r/decomps

Title. No need to go over it, but if you've seen the posts previously, you know why this is appearing. Please keep this subreddit a drama-free zone, and keep any discussions like such out of here.

- Graine25 and the other mods in this sub

Splinter Cell: Double Agent now has an unofficial native PC port of the original Xbox version, with extended graphics options, keyboard and mouse support, online co-op and Versus with voice chat, and more.

Download: https://github.com/TGP482/SCDA-XBERecomp/releases/latest/download/SCDA-XBERecomp.zip

Project page: https://github.com/TGP482/SCDA-XBERecomp

You must provide your own legally obtained game files. No game assets are included.

Instructions:

1. Place your game files (ISO or extracted data files) in the assets folder
2. Run SCDA.exe
3. Adjust Recomp Settings from the in-game options menu, or open the Settings overlay with F10 (default)

Made with the new Xbox XBE Recomp tool, created for this game originally: https://github.com/TGP482/XboxXBE-Recomp

So... after all the controversy around AI-assisted or vibe-coded decompilations, I decided to do a little experiment: learn how to decompile a game on my own, with AI not doing the actual decompiling process but just teaching me how to do it by myself.

A little context, I'm a software developer, but my knowledge doesn't come anywhere close to that of the programming and reverse engineering geniuses who populated these communities until a couple of years ago, before the AI boom.

I picked a Nintendo DS game and asked an AI to teach me the basic concepts I was going to need for the task. Even though it was at a relatively superficial level, I learned about the Nintendo DS architecture, the different file types it uses, and their basic structure. Hell, I didn't even know the most basic stuff, that console had two processors, an ARM9 and an ARM7.

Anyway, once we performed the initial extraction and disassembled the binaries to obtain assembly code, the real task began: converting that assembly into C code that, once recompiled, would reproduce the original binary.

Well, I spent the next six hours reading assembly code (for the first time in my career I put to use that dormant skill I learned in computer architecture classes at college lol). After deducing the first functions, which barely had between 3 and 8 lines, Claude told me that those were precisely the ones that could be inferred more or less automatically. What we had done was little more than a playful exercise. I don't even want to mention what it took to find the specific compiler used in that game and the specific configuration (after a while, I gave in and let Claude lend me a hand with that), but oh well.

The actual hard work would come when we had to face functions with 700 instructions or more. Completely ridiculous.

The worst part of all? This only corresponded to the disassembly and decompilation process. If my goal was to use that source code for something useful, like a mod or a port, there was still reverse engineering work left: control flow analysis, symbol naming, data structure reconstruction, documentation of the game's behavior, etc.

Really, this exercise of a little under ten hours puts into perspective how incredible the people who did decompilations were when none of the current conveniences existed. But it also makes me think about how absurd it would be to force people to go through the entire process by hand, without the assistance of AI tools. And even more absurd would be to pretend to do it without mastering concepts as basic as the ones I myself didn't know before starting this experiment.

Needless to say, I won’t continue with the decomp attempt. Doing it properly would take more time than I’m willing to invest, and I don’t want an AI doing everything while I have no idea what it’s doing.

Hey everyone! I’m working on SkyBreak, an early Skyward Sword PC recompilation project targeting the original Wii release, USA 1.0 (SOUE01).

It’s built on nWiiRecomp, using generated C++ from PowerPC code alongside a custom Wii runtime for graphics, audio, input and saves. Development has been AI-assisted, and I’d love to get more experienced developers involved.

Currently, it boots, loads saves and reaches playable gameplay. There’s also a custom launcher, joystick-based virtual motion controls, local achievements and a bug-report capture tool.

Rendering accuracy and motion controls still need work, especially aiming and gyro puzzles. Full-game completion hasn’t been verified yet, so this is a work in progress.

I’m looking for contributors and testers, particularly people familiar with C++, PowerPC, Wii GX/TEV rendering or SDL2 input.

Would anyone here be interested in helping test, review the implementation or tackle specific bugs?

Join here to see progress! https://discord.gg/XQvXcRt2g

Eldin Volcano, Running at 30 fps.

Hello,

I’ve made, admittedly with almost exclusive use of AI, a static recompilation port of the Nintendo Switch version of Link’s Awakening.

I know AI usage is controversial. I do some of my own Swift macOS development, but something like this is way beyond my skill set and wouldn’t have been possible without AI. I’m guiding it as responsibly as I can. It is what it is. If you disagree with the use of AI, I understand your position and likely agree with many of the points you could bring up, but this is a fan project of a game I love. I made it to have the ultimate way of enjoying the game myself, and sharing it is just a courtesy. AI or not, I’m committed to making this awesome for the love of the game, and contributions are welcome.

Another big disclaimer: this release includes NO Nintendo game files, assets, keys or fonts. No XCI/NSP, no prod.keys, no textures, models, music or text. You must provide your own dump of the game (v1.0.0) and your own keys to play. That even includes fonts, since the game uses a few proprietary ones: you can dump them from your own Switch for an authentic experience, or use the reasonable substitutes I’ve picked that look okay in game. You can also choose your own, though I probably won’t add support for fonts that don’t work; the option is there if you want to play around with it.

Enough about that, let’s talk about the game!

First and foremost, this is a 0.1 release, basically an early alpha/beta. Bugs are likely, especially with the randomizer, and some graphical glitches are still present. I know about some of them already (there’s a Known issues list on GitHub though it's already behind what I know about); I’m not pretending this is perfect yet. But the game should be...... knocks on wood ... 100% beatable in Vanilla and run well while doing so.

For the randomizer logic, I’ve done a lot of testing, including scripts that check seeds are beatable, but there’s no guarantee. Due to the nature of randomizers, it needs a broader set of players to truly find every oddity. Simpler settings should be mostly bug-free, but the crazier settings, like decoupled entrance rando, bushsanity, digsanity, and dungeon room shuffling, could still produce softlocks. Room shuffle especially: go in expecting to find bugs and help make it great by reporting them, not expecting to beat it.

GitHub: https://github.com/peiikai/LASRecomp

Project Discord: https://discord.gg/DhrgdYqdcY

Install:

macOS: open the .dmg and drag LAS Recomp into Applications. The app isn’t notarized yet, so you'll have to allow Gatekeeper to run it anyways for now. I do have an Apple Developer ID and will notarize the 1.0 release, but for now, with rapid changes, it’s not.

Windows: unzip and put the “LAS Recomp” folder wherever you like. No installer; your saves and game files live in that folder.

On first launch you’ll get a start screen where you select your game dump and keys to extract them. Once extracted, the game is ready to launch. The in-game LAS Recomp menu (settings, randomizer, cosmetics and more) opens with F1 / Esc, or your controller’s Home / PlayStation / Xbox button.

Platform support:

macOS: macOS 15 or newer, Apple Silicon only, Metal graphics backend with MetalFX upscaling options.

Windows: Windows 10 or newer, x86-64, a CPU with AVX2 and a GPU with Vulkan 1.3.

More platforms will likely come with time, but this is the starting point.

Features:

• Native Windows and macOS execution of Link’s Awakening.
• Optional unlocked aspect ratio. Ultrawide and super ultrawide work (tested up to 32:9), though some graphical glitches are still being worked on.
• Custom in-game menus for recomp-specific settings.
• Full controller support with button remapping, and Xbox / PlayStation button prompts.
• Built-in randomizer (see GitHub for the full list of randomizer features, it’s a lot).
• Internal resolution adjuster: upscale or downscale the graphics as you like. macOS builds support MetalFX upscaling and use it by default.
• Built-in save editor.
• Built-in cheats.
• Built-in difficulty adjustments.
• Cosmetics editor and randomizer.
• Honestly more I just haven't remembered to mention.

There’s a lot I’m still working on, but I’m choosing to release now to grow the sample size and find bugs. I’m committed to making this the best it can be, and additional contributors are welcome.

I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to hop in the Discord!

Have fun!

[removed]

I feel like there's a lot of misunderstanding around ReXGlue, and sometimes people seem to associate it directly with bad ports or poor performance.

ReXGlue is a tool/framework used in the recompilation process. The final quality still depends heavily on how the developer implements, optimizes, and maintains the project.

If a project has poor performance, missing shaders, bugs, or other issues, I don't think it's fair to automatically blame ReXGlue without looking at the actual implementation.

I'm using ReXGlue in my own recompilation, and I've been able to optimize and improve the project considerably as development continues. That experience is part of why I'm curious about the community's opinion.