Silent Hill 3 Recompiled
Silent Hill 3
About the project
Silent Hill 3 es un videojuego de terror psicológico y supervivencia desarrollado por Team Silent, un grupo de Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, y publicado por Konami para la PlayStation 2. La tercera entrega de la serie Silent Hill y secuela directa del primer juego de Silent Hill, sigue a Heather, una adolescente que se ve envuelta en las maquinaciones del culto del pueblo, que busca revivir a una deidad malévola.
2 versions of Silent Hill 3
You're viewing: Silent Hill 3 Recompiled
Official project information
A native Nintendo Switch port of the PC version of Silent Hill 3, made the same way as sh2-nx.
It's not an emulator. The game's x86 executable is statically recompiled to C ahead of time and the C is compiled for the Switch's ARM64 CPU. The Windows layer the game expects (Direct3D 8, DirectSound, DirectInput, kernel32...) is reimplemented on top of SDL2 and OpenGL.
[!NOTE] No game files are included. You need your own copy of the PC game; the NRO from Releases, or one you build yourself (Building the NRO), runs it.
Features
- Native code: every function of
sh3.exeruns as ARM64 code; no emulator, no Wine. - Launcher: Play and Options before the game; Options changes the resolution and the game threads in
sh3.inion the console. - Widescreen: 16:9 at 1280x720 by default, 1920x1080 for docked play, or the original 4:3 (ThirteenAG's WidescreenFix, ported). The camera widens in gameplay, cutscenes keep their framing without the letterbox, and menus and HUD stay in a centered 4:3 area.
- Controller: Nintendo's layout (A confirms, B cancels), remappable in Options > Button Config.
- Shader cache: shaders are compiled once and kept on the SD card, so areas only stutter the first time.
- Also builds for Linux (x86-64), which is where most of the debugging happens.
v0.06
- Launcher: after a warning screen, Play and Options come before the game, with the game's own menu sounds.
Options sets the resolution (720p, 1080p or the original 4:3) and the game threads, and writes them to
sh3.ini(see Settings). - Pause menu: the black box behind it is gone, so the game stays visible behind the menu text.
- Pause menu: Save and Load were greyed out when the game was paused during a fade-in (back from the save screen, after a load or a door) until the menu was reopened.
- Fixed large triangles drawn over the car windows in the cutscene after the Missionary fight (#6, by Ligux01): where two paths joined, the recompiler read the zero flag back from a register that had been overwritten since, so some triangles got the wrong winding. It now uses the saved flag, with regression tests in the lifter.
v0.05
- ZL and ZR swapped to match sh2-nx: ZL is the search view, ZR readies the weapon (see Controls).
v0.04
- Controls laid out as in sh2-nx: L / R strafe, ZL is the search view, ZR readies the weapon (see Controls).
- Fixed a crash breaking the white rubble wall with the silencer in the construction site (a callback that was only partly recompiled; nine others like it fixed too).
v0.03
- Better crash logs:
sh3-crash.loglists the last calls of the thread that crashed (they were mixed from every thread), and withlog=1insh3.ini,sh3.lognames any file the game fails to open. - Fixed a crash entering the area past the Hazel Street station stairs (a monster callback that was never recompiled; another one like it fixed too).
v0.02
- Heather's hair in the real-time cutscenes was drawn as solid blocks (#1): the alpha of the game's paletted (P8) textures was dropped when they were expanded for OpenGL. The palette's alpha is now honored, and palettes are handled as Direct3D 8 does (numbers up to 65535, a texture expanded again when its palette changes).
v0.01
The first release: from the title screen into the game, with New Game, the opening, gameplay, the pause menu, inventory, options and Button Config.
Known issues:
- The FMVs (
data/movie/*.000, played through DirectShow on PC) are skipped. - After the cutscene in the Office Building bathroom the screen can stay black: press a button to continue.
- The Konami and KCET logos and the credits are stretched on a wide screen.
- Little tested past the first areas: if it crashes,
sh3-crash.lognext to the NRO says where (please attach it to an issue).
How to install
-
Install Silent Hill 3 on your PC. The port is built for the
sh3.exeof 3,338,240 bytes, SHA-1aa2aca6dba19bf510c9c2e92eefdc15e98266581. -
Copy to the SD card, with the card (or its folder) mounted on the PC:
.venv/bin/python tools/make_sd.py /path/to/sd # from a clone of this repositoryor by hand. Your
sh3-nxfolder should look like this:/switch/sh3-nx/ sh3-nx.nro (from Releases) sh3.exe (from your PC install) data/ (from your PC install, about 5 GB) savedata/ (an empty folder: saves and settings go here) sh3.ini (optional, see Settings) -
Launch it from the homebrew menu in title takeover mode (hold R while starting an installed game). Not from the album: applet mode does not give homebrew enough memory.
Saves, settings and the shader cache are written next to the NRO.
[!CAUTION] The first time you enter an area its shaders are compiled, so it can stutter for a moment. They are kept in
sh3-progs.binand later visits are smooth.
Controls
<div align="center">| Switch | Xbox (PC) | Action |
|---|---|---|
| A | A | Action, confirm |
| B | B | Flashlight, cancel |
| Y | X | Dash |
| X | Y | Map |
| L / R | LB / RB | Strafe left / right |
| ZL | LT | Search view |
| ZR | RT | Ready weapon |
| + | Start | Inventory |
| − | Back | Pause, skip |
| Left stick, d-pad | Left stick, d-pad | Move |
| Right stick | Right stick | Camera |
| L stick click | LS | Supplies |
| R stick click | RS | Zoom |
Laid out as in sh2-nx; change them in Options > Button Config. A savedata/key.ini saved by an older version keeps
its old layout: delete it to get this one. With a keyboard on PC: W A S D and Q E
to move and turn, Space for action, Return / Escape to confirm / cancel.
Settings
sh3.ini, next to the NRO (every line is optional); the launcher's Options screen sets resolution and cores:
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
resolution=1280x720 | the default; 1920x1080 for docked play, 960x720 or 640x480 for the original 4:3 |
cores=1 | every game thread on one core, a fallback if the audio misbehaves |
log=1 | write sh3.log next to the NRO, for bug reports (off by default: it costs an SD card write per line). Crashes always go to sh3-crash.log |
trace=1 | with log=1, log every Windows call the game makes (very slow) |
Building the NRO
You need the game (step 1 of How to install): the code generator reads sh3.exe, applies the
widescreen patches to it and recompiles it.
Requirements: Python 3, CMake, Ninja, and for the Switch build podman (or a local devkitPro install with devkitA64, libnx, switch-sdl2 and switch-mesa). For the Linux build, the SDL2 development files.
git clone https://github.com/cutarev/sh3-nx && cd sh3-nx
python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
ln -s "/path/to/Silent Hill 3" game # the folder holding sh3.exe and data/
tools/regen.sh # recompiles game/sh3.exe into src/recomp/gen (~5 min)
tools/build-switch.sh # -> build/switch/sh3-nx.nro (devkitPro's container under podman)
tools/build-switch-local.sh # the same with a local devkitPro install
cmake -S . -B build/linux -G Ninja && cmake --build build/linux # Linux build
build/linux/sh3 game
How it works
- The game's code is translated, not emulated.
tools/regen.shwraps the PE as an XBE for xboxrecomp (patched for these ports), which turns every function into C.tools/seeds.pyfinds the functions only data refers to,tools/fix_functions.pyrepairs the ones the disassembler cut short, andtools/observed_seeds.txtlists those found at run time. - Widescreen. ThirteenAG's fix patches the running game; here its code changes are byte patches applied to the
exe before recompiling (
tools/patch_exe.py, each site checked against the original bytes) and hand-written functions insrc/game/sh3.c. - The Windows layer. Direct3D 8 runs on OpenGL with the shaders translated to GLSL (
src/d3d8), DirectSound is a software mixer on SDL audio, DirectInput goes through SDL, and kernel32, user32 and winmm are insrc/win32.src/runtimeholds the guest memory, threads and the Linux/Horizon layer.
Debugging aids (Linux)
| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
SH3_KEYS="22:Return,30:Down+2" | scripted key presses (seconds, key, optional hold); the window is hidden and the real keyboard ignored |
SH3_SHOW=1 | keep the window visible during a scripted run |
SH3_SHOT=dir, SH3_SHOT_EVERY=n | dump frames as PPM (tools/ppm2png.py) |
SH3_STATS=1 | frame rate and guest heap |
SH3_TRACE=1 | log every bridged Windows call |
SH3_PEEK=va,... / SH3_POKE=frame:va=value | log guest dwords every 60 frames / write one |
SH3_COVER=frame / -frame | with a tracing build (TRACE=$PWD/build/disasm/functions.json tools/regen.sh --recomp-only), log the functions that run after that frame |
SH3_ORACLE=va,n | differential test of one function against Unicorn (tools/oracle.py) |
A build with -DRECOMP_ABI_CHECK logs every call that returns with esp, ebx, esi or edi changed, on the
Switch too (log=1). tools/fuzz.py checks the lifter's instruction semantics against Unicorn.
Credits
- Konami and Team Silent: creators of Silent Hill 3. This is an unofficial, fan-made port with no affiliation.
- WidescreenFixesPack by ThirteenAG (MIT): the widescreen fix.
- sh2-nx: the runtime this port starts from.
- xboxrecomp by sp00nznet: the x86 to C lifter.
- nfsmw-nx, the Need for Speed: Most Wanted Switch port, for the Horizon guest-memory technique.
- devkitPro and switchbrew, SDL2, Mesa.
Legal
Silent Hill is a trademark of Konami. This project is not affiliated with Konami. This repository contains no assets or program code from the original game; users must provide their own copy. Running homebrew requires custom firmware.