Hi everyone,

this is a quick patch that addresses the following issues:

• provide better display management - you can configure resolution and refresh rate separately now, and select the display for multi-display setups in-game; note that the game might start in a different display mode the first time you launch this updated version compared to what you have been using so far - just change it again in the settings in that case
  
• fix a bug that can cause softlocks (e.g. the one reported in Chapter 3) or otherwise erroneous character behavior during map transitions
  
• fix graphical artifacts that might show up at the bottom of the screen during fades or camera transitions at certain resolutions

While we do not expect this patch to introduce any regressions, with the great variety of hardware and software configurations available on PC this is not always guaranteed in all circumstances. As such, you can return to previous versions of the game by selecting the any of the public "version_*" branches on Steam.

With the localized English version of The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails now releasing, we thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about the improvements we made to the PC version since the original Japanese release.


If you haven't done so already, you can read about that release here. It included a lot of work on ultrawide aspect ratio support, as well as a bespoke mouse and keyboard control scheme which tries to get close to some of Falcom's previous PC ports such as Ys Origin. We also included high-quality anti-aliasing, and unlimited draw distance, among other things.

As I noted back then, for us at PH3, this was the first time we are porting a game which originally released for a very low-tech -- by today's standards -- platform. Some of the challenges we faced were related to this, and that continues to several of the improvements we made since. However, this relatively low level of technology also makes Nayuta extremely suitable to e.g. the Steam Deck, and we made some further improvements in that regard.


I'm going to split this discussion into two parts -- the first one for general and smaller changes and tweaks, and the second one for everything that improves the Steam Deck (and portable PC gaming in general) experience in particular. Let's start with the first category:

• Add an in-game setting to toggle HD textures.
  
• Support for arbitrary UTF-8 installation paths (we got you, Björn!).
  
• Fix some minor errors, e.g. a partially broken special skill.
  
• Improved multi-controller support and settings UI.
  
• Many additional map geometry fixes, one example of which is pictured above.

The following improvements are particularly relevant for the Steam Deck, but also improve general quality, efficiency or compatibility:

• Texture deduplication, reducing the storage footprint by up to 40% compared to the baseline game with high quality textures.
  
• 16:10 aspect ratio support, which means you can enjoy the game on the Steam Deck without black bars!
  
• We implemented Steam Dynamic Cloud Sync for smoother switching between playing on multiple computers or devices.

As always, I particularly want to thank all of the great QA testers involved with this project. Without them, the release would certainly be a lot less polished and stable. And of course all the members of PH3 who worked on the port, NISA for the localizations, as well as Falcom for the original game.

- Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3

Discovery awaits beyond the horizon in The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails, available now! Nayuta has always dreamed of exploring beyond the horizon of his island home. After a fateful encounter with a mysterious, fairy-like creature by the name of Noi, he finds himself whisked away on an adventure through new worlds in order to stop an evil plot that has been set in motion.

The English release of The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails includes improvements made to the previous PC release, such as turbo mode, ultra-wide screen support, auto-save, and additional configurable options. However, there have been some new changes as well, which are discussed in the Durante post linked below:

• The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails Localization Release PC Update

To celebrate the English release of this unique, standalone Falcom title, we have some additional news to share with you!

If you buy the English release of The Legend of Nayuta between now and September 26, 2023, you’ll receive the official digital soundtrack for free. That’s 60 tracks for the price of none!

Also, if you bought the Japanese version of The Legend of Nayuta, released on December 10, 2021, you’ll receive both the soundtrack and a free update that will add an English language option to the game!

We hope you enjoy this one-of-a-kind Falcom gem!

Hi everyone,

we finally added Time Attack to our PC port of Nayuta and fixed various minor issues:

• fixed Noi menu not playing SFX if only one arts slot unlocked
  
• fixed high speed mode affecting play time
  
• fixed potential sound attenuation issues for several bosses

While we do not expect this patch to introduce any regressions, with the great variety of hardware and software configurations available on PC this is not always guaranteed in all circumstances. As such, you can return to previous versions of the game by selecting the any of the public "version_*" branches on Steam.

With the PC version of The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails releasing soon, we thought it would be useful to provide some information on what you can expect from this release.

For us at PH3, this is the first time we are porting a game which originally released for a very low-tech -- by today's standards -- platform. This makes some things easier, especially in terms of performance, but it also has some unique challenges e.g. in using some old-school rendering techniques. It's also the first time that we have worked on a game with fixed camera angles, which was particularly challenging in terms of supporting the Ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio.

Compared to some of the other Falcom games we worked on recently, like Ys IX, there are not all that many options which make sense for this game. It uses a lot of 2D sprites by design, which means that e.g. attempting to shoehorn more advanced lighting into it would clash with the original art. As such, we focused on providing the following:

• Arbitrary rendering resolution support -- of course. This also meant fixing some texture seam issues which would become apparent at particular resolutions.
  
• MSAA anti-aliasing up to 8 samples. Since the game uses a very traditional forward renderer, MSAA can be used at relatively low cost (but you might not want to run 8xMSAA on an integrated GPU), while providing excellent edge anti-aliasing.
  
• Unlimited draw distance. The original game has quite limited draw distance for some objects and enemies, which really isn't necessary on any current PC. As such, we've made the draw distance for both essentially unlimited in this release.

You might have noticed that this list does not include arbitrary framerate support. The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is an old game, and was designed entirely around a fixed frame rate. We had already started to invest significant effort into rewriting several aspects of the game to accommodate arbitrary and variable FPS, but had to shelve this goal for now. As such, the game will be limited to 60 FPS.


Regarding input, we support full rebinding of all actions, with a primary and secondary binding option each. As you can see in the screenshot above, we have also added extra bindings to e.g. navigate to specific menus instantly when playing with a mouse and keyboard.
We fully support Mouse/Keyboard as well as controller button prompts, with the latter coming in Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo varieties. Dynamic prompt switching based on inputs is supported, but can be toggled off in the settings as well.

Since some parts of the game benefit greatly from analog 360° movement, we have also included a mouse movement option. This works similar to e.g. older Falcom PC games, where you hold a mouse button to move in the direction of the cursor relative to the main character. This option is off by default but can be enabled in the menu.

Usually, supporting ultra-wide aspect ratios in games is primarily UI work, making sure that all the HUD elements are positioned nicely, and also that no effects or cutscenes break -- and fixing or pillarboxing those that do.

However, since this game uses fixed camera angles and was built specifically for 16:9 aspect ratios, supporting 21:9 without showing many unfinished or "missing" parts of maps was a larger challenge. In order to address this, we implemented a new system of per-map camera constraints, which try their best to keep the camera away from missing parts while still showing a wider field of view whenever possible. Note how Nayuta is not standing in the center of the screen in the image above -- the camera stopped scrolling to the side here to keep the map in frame. Since even this system has limitations, only aspect ratios up to 21:9 are fully supported. (The game will still render at wider ratios, but you might see some missing geometry at the sides on some maps)

After we started working on this port, some updates for the PS4 version were released. In addition to various bug fixes, the following new features were included:

• Improved texture assets, in particular higher quality character textures.
  
• A toggle-able High-speed Mode.
  
• A special Time Attack mode.

Out of these, both the improved assets and high-speed mode will be available in the PC version at launch. The TIme Attack mode requires some more testing, but we will try to make it available shortly after the release.

As always, I particularly want to thank all of the great QA testers involved with this project. Without them, the release would certainly be a lot less polished and stable than it hopefully turns out to be.

- Peter "Durante" Thoman, CTO, PH3

NIS America is excited to announce on behalf of Nihon Falcom Corporation that The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails will be coming to PC in Japan on December 11, 2021 (JST)!

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails for PC adds new exclusive features such as turbo mode, ultra-wide screen support, auto-save, and additional configurable options. Some of the configuration options available are: MSAA, anisotropic filtering, screen modes, V-Sync, controller/keyboard configuration mapping.

PH3 GmbH (best known for their Trails of Cold Steel work) is handling the adaptation of the game for PC. English version of the game will be released later in 2023, with additional updates to both Japanese + English versions of the game.