Nexen v1.4.33 — Quality, Stability & Migration Improvements

18 commits | 12 issues resolved | 5,134 tests passing (3,690 C++ + 1,444 .NET) | Zero warnings

Nexen v1.4.33 is a comprehensive quality-and-stability release that wraps up the v1.4.32 performance triage and GameDataManager migration epic. This release features per-game data migration improvements, CI modernization to Node 24, WonderSwan timing validation hardening, a complete SteamOS guide rewrite, codebase cleanup eliminating all stale TODOv2 markers, and benchmark infrastructure for evidence-based performance work.

Highlights

Fixed

Per-game migration now requires user confirmation — #1274

The GameDataManager migration pipeline now checks for pending save state and battery save migrations before moving files. A confirmation dialog (ConfirmGameDataMigration) is displayed to the user, and a new GetPendingMigrationCount() API provides pre-migration enumeration. This prevents the jarring experience of files being silently reorganized on first load after an update.

Menu/config pause suppressed during ROM load — #1290, #1300

When "Pause when in menu" or "Pause when in config" was enabled, opening a ROM could trigger an unintended auto-pause during the load transition. The pause guard now correctly suppresses auto-pause events that fire during ROM load, ensuring seamless game startup.

Pansy.Core package-only enforcement — #1298, #1302

CI now validates that Pansy.Core is consumed strictly as a NuGet package (not a project reference), preventing accidental coupling between the Nexen and Pansy solutions. A UI resource prep step was added to the package-only validation lane to ensure the build completes end-to-end.

UTF-8 stream compatibility and test warnings — #1297

Restored UTF-8 stream compatibility for cross-platform builds and reduced test warning noise from StringUtilities size_t assertions. Also fixed escaped newline sequences (\n) appearing as literal text in published GitHub issue comments.

COMPILING.md Pansy dependency documentation — #1298, #1299

Added documentation for the Pansy.Core NuGet dependency and created decoupling plans for future separation.

Changed

GitHub Actions: Node 24 runtime — #1303

All CI workflows now set FORCE_JAVASCRIPT_ACTIONS_TO_NODE24: true in the environment, forcing the GitHub Actions runner to use Node 24 for all JavaScript-based actions. This eliminates the deprecation warnings that were cluttering every CI run since GitHub announced the Node 16/20 sunset.

TODOv2: issue-scoped TODO triage — #1281

All 20 files containing stale TODOv2 markers (inherited from the Mesen2 era) have been triaged. Each marker was either:

• Converted to TODO(#issue) format with a tracking issue reference
• Resolved and removed if the work was already done
• Documented as intentional divergence from upstream

SteamOS / Steam Deck guide — #1282, #1283

The SteamOS.md guide was entirely stale Mesen2 content. It has been completely rewritten with:

• Nexen-specific download and installation instructions
• Desktop Mode and Game Mode configuration
• Controller mapping guidance
• Performance tips for Steam Deck hardware
• Linked from the main README.md documentation section

First-party warning reduction — #1297

Batch reduction of first-party compiler warnings across Utilities/ and Core.Tests/. The CI windows warning delta is now gated on first-party signal only, preventing third-party header noise from blocking merges.

Added

WonderSwan timing gate hardening — #1285, #1287, #1076

Multi-event ordering assertions added to WS timing gate tests, providing improved validation of frame-level event sequencing. This work is part of the ongoing WonderSwan PPU accuracy investigation (#1076) and ensures that timing regressions are caught automatically.

Hotpath benchmark stabilization — #1216, #1218

• Repeatable run-memory-hotpath-benchmarks.ps1 script with labeled, timestamped JSON output
• GBA ProcessInternalCycle distribution coverage benchmarks
• Evidence-backed performance triage documentation showing that [[likely]]/[[unlikely]] annotations had no measurable effect on the tested hotpaths
• Documented approach for future PGO/profiling-guided optimization

Per-game migration count API — #1274

New GetPendingMigrationCount() method and localized ConfirmGameDataMigration dialog resource for the migration prompt flow.

Performance

Hotpath branch-prediction triage — #1216

Real emulator-path microbenchmarks were created for GBA and NES memory hotpaths to evaluate whether [[likely]]/[[unlikely]] C++20 attributes would improve performance. After rigorous benchmarking with --benchmark_repetitions=3 and multiple runs:

• Result: No statistically significant improvement detected
• Conclusion: Modern compilers (MSVC v145, clang 18) already optimize these branches well
• Next step: PGO (Profile-Guided Optimization) is the recommended path for further hotpath gains

Issues Resolved in This Release

Validation Summary

Downloads

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Linux

macOS (Apple Silicon)

Full Changelog: v1.4.32...v1.4.33