Street Fighter IV CE - PS Vita Port

Port of Street Fighter IV CE (Android) for the PS Vita.

The latest test release is v1.0-rc3, published as a GitHub prerelease. It has been exercised in Vita3K; hardware performance, memory use and audio latency still need validation on a real Vita. This is an offline port.

How It Works

The port works by loading the official Android ARMv7 native library (libGltest2jni.so) into memory, resolving its imports with native Vita functions, and providing a fake JNI environment so the Android code can run on Vita.

Architecture

Android:                          Vita:
─────────                         ─────────────────
GlTest2Activity (Java)    →      main.cpp (C++)
GlTest2Renderer (Java)    →      Fake JNI Environment
TouchSurfaceView (Java)   →      Input mapping (Vita → touch)
libGltest2jni.so (ARMv7)  →      libGltest2jni.so (dlopen)
Android OpenGL ES         →      vitaGL (GLES → GXM)
Cricket Audio mixer      →      Vita PCM audio thread

JNI Bridge

The native library uses JNI to call back into Java for:

• File I/O: Loading .obm assets, save files
• Network: HTTP connections for achievements/leaderboards
• System: Language, device info queries

These calls are implemented or isolated by the compatibility layer in loader/main.cpp and loader/bionic_compat.cpp.

Input Mapping

Menus support a visible pointer: move it with the D-pad or left stick, hold Cross to click/drag, and press Circle to go back. Touch input takes priority and hides the pointer. Circle on Main dismisses Android's unavailable quit confirmation; use the Vita system UI to exit. Combat controls are sent through the game's Android controller bitfield, while the mobile combat overlay is hidden:

• Cross → Combat button 1 (attack)
• Circle → Combat button 2
• Square → Combat button 3
• Triangle → Combat button 4
• D-Pad / Left Stick → Directional input

Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• Install kubridge and FdFix
• Install libshacccg.suprx for shader compilation
• Install SF4CE.vpk from this repository's GitHub release using VitaShell.

Do not install FdFix alongside rePatch. vitaGL and vitaShaRK are build dependencies and are already linked into the VPK.

Kernel Plugins

Add to ux0:tai/config.txt:

*KERNEL
ux0:tai/kubridge.skprx
ux0:tai/fd_fix.skprx

Game Files

1. Obtain libGltest2jni.so and its matching libc++_shared.so from your own ARM32 APK (tested: 1.05.00, lib/armeabi-v7a/)
2. Copy both libraries to ux0:data/sf4ce/
3. Copy the complete game asset directory to ux0:data/sf4ce/assets/, preserving filenames and all file types.
4. Copy the complete demand-loaded asset directory, including the downloaded character data, to ux0:data/sf4ce/demand_assets/.
5. Optionally copy the original sf4_online.mp4 to demand_assets/.

No APK, Android libraries, extracted game data, audio or movie is supplied. The VPK includes only the loader, license notices and original Vita shell artwork. ARM64-only APKs cannot be used with this ARMv7 loader.

Required Data Structure

ux0:data/sf4ce/
├── libGltest2jni.so          # Native library (ARMv7)
├── libc++_shared.so          # Matching Android C++ runtime
├── options.cfg               # Optional config
├── assets/                   # Game assets (.obm files)
│   ├── abel_01.obm
│   ├── abel_02.obm
│   └── ...
└── demand_assets/            # Demand-loaded assets
    ├── _filelist.txt          # Original complete asset manifest
    └── ...                   # Full character data, not just selection portraits

Unlocking all 32 characters

The port enables the full roster automatically when it detects the complete local character pack from your own matching Android copy. An unlocked savedata is not required. There is no unlock code or configuration switch, and upgrading does not require deleting or replacing your save.

Obtain the full game data, including its downloaded character pack; the base APK alone may not contain all of it. Copy the complete asset folders rather than selecting only .obm files: the roster also needs its .bin and .idx files. Keep the original names and directory layout.

For the supported 1.05.00 data, the check requires:

• The original _filelist.txt in ux0:data/sf4ce/demand_assets/.
• Nonempty guy_sel_chara.obm, jri_sel_chara.obm, dan_sel_chara.obm, eln_sel_chara.obm and psn_sel_chara.obm in that same directory.
• All 1,985 required combat files in the supported manifest, including the portrait data for all 32 characters, in assets/ or demand_assets/. Optional third-color/legacy files are excluded from this check.

When these checks pass, the loader enables the installed content state in memory on startup. This was verified with a fresh save: 32 selectable characters with the complete pack, versus 4 without the loader's pack activation. A copy of an existing save also gave 4 without that activation.

If only four characters are available, check the files above and ux0:data/sf4ce/boot.log. A complete installation reports [Assets] complete user asset pack: yes; missing combat files are listed as [Assets] missing combat file: .... Restore the missing original files and restart the game. Empty placeholders or selection portraits alone do not satisfy the check. The VPK does not include or download this game data.

Configuration (options.cfg)

resolution=0         # 0=960x544, 1=1280x725, 2=1920x1088
antialiasing=2       # 0=none, 1=2x, 2=4x MSAA
audio=1              # 1=Cricket mixer through native Vita stereo output, 0=mute
intro_movie=1        # Play the optional original intro after title inactivity
battle_camera=1      # 0=original Android framing, 1=adaptive console framing
smooth_rendering=1   # Interpolate normal combat drawing towards 60 Hz
debug_log=0          # 1=verbose asset/GL/JNI diagnostics

Audio currently supports the ARMv7 1.05.00 library with ELF build ID 520fc2ea2df898a682742a3f9ba7a22f185fa9e7. Other libraries keep the muted fallback. Use matching game assets and libc++_shared.so from your copy. The optional demand_assets/sf4_online.mp4 intro plays through SceAvPlayer with audio and its original aspect ratio. Touch, Cross, Circle or Start skips it; completion returns to the title. If the file/backend is unavailable, the title stays visible instead of fading into a missing movie. See Unlocking all 32 characters for the full character-pack requirements and troubleshooting.

Optional integration test controls (leave disabled for normal play):

debug_touch_cursor=0  # Select+D-pad moves a cursor, Select+Cross taps
debug_input_replay=0  # Reads ux0:data/sf4ce/debug-input.txt at the normal update rate
debug_audio_capture=0 # Writes up to 180 seconds to ux0:data/sf4ce/audio-debug.wav
debug_timing=0        # Reports cadence, scene/camera transitions and slow frames

Example replay files are in tests/replays/. They use wait <updates>, tap <x> <y> <updates> and pad <Vita-button-mask-hex> <updates>. The cursor and replay both use the regular Android touch/controller bridge. menu_pad.txt exercises title, Other, Options and Back using only pad commands with an existing player save. Menu movement uses elapsed time rather than a fixed distance per update, and the pointer is hidden during combat and the IME. ryu_ultra.txt exercises repeated Ryu Ultras in training. File reads retain Android's shared-buffer cache so movie chunks reuse the resident data instead of reading the entire movie again for each chunk. Combat simulation normally runs at 20 Hz; loading/menu phases can request a different cadence through the original Android interval callback. title_movie_skip.txt exercises the idle intro, Start to skip and subsequent combat. title_idle.txt checks the visible-title fallback with intro_movie=0.

smooth_rendering=1 (default) draws normal combat at a target of 60 Hz using interpolated compatible geometry and camera matrices between simulation states. Atlas/texture changes keep the native poses. Input processing, collisions and simulation remain at their original cadence. This adds up to one simulation tick (50 ms) of visual latency, uses at most 4 MiB of interpolation buffers and increases rendering work. smooth_rendering=0 uses the native drawing cadence. Pauses, fades and cinematic cameras use the native path; new meshes, changed topology/materials, texture uploads and camera cuts reset history.

Build Instructions

Requirements

• vita SDK with hardfp support
• vitaGL, vitaShaRK, kubridge, mathneon compiled with -mfloat-abi=hard
• OpenSLES, FreeType, libpng, zlib and bzip2 from the matching SDK setup
• Build vitaGL with ENABLE_LEGACY_PIPELINE=1 for intro playback

The GitHub Actions workflow follows the ff3_vita container build approach, with pinned vitaGL/vitaShaRK/OpenSLES revisions and package validation.

Build

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make

The camera patch can be checked on a host compiler without VitaSDK:

c++ -std=c++17 -Wall -Wextra tests/battle_camera_test.cpp -o /tmp/sf4ce-camera-test
/tmp/sf4ce-camera-test

Run all asset-free regression tests and validate the distributable:

python3 tools/run_host_tests.py
python3 tools/check_package.py build/SF4CE.vpk

JNI Buffer Layout

The game engine uses three direct ByteBuffers:

Buffer	Size	Purpose
data_buf	32 MB	Game data (assets, state)
send_buf	4.8 KB	Data sent to native
receive_buf	4.8 KB	Data received from native

Touch Input Format

5 touch points × 8 shorts = 40 shorts total:

Per touch (8 shorts):
  [0] X current (×10)
  [1] Y current (×10)
  [2] X target
  [3] Y target
  [4] X previous
  [5] Y previous
  [6] type: 1=down, 2=move, 3=up_with_prev, 4=cancel
  [7] dirty flag (1 = has changes)

Native Functions Called

Function	Purpose
NativeInit(data, send, receive)	Initialize game engine
NativeUpdate(touch_tbl)	Update game state with inputs
NativeDraw()	Render current frame
NativePause()	Pause game
NativeResume()	Resume game
NativeTerm()	Shutdown engine
NativeCommon(cmd)	Generic commands (battle data, timeout, etc.)
NativeP2PUpdate()	P2P multiplayer update (stubbed)

Status

• Project structure
• JNI bridge implementation
• Fake JNI environment
• Physical controller mapping in Vita3K
• Mobile combat overlay hidden
• File I/O stubs
• Boot, name entry, offline menu and combat in Vita3K
• Store/Battle removed from the main panel and right navbar
• Stable static main-menu background (optional replay preview disabled)
• Native ETC1 textures (Vita3K needs ETC1/base-vertex support, PR #3903)
• Original Vita icon/LiveArea resources, with no APK artwork
• Native Vita PCM output from the embedded Cricket mixer (tested in Vita3K)
• Explicit RGBA8 conversion for 5551 initial/partial texture uploads
• Verify full local combat pack before enabling native 32-character content state
• Testing on Vita hardware

The current VPK is a test candidate. Hardware performance, memory use with RGBA8 textures, audio latency and the full set of stages/cinematic cameras still require validation on a real Vita.

Check the generated package with:

python3 tools/check_package.py build/SF4CE.vpk

Host checks for the new timing and rendering code (Clang):

clang++ -std=c++17 -fsanitize=address,undefined tests/frame_timing_test.cpp -o /tmp/sf4ce-timing-test
/tmp/sf4ce-timing-test
clang++ -std=c++17 -fsanitize=address,undefined -Itests/gl_stub tests/render_interpolation_test.cpp loader/render_interpolation.cpp -o /tmp/sf4ce-render-test
/tmp/sf4ce-render-test

Detailed reverse-engineering notes, verified offsets, known failures and the recommended continuation order are maintained in PORTING_NOTES.md.

Credits

• Based on the FF3 Vita port architecture
• vitaGL by Rinnegatamante
• kubridge by TheOfficialFloW
• vitaShaRK by Rinnegatamante