chrissotraidis/bluewake v0.9.0

BlueWake 0.9.0

on GitHub

BlueWake 0.9.0 makes the Mac, iPhone and iPad builds as fast as the PC builds, fixes the camera dipping with the right-stick camera, stops the flicker with Smooth Motion, and brings one settings menu to every computer. Every version needs your own USA (GZLE01) disc image. The ready-made Windows build includes the game code translated from my disc; nothing else from the game is included.

Install

Windows: download BlueWake-v0.9.0-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: 3c0edc36241fc1783693e1a9fa942995f4f32efec14fb3a9afc889a595da61ce. 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.

iPhone and iPad: build your app with PadMint on an Apple Silicon Mac. It downloads BlueWake-v0.9.0-ios-unsigned.ipa (the app without game code) and adds the game made from your disc, now with the faster preparations below. 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.

Linux: build it from this release's source with python3 scripts/linux/build.py /path/to/GZLE01.iso (steps in docs/LINUX.md). The container build works again at the player's CPU target. Contributors have built the AppImage from this release's commit with their own discs; a ready-made one will be added to this release once it's checked and uploaded.

Android (experimental): build it yourself from your own disc, as docs/ANDROID.md describes; the builder now runs on a Mac as well as Windows.

What's new

Much faster on Mac, iPhone and iPad

• Builds you make with PadMint or the builder now get the same module preparations and behaviour timing as the Windows and Linux builds. On the benchmark tour that's 75 to 79% more game frames a second on an iPad Pro (M2) and 64 to 77% on an M3 Max, with a smaller game module and a much shorter build. At normal speed the iPad's game thread is about half idle. --conservative builds it the old way.

Fixes

• The camera no longer dips for a frame every few seconds with Direct right-stick camera and aiming on (thanks to jslay88).
• No more flicker with Smooth Motion above 60 FPS in the HD look, the clouds, the wave crests and swimming (thanks to pdale-boop).
• Linux builds at the player's CPU target again (thanks to jslay88).

One menu on every computer (thanks to pdale-boop)

• Windows, Mac and Linux draw the same settings menu from one list, with controller navigation, contrast and text size, a Config tab, greyed settings that say why, and pausing under the menu as a setting.

Controls

• A controller can keep playing while another window is in front (Controls, off by default).
• Keep the right-stick camera but aim with the left stick: turn off The right stick aims too (first person, items).
• On iPhone and iPad, the menu's switches keep the menu open, so you can change several settings in one visit.

HD textures from a real Wind Waker HD disc image (thanks to jkoehler11)

• The importer reads the content a real WUD/WUX stores, takes a key file, a pasted key or an emulator keys.txt as it is, keeps the form after a mistake, and says what it imported and skipped.

Also new

• Sun shadows from a shadow map in the HD look, so what's off screen still casts a shadow (thanks to pdale-boop). Off by default, under Mods › Experimental.
• A sea compass switch: the red end points the way you're sailing (thanks to jslay88). Off by default, with Better Wind Waker's settings.
• On iPhone, iPad and Android, Share Session Log includes the session before, so a crash can be reported after relaunching.

How it was checked

I built the Mac and iPad versions from my own disc and played the iPad build: steady at 30 FPS with no dips, Smooth Motion and the touch controls fine. On the iPad Pro the benchmark tour (Outset, Windfall, Dragon Roost Cavern, Forest Haven, the sea by the Fortress) ran 75 to 79% faster than 0.8.0 at every stop, with my save untouched. On the Mac all 468 places in the stage select ended the same way as in 0.8.0, and a scripted stand-still with the right-stick camera showed no dips in three minutes, against one every few seconds without the fix. I built the Windows version on my PC (Ryzen 7 5700U) from my own disc, from the same commit, in 85 minutes; it started, drew with Direct3D 12 and quit cleanly after a long run at the title and opening. I didn't play it on Windows this time, so the camera, Smooth Motion and saving haven't been checked by hand there. I built the iPhone and iPad app without game code from this release's commit and checked that it holds no game code. PadMint then made a complete iPhone and iPad build from it on a Mac the way a player's PadMint does, from a fresh copy of the source.

Known problems

• 0.9.0 doesn't make Windows, Linux, the Steam Deck or Android faster than 0.8.0. On slower CPUs the game can still dip below full speed where its own thread is the limit (#215, #427); that's the next version's focus.
• The Wind Temple's rooms R04 and R08 need an opt-in switch to load from the stage select (#318).

Thanks to pdale-boop, jslay88, jkoehler11, irregularthanis, benwolfram, cforain, LiquidAzir and Elliott Tate.

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