SOLAR64 DX12 tier-1 compatibility test — 2026.10.13-dx15

64-bit Windows 10/11. No administrator access or installer needed.
Extract this ZIP into your SOLAR64 folder, then double-click
Test-DX12-Tier1.bat. Keep your usual roms folder/settings.
If requested, select your own Mario Kart 64 (USA) and Cruis'n Exotica
(USA) ROMs. This download contains no ROMs or Dreamcast model data.

This build forces DX12, fixed sampler bindings and CPU mesh batching.
Selected-track flyovers remain visible in Performance mode, with reduced
MSAA/bloom settings. Course preparation still uses bounded background loading.
It starts with Performance mode and the F2 diagnostic display enabled.
The diagnostic display names the adapter actually rendering the game.
For the NVS 310, look for NVIDIA NVS 310 and Device: DiscreteGpu.
Microsoft Basic Render Driver / Device: Cpu means software rendering.

This revision releases old render-target views before resizing DX12's
display buffers, including views left by a menu-to-race scene change.
The first race can take longer while FXC compiles its shaders, especially
under Proton. DX12 now compiles pipelines on background workers so the
loading spinner and timer can update. A slow first load is separate from a crash; any
error is saved to last-error.log and included in the diagnostic report.

Close the game after testing. The launcher creates and opens
SOLAR64-diagnostic-report.txt next to the EXE, or falls back to:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\SOLAR64\diagnostic-report.txt
Send that text file back. It includes fresh launch logs, GPU/driver
details, exit status and matching Windows application crash events.
A native crash may also create last-crash.dmp in that settings folder.
Reports stay on your PC; nothing is uploaded automatically.

This is a separately named test build with manual updates. The normal
EXE and existing OpenGL compatibility EXE remain available.
Local testing constrains a newer GPU to DX12 binding tier 1 and feature
level 11_0; that does not emulate an NVS 310 or its 2018 NVIDIA driver.
That physical machine still needs to validate driver compatibility.

Devil Jin is now supported with a private Tekken 5 USA import. Place
deviljin.bin.z at assets/deviljin/deviljin.bin.z beside this EXE. Original
Tekken character data is not included in this download.

A small loading panel remains visible while the track, racers and graphics
are prepared. The first load can take a minute. The countdown waits for
completed render frames and background graphics compilation before starting.

Optional Flash racer: place your private flash.bin.z at
assets/flash/flash.bin.z beside this EXE. His original mod model/textures use
an authored running cycle and fallback voice. Mod assets are not bundled.
