, repeated and held presses and the Circle struggle answer themselves. The Circle presses in part of the Poseidon fight still need the player: they go through the move system, not a QTE.
• Polish is in the launcher's Game language list (#632).
• Shoulder-button prompts aligned (#638): the L1, L2, R1 and R2 prompts no longer sit on the bottom edge of their frame. Button prompt textures are redrawn the first time the game starts after the update.

Graphics and resolutions

• 8K is built in (#702): 7680 × 4320 in the render resolution list and the in-game graphics menu, marked beta, with no mod needed. Scene buffers use a single sample at 8K to leave room for textures, which fixes the crash at start.

Launcher

• Portable launcher settings (#628): settings.json now lives in the port folder, next to the game settings, instead of %APPDATA% or ~/.config. The old file is copied over once and left in place.

Documentation

• Website: the project now has its own site, spartanport.com, designed and built by @WilkPrintes (#801).

Requests addressed

These open requests are covered by the changes above and can be closed once players confirm them on 2.6.0: Polish as a game language (#493, via #632), shoulder-button prompts misaligned with the HUD frame (#581, via #638) and portable launcher settings (#561, via #628).

Known issues

Same as 2.5.0: see the 2.5.0 release notes. Also:

• 8K is beta. It was validated in one area on Windows; full-game stability, Linux and other hardware remain unverified, and its memory requirements are higher than 5120 × 2160.
• Automatic QTE leaves a prompt kind to the player when its code site is not found; the log says how many kinds are ready.

For a new or continuing problem, open an issue with the release version, operating system, GPU and driver, render resolution, game title ID/update version, reproduction steps and relevant log.

Validation

• Python suite on the rename branch: 531 tests run, 72 skipped, no failures. Skipped tests are not counted as validated behaviour.
• Rename (#755): update from 2.5.0 through the launcher on Windows, keeping saves, settings and the desktop shortcut; the Linux AppImage in game; tests that a 2.5.0 player keeps saves and launcher settings on Windows and on Linux, and that the Linux move leaves the GPU caches behind.
• Automatic QTE (#729): single presses, repeated Circle and L1+R1 presses and gates checked in game.
• 8K (#702): gameplay validated on Windows in the Tomb of Ares.
• Polish (#632), shoulder-button prompts (#638) and portable settings (#628): covered by their unit tests; not checked in game.
• Final packages built from 8ad72a81ef2fe0387d5339b0a5e97c1f5093f78a: the Windows ZIP workflow passed its clean-runner launcher smoke test without MSYS2. The Linux AppImage workflow passed launcher smoke tests on Debian 13, Fedora 42, Ubuntu 24.04, Arch Linux and openSUSE Tumbleweed. Both packages and their SHA-256 files are attached to this release.
• Downloaded the attached Windows ZIP and verified its SHA-256 checksum; it carries SpartanPort.exe, Play SpartanPort.exe and the former God of War III.exe and Play God of War III.exe the 2.5.0 updater and shortcuts look for.
• Final Windows package validated by the maintainer: the extracted release ZIP was opened on Windows 11 and the checklist passed: the SpartanPort name and icon in the launcher and the game window, version 2.6.0, launcher settings carried over from 2.5.0, 8K (beta) and Polish in their lists, the update check, launch and save loading, Automatic QTE, the shoulder-button prompts with Xbox icons, live frame-rate switching, Exit to Desktop and settings kept after reopening. This is a scoped manual check, not a full playthrough.
• No final-package Linux gameplay validation has been completed for 2.6.0.

Credits

Thanks to @Rajinder798 and @Invictus-potens for contributions included in this update, to @WilkPrintes for the website, and to the players who supplied reproductions, logs and in-game checks.

This project builds on the work of Supermedo/bloodborne_pc, deadinside28/bloodborne_pc and shadPS4.

Full changelog: 2.5.0 to 2.6.0