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MegaManX4Recomp v0.0.1-alpha

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@mstan mstan released this 06 Jul 01:28
v0.0.1-alpha
090b131

Mega Man X4 Recompiled — v0.0.1-alpha

The first public cut, made days after first boot. Mega Man X4 boots and
plays as a native Windows program — no emulator behind it — on the
PSXRecomp framework, the same one behind
TombaRecomp,
MegaManX5Recomp and
MegaManX6Recomp. The game's MIPS
code is machine-translated ahead of time into native C and compiled into a real
Windows executable that runs on a faithful simulation of the PS1 hardware plus
the recompiled PS1 BIOS.

✨ Highlights — what works

  • Boots and plays. BIOS → disc detect → engine load → intro cinematics →
    title → attract demos → into the game, with no known crashes on the covered
    path.
  • The intro cinematics decode and play (the X vs. Zero opening), riding the
    faithful CD read/seek-timing work that unlocked MMX5's FMV.
  • Correct-by-hardware controller handling. X4 shipped before the
    DualShock existed and its pad driver rejects analog pads outright — exactly
    like the real console, where a DualShock with the analog LED lit is ignored
    by this game. The runtime presents the plain digital pad X4 expects, and the
    launcher offers no pad-mode selector (there is exactly one valid mode).
    Keyboard and SDL gamepads both work.
  • A recompiler milestone made X4 possible: X4's engine keeps inline data
    tables inside its code, which tripped the old function-extent heuristic into
    classifying ~261 KB of real engine code (7,373 functions) as data. The new
    control-flow-aware extent analysis recovers them — this fix benefits every
    PSXRecomp title.
  • Fast loading (turbo loads). Loads fast-forward the whole machine at full
    host speed while keeping authentic 1× guest CD timing (and audio) intact.
  • Supersampling + anti-aliasing. Internal-resolution SSAA (1×–4×) with
    optional linear present filtering.
  • Graphical launcher. Pick BIOS / disc / memory cards, verify the disc, and
    configure renderer, supersampling, and controller — choices persist between
    launches.
  • Self-contained overlay toolchain. As you explore new areas the runtime
    converts the game's streamed ARC overlay code to native code in the
    background — no developer tools needed; the release bundles a fully
    self-contained toolchain (embedded Python + TinyCC).

⚠️ Known issues

  • Early preview — not verified deep into stages. The covered path (intro,
    title, menus, attract, starting a game) works with no known crashes, but X4
    has ~2,800 not-yet-recompiled code regions that an unvisited area may hit. By
    design that halts the program loudly instead of silently misbehaving — if it
    happens to you, please report where you were.
  • Memory-card save/load not yet verified end-to-end in this build (the
    card hardware layer is exercised and healthy).
  • No widescreen this release. X4 ships 4:3 only; the launcher's
    Widescreen toggle is hidden for this title until the 2D wide field-of-view is
    ported (same mechanism as MMX6's).

📝 Setup

  • Bring your own PlayStation BIOS (SCPH1001.BIN) and Mega Man X4 (USA,
    SLUS-00561) disc image — the launcher asks for each. Verify your disc against
    DISC.md before reporting regressions. Use .cue + .bin (or .bin); do
    not convert to a 2048-byte "cooked" .iso — that discards the XA sectors
    the movies and audio stream from.
  • Options live in the launcher's Settings and are remembered between
    launches.
  • The overlay cache grows as you play; please keep overlay_captures.json
    private — it contains game code read from your disc (see README).
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