Launcher v0.2.1

Released 2026-10-29.

Settings

• Appearance in Settings picks the dark theme, a light one, or the mode Windows uses for apps.
• The Presets tab says when the runtime has settings the launcher does not know and cannot show.
• Jak X gets volume sliders and a vibration box once it has started on a runtime that lists them.
• With a runtime that lists them, the language pickers name Jak II's and Jak 3's languages correctly.
• A new Overlay tab previews notifications; the Debug tab's cards move to Launcher and Overlay.
• With a runtime that lists them, Overlay sets where notices go, how long they stay and which show.
• A Desktop notifications switch in Settings turns Windows notifications off.
• An Animations switch in Settings turns off the launcher's motion.
• A preset of your own boots by name and keeps its own game settings, on a runtime that can.
• Settings saves each change as you make it, says so when you leave, and opens on its Launcher tab.

Interface

• A screen reader reaches every card's controls on a game's Display tab.
• The selected game's card on Home lets the faint seal behind the page show through.
• The bar drops Check for Updates; PLAY checks first once the last check is over an hour old.
• The bar's status reads as an icon and a line, with the version and when it was checked below.
• Scroll bars widen under the pointer, so a page can be dragged by its thumb or paged by its track.
• Links on the Phaethon site can open the launcher at Home, a game's page or Addons.
• Cards you can't click no longer light up on hover; only their border does.
• The launcher window is taller, and fits smaller screens.
• The sidebar groups its pages under Play, Community and Launcher, and its items answer the pointer.
• Two slow lights now circle the sidebar's logo.
• Soft shadows give the sidebar, the bar and the cards some depth.
• Notices now appear as cards in the bottom right, with a timer line that pauses under the pointer.
• While you play or work elsewhere, Windows tells you when an install, update or import finishes.
• Windows also tells you when a launcher update is ready or your saves need a choice.
• Windows notifications now show the gold core; the shortcuts and the taskbar keep the seal.
• About is shorter: the wordmark, an Alpha tag, and links to Website, Privacy, Terms and Licenses.
• Beta accounts get an Achievements page: every achievement by game, with search; none is tracked yet.
• Beta accounts see Achievements in the sidebar as a live page, tagged ALPHA instead of SOON.
• Beta accounts get a Servers page under Play, listing the Jak X races open online.
• The window opens without waiting for the network; the bar says a check is under way.
• The bar's PLAY button shows on Home alone; a download or import keeps its controls on every page.
• Notices are tinted blue, green, amber or red by what they say, so they stand out from the cards.
• Every game now carries an Alpha or Beta tag, square and yellow like the sidebar's SOON tags.
• The bar shows Home where it had no button, and the mouse's back and forward buttons retrace pages.

Install

• An update or Repair removes the runtime files a new version no longer ships.
• An update check with nothing to download still removes old runtime files and shows the new version.
• A launcher update or restart keeps the splash on screen until the new window opens.
• A PC back on Release is told of a Canary build left on it, and Settings can remove it.
• On Canary, a game imported for Release can now be built for Canary without the disc.

Account

• The profile opens on a status card with the game played last, play time, games played and saves.
• Import a save from a PS2 or PCSX2 memory card into a Jak 1, Jak II or Jak 3 slot.
• An Online play switch on the Account page chooses whether Phaethon's relay hides your IP address.
• The Account page shows the name Jak X draws for you when it differs from your display name.
• An account in the beta shows a Beta badge, and picks Release or Canary on the Account page.
• An account in the beta installs and plays the channel it picks, Release or Canary.
• Canary keeps its own saves, settings and texture packs, starting from Release's saves and settings.

Security

• Mods are offered only from a list Phaethon signed, and install only if the download matches it.

Fixes

• Crash reports say where in the launcher a crash happened.
• A full disk during an install stops it with how much space it needs, instead of crashing.
• Repair checks the saved install folder, not a folder typed in Settings but not saved.
• A setting saved while a texture pack is added or removed is no longer undone when it finishes.
• An unknown runtime setting no longer hides every settings card, and one with no tab shows in Other.
• After a full disk, RETRY records an update as installed only for the folder it downloaded to.
• After a full disk, the bar drops its RETRY line as soon as the install folder changes.
• The Debug bar's settings reach every game again; Monospaced font and Alternate style are gone.
• The launcher no longer crashes at startup while drawing the selected game's library tile.
• Long tooltips wrap instead of being cut off.
• Drop-down lists' shadows fade out instead of ending in a hard edge.
• A quick return to a tab no longer leaves its page blank.
• Close launcher when game starts no longer closes it after the game quits or a download begins.
• A toast dismissed as it comes in no longer shows whole again before it goes.
• A dialog that opens just as another closes now appears, rather than staying hidden.
• A dialog that changes twice in quick succession no longer jumps in size or fades in twice.
• The account menu at the sidebar's foot stays up under the pointer, and a click holds it open.
• A download or import started just as another ends no longer runs with its progress bar hidden.
• The bar's buttons and progress bar no longer snap or vanish when the bar changes twice quickly.
• A crash while the launcher starts now ends it once its dialog closes, so the next start opens.
• A disc import canceled or failed partway now offers the import again, not PLAY on half a game.
• PLAY, imports and builds wait for Repair, Move or Uninstall.
• Repair and Move wait for an import in their install; Move and Uninstall for texture pack changes.
• An install started just after a cancel waits for the update check, then shows its own progress.
• Uninstall Runtime keeps your texture packs and mods, and the next rebuild puts the packs back in.
• Installing or removing a mod waits for Repair, Move or Uninstall, and Move waits for it.

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Every launcher release · Older: v0.2.0-rc9

Phaethon is a hard fork of OpenGOAL's jak-project. Naughty Dog made the games; you need your own copy of each. built from the wiki · 4 Nov 2026