Native launch case artwork

The launcher has an optional, offline two-faced retail case presentation. It runs only during the existing launcher-to-game handoff; it is not the game's loading screen, does not intercept game input, and reports no fictitious percent.

Priority, per face

Use a validated actual local retail scan for the selected game's title ID.
For a missing front use the game's existing cached icon/image and title in a stylized native case.
For a missing back create an Eden-composed back from locally cached gameplay screenshots, title, and localized description. This is not labelled as an official scan. If no screenshot exists, the cached icon is used.

Automatic scans: public LaunchBox catalog

The build workflow obtains the public Metadata.zip from LaunchBox on its build host. tools/launcher/build-box-art-index.py streams its XML and generates only a compact Switch index (ui/box-art-index.tsv) containing normalized game names and validated remote image basenames. The full database is never bundled with the app or downloaded on the console.

When Home/Library performs its existing asynchronous Nlib media enrichment, the same background worker also looks up the title in this index and downloads available Box - Front / Box - Back JPEG/PNG files through the public LaunchBox image CDN. The files are converted to the native cached TGA format, stored under the game's title ID and reused offline. Each face is independent. An existing manually supplied face always takes precedence. Missing images retry after a bounded backoff; the launcher never waits for remote artwork.

Matching is exact, using an ASCII-normalized title and a ROM-name fallback. Ambiguous catalog names are rejected; regions prefer France, Europe, World, then other releases. No fuzzy match is used that could silently attach an unrelated edition's artwork.

No API key or account is required. The source does not contain or redistribute commercial scans; it only references images made available by the third-party service. Their ownership and usage terms remain those of the rights holders. The index builder intentionally ignores modern WebP-only entries until a tested native decoder is available; those faces use the local composition.

If the optional external catalog is unreachable during compilation, the build falls back to local images and Nlib without blocking the emulator build. Nlib remains the source of existing icons, banners, gameplay screenshots and descriptions, not physical back scans.

Supplying original case scans

The local artwork directory is the same data/cache cover folder returned by Eden::CoversDir() and already used for cached Nlib images.

Place either or both of the following files there, naming them after the game's 16-digit uppercase hexadecimal title ID:

box-front-01007EF00011E000.tga
box-back-01007EF00011E000.tga

Supported extensions, in fallback order: .tga, .png, .jpg, .jpeg. Files can be replaced while the app is not running. Do not put downloads inside the Git repository or native release packages. The displayed art is validated for readable dimensions and bounded file sizes before it is queued for texture decoding. An unavailable face never hides the other available face.

These filenames are examples of the naming contract, not bundled scans. Use only covers you are allowed to use; the project does not grant rights to third-party artwork.

Runtime and performance

The original Eden brand texture (art/brand.tga, built from assets/icon0.png) is reused without a substitute font or recoloring.
A shared perspective-projected shell uses the existing batched OpenGL renderer: front and back are true projective planes with perspective-correct UVs, a separate red 28px-deep spine, translucent molded white plastic rims, side rails, glossy bevel and physical hinges. This identical geometry applies to EVERY game. No separate 3D engine or per-game model is required.
Reduce Motion shows the front without spinning.
The case makes one eased full 360-degree rotation: initial front hold 1.2s, first half-turn 1.3s, back cover readable for 4.5s, return half-turn 1.3s, and 0.5s settle/fade (8.8s total). This deliberately delays the native guest handoff; it does not claim to measure guest progress.
The rendering is source-independent: the PSD template provided for the case design is used solely as a geometry reference (587x995 document, approximately 45px spine), not copied, shipped or rendered as a texture. The launcher itself constructs the rounded polycarbonate shell, clear top and bottom faces, red spine and white rim. Third-party logos remain in the cover scan only, not baked into Encore's 3D material.
The background metadata worker now stores up to six region-ranked original flat scans per side (FR > EU > World > other), choosing an available higher-resolution image if the first candidate is a thumbnail. Box - 3D preview images are never used as front/back surfaces.
The 8.8s transition does not run network requests or decode artwork on the draw thread; no network, metadata scan, or image decode is performed in the draw loop.
Texture loading remains asynchronous and budgeted through Textures::pump.
A true game-loading overlay after the emulator takes control is not part of this change; it requires separate runtime coordination to avoid hiding crash or guest-progress diagnostics.

Known limits

The published catalog and CDN are third-party services and may change.
WebP-only artwork and ambiguous regional/edition matches are not fetched.
Source sharpness cannot be created by upscaling: the public CDN sometimes returns a 172x281 thumbnail. The host visual check prefers a real 1447x2343 cover for BOTW; both host source dimensions are recorded in the receipt. Original commercial artwork remains outside this source repository.
This is a launch transition, not an overlay during the emulator's game loading process.
Successful code and CI checks do not guarantee CDN access on every console.

Validation

The host source contract is tools/check-launch-case-artwork.py. CI runs it in the source preflight and native build checks. A passing source test does not replace a completed native build or an on-device visual check.

The actual CDN/download path remains subject to a real console network check; a green host-source test cannot prove that every indexed image URL resolves.

Depth-first correction

The prior shader used a 28px flat spine and masked rounded 2D cover; the screenshots made it look like a thin printed sheet. The new shell has a 64px projective depth and a molded 31px corner radius. Each exposed corner is constructed from eight true 3D extruded arc segments with curved lighting; the upper and lower plastic caps, the red sleeve side, the white rails and the printed front/back all share the same 3D axis. Front and rear are placed on different depth planes, not merely switched as two flat slides. The frame is deliberately tested at a three-quarter viewing angle to make its actual thickness perceptible. This is a custom rendered object, not an existing 3D box image or a layer of the uploaded PSD.

A green host render verifies executable geometry, not a claim that the material is now photorealistic. Inspect actual frame screenshots before declaring the design ready; assess projection, printed-spine readability, bevel shading, contact shadows and face sharpness.

Real renderer screenshot test

.github/workflows/launcher-production-preview.yml captures 00-launch-case-front.png and 01-launch-case-back.png with the existing tools/launcher/preview.sh, the original C++ launcher Launcher::draw_launch(), and Mesa's real OpenGL shader backend. The PNG files appear in the Encore-launcher-native-render-1080p workflow artifact. Front, quarter-turn spine and back are captured. A second host test verifies the exact same 3D geometry on a different game using icon/hero fallbacks with no retail scans. For the dedicated launch test only, GitHub retrieves real Zelda BOTW Switch box scans (Europe front, France back) and an existing BOTW landscape background from the public LaunchBox image CDN. The downloaded TGA files are temporary GitHub runner inputs, not repository assets or application content. The screenshots are produced with C++/OpenGL using these source images, not AI image generation. The test verifies that case textures are readable and different.

The launch screen now uses the selected game's existing Home Hero image (Nlib banner then screenshot); all Home controls are omitted behind the overlay. Dark gradients retain the game scene and text readability. In the absence of a matching Hero, the existing Eden wallpaper remains. The test's example screenshots depict actual original retail artwork supplied by its external publisher; copyright stays with its owners.

Only commits containing [preview-ready] trigger this host-only workflow automatically. No native console binary is implied by these screenshots.

Verification checkpoint

The shared three-dimensional case mesh, screenshot rendering, cache source selection, and native build are validated through the dedicated source-preflight, OpenGL preview, and native build workflows. A passing workflow is a prerequisite for claiming a render is verified; actual on-device appearance still requires a separate console test.

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