FelipePrado0/gow3_pc windows-v2.5.0

God of War III Remastered for PC 2.5.0

on GitHub

Windows and Linux packages have been built and passed their automated smoke tests. These notes cover the 26 pull requests merged since 2.4.1, through 5428f39 (#625), including the live engine frame rate (#622), the mods and patches guides (#623), and the version bump to 2.5.0. The final Windows package passed the maintainer's launcher and gameplay checklist on Windows 11 with an RX 6700 XT. Linux gameplay remains untested.

Controls

• Expanded keyboard and mouse controls (#351): bind mouse buttons and the wheel, configure Dodge and Grab, and activate Rage with one input. Rotation QTEs support keyboard inputs or mouse gestures. Mouse aiming supports sensitivity settings and Relative or Absolute right-stick behaviour. Saved bindings are preserved or migrated.
• Cursor capture follows the game (#351): mouse capture is released when pausing or losing focus and restored when returning to gameplay.
• In-game keyboard prompts follow your bindings (#471, #612): key labels, movement keys and weapon-selection keys reflect the configured controls. Automatic button icons use keyboard prompts when no controller is connected.
• Xbox and Nintendo controller diagrams in the pause menu (#234): the Controls screen now shows the matching controller drawing when using those button-icon styles. Enable In-game button icons and select the appropriate style in the launcher. The drawings ship with the project and are applied automatically; no separate mod download or installation is required. Keyboard and Original styles keep the PlayStation drawing. Gameplay and QTE button icons were already supported; this change completes the controller illustration.
• The launcher Controls page is organised by device, and Nintendo labels follow the physical button positions (#612).

Game

• Native Exit to Desktop (#462): the pause menu includes an exit entry with a Yes/No confirmation. It is also accessible through Options from the main menu. No external mod or overlay is needed. The exit label currently remains in English in every game language.
• Engine frame rate changes while the game runs (#622): Engine frame rate (60, 100, 120 or 240) moved to the Live section of the in-game menu and no longer needs a restart. R3 + L1 + R1 on the controller or F9 on the keyboard go through the list, with a short notice on screen; the three buttons are hidden from the game while held. This lets you drop to 60 FPS on the spot where a higher rate blocks progress (#114, #535) and go back afterwards. Every launch now takes the 240 FPS patch and writes the chosen rate into the game; the displayed frame rate never exceeds the engine rate, so game speed stays normal. The launcher keeps the same setting for the next start.
• 100 FPS option (#506): both the engine frame rate and frame-rate limit now offer 100 FPS, suitable for 100 Hz displays. Normal game speed was confirmed in game.

Graphics and resolutions

• 900p is built in: 1600 × 900 (#511).
• More display sizes (#521): 1280 × 800, 1440 × 900, 1360 × 768, 1280 × 960, 1440 × 1080, 1920 × 1440, 2048 × 1536, 2560 × 1920 and 5120 × 2160. No external resolution mod is needed. The 4:3 patches also correct the unwanted letterboxing.
• 1280 × 800, 1440 × 900, 1360 × 768 and 1280 × 960 have in-game confirmation and are no longer marked beta. The other new sizes remain beta. Existing beta sizes retain their labels.
• Aspect-ratio filter on Home and Performance (#618): narrow the resolution list to your display shape. If the current size is outside the selected group, the launcher selects the closest available size.
• Correct brightness at lower resolutions (#613): corrected the half-resolution postprocessing buffers used at 480p, 720p and 900p. This fixes the excessive brightness reported at 480p (#390). It does not resolve every GPU-specific lighting issue listed below.
• The game window initially matches the selected render resolution and fits the usable desktop when the requested size is too large (#470).
• Added a guard against empty shader input in the recompiler (#398). This handles one invalid-input case; it is not a general fix for shader or GPU crashes.

Requests addressed

These open requests are covered by the changes above and can be closed once players confirm them on 2.5.0: keyboard & mouse controls with mouse buttons, a Dodge key and one-key Rage (#350, #518, via #351), keyboard prompts in game (#207, #486, via #471 and #612), a way to close the game from its own menu (#161, via #462), and the Diagnostics panel overlapping the Log (#236, via #559).

Mods

Mods replace textures, models, sounds, text and videos without touching your game folder. The full guide is in docs/MODS.md, and game patches have their own guide in docs/PATCHES.md (#623).

• Dedicated Mods page (#597): mods moved out of the Game page into their own page, with:
  • Load mods, a master switch that also turns off the mods' game patches;
  • Load order with a checkbox per mod and arrows to reorder; the lower mod in the list wins a file that two mods replace, and a counter shows how many are active;
  • Conflicts: a warning under the list when more than one active mod replaces the same file, a ⚠ beside each mod involved and Details with every disputed file and the order of the mods (the last one wins; mods are never merged inside one file);
  • A details panel for the selected mod: picture, name, author, version, description, number of files, whether it carries game patches, its conflicts, and buttons to open its folder and website;
  • Presets (Save, Load, Delete) for the order and the enabled mods, kept in mods_presets.json; mods that no longer exist are skipped and new ones are added at the end;
  • Third-party patches and the mods and patches folders on the same page.
• Mod details from the mod itself (#597): an optional mod.json (name, author, version, description, url) and a preview.png or .jpg beside EXEC/. Without them the launcher uses the folder name, the start of a readme and the first picture in the folder. Links only open when they start with http:// or https://.
• Mods laid out as the game is (#595): EXEC/... and the language folders (ENGLISH/, PORTUGUESE/ and the others) at the top of the mod folder, as well as dvdroot_ps4/EXEC/... (shadPS4), app0/EXEC/... and one wrapper folder around either (an archive extracted into a folder of its own name). eboot.bin, sce_module and sce_sys are always refused. This addresses the layouts reported in #473 and #574.
• Regional and disc layouts (#234): data folders found in the selected game's root (for example JAPANESE/ in an Asian release) are accepted for that game only, so a mapping learned from another installation never leaks into its mods.
• Network-share compatibility (#507): game, update and mod overlays fall back to real directories with hard links or copies when an SMB share allows neither symlinks nor junctions. Source game files are preserved.
• Packaged launcher support (#234): the mod loader is read from disk, so the frozen launcher uses the shipped loader.
  Unchanged but worth knowing: a .zip dropped into the mods folder is still unpacked automatically (unsafe paths, links and more than 16 GiB unpacked are refused; 7z and RAR must be extracted first), and the log still lists which mod won each disputed file (Mods: EXEC/...: A -> B) and the total (Mods: 12 game files replaced, 0 added; 0 game files replaced usually means the paths inside the mod are wrong).

Mods are layered through a mod-game-* view that is removed when the game exits. If one is left behind after a crash, it points into your game folder: do not delete it with tools that follow links (such as rm -rf in Git Bash or WSL).

Documentation

• Mods guide rewritten (#623) in English, with Portuguese and Spanish versions: what each game folder holds and whether a mod can replace it, which WAD holds what, examples, common problems, every mod.json field, presets, how mods are applied and a section on sharing mods and copyright, with screenshots of the Mods page.
• New patches guide (#623) in the same three languages: the built-in patches and who turns them on, what happens at start, how to read the log, why a patch does not apply, the XML format with signatures and targets, patches in mods and third-party patches.

Launcher

• HiDPI scaling (#584): Auto, 1x and 2x GUI scaling, with text, icons and spacing adjusted together.
• More reliable save-backup retention (#550): backups created within the same second are ordered correctly, preserving the newest backups.
• Support for valid unpacked PS4 ELF files during game preparation (#552), alongside existing SELF support. Invalid, incomplete or unsupported game files can still fail preparation.
• Logging continues when the launcher closes its window after starting the game (#554): hiding the window keeps the output reader alive. The original packaged-build report still needs confirmation with the final release package.
• Diagnostics expand above the Log without overlapping it (#559).
• Game artwork falls back to the base game when a separate update contains no artwork (#553).
• Completed the Spanish launcher translation (#612).

Linux

• Updated Steam/AppImage troubleshooting (#558), including use of the host/default runtime when Steam Linux Runtime fails to launch the native AppImage. The native AppImage should not be run through Proton.
• The current AppImage build targets Ubuntu 24.04 / glibc 2.39 or newer. The 2.5.0 AppImage passed launcher smoke tests on Debian 13, Fedora 42, Ubuntu 24.04, Arch Linux and openSUSE Tumbleweed. Linux gameplay validation is still pending.

Known issues

The reports below remain open at the time of this release. They do not affect every system, and not all have been reproduced on the final 2.5.0 packages attached to this release. A merged feature or a successful automated test does not mean these reports are fixed. Workarounds are included only where there is supporting confirmation; they are not guaranteed on every setup.

Start, focus changes and crashes

• Some systems fail to start, close after the logo or opening cinematic, or crash shortly after a session begins (#213, #379, #404, #457, #610). There is no single confirmed cause or universal workaround.
• Exclusive Fullscreen can crash after Alt+Tab or losing focus (#325). Use Borderless as the reported workaround.
• Progress-specific crashes remain reported in the Labyrinth after acquiring Boreas Icestorm (#453), when upgrading the Bow of Apollo (#316) or Nemesis Whip (#508, #515), on a later visit to Hephaestus (#400), and when loading a Chamber of the Flame save (#587). These are separate reports; a common cause has not been established.
• Some preparation failures remain under investigation (#452). Valid unpacked ELF input is now supported, but this does not make every expected PS4 SELF error fixed. Include the preparation log when reporting a remaining failure.

Loading and progression

• Loading can remain stuck after the Hades fight (#345) or when entering the Forge after the statue fight (#428, #586). Missing or void geometry near Hephaestus is also reported on Linux (#405); its connection to the loading failures is unconfirmed.
• High frame rates can block traversal, wall movement and button-mash prompts (#114, #535; the log-lifting report in #589 matches the earlier #44 but is not confirmed yet). Some movement and mash checks in the game still assume 60 FPS. Press R3 + L1 + R1 or F9 until the notice shows 60 FPS, pass the section, then press again to return to your rate; no restart is needed. Players confirmed that the #114 ledge is crossed at 60 FPS. The underlying per-frame logic is not fixed yet.
• The Chain of Balance section can leave Kratos stuck on a grapple point, freeze when the wings open in the steam, or end in an endless loading screen (#526, #562, #433); a missing floor on the chain near Athena is also reported (#195). Whether a lower engine frame rate helps there has not been confirmed.
• An endless loading screen is reported after the Poseidon fight (#565), and one gap in the Realm of Hades cannot be crossed even at 60 FPS (#620).
• Hermes QTE prompts can appear late or be missing, causing an automatic failure (#547). No general fix is confirmed. The new rotation-QTE controls do not resolve every QTE timing or progression problem.

Textures, lighting and image placement

• Textures can turn orange or become corrupted during a session or after Rage (#435, #416). Restarting the game has helped; some players also recover by reloading a checkpoint. Geometry, water, floor and camera rendering problems remain reported in other scenes (#450, #454, #455).
• Corrupted sky or effects are reported on some AMD setups (#410). A small 3D picture rendered in a corner is also still reported (#121, #598). The window-sizing change is not a confirmed fix for that rendering issue.
• Some Intel Iris Plus, Iris Xe and other integrated-GPU setups show excessive lighting, white areas or flashing colours (#260, #544). These reports are separate from the fixed 480p postprocessing problem.
• 16x anisotropic filtering can produce angle-dependent texture problems (#485). Disabling anisotropic filtering helped the reporter; try a lower setting or disable it if affected.
• Some button labels can look off-centre with the current font (#581).

GPU-specific compatibility

• Intel HD 630: real-time 3D can render black or blue while video and interface elements remain visible (#35). Improvements from separate experimental builds are not included as a confirmed fix in this release.
• Intel Iris Xe: crashes, black screens or hangs during startup and level loading remain reported (#403, #568). First-load crashes are also tracked in #188, which includes hybrid-laptop reports and is not exclusively an Intel issue.
• Intel UHD: Device lost during submit can occur during area loads or longer sessions (#334).
• AMD RX 580: an unsupported Format10_11_11 surface can still cause a crash (#287). No fix for this report is included among the changes since 2.4.1.

Ultrawide, aspect ratios and beta resolutions

• The main menu's darkened background covers only its central 16:9 region, leaving lighter sides. Some HUD elements and QTE prompts retain a 16:9 layout, and screen edges can briefly flash black during camera transitions.
• Pre-rendered cutscenes remain 16:9 with black bars. This is expected: the videos do not contain additional image content for wider displays. A very wide field of view, particularly 32:9, also stretches perspective near the edges.
• Resolutions marked beta still need wider hardware and gameplay validation. This includes the existing ultrawide sizes and 1920 × 1200 / 2560 × 1600, plus 1440 × 1080, 1920 × 1440, 2048 × 1536, 2560 × 1920 and 5120 × 2160.
• 5120 × 2160 has substantially higher memory requirements. Insufficient available memory or pagefile capacity can prevent allocation; adding the resolution does not guarantee it will run on every system.

Performance and cache

• Shader compilation and first-time effects can still cause stutter, and area changes can produce frame-time spikes. This update does not eliminate shader warmup or all performance drops.
• The shader/pipeline cache can grow to 20 GB or more (#177).
• The performance overlay can add input lag (#153), with reports on Linux and Windows. Disable the overlay if affected.
• Fast screen effects can look stretched or shifted on some setups. Disable Performance → GPU data → Fast screen effects (Rage of Sparta, weapons) if the image looks wrong. Intel validation remains incomplete.

Audio

• Echoing, audio glitches or effects becoming out of sync remain reported during Hephaestus' cinematic (#264).
• Some saved-preference configurations can start without sound and leave the in-game Options menu unresponsive (#579). No universal fix is confirmed; include the startup log and game version in a report.

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. Check existing reports first and add evidence there when the symptoms match.

Validation

• Python suite rerun after the 2.5.0 version bump and version-test update (#624, #625): 493 tests run, 72 skipped, no failures. Skipped tests are not counted as validated behaviour.
• Live engine frame rate: one launch on Windows (RX 6700 XT) went through 60, 100, 120 and 240 with R3 + L1 + R1 and measured 60.0, 100.0, 120.0 and 240.0 FPS, without a crash; the #114 ledge was crossed at 60 FPS and fails at 240. The pad, pad map and graphics settings tests pass, and tests/test_pad.c links again (it lacked the mouse stubs on main). Long play at 100 and 240 (speed, QTEs, cutscenes) and the 6e72330e… eboot build were not checked yet.
• Xbox and Nintendo controller diagrams were confirmed visually in game on Windows with an RX 6700 XT, including the final 2.5.0 Windows package in the maintainer's checklist.
• PR reviews record in-game confirmation of normal-speed 100 FPS and of 1280 × 800, 1440 × 900, 1360 × 768 and 1280 × 960. These are scoped checks, not certification of every resolution or GPU.
• Final packages built from 5428f3944962a1d9b5742eba644087aa14a4a2a7: 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 both attached packages and verified their SHA-256 checksums. The Windows ZIP passed its CRC check and contains the native executable, loader, mod loader, glyph generator and both controller diagrams.
• Final Windows package validated by the maintainer: the extracted release ZIP was opened on Windows 11 with an RX 6700 XT, and the launcher/gameplay checklist was confirmed as passed. Launcher checks covered version 2.5.0, Portuguese text, GUI scaling, Diagnostics layout, aspect-ratio filtering, bindings and Mods page details/order/conflicts/presets. Gameplay checks covered launch, save/load, keyboard/mouse controls and prompts, controller diagrams, rotation QTE controls, live 60/100/120/240 FPS switching and normal speed, the traversal workaround at 60 FPS, brightness at 480p/720p/900p, the usual resolution, Borderless focus/cursor behaviour, combat/Rage rendering and audio, and cancelling/confirming Exit to Desktop. This is a scoped manual check, not a full playthrough or validation of every known issue.
• No final-package Linux gameplay validation has been completed for 2.5.0.

Credits

Thanks to @kris-c-anderson, @MayankS-Code, @hmathsan, @leodascripto, @coniose, @R8s6, @Rajinder798, @KauaRios, @GiulioCDI, @kavishgr and @yash27git for contributions included in this update, and to the players who supplied reproductions, logs, saves and in-game checks.

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

Full changelog: 2.4.1 to the release commit