chrissotraidis/bluewake v0.10.0

BlueWake 0.10.0

on GitHub

BlueWake 0.10.0 makes the game faster on every platform, most of all on the Steam Deck and slower PCs, fixes the HD look's dark outline around Link and its flickering shadows, puts the stars back in the night sky, and brings the first ready-made Linux AppImage. Every version needs your own USA (GZLE01) disc image. The ready-made Windows and Linux builds include the game code translated from my disc; nothing else from the game is included.

Install

Windows: download BlueWake-v0.10.0-windows-x64.zip, unpack the whole folder and run BlueWake.exe. Your saves and settings in %APPDATA%\BlueWake carry over. You need Windows 10 or 11 and a CPU with AVX2. SHA-256 of the zip: c56325884ef6f3f4cc502dd6c129e16a6d66316082a546bb3a99476dcd668f66. BlueWake.exe isn't code-signed, so a new build can be flagged by mistake; check the SHA-256 and see If Windows says it's a virus.

Linux and Steam Deck: download BlueWake-v0.10.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage, make it executable (chmod +x, or Properties › Permissions on the Deck's desktop) and run it. On its first start it asks for your disc image. Your saves in ~/.local/share/BlueWake are kept. You need a CPU with AVX2. SHA-256: 2f5c1305de1bf934fdbace34e559fe1c3781380323380c17b73135e3ad1510fc. To build it yourself instead, see docs/LINUX.md.

iPhone and iPad: build your app with PadMint on an Apple Silicon Mac. It downloads BlueWake-v0.10.0-ios-unsigned.ipa (the app without game code) and adds the game made from your disc. Install it over your current BlueWake to keep your saves.

Mac: build it from this release's source: scripts/builder/build.sh "/path/to/GZLE01.iso" --platform macos --out build/macos. Your saves in ~/Library/Application Support/BlueWake are kept.

Android (experimental): build it yourself from your own disc, as docs/ANDROID.md describes. It now runs on Android 10 and newer.

What's new

Faster everywhere (thanks to irregularthanis and pdale-boop)

• The translated game spends less time saving and restoring registers, and finding where the game keeps its collision data. Against 0.9.0 on the benchmark tour it's 7 to 11% faster at every stop on my Mac (M3 Max) and 8 to 11% on my iPad Pro. Contributors measured about 14% on a Steam Deck (one lava cave a third faster) and about 6% on Windows and Linux PCs. Every build you make trains on its own, so this needs nothing from you.

The Wind Waker HD look (thanks to pdale-boop, for #491)

• No more dark outline around Link, and no dark patch on the floor in front of him.
• Shadows no longer flicker when a hit shakes the camera, the clouds keep their shading, the sky stays sharp, torches are softer, and sun shadows no longer stripe walls or shade islands in blocks.
• A switch for each part of the look, in Wind Waker HD look settings under the look on the Display tab. Sun shadows moved there from Mods › Experimental, and F2 now turns them off with the rest of the look.
• New, off until you turn them on: HD's sky and light (Wind Waker HD's sky colours and sunlight for the hour, with choices for how strong the sunlight is and how dark the sun shadows are), and HD's clouds in the sky. Both read your own Wind Waker HD files, so import your HD textures again to get them. Sun shadows are also timed and shaped as in Wind Waker HD.

Fixes

• The stars are back in the night sky, for everyone, and stay steady with Smooth Motion (thanks to pdale-boop).
• Linux and Steam Deck: closing BlueWake from Steam's menu no longer resets all your settings (#511).
• Mac: the audio no longer holds the game back on top of the clock, as on every other platform (#509).
• Building with PadMint works again on Macs that use Apple's own Python 3.9 (#496).
• Linux's first start says when the data folder is out of space, instead of blaming the disc (thanks to jkoehler11, #479).
• The Windows builder finds the Windows SDK on PCs where a policy blocks reg.exe (thanks to imcamilouribe).

Menus and controls (thanks to pdale-boop)

• Nintendo button layout: one switch that swaps A and B, and X and Y, so a Switch controller's buttons do what their letters say. It turns on by itself the first time BlueWake starts with a Switch controller or Joy-Cons. It replaces Swap A and B and Swap X and Y: if you had only one of those on, check Controls.
• A setting your settings file left empty now shows its real state (Direct right-stick camera showed off while it was on).
• With a controller, the menu scrolls on to the notes at the end of a tab, and a greyed setting says which switch turns it on.
• Smooth Motion under sustained load: Automatic, or Never pause, for when Smooth Motion keeps pausing while the game holds 30 FPS (thanks to irregularthanis, #473).

Saves

• Export Dolphin Save… on iPhone, iPad and Android writes your three quest logs out as a .gci that Dolphin opens. Your card is only read (thanks to jkoehler11, #508).

How it was checked

I built 0.10.0 and 0.9.0 for the Mac from my own disc the same way and ran the benchmark tour on both, alternating, from one saved moment: 0.10.0 was 7 to 11% faster at every stop (Outset, Windfall, Dragon Roost Cavern, Forest Haven, the sea by the Fortress), and both builds reached exactly the same game state at every checkpoint. All 468 places in the stage select ended the same way as in 0.9.0, with my save untouched. With the HD look off the picture matches 0.9.0's, except that the night sky has its stars again; with it on, Outset's pier has no outline around Link and no dark band on the sea. I installed 0.10.0 on my iPad Pro, where the same tour ran 8 to 11% faster than 0.9.0 did last week. PadMint made a complete iPhone and iPad build of this release on a Mac the way a player's PadMint does, from a fresh copy of the source with Apple's Python. Exporting a Dolphin save from my own card wrote all three quest logs and left the card as it was.

I built the Windows version on my PC (Ryzen 7 5700U) from my own disc and the same commit: it started with Direct3D 12 and quit cleanly. I didn't play it on Windows this time, so the HD look, the stars, saving and the controller menu haven't been checked by hand there, and I haven't measured its speed against 0.9.0 myself. The Linux AppImage was built on the same PC from the same commit in the Linux CI container; it passed its compatibility check (it needs nothing newer than glibc 2.38) and started to the title screen. I haven't played it on Linux or a Steam Deck myself; contributors have played these changes on Linux and measured them on a Steam Deck.

Known problems

• On slower CPUs the game can still dip below full speed where its own thread is the limit, at Outset most of all (#215, #427).
• With the HD look's sun shadows, Outset at sunrise shows streaks.
• Dragon Roost Cavern can flicker on Windows at 60 FPS and above (#483); it's being looked into.
• Some flags and the poles on the barrels are missing their textures (#505, #69).
• The Wind Temple's rooms R04 and R08 need an opt-in switch to load from the stage select (#318).

Thanks to pdale-boop, irregularthanis, jkoehler11, imcamilouribe, and everyone who reported a bug.

Found a problem? Open an issue or ask on Discord, and attach your session log (%APPDATA%\BlueWake\logs on Windows; ~/.local/share/BlueWake/logs on Linux; ⋯ › Help & Feedback › Share Session Log on iPhone and iPad).