Changes
- 4K rendering (#96, Issue #94): Rendering resolution now offers 3840 x 2160 (300%) beside 360p to 1440p. 1440p was only the largest choice listed and tested, not a limit of the renderer. 4K needs a strong GPU: if races drop below 60 fps, use 1440p.
- Steadier Kinect v2 tracking (#98, Issue #97): Kinect v1's SDK can smooth a skeleton, but the Kinect v2 SDK has nothing like it, so a v2's joints reached the game as measured and shook. They are now smoothed with the same filter and settings v1 uses, for about a frame of delay.
- Kinect tuning in the launcher (#98): Motion input > Kinect gains Smooth Kinect v2 tracking, Lean sensitivity (10–100 %) and Crouch depth (5–35 cm). At their defaults the game behaves as before.
Validation
- 4K, a Dolphin Resort race on an RTX 4090: D3D12 and Vulkan drew 3840 x 2160 frames with full detail, no errors, at the 60 fps cap.
- Kinect v2 smoothing, unit tests:
- a still joint stays put;
- a centimetre of shake is more than halved;
- a half-metre move is followed without the output running more than 4 cm ahead;
- untracked joints and new bodies start over.
- Not tested on a real Kinect v2: we do not have one. Reports are welcome in Issue #97.
- Unit tests: CTest passed on Windows (146) and Linux (138), and the Python tests (335) passed. GitHub Actions builds passed (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android).
- Windows package: completed race checks on D3D12 and Vulkan, every pipeline prepared and the save left unchanged.
- Linux package: passed a Vulkan startup smoke test in WSL (all 455 pipelines prepared).
- This release's Android 10+ APK on an AYN Thor: all 455 Vulkan pipelines prepared, a race completed without errors at 55.2 fps without frame metrics. The device was set to host online play; v0.7.0 measured 59.2 fps there with online play off, and that difference is being looked into.
- Android: the APKs keep the existing signing certificate.
Downloads
- Windows x64: download and extract the Windows ZIP; run
FreeRidersRecompiled.exe. - Linux x64: download and extract the Linux archive; run
FreeRidersRecompiled. - Android 10 or later: prefer
android10-arm64.apk. - Android 9: use
android-arm64.apk. - Android version code: 39. The companion licence archive applies to both APKs.
- Checksums:
SHA256SUMS.txt.
Use your own game disc image. No game data, private saves or test overrides are included.
Known limitations
- Kinect:
- Physical Kinect input is Windows-only.
- Kinect v2 has not been played on real hardware here.
- A calibration screen is not available yet.
- Online play:
- Everyone should use the same version.
- Tested on a home network only.
- At most three players have been tested in one race.
- Being investigated: the start-up crash on Vulkan 1.1 phones (Issue #88); a crash at start on a Galaxy Tab A9 (Mali-G57, Issue #1); a race crash on 4-core PCs (Issue #64; v0.6.11 has a fix, waiting for the reporter).
- Relay Race: 2P vs 2P is not supported yet.
- From v0.5.0: lighting has not been compared with the Xbox 360; no camera motion inference on Linux or Android; performance varies by device.