Controller Support Guide:
Recommended controller use method: Enable Steam Input while outside of the game. There should be a controller config that ships with the game, but if not, there is a community config with modern controls. Please note, if you connect a controller while the game is running, the game will not detect the controller. You need to close and relaunch the game for the controller to be detected.
Hope Deferred has built in controller support with limited remapping capability. It is recommended that you use Steam Input unless you want the authentic PSX experience, for example, looking up and down with the trigger buttons while the right thumbstick does nothing. Please note, if you connect a controller while the game is running, the game will not detect the controller. You need to close and relaunch the game for the controller to be detected.
The following bugs have been reported on only Windows 10:
(Win10) Launching from Steam, game immediately crashes
Go to Manage > Browse local files. Then, launch the exe file directly from the folder (HopeDeferred.EXE).
(Win10) Bad frame rate all the time EXCEPT when using mouse look
Go to Manage > Browse local files. Find the config file (config.txt). Remove this file from the folder to disable mouse look. I advise moving this file somewhere else for safekeeping rather than deleting it. This will fix the frame rate but disable mouse look, modern and mappable controls, and other important QoL fixes. But it's better than not being able to play at all.
(Win10) Level 3 aka "towers" aka "the blue level" moving objects stuck or vibrating in place in a way that softlocks the game
Hopefully, this bug should be fixed enough that it doesn't soft lock your game. But if it does, browse local files. Find the config file (config.txt). Remove this file from the folder to disable mouse look. I advise moving this file somewhere else for safekeeping rather than deleting it. This will fix the frame rate but disable mouse look, modern and mappable controls, and other important QoL fixes. But it's better than not being able to play at all.
The following bugs have been reported on all platforms:
Crashing in certain unusual circumstances when warping from one map to another.
Currently, I'm aware of two maps where this happens.
This can happen in Level 1 Dungeon aka "Catacombs" when dying but NOT when warping back to Level 1 aka "cells", nor when warping to the hub. This is annoying but shouldn't affect anything besides you having to launch the game again after dying. We hope to isolate and fix this bug in a patch ASAP.
Level 3 aka "towers" aka "the blue level", crash when warping to any other map. This was happening in a very old build of the game and I have not been able to recreate the circumstances which caused this issue. We hope to isolate and fix this bug in a patch ASAP.
Various issues with remapping keyboard controls
For example, if you remap Cast Spell to Shift, pressing shift will make the player attack and cast a spell. You cannot remap keys to existing hard coded keys, you can only remap controls to unused keys. We hope to fix this bug in a patch ASAP.
It appears you cannot set the Esc key to open the menu, it just doesn't work. We hope to fix this bug in a patch ASAP.
Misc sound issues
Sometimes, sounds won't play when they should. We hope to isolate and fix this bug in a patch ASAP.
Bad culling, especially visible outside of 4:3 aspect ratio
Culling can sometimes occur at the sides of the screen, especially bad when using modern aspect ratios. If you switch to 4:3, such as 1024x768, this issue should be mostly resolved. We hope to fix this in a future update, but it's likely this can not be fixed. It could possibly be a permanent limitation of the engine.
If you experience any other bugs besides these, I would very much appreciate you reporting it, leave a comment below.
Update #1, April 13th:
Update:
Some people have had issues with dual monitors while running the game, and issues with OBS. First thing to try is opening dgVodoo.conf and changing "FullsceenAttributes = Fake". Open the file in any text editor, control F to find "FullscreenAttributes" and change the value to "Fake" and then save the file. This is reported to fix the problem. If that doesn't fix the problem, try the following. According to reports, replacing dgVoodoo files with DDrawCompat files fixes these issues. In the short term, if you're having trouble with DDrawCompat, there's a configuration preset in the Sword of Moonlight Discord that, according to reports, works out of the box in fixing these issues. Also, people in the discord are more than happy to help you get the game running correctly.
I hope to get an update out soon to patch these problems as soon as possible.
Please be patient, this game was developed by a single person over the course of 10 years. It is in everyone's best interest for me to get the game running as well as possible for the most people possible. Thank you for your support so far.
Update #2, June 23rd:
We have a big update in the works to fix almost every bug listed here. I am posting this update for the sake of full transparency. The reason we have not updated yet is because, due to a quirk in the game's engine, old save files are not compatible with newer versions of the game. When we push out the big update, we will make the launch version of the game available as a Beta that users may opt into under Properties < Betas < Beta Participation < 1.0 (Launch version). That way, users can choose to play an old version of the game as to not lose any progress on their save data. But let's be real, 90% of users won't read this, and won't opt into a Beta, and therefore will lose their progress. And therefore, that is why I am trying to fix absolutely everything all at once rather than push out several tiny updates fixing things here and there.
There is a new proprietary technological upgrade to the engine using FMOD that is currently in development. It is almost done, but unfortunately, the author this tech is being deported to his home country and is dealing with that right now. I don't want to push any update that is incomplete in any way, I just wanted to provide info for anyone following to reassure that I am hard at work patching the game into a state that is as close to bug free (and typo free lmao) as possible. It is in my best interest financially to polish the game as shiny as it could possibly be.
Thank you so much for the support you have given so far and please be patient with me. This game was developed over the course of 11 years by a single person using humanity's worst video game engine ever. We still have a little ways to go, but I pride myself that my game launched in a more playable state on PC than Elden Ring did, at least there's that.
If you have any problems whatsoever or want to contact me, join the Sword of Moonlight discord server and you can post in the Hope Deferred channel. Myself or any of the mods would be happy to help with whatever you need. Once again thank you very much and I appreciate that you read all these 1000 paragraphs of rambling like I do.