The Nimbus Recompilation Project (TNRP) — Alpha 1.5
Released November 5, 2026 · Linux, Windows and Android

Nimbus is a free, closed-source, custom-built project (we plan to open source it later). No donations.
Runtime components for all five games are bundled in each download. No game files are included: you need
your own NTSC-U discs and your own Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors (USA) and Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu (USA) ROMs.
Third-party license notices ship inside every download.

Nimbus Alpha 1.5 — November 5, 2026

DRAGON BALL Z: TAIKETSU GOES NATIVE
- Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu (Game Boy Advance, BDBE70) joins the unified launcher on Linux, Windows and Android as a fully native
  port, built like Supersonic Warriors: the game's ARM7 program is statically recompiled into the BDBE70 core module (160,344
  instruction variants, no interpreter, no fallback), the console's devices (LCD, timers, DMA, interrupts, serial link, 512-byte
  EEPROM save, sound) are Nimbus's own, and the picture is composed by the shared renderer's GBA compositor. One shared GBA host
  serves both GBA games.
- Link VS runs two native consoles on one cable inside one process (LINK CHECK, fights, Quick Match / Local Two Players from a
  native two-console start state) and online through Nimbus online play.
  Quick Match results are detected from the game's own round counters (best of three).
- HD texture pack for Taiketsu (30,969 images): tier folders 2x/3x/4x with an asset map in each, as a PC pack (PNG), an Android pack
  (lossless WebP 1x-4x) and an Android lightweight 2x pack. Internal resolution 1x-8x, Classic / Remastered, cel, and the
  "Texture pack resolution" menu work as for Supersonic Warriors.
- Cel shading is now a level (0-11, default 3) for both Game Boy Advance games. On Taiketsu the soft floor shadows under the
  fighters are left out of the cel and outline passes.
- Quick Match / Local Two Players for Taiketsu start from a save with every character and mode unlocked and no cheat switched on: Instant Death, Free Supers,
  Fast Clock, Fast Recovery, Explosive Touch and Invisible are all off (the earlier start save had Instant Death and Free Supers on, so a round ended on the first hit).
- Fixed: Taiketsu stopped after about a minute and a half of play when the game divided by zero. The BIOS divide service now
  returns the console's own result for that case (checked against the real BIOS).

LAUNCHER (Linux, Windows, Android)
- NimbusProjectDBZ: the launcher builds and organises its own project folder (discs, roms, textures, movies, saves). Whatever you
  link is copied, unpacked or decompressed into it; unlinking only forgets. Older links are migrated into it on first start.
- Find My Files: scans your browser download folders and previous link locations first, then the rest, stops once every ball has
  its file (at most a minute, cancellable), and offers IMPORT THIS or IMPORT ALL with a summary at the end. Restore Links rebuilds
  the links from the project folder.
- Find My Files and every import only accept your own games. A disc or ROM is recognised by the game id in its own header, never by its name, so other games on
  your drives (other consoles' libraries, other Dragon Ball titles such as Budokai Tenkaichi) are ignored: an archive or compressed image holding another game is
  not offered, and if you pick one by hand it is refused from its first bytes without unpacking it.
- Compressed images are read natively: GCZ, CISO, RVZ and WIA (every Dolphin compression method), and zip and 7z (LZMA2, LZMA,
  stored) archives holding a disc, a ROM, a compressed disc or an HD pack. WBFS and RAR are not supported.
- Saves are backed up into saves/<GAME>/ with the eight most recent versions kept.
- The X star map shows what is linked per game and set, colour-coded, with the constellations pulsing as sets complete. A scouter
  power-level bar with percentage and step notes shows every import, unpack and migration.
- Android has the same project folder, Find My Files, star map and scouter.

ANDROID TOUCH CONTROLS
- One touch layer for all five games with a profile per game, DBZ-themed buttons (dragon-ball A/B/Z, Capsule Corp X/Y/L/R, a scouter
  SELECT), a true 8-way D-pad, per-control resizing in the layout editor and a bigger default D-pad on the Game Boy Advance games.
  An optional GBA analog stick drives the D-pad. Controls stay where they are drawn: the D-pad and sticks no longer jump to the
  place you touch, and dragging outside a stick moves only its ball, which stops at the rim. Floating controls remain an option.

COMPATIBILITY AND MODULES
- New module versions: BDBE70 core agb-native-r1 (compatibility BDBE70-agb-native-r1), GBA host agb-host-r4, shared renderer
  v602-shared. The AZJE70 core and the GameCube cores are unchanged.
- The Android app keeps the previous run's log as native.prev.log so a crash can be read after relaunching.


HOTFIX 8 (Nov 4, 2026) - Linux and Windows
- Replaces Hotfix 7 for Linux and Windows, with launcher work on 7z archives and compressed disc images.
  Support for those formats is not announced yet: link a plain .iso or .gcm, or a .zip of one. Hotfix 7 had
  no 7z, and Hotfix 6 failed on real Dolphin GCZ files.
- Only the launcher changed; Android stays on Hotfix 1. Tested with real Dolphin, wit and 7-Zip files in a
  sandbox and on the owner's Linux laptop.

HOTFIX 7 (Nov 4, 2026) - Linux and Windows
- Replaces Hotfix 6 for Linux and Windows, with launcher work on compressed disc images. Support for
  compressed disc formats is not announced yet: link a plain .iso or .gcm, or a .zip of one.
- The decoders it includes (Zstandard, LZMA SDK, bzip2) are credited in the third-party notices inside
  both downloads.
- Only the launcher changed; Android stays on Hotfix 1. Tested with real Dolphin and wit files in a
  sandbox and on the owner's Linux laptop.

HOTFIX 6 (Nov 4, 2026) - Linux and Windows
- Replaces Hotfix 5 for Linux and Windows.
- Find My Files only offers real HD packs: tier folders such as 2x/3x/4x, or a manifest, at the top or
  one level down in a zip. Loose piles of textures and screenshot folders are ignored. A ball whose linked
  pack is only loose images counts as unlinked, so the real pack is offered as BEST and imported by
  IMPORT ALL.
- Find My Files has clickable IMPORT THIS (ENTER) and IMPORT ALL (A: the best candidate for every ball)
  buttons, with a count and a message; an item already imported shows DONE.
- The in-launcher chooser list that texture, movie and pack balls opened is gone: every ball now opens the
  normal system file explorer. For a pack ball, pick the pack's .zip or any file inside the pack's folder
  (the folder is used; from inside a 2x/3x/4x tier folder, the pack folder above it). Dragging a folder or
  zip onto the window still works.
- An empty file named .nimbus-skip keeps a folder out of every search.
- Only the launcher changed; Android stays on Hotfix 1. Tested in sandbox (Linux and Windows) and on the
  owner's Linux laptop.

HOTFIX 5 (Nov 4, 2026) - Linux and Windows
- Replaces Hotfixes 2-4 for Linux and Windows (Hotfix 4 was not published separately).
- Find My Files search order: your browser download folders first (it reads the download settings of
  Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Chromium and Vivaldi, plus the system/XDG Downloads folder), then folders
  you have linked from before (remembered, and kept when files are moved into the project folder), then
  Documents and Desktop, mounted and removable drives and the rest of the home folder. It runs for a
  minute at most; ESC stops it and keeps what was found, and it stops early once every ball has a
  candidate or is already linked.
- Done panel after imports: ALL DONE or DONE, SOME PROBLEMS, "n OF m LINKED", the linked balls, and
  ENTER to go back to the dragon balls.
- Scouter bar: eases to the true value and never goes backwards. A queue or migration shows as one bar
  with ITEM i OF n; a search shows STEP 1/2 and STEP 2/2, the count found, and 100% when done.
- Star map: fits any number of games per column; stars are colour-coded (discs gold, ROMs cyan, textures
  violet, movies green, saves blue); each game is a constellation that glows and pulses when complete and
  shimmers while in progress.
- Fix: disc zips no longer flash "invalid Game Boy header"; discs get the disc check and .gba files the
  ROM check.
- No hard-coded user paths: folders are worked out from the machine (home folder, XDG, browser settings).
- Only the launcher changed; Android stays on Hotfix 1. Tested in sandboxes on Linux and Windows.

HOTFIX 3 (Nov 4, 2026) - Linux and Windows
- Replaces Hotfix 2 for Linux and Windows. Two small fixes in Find My Files and zip import; nothing else
  changed:
- Find My Files matched game names against the whole folder path, so a file inside a folder named after a
  game could be listed for the wrong ball. It now uses only the file or folder name and its parent.
- A ROM zip dropped on the window with no ball selected is now recognised (it tries every ROM ball)
  instead of being refused as "not a disc".
- Only the launcher changed; Android stays on Hotfix 1. Tested in sandboxes on Linux and Windows.

HOTFIX 2 (Nov 4, 2026) - Linux and Windows
- Linux and Windows launcher: builds its own NimbusProjectDBZ folder, copies or unpacks whatever you link
  into it (zips included), moves links from earlier versions in, backs up your saves, and has a star map (X).
- The NimbusProjectDBZ folder holds discs/, roms/, textures/, movies/ and saves/. It goes in your home
  folder by default (Windows: your user folder); choose another place with P on the dragon ball screen.
  Linking copies a disc or ROM in, and unpacks a .zip straight into it; your originals and zips are left
  alone. A wrong file is refused before anything is copied. Compressed disc formats (.rvz, .ciso, .gcz,
  .wbfs, .nkit) are still not supported: use a plain .iso or .gcm.
- Find My Files (F): searches Downloads, Documents and Desktop first, then the rest of your home folder,
  including inside zips, and lists what it finds. Nothing is copied until you press ENTER on an item, or A
  for the best candidate for each ball. Shift+F searches a folder you choose. Android ASTC/lite packs and
  empty folders are skipped.
- Pack chooser: clicking a texture, movie or pack ball opens one list of folders and .zip files (a chooser
  built into the launcher). Disc and ROM balls keep the system file picker, which accepts zips.
- Restore links: unlinking only forgets a ball; the files stay in the folder. Folders on the star map that
  hold files but are not linked show UNLINKED, and L on the star map or dragon ball screen links them all
  again.
- Self-updating star map: it re-measures every few seconds while open and refreshes after imports,
  migration and restore; R refreshes it on demand.
- Saves: memory cards and GBA .sav files are copied into saves/ at start and after every game, with the
  last 8 versions kept. Live saves and save states are never moved or deleted.
- Friendlier wording: ball hints say "click to choose your disc (ISO or ZIP)", and the no-disc message
  points to F.
- Only the launcher changed: hosts, cores, renderer, catalog and packs are the 1.4 ones. Android stays on
  Hotfix 1. Tested in sandboxes on Linux and Windows.

HOTFIX 1 (Nov 4, 2026) - Android
- Android launcher: a disc image or GBA ROM can now be linked from a .zip (the app unpacks it, as it does
  for texture pack zips). Pick the zip you downloaded: the app finds the .iso/.gcm or .gba inside, checks
  that it is the right game and links the unpacked copy. Compressed formats such as .rvz, .ciso, .gcz,
  .wbfs or .nkit are not supported: use a plain .iso or .gcm. A GameCube disc is about 1.4 GB, so unpacking
  takes a minute and needs that much free storage. The zip itself is never changed.
- Only the Android app changed; Linux, Windows, modules and packs are unchanged. Same Alpha 1.4; install it
  over the existing app (your links and saves are kept).

UPDATE 2 (Nov 4, 2026)
- Updated Android APK: fixes "Cannot prepare game" on newer Android phones such as Pixels on Android 17.
  When the system won't let the app reopen a linked ROM or disc, linking now copies it into the app's own
  storage once. Only the Android app changed; the game code is the same. Keeps update 1's faster HD
  texture linking. Same Alpha 1.4; install it over the existing app.

UPDATE 1 (Nov 3, 2026)
- Updated Android APK: much faster HD texture linking on Android. Same Alpha 1.4; install it over the
  existing app. Linux, Windows, modules and packs are unchanged.

WHAT'S NEW

Supersonic Warriors is here
- Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors (Game Boy Advance) joins the launcher on Linux, Windows and Android.
- It's a true native port: the game's program is statically recompiled into its own game module. No emulator,
  no interpreter.
- Nimbus draws the picture itself through the same shared renderer as the GameCube games, so it can go far
  beyond the original resolution.
- Link your own ROM on the Z Capsules page.

Fight your friends
- Online multiplayer across Linux, Windows and Android, with your ping shown on the HUD.
- Quick Match with automatic results: both players see the knockout and the winner is reported. If a fight
  ends on time-out, the launcher asks who won.
- Link VS: two linked consoles in one app, with Team Select, fights, Quick Match, Local Two Players and save
  states.

HD all the way up
- Internal resolution from 1x up to 8x.
- HD texture packs with 1x-4x tiers. In the F1 menu, "Texture pack resolution" picks Auto or a tier.
- With the full HD pack at 8x, fights run at a steady 60 fps on the Retroid Pocket 5.
- Three pack downloads on the website: PC (Linux/Windows, PNG 2x-4x), Android (lossless WebP 1x-4x) and a
  small Android 2x lite pack.

Online fixes
- When you join a match, your controller now drives your own fighter.
- The host's game window opens while waiting for the other player.
- In online Link VS, each player sees and hears their own console.
- Hotkeys (F1-F7, Esc) act once per press: holding a key no longer re-triggers save states or toggles.

Known limitations
- Timing uses a provisional model: in busy moments the game can run about one frame early compared with the
  original, and some sound timing differs. Both players in a match always stay in sync with each other.
- The Supersonic Warriors module is still development-qualified, so online play uses its one approved
  version.
- Link VS on a single device shows one console at a time (you can switch), not two screens.
- Performance figures are from the Retroid Pocket 5; the RG Slide wasn't measured for this release.

Everything else
- The three GameCube games are unchanged.
- New modules: renderer v601-shared (adds the GBA picture path; GameCube paths unchanged), GBA host
  agb-host-r3 and the Supersonic Warriors core agb-native-r1. The 12 GameCube core and host modules are the
  same files as in 1.3. Component API 1 and online play compatibility are unchanged.

Testing
- An online Supersonic Warriors Quick Match ran through the real lobby between a Linux laptop and a Retroid
  Pocket 5: both sides detected the same knockout with the same game state and reported the result.
- Packaged Linux and Windows builds replayed all four games to their reference checkpoints.
- This is targeted testing, not every game, platform pair and version.

REQUIREMENTS
- Linux: Ubuntu 26.04 x86-64 (x86-64-v3 core when available; base core otherwise).
- Windows: Windows 11 x64 with a Vulkan or D3D12 GPU.
- Android: Android 13+ arm64 (tested on the Retroid Pocket 5). Installs over the existing app and keeps your data.

Contact: TheNimbusProject@yahoo.com

Official site: https://nimbusrecomp.org · GitHub: https://github.com/thebabyhippo303/nimbus-recompilation-project