simplysanatori--KartFrame/docs/CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

0.9.0-alpha.1 (October 2026), pre-release

The first public build of the native port. Everything below has been played on a Steam Frame unless marked otherwise. One known issue remains open, the double image in races (see the README); this build carries the mitigation that removes it.

Confirmed in the headset

• Runs natively on the Frame in SteamVR at 120 Hz, 1728 pixels per eye, both eyes rendered on every refresh: races hold 119-120 sets a second with under 1 % late.
• The game itself runs at its full 60 frames a second (the first session's "half speed" was a window-sync call sleeping 10 ms every game frame under gamescope; fixed).
• Menus and the intro screens as a flat quad layer in front of you, sharp and steady; the race HUD on the virtual screen with correct clipping; the thin line beside the map removed.
• The Frame controller layout, hand steering with the grips, the simplified Frame controller models in the hands.
• First run from your own disc in about 6 minutes: extract, translate, compile with the bundled compiler, link against the kit.
• The installer, the Steam library entry, the launch wrapper with SteamVR's per-app settings and the session logs.

Rendering and pacing work

• Dawn's Vulkan backend on SteamVR's own device; eye images released only after a GPU fence (timeline semaphore under Dawn's lock).
• Pipelined pacing: each set of eyes rendered two refreshes ahead, every frame handed over at a fixed phase against SteamVR's compositor (the double-image mitigation, KARTFRAME_END_PHASE), released only when finished; retained repeat when late; half-rate never by default.
• An sRGB sink and a cut of the native render pass: eyes to swapchain 2.3 ms -> 0.47 ms.
• Turnip's sysmem mode by default (7-8 % faster for this draw-bound game).
• Thread priority (RealtimeKit) and a utilisation clamp so the game thread and the frame worker stay on the big cores.
• Input kept through SteamVR's short focus losses; refresh rate requested only when offered.

Tools (for developers)

• A mock OpenXR runtime (frame/tools/xrmock) with exact checks: finished releases, pose stamps, end times, layer lists, per-eye probes, image dumps.
• xrprobe --replay: SteamVR shown the game's own recorded eye images through a minimal loop.
• Compositor timing per frame (tools/vrtiming.py), frame/tools/phase.py, panel recordings and their analysis.

Known issues

• The double image in races: see the README. This build removes it by timing the hand-over; the right eye still runs one set ahead of the left, which reads as extra sensitivity to head movement.
• The Time Trial ghost is flat. Full-view 2D effects (Blooper ink) do not cover the whole view. The laser pointer's dot is not visible on the 2D menu screen.

1.0.0 (planned)

The items of the 1.0.0 plan that are not yet confirmed are listed in frame/UNTESTED.md.