v0.5.0

Renderer HLE is enabled in the Windows build to reduce slowdown in busy areas.
It replaces an expensive rendering routine with native work while preserving
its caller-visible results. The implementation is selected when building;
there is no player setting to enable it.

• Retains v0.4.0's interpolation, internal-resolution presets, PGXP, filtering,
  and widescreen fixes.
• Prevents false spin-freeze diagnostics while the game is still submitting
  new drawing commands.
• The HLE prototype held approximately 30 FPS at sampled checkpoints in
  Crabby Beach, Primordial Ooze, Molten Lava, Sushi Temple, Frosty Retreat,
  Dexter's Island, and Thick Jungle. Dexter improved from approximately
  27-28 FPS to 30 FPS in the measured cases. These were short checkpoint
  samples, not complete level playthroughs.
• The updated renderer passed 256 ABI boundary comparisons. Production
  cold-boot smoke checks confirmed HLE activation with optional interpolation
  and widescreen selected. Those checks do not establish full gameplay
  compatibility for every enhancement combination.

Please playtest the affected levels and report the exact location, selected
mods, and hardware for any remaining slowdown, rendering errors, or crashes.
Full-game completion and the absence of every possible slowdown are not
claimed. Cold-boot checks also recorded startup pacing/audio stalls whose
cause has not been isolated; this release does not resolve every source of
slowdown. Memory-card saves remain the way to transfer progress across older
builds whose save-state format is rejected.

The release contains one Windows x64 HLE package and its SHA-256 checksum.
Game-specific HLE build inputs remain outside this source repository; the
validated executable identity is recorded in packaging/release/runtime.json.

Download

• Windows x64: ApeEscapeRecomp-v0.5.0-windows-x64.zip
• Verify the download with ApeEscapeRecomp-v0.5.0-windows-x64.zip.sha256.

Extract the whole ZIP and run ApeEscapeRecomp.exe. Supply your own supported
Ape Escape (USA, SCUS-94423) disc image. OpenBIOS and its MIT notice are included.
The package includes 52 audited native overlay modules and the fallback
compilation toolchain. Source pins and the build-time HLE selection are recorded
in BUILD_PROVENANCE.json, framework_pins.txt, and RUNTIME_BUILD.json.

Please include your location in the level, selected mods and graphics settings,
and hardware when reporting a problem.