PerfectDarkZeroRecomp

A static recompilation of Perfect Dark Zero (2005, Xbox 360 launch title, Title ID 4D5307D3, retail hash C1572363239DB6CE) to native Windows x86-64, built on the ReXGlue SDK.

Static recompilation translates the Xbox 360 PowerPC code inside the game's default.xex into native C++ that compiles and runs on a PC. There is no emulator and no interpreter in the loop; file I/O, GPU commands, audio and threading go through the ReXGlue runtime.

Status

• Codegen runs clean (1 manual [functions] boundary needed for an UnresolvedCall, plus one hand-patched cross-function tail-jump compile error - see Known issues).
• The build compiles and the executable boots to real GPU rendering.
• Very early bring-up: only one probe run has been done so far. The stub sweep is active and already logging real missing addresses to logs/stub_sweep.txt, including one that trips a null-guest-memory-read access violation shortly after boot - this is the natural next thing to chase (see Known issues).
• Iterative, not finished: expect to alternate between running the game, reading logs/stub_sweep.txt, adding real addresses to default_functions.toml.

Requirements

• CMake 3.25+
• Ninja
• Clang / LLVM (clang-cl works too) - MSVC alone will not build this (the generated code uses GNU/Clang builtins like __builtin_rotateleft64)
• The ReXGlue SDK release archive - see rexglue/README.md
• extract-xiso to unpack the Xbox 360 ISO
• Your own legally-owned copy of Perfect Dark Zero, extracted from the Xbox 360 disc/ISO

Getting the SDK

Download the win-amd64 release from the ReXGlue SDK releases page and extract it into rexglue/win-amd64 at the repo root. Full steps in rexglue/README.md. The SDK itself is gitignored; only that README is checked in.

Getting the game data

1. Extract the Xbox 360 ISO with extract-xiso, which unpacks the disc's file tree.
2. Copy the extracted contents directly into assets/, so default.xex sits at assets/default.xex alongside the rest of the disc's files.
3. assets/ is gitignored (assets/* in .gitignore, with a couple of small tracked exceptions) - nothing from the disc is, or should be, committed to this repo.

Build

cmake --preset local-win-relwithdebinfo
cmake --build out/build/local-win-relwithdebinfo

cmake --preset local-lin-relwithdebinfo
cmake --build out/build/local-lin-relwithdebinfo

Other available presets: local-win/lin-debug, local-win/lin-release. These are the CMakeUserPresets.json presets (gitignored file, already set up in this repo) that inherit the platform presets from CMakePresets.json and add CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH pointing at the vendored SDK. Building against the bare win-amd64-* presets from CMakePresets.json directly will fail with "ReXGlue SDK not found" - always use the local-* presets.

Codegen (translating assets/default.xex into generated/default/*.cpp) runs automatically as a build step (perfectdarkzerorecomp_codegen CMake target) whenever perfectdarkzerorecomp_manifest.toml or an included .toml changes. It can also be run directly: rexglue\win-amd64\bin\rexglue.exe codegen.

Cross-platform builds

Nothing in this repo is Windows-only - CMakeLists.txt, the generated generated/rexglue.cmake, and src/perfectdarkzerorecomp_app.h are already platform-agnostic (the one WIN32-guarded bit is the add_executable(... WIN32 ...) subsystem flag). CMakePresets.json already ships matching configure/build presets for every platform the SDK publishes: win-amd64, linux-amd64, linux-arm64, mac-amd64, mac-arm64 (*-debug / *-release / *-relwithdebinfo each) - none of that needs adding.

What's missing to actually build for one of them: download that platform's release archive to rexglue/<platform>/, add a CMakeUserPresets.json preset pointing CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH there, and actually build/run it on that OS/architecture (the real constraint - win-arm64 isn't published by the SDK at all, despite CMakePresets.json having generic presets for it).

Run

cd out\build\local-relwithdebinfo
.\perfectdarkzerorecomp.exe

cd out/build/local-lin-release
./perfectdarkzerorecomp

Both --game_data_root and --gpu_plugin are optional: OnConfigurePaths() in src/perfectdarkzerorecomp_app.h defaults game_data_root to <repo_root>/assets when it isn't set via flag/env var, and gpu_plugin = "xenos" already lives in settings/hardware.toml.

Useful extra flags/env vars while developing:

Flag / env var	Effect
--game_data_root <path>	Overrides the default <repo_root>/assets game-files location.
--gpu_plugin xenos	Overrides settings/hardware.toml's gpu_plugin. Only needed if you want a different plugin than the file specifies.
--graphics_backend d3d12|vulkan|any	Forces the graphics API rexgpu-xenos uses (cvar, default "any", which picks D3D12 first). See settings/README.md.
--pdz_fps60_unlock=true	Experimental, off by default - ported xenia-canary game-patches "60 FPS" patch for PDZ retail. See settings/README.md.
--pdz_aspect_ratio_16_9=true	Experimental, off by default - ported xenia-canary game-patches "Aspect Ratio" patch. See settings/README.md.
PDZ_NO_STUB_SWEEP=1 (env var)	Disables the safety-net stub sweep (see below) - useful to isolate whether it's contributing to a given crash, at the cost of hitting FATAL crashes on any address not yet in default_functions.toml.

Logs are written to out\build\<preset>\logs\*.log (the exe is built WIN32, so nothing prints to the console).

Configuration

Rendering/window/vsync and input-backend defaults are checked in under settings/ (hardware.toml / mapping.toml), loaded automatically at startup. CLI flags and REX_* environment variables always override them - see settings/README.md for the full reference and precedence rules.

How this project was set up (history)

1. rexglue init --project-name PerfectDarkZeroRecomp --xex-path assets\default.xex generated CMakeLists.txt, CMakePresets.json, perfectdarkzerorecomp_manifest.toml, generated/rexglue.cmake, src/main.cpp, src/perfectdarkzerorecomp_app.h.
2. First rexglue codegen failed analysis with 1 UnresolvedCall error (a plain b branch to an address the auto-analyzer never registered as a function). Fixed by adding 0x8250B06C = {} to default_functions.toml under [functions] and including that file from the manifest (includes = ["default_functions.toml"]).
3. Added CMakeUserPresets.json (local-debug/local-release/local-relwithdebinfo) so CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH finds the SDK without touching the generated, overwritable CMakePresets.json.
4. Added GPU_PLUGINS xenos to the rexglue_setup_target() call in CMakeLists.txt so rexgpu-xenos*.dll gets staged next to the exe, plus a post-build step to stage settings/gamecontrollerdb.txt next to the exe for SDL gamepad mapping fallback.
5. Hooks into PerfectdarkzerorecompApp: two-pass settings loading (OnConfigurePaths + OnPostSetup), the graphics_backend cvar (forces Vulkan/D3D12 via OnPreSetup), and the stub-sweep safety net.
6. First build failed to compile (not just analyze) with two "use of undeclared label" errors in generated/default/perfectdarkzerorecomp_recomp.190.cpp
   • "Codegen edge case: cross-function tail jumps".
7. First runtime boot's stub sweep needed its code-range constants derived: ran once with an intentionally oversized placeholder range, took the first SetFunction: address ... outside all registered module ranges log line as the real end boundary, then narrowed the range and reran to confirm zero out-of-range hits.
8. Ported two optional gameplay patches from xenia-canary's game-patches repository (60 FPS, Aspect Ratio) as off-by-default cvars - see "Ported game patches" for how to find and add more.

Known issues and difficulties encountered

• Manual function boundaries are an ongoing, iterative process.
• Codegen edge case: cross-function tail jumps. sub_82401A40 (in generated/default/perfectdarkzerorecomp_recomp.190.cpp) has two conditional branches into what codegen decided was a different sealed function (sub_82401B08, in perfectdarkzerorecomp_recomp.131.cpp) - a shared-tail/fallthrough pattern the analyzer didn't merge back together. Since generated functions are separate C++ functions, a goto across that boundary doesn't compile ("use of undeclared label"). Patched both sites to log a warning and return instead, since duplicating or refactoring the shared tail block correctly would need much deeper disassembly work than this bring-up pass covered.
• A stubbed-function access violation right after boot. The very first probe run already hits Unhandled guest access violation: read of guest 0x00000000 a few seconds in - almost certainly a stubbed function returning garbage that gets dereferenced downstream. logs/stub_sweep.txt from that run is the starting point: find the addresses it logged, work out which ones are real, add them to default_functions.toml, rebuild, repeat.

Credits

• ReXGlue SDK (releases)
• extract-xiso (releases) - used to unpack the Xbox 360 ISO into the file tree copied into assets/
• xenia / xenia-canary - ReXGlue's runtime is derived from Xenia's
• xenia-canary/game-patches - source of the ported pdz_fps60_unlock / pdz_aspect_ratio_16_9 patches
• mdqinc/SDL_GameControllerDB - settings/gamecontrollerdb.txt