regain documentation

Install & upgrade

Choose the package for your imaging application, then keep your saved equipment profiles when upgrading.

Choose a package

Use the release page to check which version is published. The names below apply to regain 0.4.0.0 and later.

Package	Use it for
`Regain-<version>.zip`	Manual installation of the NINA plugin
`Regain-ASCOM-<version>-win-x64-setup.exe`	Windows ASCOM installation and registration; includes Alpaca
`Regain-ASCOM-<version>-win-x64.zip`	Portable ASCOM files or standalone Windows Alpaca
`Regain-CameraKit-<version>-win-x64.zip`	Camera diagnostics and contributing model support; not the NINA plugin

Windows release executables use the StackFoundry LLC signing certificate. PulsarFab is the product name. Ordinary CI artifacts and local builds are unsigned.

Windows requirements

NINA: Windows x64 and NINA 3.2.0.9001 or later.
Native ASCOM: Windows 10 or later, x64, .NET Framework 4.8, and ASCOM Platform. Both 32-bit and 64-bit clients are supported.
Cameras: install the ZWO Windows camera driver, including for Direct USB mode.
ETA M54 (source/CI): CH340 serial driver, selected by port; setup and current validation limits.
CAA, EFW, EAF: Windows’ built-in HID driver. FocusCube3 and OFP2: built-in USB Serial Device driver. Do not replace these with WinUSB/Zadig.

Upgrade from ZWOgain

The plugin GUID, saved NINA equipment IDs, and ASCOM COM identities remain unchanged. Updating through the shared NINA registry keeps the same plugin entry.

Close NINA and other device-control applications. Stop manually launched old Alpaca servers.
For a manual NINA upgrade, remove the old ZWOgain plugin folder before extracting the new package to %LOCALAPPDATA%\NINA\Plugins\3.0.0\Regain. Do not load both plugin DLLs.
For ASCOM, run the newer installer. It detects busy files and removes obsolete binaries after a successful installation.
Existing settings copy from %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZwoGain to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Regain when needed. Existing regain settings are never overwritten; the old files remain.

Selections are independent between native NINA, native ASCOM, and Alpaca. See settings locations before changing or removing profiles. ASCOM uninstall preserves settings and logs.

Build the 0.4 source

The tagged source is available for local builds. A Windows plugin build needs stable Rust, .NET 8 SDK, and the Visual Studio C++ build tools. In the source checkout:

git clone https://github.com/pulsarfab/regain.git
cd regain
git checkout v0.4.0.0
pwsh ./scripts/build.ps1
pwsh ./scripts/build-ascom.ps1

The first script writes the NINA ZIP; the second writes the portable ASCOM ZIP. For a source-built installer, see the Windows build instructions. Linux and macOS users can build the Rust workspace for Alpaca; see portable setup.