Supermedo/bloodborne_pc windows-v1.9.5

Bloodborne for Windows 1.9.5: our own online servers, steady at any frame rate, fewer crashes

on GitHub

Our own online servers, PC Settings in the game's menu, cloth, plants and jumps that behave at any frame rate, the most common random crash fixed, Ebrietas without frame drops, low-latency options, and much more since 1.9.4.

Installing: unpack it into a new, empty folder, or over 1.9.4 or a 1.9.5 beta. Your first start rebuilds the shader cache once, so it takes a little longer and may stutter for the first minutes.

Important: online servers

The port now plays on its own servers. SuperMedo Server is the default and recommended, and The Hunter's Dream stays available for any players who want to use their server. Other servers can no longer be chosen: if you used one, you now play on SuperMedo Server. Sign in, or make a free account, on the Online page. (Seamless co-op's own "open launcher + BBSC" start keeps its server.)

Crashes and start problems

• Ebrietas' arena no longer loses its map and textures until a restart when the game leaves a resource table empty for a moment.
• Fixed the most common random crash (ucrtbase.dll, often after about an hour, often in busy fights, and likely the crash when hitting enemies). Two causes, both fixed:
  • the game's per-frame render heaps were too small for a busy frame; they are now 1 MiB instead of 256 KiB;
  • occlusion results were written out of the game's order and slowly filled a heap until it crashed after about 28 minutes.
• "STOP: reserving the PS4 address range … error 487" (error code 21) no longer stops the game. When another program already sits where the game needs its memory, the game restarts itself with that memory reserved first, and the log names what was in the way.
• Fixed a crash after travelling with a lamp, and a crash right after Continue.
• After the graphics driver resets ("device lost"), the game now closes with the driver's error report instead of freezing on its last frame with the sound still playing.
• Fixed a crash in online play when The Hunter's Dream's server was slow to answer: the game no longer crashes on an online event that arrives without its data.
• The game always starts with Quit to Desktop and Rebirth on. On some PCs with the game on another drive, preparing their menu texts never finished and the game never launched. After a minute, the game now starts without them and the log says so.
• A mod that reads the game's memory from the start (BBSC's bbsc.dll) no longer crashes it while the game is being loaded.
• A rare stop on 4 GB cards under memory pressure ("Unknown data_format=14 and num_format=1") no longer ends the game.
• Mods no longer fill your drive. With the game and the port on different drives, every mod file was copied again at every start (one player's out folder reached 400 GB). Mod files are now copied once and reused.

Frame rate and gameplay

• Capes and coats hang like on the PS4 at any frame rate, and no longer spaz out when the frame rate stutters. On by default: Gameplay → "Cloth as on PS4 at higher frame rates".
• Plants no longer jolt or sway too fast at higher or uneven frame rates (the Hunter's Dream's flowers, Hemwick's lavender). Always on.
• Jumps go as far at any frame rate as on the PS4. At 120 FPS some gaps couldn't be cleared.
• Ebrietas' fight without the big frame drops: above 60 FPS (Uncap FPS++ and 90 FPS++) effects step in whole 1/60 s, so particles no longer pile up.

Performance and latency

• Faster starts: saved shaders are built on all CPU cores, and the graphics driver keeps its own compiled shaders between starts.
• New options under All graphics → Frame rate, all off by default:
  • Low latency: NVIDIA Reflex on GeForce, AMD Anti-Lag 2 on Radeon; "On + Boost" keeps the GPU clocks up.
  • Variable refresh rate (VRR) for G-Sync and FreeSync displays.
  • Send frames to the GPU in parts: about 2 ms less lag on NVIDIA; not offered on AMD Radeon, where it is slower.
  • New shaders while playing, in the background: a new area doesn't stutter while its shaders compile.
• Fresher input: the controller is read as the game asks for it, keyboard and mouse every millisecond.

PC Settings in the game's menu

• The game's own System menu has PC Graphics, PC Effects and PC Options pages, built like the game's settings pages, so the port's settings can be changed with the controller without the overlay.

Picture and upscaling

• FSR 4.1.2 and ML frame generation 4.0.2 (experimental, AMD). The Upscaler has one "FSR 4.1 (experimental)" entry with four methods: FSR 4.1.2 through your installed AMD driver (Vulkan or DX12), and FSR 4.1.1 (DX12 or fsr4vk) as before. A method is only offered when a real check on your card and driver passes; new settings pick the first one that works, otherwise FSR 3.1. Switch between them live in the in-game menu. ML frame generation 4.0.2 is a separate choice next to 4.0.1 (RX 9000, Windows 11). Guide: docs/FSR41_WINDOWS.md.
• Sharp UI: menus, HUD and text are drawn at the output resolution, sharper above 1080p.
• No more dark pictures or striped shadows from an old shader cache. The cache now remembers which build wrote it; one from another build is rebuilt instead of loaded, and outdated entries are no longer used.
• Picture cut off or wrong resolution fixed. When the launcher's patches folder pointed to another installation, that copy of the port's own patch file was applied on top (including the ultrawide template on 16:9 screens). Copies of the port's own file are now ignored, and other patches can't override your Output resolution.
• A game started without the launcher's window (Steam, shortcuts, BBSC's own scripts) now opens at your chosen resolution instead of a shrunk, blocky 1920×1080.
• The HUD no longer disappears with AMDNR's DLSS→FSR bridge on AMD cards.
• 8 GB graphics cards: the texture cache no longer throws away textures it still needs.
• Less likely to run out of video memory: game memory the graphics card hasn't used for a while is released when VRAM runs short, and a failed memory bind now stops with a message instead of hanging.
• Fixed flickering or missing pixels along the screen edges with the upscalers' subpixel jitter.
• A warning before video memory runs out, so you can save first, and more in the FPS counter: video memory in use, frame time, GPU, CPU and RAM, and a frame-time graph, each with its own switch in the in-game menu.
• HDR on in Windows: blacks are no longer lifted. The game is SDR; Windows showed it with the wrong curve near black.
• Exclusive fullscreen (Display → Screen): the game takes the display over instead of covering the desktop, which can even out frame pacing. Off by default.
• FSR 4's last passes are faster, most on AMD RX 6000 cards (where they were very slow), with the same picture.
• The readbacks "Off" setting, which could make your hunter's face "explode", is gone; Off becomes Relaxed.
• Object motion vectors show as unavailable, with the reason, on RX 6000 and older Radeons and on cards under 6 GB, where the game runs without them.
• The low-VRAM profile now also covers 6 GB cards on Auto, and the "Video memory is running low" banner can be switched off (Advanced → "Warn when video memory runs low").
• Choose what the FPS counter shows: All graphics → FPS counter has one box per line (FPS, frame time, render latency, video memory, GPU, CPU, RAM, frame-time graph), as the in-game menu does, and Value colours picks colour-coded or plain grey.

Rebirth at the Doll

• No more T-pose after Rebirth. Strength, Skill, Bloodtinge and Arcane stay at what your equipped weapons need.
• Your levels are free to regain again. In the betas, the level-up screen right after a Rebirth could charge full price for every level (and keep the lower level if you left). Levels up to the one you had now cost 0 Blood Echoes again, right away or later through Channel Blood Echoes.
• Changed your mind? Leave the level-up screen without regaining a level and the Rebirth is undone: your Insight, level and attributes come back.
• The level your character can regain for free is now saved safely, even with an antivirus or cloud sync holding the file; if it can't be saved, the Rebirth doesn't happen.
• The Rebirth option and its messages are in every game language.

Controls

• Jumps go as far at any frame rate as on the PS4. The game slows you in the air a fixed amount every frame, tuned for 30 FPS, so jumps got shorter the higher the frame rate: off the same ledge, 4.5 m at 60 FPS and 3.1 m at 120, and some gaps couldn't be cleared. The slowdown is now per second, as at 30 FPS, at any frame rate.
• The controller camera no longer speeds up or skips with Steam open (or reWASD, JoyToKey): the mouse movement those programs make from your controller is ignored. The launcher also explains how to turn Steam's Desktop Layout off, since its key presses can't be filtered.
• The in-game settings menu's key and controller combination can be changed or turned off (Controls → "In-game menu key" and "In-game menu on the controller"), so Insert can be bound to the game.
• Trigger dead zones from input.ini now work.
• The mouse cursor hides while you play with a controller.
• The mouse wheel click and the side buttons can be bound on the Controls page, and a × clears a slot.

Sound

• Less crackling on busy CPUs: the sound keeps a longer lead over Windows' audio device, and the game's mixer runs first.

Online

• SuperMedo Server, our own online servers, is the default. Sign in with Discord or make a free account on the Online page; messages, bloodstains and co-op all run there. When routers block a direct connection, co-op goes through the SuperMedo relay; players behind the same internet connection connect over their LAN; and a connection that fails gives up instead of hanging. The Hunter's Dream is off for now.
• Two servers to choose from: SuperMedo Server (the default) and The Hunter's Dream. shadPS4's public shadNet server doesn't accept this port, and own servers are no longer offered.
• The Hunter's Dream signs in and plays on its own server, and the sign-in tries again when the server stumbles instead of failing.
• Sign-in and the connection test work past expired certificates in Windows.
• Online works with Unlock Game Region and Chinese game text.
• Your router's port for online play is opened automatically (UPnP) again.
• BBSC (seamless co-op) through its own package plays its own save, separate from your characters, and normal online works again afterwards.
• Two servers to choose from: SuperMedo Server (the default) and The Hunter's Dream. Seamless co-op's own start keeps its server.
• Online on SuperMedo Server stays connected when idle, and a short network drop reconnects quietly.
• New players are asked to sign in instead of silently playing offline.
• Discord status: your area, the boss you're fighting and your level, while the Discord app runs.

Fixing common mistakes for you

• Saves: read-only save files are made writable before each start; a save in the wrong folder is copied to where the game reads it; a missing saves folder (a drive that isn't connected) is named before the start instead of the game showing no characters.
• Started from inside a zip or rar: one warning that the saves would be lost, before anything happens. Dropbox and Google Drive folders count as synced.
• Antivirus locks: a file an antivirus is scanning is tried again before the start fails.
• Game files from a PKG tool: a folder named Sc0 is used as sce_sys; a missing sce_module or sce_sys is named before the start.
• Wrong PC clock: automatic backups keep working, and a certificate error says the date is wrong.
• Settings: files edited by hand are read as meant and repaired; settings that can't be saved are named before the start; every write is all or nothing.
• Mods: a bare dvdroot_ps4 folder dropped into the mods folder no longer overrides every other mod.
• Play while the game runs brings its window to the front instead of starting a second game.
• Output resolution: your own size is set again over the game menu's 1920×1080.
• Online: a sign-in The Hunter's Dream refused is forgotten after the game, so the next Play asks again.

Launcher

• Faster: pages change about 3.5× faster, and the game starts faster.
• One window at a time: starting the launcher again brings the open one to the front.
• Safer updates: the program files are checked at start, so a build unpacked over an older one is caught instead of ending in a black screen ("bad patch entry").
• Better first settings: before starting, the launcher asks the graphics driver what the game needs and names a card that can't run it; a new bbport.ini gets settings that suit your PC; automatic settings no longer reset what you changed yourself.
• Help: an error starting from Steam or a shortcut opens the launcher on Help instead of closing silently; "Save a report" makes the BB Report Tool's zip; graphics driver crashes are named, and Steam's shader pre-caching layer is off for the game.
• Several installations side by side: each keeps its own shaders, other installations' folders are pointed out with one click to use this one's own, and achievements come along when you import characters (without a pile of "You've earned a trophy" notices).
• A backup after every game exit (Saves → Backups, off by default): the save as the game left it, also after a crash.
• Achievements in every language, with the game's own trophy artwork; Korean as a game language.
• Respec puts the save from before into the save backups; "Clear the shader cache" is back on Advanced; leftover modded game views are removed; clearer messages; every text translated.
• Game of the Year discs that report version 01.00 get all patches.
• What's new at the first start of each version, with anything you need to know; Help → What's new opens it again.
• Our Discord and website have their own buttons at the bottom of the side bar.
• A Report button beside Play makes the BB Report with this installation's own log.
• Changing the language in the setup guide no longer starts the guide over.
• Opening the launcher from the tray no longer closes it.

Known issues

• With Steam's Desktop Layout on, the controller's buttons can still arrive as key presses: turn the layout off (the launcher explains how).
• Not yet fixed: the "device lost" crash some NVIDIA players see in fights (send a report if you hit it), and the character creator preview freezing after many mesh swaps.
• One player lost map geometry in the passage toward Old Yharnam, and their characters saved there then hung on loading. Those characters load on other PCs, so we can move them to the Hunter's Dream: ask on the Discord, and send a memory dump of the hang (Task Manager → Details → bb-probe.exe → Create memory dump file) if it happens to you.

1.9.5 by Medo, Nick and Ethan, with contributions from andrecabralgit, DarkSpartan, EricDar12, fliperama86, JackRushante, k1m0206, Macypor, Maurdekye, Mitra-88, oat018, Pirvondal, RafaelHGOliveira, rattensuppe, serjeleone and yshtonytc. Thanks to everyone who tested the ten betas and sent reports and logs.