Power Dozer

This project was created with AI assistance. If that's not your cup of tea, feel free to move along.

Power Dozer

v0.81 — beta of a native Blast Corps port for Linux and Windows x86-64. Static recompilation of Blast Corps USA Rev 1 with N64Recomp, N64ModernRuntime and RT64. The project is not affiliated with Rare or Nintendo.

Download and play

Download your platform archive from Releases, check its SHA-256 and extract it into a writable folder:

• Linux: power-dozer-v0.81-linux-x86_64.tar.gz; run Run Power Dozer.sh.
• Windows: power-dozer-v0.81-windows-x86_64.zip; run Run Power Dozer.cmd.

On first launch, select your own Blast Corps USA Rev 1 ROM. z64/v64/n64 and ZIP files containing a single valid ROM are supported. The ROM is not included.

Requires Linux x86-64 with SSSE3/SSE4.1, Vulkan, X11 or XWayland, glibc 2.38 or later, a C++ runtime with GLIBCXX_3.4.31 and zlib. Windows requires x64, SSSE3/SSE4.1, Vulkan drivers and the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015–2022 x64 Redistributable. SDL and DXC libraries are included in both runtime packages. Installation, progress and requirements.

Options and controls

• Resolutions up to 4K, 16:9 presentation and an interpolation target of 120. Performance depends on the GPU and available refresh rate.
• Alt+Enter toggles fullscreen.
• Integrated PC menu with graphics, audio, help and per-action remapping.
• Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and keyboard: names and glyphs follow the last active device. Switch retains B/A/Y/X according to their physical positions.
• Full-width menu background and ticker; aligned map vehicle sprites and glyphs extracted from the supplied atlas.
• Persistent EEPROM and Controller Pak progress, with recoverable backups.

Default key	Action
Arrow keys	Move, steer and navigate
Z	Accelerate / confirm
X	Reverse / back
Enter	Start / pause
Left Shift	Stop / exit vehicle
I / J / K / L	Camera / C buttons
Q / E	L / R buttons

You can remap each action in the PC menu. The manual selection --family xbox|playstation|switch provides a fallback for ambiguous detection.

Beta status

Startup, file selection, map, Simian Acres, movement, pause, resume, restart, progress and input with virtual SDL controllers were verified. The latest graphics test confirmed Switch and keyboard glyphs in the game. Native Windows startup, Unicode saves/import and a brief interactive Vulkan run with keyboard input also passed. See v0.81 verification for the observed scope and limitations.

There is an intermittent audio issue: recovery for pending tasks was added, but it has not yet been shown to eliminate all dropouts. Full level coverage, physical controllers and sustained 120 fps remain for manual testing. End-of-level fades/sky and the visual stability of the HUD arrow need further checking. v0.81 is a public beta release for testing and reports. The reported thin black ground line is not currently reproducible; the reporter and recent local captures no longer show it. No speculative patch was applied.

Build and contribute

Portable recipe and pinned dependencies. The release includes a source archive for the host and its dependencies. Game code is generated locally from your ROM; packages do not include a ROM, extracted overlays, saves or private recordings.

Project code uses GPL v3 or later; dependencies and control artwork retain their provenance and notices. See LICENSE, NOTICE and config/control-atlas.json. The manifests document the limits of the source and license review.

The function map builds on the work of retroplastic and its continuation by SlaveOfIDO.

AI Disclosure

I use OpenAI Codex to assist with research, reverse-engineering analysis, code implementation, debugging, tests, builds, packaging, and documentation. I direct that work, contribute code reviews and ideas for implementation, evaluate the game's behavior through hands-on testing, and decide which changes and releases to accept. Validation claims remain limited to the recorded builds and scenarios.

The original game and the upstream tools remain the work of their respective creators, credited in CREDITS.md.

Credits

See CREDITS.md for the projects, contributors and dependencies used by Power Dozer, and the accompanying license notices.