bc160201983/GoW-Ascension-Recomp v0.1.32

0.1.32: online multiplayer, 5.1 surround, ambient occlusion

on GitHub

Online multiplayer is back in the port

Community online multiplayer is now part of the normal download (it was only in test packages before).

• New Online page in the launcher: play on a community server, on your own network (LAN), or host your own
  server (https://github.com/bc160201983/gowa-community-server).
• No server is built in. Type the address of a community server in the Server box, use LAN, or host one.
• Match codes for private games with friends, a server list with ping and players searching, leaderboards, and an
  optional Discord status with a Join button.
• You need your own Online Pass (INDEX.EDAT from your PS3) and the same game region as the other players.
  README-ONLINE.txt in the download explains everything.
• Offline Multiplayer patches are back too (Patches page, experimental).

5.1 surround sound

The game mixes 5.1 sound, but the port always folded it down to stereo, so surround speakers stayed silent.

• When Windows is set to 5.1 or 7.1 speakers, the port now sends real 5.1. Stereo setups are unchanged.
• Measured on a recording of the 6 channels: front, center, subwoofer and both surround channels all carry sound.
  We could not test it on real surround speakers: please tell us how it sounds.

Ambient occlusion (new option, off by default)

• Graphics page -> Lighting -> Ambient occlusion: soft contact shadows in corners, under ledges and where
  characters stand. Not part of the PS3 game.
• No measurable frame-rate cost on our RTX 5080 test PC (the game is limited by the CPU there).

For modders

• Texture packs: LD_TEX_DUMP=<folder> writes every game texture as a PNG; LD_TEX_PACK=<folder> loads your
  edited or upscaled PNGs (any size) in their place. About 1% slower with a full pack in our test.
• Shader edits: LD_HLSL_DUMP=<folder> writes the game's shaders as HLSL; put an edited ps_<hash>.hlsl /
  vs_<hash>.hlsl in the folder named by LD_HLSL_REPLACE and the game uses it.
• Both are off unless you set them. Packs are made from the game's own art: share them as the community does,
  they are not part of this project.