Shadows of the Empire: Recompiled

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Download 0.9.7 for Windows · Release notes

Experimental Linux x86-64 download · Linux setup and known issues

This repository contains a playable Windows static recompilation of the Nintendo 64 version of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire using N64Recomp.

License and ports

Original project code is available under the MIT License. Ports to other platforms, including iPhone, are welcome. Third-party licenses still apply; combined builds using N64ModernRuntime must comply with its GPL requirements. Game files and replacement artwork are separately owned. See licensing details.

Screenshots

Main menu	On-foot level

Space level	Speeder bike level

Target

• Region: USA
• Retail revision: 1.2
• ROM byte order: big-endian (.z64); byteswapped .v64/.n64 dumps are converted automatically
• Internal ROM name: Shadow of the Empire
• Accepted ROM SHA-256, either of:
  • e7085e013123537f34e0edec8801318016da4dbac424172d6dc5f3b67d98642c (No-Intro Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire (USA) (Rev 2), CRC32 E8727549 - the normal cartridge dump)
  • 2802bf4135842f7c8d254349ed7ac2641f6d7ff45e9d2d01304e1455706dd103 (a widely mirrored pack copy; differs from the dump above only at ROM offset 0x3B7B6E, which falls outside every recompiled code section, the texture pool and all 32 packed segments, so it runs identically)

No game ROMs or extracted copyrighted assets belong in version control. A legally obtained matching ROM is required locally to build and run the port.

Modern blaster convergence and optional INI magnetism are documented in Modern aiming.

High-quality OGG music

You can replace the N64 music with higher-quality recordings from your own PC soundtrack. Music files are optional and are not included in the download.

1. Close the game and create Sdata/MUSIC beside Shadows of the Empire.exe.
2. Put your soundtrack's Ogg Vorbis files in that folder. The supported numbered set uses Track02.ogg through Track14.ogg. Keep those filenames; changing a WAV or MP3 extension to .ogg does not convert the audio.
3. Restart the game. Available replacements load automatically; no rebuild, extra player, or separate audio DLL is needed. The in-game Music setting controls their volume.

For example:

Shadows of the Empire.exe
Sdata/
  MUSIC/
    Track02.ogg   (title theme)
    Track03.ogg   (Battle of Hoth)
    Track04.ogg   (Echo Base and Imperial Freighter)
    ...
    Track14.ogg   (Skyhook battle)

If you are ripping or converting your own soundtrack, match the files to the cue/filename table rather than assuming the CD track order is the same. The built-in mapping works without a map file; custom filenames can be assigned in Sdata/MUSIC/n64_music_map.tsv as described in the music guide. Avoid copying an old map from an unrelated music archive, since it may assign the wrong tracks.

A separate main_menu.ogg can replace the main-menu cue. Missing or unreadable replacements fall back to the original N64 music, and sound effects stay intact.

Leebo's PC voices

The current build maps 31 distinct Leebo communicator messages to PC recordings and starts them when their text appears. Copy ILB*.WAV from the Sdata folder in your own PC installation into Sdata beside Shadows of the Empire.exe, then restart. The path should be Sdata/ILB01.WAV; original PCM WAV files need no conversion. These optional recordings are not bundled. See the installation guide.

PC SAN cutscenes

Loose PC .SAN movie files can sit at the root of the runnable Sdata folder, for example SotE_Recompiled/Sdata/L01INTRO.SAN. They are local user-provided assets and are not included in git or release archives. The portable packager also merges root-level Sdata/*.SAN from a local source tree into the play folder while intentionally ignoring Sdata/MOVIES. These files use LucasArts SMUSH: ScummVM's GRiME decoder identifies this SotE set as the ANIM/AHDR path, with FOBJ video chunks using codec 47 or 48 and IACT audio chunks. The runtime reads the original SAN files directly using the included LGPL-2.1 sandec shared library. It decodes video and stereo audio during playback into bounded memory buffers; no preprocessing, FFmpeg installation, or decoded disk cache is required.

Put your PC game's root-level .SAN files in SotE_Recompiled/Sdata. Cutscenes pause gameplay and can be skipped with Start, A, B, Escape, Enter, or Space. SOTE_SAN_PREVIEW=<movie>.SAN selects a movie for direct-playback testing. The original SAN files must remain present. Historical SAN_CACHE folders are not read by this player and are unnecessary.

Texture packs

The Windows release includes the updated interceptor427 HD texture pack and additional AI upscales. Both load automatically; textures without a replacement use their original N64 artwork. To switch to original textures, open Options → Graphics → HD Textures, choose Off, and select Apply. You can switch back to On during play without restarting. The choice is saved; loading the packs can briefly pause the game. With no pack installed, the game uses the original artwork either way.

Replacement packs support higher-resolution PNG artwork, transparency and runtime source-slot matching. See the authoring and installation guide or developer workflow and validation.

Before / after texture comparison

Hoth with stock textures and the experimental 4× RealisticRescaler texture pack. These renderer captures use the same scripted route, capture point and graphics settings; separate runs can have small differences in scene timing. Click either image to inspect the full-resolution capture.

Before: stock textures	After: experimental 4× texture pack

Snowspeeder detail, with both crops enlarged 2× using nearest-neighbor scaling and no sharpening:

The enhanced pack shown here is a proof of concept. The 0.9.2 download includes stock source textures and authoring tools; this experimental enhanced artwork is not bundled. You can use the included sources to build your own HD pack.

Status

The 0.9.7 release is playable on Windows. Graphics, music and sound effects, keyboard and controller input, rumble, EEPROM saves, widescreen rendering, MSAA, and the in-game graphics/options hooks are connected. Automated crash testing navigates the in-game Change Level menu and has exercised all ten levels. Longer input-driven runs cover on-foot, speeder bike, spacecraft, turret, and jetpack gameplay paths.

The 0.9.7 release contains the executable, required runtime DLLs, documentation, license notices and both active texture packs. Your settings are created when you run the game. It does not include a ROM, main.bin, saves, PC music, voices or movies. At runtime, the executable validates the user's local USA v1.2 big-endian ROM and reconstructs the retail executable image in memory.

The renderer includes the game's F3DBETA microcode identification and perspective-normalization behavior. It also avoids RT64's early-present path, which caused alternating black frames and severe flicker in this game. Consecutive synchronized offscreen captures of menus and Hoth gameplay no longer contain those black frames.

The retail loader also restores libultra's 46.875 MHz CPU-counter clock rate. The generic runtime replacement for osInitialize does not perform that guest-memory write; leaving the ROM's 62.5 MHz initializer unchanged made SOTE's audio scheduler run 25 percent late and repeatedly underrun.

Gameplay is paced at one update per 60 Hz VI while the N64 VI and host presentation remain at 60 Hz. Without this guard, HLE graphics tasks finish much faster than the original RSP/RDP work and let the main loop run about 120 gameplay updates per second. That made movement, collision, and mission timers several times too fast even though presentation itself was properly synchronized.

Requirements

Vulkan is the default graphics API. The first launch of the updated build switches existing graphics API settings to Vulkan once. Later explicit API choices are respected; Automatic selects Vulkan. Other graphics settings are preserved.

For the release zip:

• Windows 10 or 11
• A legally obtained ROM matching the SHA-256 above

For building from source:

• Windows 10 or 11
• Visual Studio 2022 with Desktop development with C++
• CMake and Git on PATH
• Python 3
• A legally obtained ROM matching the SHA-256 above

Install the Python dependencies into the repository:

python -m pip install --target .tools/python -r tools/requirements.txt

Build

Place the ROM in the repository root with this name:

Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire (U) (V1.2) [!].z64

Then run:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\build.ps1

Use -RomPath C:\path\to\rom.z64 for a ROM stored elsewhere. The first build extracts and recompiles the game. Later builds reuse those generated sources; pass -Regenerate to recreate them or -Clean to recreate both CMake build trees.

Run

For the release zip, extract the archive and place the matching ROM next to Shadows of the Empire.exe with either of these names:

sote.us.v1.2.z64
Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire (U) (V1.2) [!].z64

For local builds, the build script creates the same self-contained play folder:

SotE_Recompiled\

Double-click:

SotE_Recompiled\Shadows of the Empire.exe

The executable resolves the ROM, retail image, DLLs, and saves from its own directory, so it does not depend on the current working directory or the repository layout. The portable folder can be moved as a unit. Saves are written under:

SotE_Recompiled\saves\sote.us.v1.2.bin

Normal double-click launches also keep diagnostics for the most recent run:

SotE_Recompiled\logs\sote-latest.log
SotE_Recompiled\logs\sote-latest-errors.log

The first file includes bike-stage timers, lives, and mission-failure transitions. The second captures runtime errors and native crash stacks. Both files are replaced on the next launch instead of accumulating indefinitely.

Normal launches use Direct3D and sound. --muted suppresses the host audio device while leaving guest audio generation active. Automation uses both --headless-smoke and --muted, so it opens neither a Direct3D window nor a sound device.

Graphics

Normal launches default to a resizable 1280x720 widescreen window, automatic integer-scaled internal resolution, and 4x MSAA. Maximizing the window or moving it to a higher-resolution display automatically raises the internal rendering resolution. RT64 expands supported 3D projections to the window's aspect ratio while retaining the game's original 2D framebuffer behavior.

Graphics configuration is part of the original game UI. Open Options -> Graphics to select:

• An actual output resolution supported by the current display
• Native, 2x, 4x, or 8x render scale, or automatic Scale to Fit
• Original 4:3 or Widescreen presentation
• Off, 2x, 4x, or 8x MSAA
• Windowed or Borderless display mode

Changes are staged until Apply is selected. Reset restores 1280x720, Scale to Fit, Widescreen, 4x MSAA, and Windowed mode. Renderer options are saved in SotE_Recompiled\rt64.json; output resolution and display mode are saved in SotE_Recompiled\sote_options.json. Both files are created automatically. Pressing F11 or Alt+Enter also toggles borderless mode and keeps the in-game setting synchronized.

The bundled RT64 revision provides multisample antialiasing rather than FXAA. The port defaults to 4x MSAA because it smooths polygon edges without applying a full-screen blur to HUD text and textures.

On an Xbox controller, Y is a digital alias for N64 C-left. In the jetpack levels, press Y to toggle the jetpack and hold A for thrust. The right-stick left direction continues to provide the original C-left input as well.

Automated crash smoke

Run the four mode-focused tests:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\tools\smoke_levels.ps1

Run every Change Level entry:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\tools\smoke_levels.ps1 -AllLevels

Each level test spends three minutes in its gameplay observation window by default. It records life loss, result transitions, and game-over state along with periodic level heartbeats. Use -DurationMinutes to request a different duration. Unless -Passive is supplied, the harness rotates through all four analog directions while holding fire and pulses A, B, R, L, and each C button. The combined-input test fails if any of those action classes is absent from the captured runtime log. Pass -NoRefillLives to exercise natural life depletion instead of the default long-smoke refill. Add -ExpectNaturalGameOver to require the exact four-death sequence 3→2→1→0→-1 and a result-4 return to the level menu.

These tests use the headless renderer so they can run without taking window focus. They also pass --muted, while still exercising game audio tasks, overlay code, and display-list submission paths; rendered offscreen capture remains a separate validation step. Every run starts from an isolated copy of the known-good Change Level save under build\diagnostics and does not modify the normal save.

Controls

An SDL-compatible controller uses the expected N64 layout:

• Left stick: N64 analog stick
• A / B: N64 A / B
• Left trigger: Z
• Left and right shoulder buttons: L and R
• Right stick: C buttons
• D-pad and Start: N64 D-pad and Start

Modern on-foot keyboard defaults:

• WASD: analog stick
• Z or Space: A
• X: B
• C: Z
• Q / E: L / R
• Arrow keys: D-pad
• IJKL: C buttons
• Enter: Start

Classic on-foot keyboard and mouse defaults follow the installed PC release's first built-in control set: arrow keys or numpad 8/2/4/6 move, IJKL controls the camera, X/Mouse 1 fires, Z/Mouse 2 jumps, Space aims, A strafes or activates, C ducks, Q toggles the jetpack, W changes weapon, and Tab changes camera position. Enter or F1 pauses; Escape remains the recovery pause key. Classic speeder-bike keyboard and mouse defaults also follow the PC release: arrows or numpad 8/2/4/6 steer, Z/Mouse 1 throttles, A/Mouse 2 reverses or brakes, S rams left, D rams right, and Tab changes the camera. Classic snowspeeder uses arrows or numpad 8/2/4/6 to steer, Z/Mouse 2 for thrust, X/Mouse 1 to fire, Space or C for the harpoon, and A for brakes, matching the first PC built-in set. Classic Outrider uses arrows or numpad 8/2/4/6 to steer, Z/Mouse 2 to accelerate and roll, A to decelerate, X/Mouse 1 to fire, Space or C for missiles, and Q to roll. Classic turret uses arrows or numpad 8/2/4/6 to aim, X/Mouse 1 to fire, and C/Mouse 2 for missiles. The additional missile key is Space in Asteroid Field and Z in Skyhook; the Controls screen shows both defaults.

Physical keyboard and controller input is accepted only while the game window has focus. This prevents normal desktop typing from steering an unattended game.

Control scheme

The injected Options entry cycles between Graphics and Controls with Left and Right. The Controls submenu offers a single player-facing choice:

• Classic - PC-style keyboard/mouse controls in all five gameplay sections, with the native N64 controller mapping. The PC joystick comparison is in progress.
• Modern - controller-focused aiming, movement, and vehicle tuning. On foot, LS moves and strafes while RS continuously turns and aims. There is no LT aim mode. A jumps, RT fires, X opens doors, Y toggles the jetpack, B crouches, and LB/RB cycles weapons. Modern uses a right-shoulder camera looking along the weapon direction, with native camera collision checks. Stick release stops turning and holds vertical aim. Speeder-bike stages use right trigger for throttle, left trigger for brake, left stick steering, and LB/RB for the native left/right ram actions. The bike has no blaster fire action. Bike steering uses a progressive curve, can lose sensitivity as throttle rises, and is lightly stabilized. A filtered throttle/brake axis controls native camera framing.

Highlight Apply to persist the choice to sote_controls.json next to the executable.

Modern-control tuning is kept in CONTROLS_MODERN.INI next to the executable. The file is written with defaults on first run and re-read when it changes on disk. Each setting has comments describing its valid range and what higher or lower values do. Tunables include movement deadzone and sensitivity, aim deadzone and sensitivity, trigger deadzone and sensitivity, optional look-forward snap back, and speeder-bike steering curve, high-speed falloff, minimum steering scale, stabilization, and camera smoothing. The legacy bike_fire_button key is reserved and has no effect in the bike stage.

The [OnFoot] settings are independent of the older General/Bike tuning: on_foot_movement_deadzone and on_foot_aim_deadzone ship at 0.18 in the 0.9.2 INI (the fallback when keys are absent is 0.12), on_foot_aim_curve to 1.7, on_foot_yaw_speed to 180 degrees/second, and on_foot_pitch_speed to 90 degrees/second. on_foot_invert_y reverses vertical look. Larger aim exponents give finer center control; 1.0 is linear. Both sticks use circular deadzones, preserving shallow diagonals. Existing INIs without these keys use the defaults; add the [OnFoot] block from config/CONTROLS_MODERN.INI to expose them. Classic uses the game's native movement and camera mechanics with the PC-style on-foot keyboard layout above.

Beta testers are encouraged to tune CONTROLS_MODERN.INI for real controllers and submit the best-feeling setups with controller model details.

Control-scheme harness

The scheme selection, the CONTROLS_MODERN.INI reader, and the Modern input math run outside the recompiled guest, so they are covered by a host-side harness that needs neither a ROM nor a graphics device:

.\build\runtime\Release\controls_harness.exe
.\build\runtime\Release\modern_controls_harness.exe

The second harness checks radial response, pitch timing, guest movement/aim hooks, native action bindings, and Classic/death/disconnect isolation. For process-local gameplay diagnostics, SOTE_TEST_MODERN_INPUT=1 exercises a repeating sequence of fine/full turns, pitch, and diagonal movement; SOTE_TRACE_MODERN_CONTROLS=1 logs the requested and native output angles. These checks do not substitute for a hands-on controller feel pass.

Repository notes

Generated game code and ROM-derived data are deliberately ignored. The dependency changes needed by this port are kept as patch files under patches\ and are applied automatically by build.ps1.