Release notes — written 2026-10-26

Seventeen illustrations and hidden-wall hints: WebP delivery fix

The complete seventeen-illustration update, original opening dialogue and optional hidden-wall hints are now bound to a scoped WebP delivery mapping. The earlier 2d35 record documents local preparation, not a full public page launch. The first complete public page publication of this update occurs only after the delivery correction passes HTTPS byte and MIME verification.

What changed

• A scoped media/illustrations/.htaccess rule maps .webp files to image/webp throughout this project’s illustration folder and its child collections. This corrects the missing Content-Type found during the first asset readback, while retaining all seventeen uploaded image hashes.
• The previously prepared release-0-19-0-2d35ed858759 record and its article are retained byte for byte as a local preparation record. It was not publicly launched as a complete page release. At that checkpoint only new assets had been uploaded; the live project pages and release manifest still belonged to release-0-19-0-5fbbb0e012a9. The first complete public pages for this update are published only after strict HTTPS verification of this delivery fix.
• Seventeen new AI-generated fan illustrations have their own clearly labeled website presentation: six paintings of Alucard, Maria, Richter, Dracula and the castle, eight cinematic panels for the opening conversation, and three standalone studies of Dracula’s angry expressions. The original recovered-art collection stays separate. Creation records retain image identities, hashes and reference provenance.
• The illustrated opening follows the six original speaker turns in order across eight panels, with the last turn presented in three contiguous parts. Captions and the downloadable transcript retain the supplied US disc’s wording and punctuation; display delays and line wrapping are removed. The public extraction record binds the text to ST/ST0/ST0.BIN and the extracted output bytes.
• The project’s Alucard feature image and shared game thumbnail lead to the new art presentation. The art pages support full-image viewing, Previous/Next, keyboard arrows, Escape and returning focus to the opening image. Original-game, Java-build, recovered-art, music and movie links remain available.
• All seventeen delivered WebPs match the three public creation manifests: each is 1536 × 1024, with 9,461,732 bytes of images in total. The dialogue page passed 74 source/provenance/structure checks and the expression page passed 23. Actual supported-browser checks exercised the original gallery, eight-panel reading page and three-study viewer on desktop and at 390 × 844, including long captions, arrows/wrap, Escape/Close, focus return, contained images and absence of horizontal overflow.
• The original player’s optional Show hidden walls setting is off at each page start. Its 46 source-audited definitions cover 25 stage profiles from 23 original overlays, including mirrored areas and the supported prologue button. Verified native first-crack artwork is used where safe; special cases receive illustrated browser cues. Passage-opening hits and normal progress remain the player’s task.
• Every game-memory visual change requires the supported US identity, validated live RAM mapping, stage/function/artwork guards and a qualified active wall. Tile substitutions additionally require the original collision lookup values to agree. The wall projection leaves native hit counters, HP, timers, castle flags and card buffers unchanged. Richter’s verified opening receives read-only visual cues; XP, gold and MP assistance stays restricted to Alucard.
• Wall validation includes 168 whole-RAM fixture checks, 113 negative source-guard cases and 160 checks in each bundled modern and legacy PCSX-ReARMed WASM allocation. These use isolated synthetic actor states and exact original overlay bytes. Additional integration, cue, resource, Richter/rewind and UI-model regressions passed; they do not constitute a campaign playthrough.
• The original disc/BIOS/vendor files, card-startup safeguards, compiled Java engine and both reconstruction checkpoint modules retain their prior bytes. The release keeps the Java cards and actual original-player PS1 card format distinct, and preserves all earlier dated articles.

Still unfinished

• The Java reconstruction remains incomplete. Its full campaign, remaining gameplay systems, renderer/audio integration and original hardware timing are not yet rebuilt by this update.
• The new paintings are generated fan illustrations, not recovered original game art or proof that the original presentation has been rebuilt. The illustrated conversation uses extracted subtitles; it is a new website reading experience.
• Hidden-wall coverage is based on the audited attackable secret wall, floor, rock and stair-button handlers in the supported US game. Ordinary breakables and contact, transformation, familiar or puzzle mechanisms are excluded. Every wall in both castles has not been attacked and inspected during a full browser campaign. The controls require supported normal-form Alucard gameplay or the verified Richter opening, and wait during menus, cutscenes and rewind.
• The native-core checks validate guarded memory behavior with source-byte fixtures. They do not establish every live browser cue placement, physical controller behavior or complete gameplay timing.
• Actual original-game save-room saving, loading a slot after a full browser close/reopen and recovery of the unavailable user backup remain unverified. The existing unverified original-card notice remains. Reconstruction checkpoint cards are not PS1 card images.
• The retained 2d35 article is a locally prepared record. It does not establish an earlier public launch of these new pages. New source and MIME checks do not change the unverified original-game campaign, browser wall-attack or memory-card persistence limits.

The original PlayStation edition

Play the original through the pcsx_rearmed emulator core. Its save format is ps1-raw-memory-card-128k, separate from Java reconstruction checkpoints.

Memory-card saving: not yet verified.

• This update adds optional source-audited wall visuals to the separate pcsx_rearmed original player. Both retained WASM cores passed guarded RAM-mapper and projection tests using synthetic actor states and exact original overlay bytes; no original BIN/CUE, user card or card buffer was modified by the projection.
• The exact retained native card path, IDBFS setup, card-manager/startup/inspection safeguards and separate Java checkpoint modules keep their released bytes. Earlier controlled card restoration/persistence tests retain their original limited scope.
• Actual save-room saving, game-menu slot loading after a real browser close/reopen, full campaign attack traversal and unavailable user-backup recovery remain unverified. Gallery viewing and pre-start controls checks do not establish those outcomes.

Java milestone 0.19.0. Java website cards retain their separate reconstruction-checkpoint format.

Engine SHA-256: c4aca6fd75c478b273412b7dcd7527bdc07cc0f57d44b65568937b0603a27631
Project content SHA-256: 02f2300a273c0760737523ac14be29963fc8fd88f4acda501a2083a61c9a2579