RE-Amped2

Amped 2 for Windows, rebuilt from your own disc.

<p> <img src="screenshots/1.png" width="32%" alt="A Backside 180 Stalefish off a kicker on a night run"> <img src="screenshots/2.png" width="32%" alt="A Frontside 720 Melon down a sunlit slope, with the rival rider ahead"> <img src="screenshots/3.png" width="32%" alt="A Backside 540 Stalefish over a stair rail, with the rider's shadow on the snow"> </p>

RE-Amped2 brings Amped 2 (Microsoft Game Studios / Indie Built, 2003, for the original Xbox) to Windows as a native PC game. It isn't an emulator. The game's own code is translated to C and compiled into a Windows program, on your PC, from your own disc. It runs at a steady 60 fps, in widescreen, at up to 4K and beyond, with controller and keyboard support.

Early access. RE-Amped2 is a work in progress. The whole game is playable, but expect bugs and rough edges. Reports help a lot; see Reporting problems.

No game files are included or downloaded. You need your own legally owned copy of Amped 2.

Quick start

1. Make a disc image (.iso) of your Amped 2 disc, USA or European.
2. Download and run RE-Amped2-Setup.exe from the Releases page, and give it the disc image.
3. Wait while it builds the game on your PC (10 to 35 minutes), then play from the desktop shortcut.

The details, and what the installer asks before it installs anything, are in Getting started. Something not working? See Known issues, then tell us.

Questions, or want to share how it runs for you? Join the RE-Amped2 Discord.

RE-Amped2 is also listed in RecompLauncher, Decomp Buddy and PlayPorted:

<p> <a href="https://recomplauncher.com/game/re-amped2"><picture> <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="https://recomplauncher.com/assets/press/launcher/badge-light.svg"> <img alt="Get it on RecompLauncher" src="https://recomplauncher.com/assets/press/launcher/badge-dark.svg" height="56"> </picture></a> &nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://recompstore.com/dev/nico-d-eu"><picture> <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="https://recompstore.com/assets/press/verified-light.svg"> <img alt="Verified developer on RecompStore" src="https://recompstore.com/assets/press/verified-dark.svg" height="56"> </picture></a> </p>

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Status

✅ works · 🟡 partly working, or still being checked · ⬜ planned · ➖ not planned

	Feature	Status
Install	One installer that builds the game from your USA or European disc image	✅
	No game files in any download	✅
Gameplay	Career, Free Ride and Tutorials	✅
	Pro challenges, snowskate runs	✅
	Saves	✅
	A full career to the end	✅
	Legend challenges (they unlock after the career)	🟡 not tested yet
	Split-screen multiplayer	⬜ hidden for now
	Xbox Live	➖ the service is gone
Graphics	DirectX 11 renderer, steady 60 fps	✅
	Higher resolutions: up to 8× (4K and beyond)	✅
	Anisotropic filtering, optional FXAA	✅
	Widescreen 16:9, with text at its own proportions	✅ (menu pictures are still stretched 🟡)
	Rider shadows	✅
	Texture packs (replacement textures)	✅
	HD texture pack and sharper fonts out of the box	⬜ planned
Sound and video	Sound effects, the soundtrack, rumble	✅
	Intro and in-game movies	✅ (at their original resolution)
	Sharper movies	🟡 optional HD copies, made on your PC by the installer (Windows)
Controls	Xbox-style controllers	✅
	Keyboard: two layouts, fully remappable	✅
Comfort	Window or borderless full screen (F11), window size and resolution in the menus, Quit Game in the main menu	✅
Mods	Mod packs, single-file replacements, script mods	✅
	New characters and remixed levels	⬜ planned
Platforms	Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit)	✅
	Linux	🟡 preview: an install script that builds the game from your disc. Tested only under WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) so far, not yet on a real Linux PC
	Steam Deck, macOS	⬜ planned, after Linux
	Xbox Series X|S (Dev Mode)	⬜ planned
	PlayStation 5 (homebrew)	⬜ being explored

The roadmap, including the console plans, is in PLAN.md.

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Getting started

What you need

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, and a graphics card with DirectX 11.
• Your own Amped 2 disc image (.iso or .xiso), made from your own disc. The USA and the European/Australian releases both work.
• About 6 GB of free space for the game. If the free build tools are missing (see below), they need up to 7 GB more on drive C:.
• An internet connection during the install, for the build tools.

Install

1. Download RE-Amped2-Setup.exe from the Releases page (the newest release is at the top).
2. Run it. The installer isn't code-signed, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning ("Windows protected your PC"). If you want to check the file first, compare its SHA-256 with the one on the release page (see Where the installer comes from). Then choose More info → Run anyway.
3. Disc: pick your disc image, or drag it onto the window.
4. Location: choose a folder you own (for example C:\Games\RE-Amped2) and the options: a desktop shortcut, the RE-Amped2 menus, and the RE-Amped2 look.
5. Build tools: the game is compiled on your PC, which takes Microsoft's free C++ Build Tools and Python (plus Java, only for the RE-Amped2 menus). If any are missing, the installer lists each one with its licence terms and installs nothing unless you agree.
6. Wait. Installing takes about 10 to 35 minutes, depending on your PC and on which tools it has to fetch. Most of it is compiling.
7. Play with the desktop shortcut or RE-Amped2.exe in the install folder.

Updating: run a newer installer and pick the same folder. Your saves and settings are kept.

Uninstalling: back up your saves (game\UDATA in the install folder), then delete the folder. The build tools are normal programs you can remove in Settings › Apps if you don't need them.

On Linux (preview)

Linux support is new in 0.3.0 and has only been tested under WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04 on Windows), not on a real Linux PC yet. Expect rough edges, and please report how it goes.

1. Download RE-Amped2-<version>-linux.tar.gz and its .sha256 from the Releases page, and check it with sha256sum -c RE-Amped2-*-linux.tar.gz.sha256.

2. Unpack it and run the install script with your disc image:

   tar xzf RE-Amped2-*-linux.tar.gz
   cd RE-Amped2-*-linux
   ./install.sh "/path/to/Amped 2.iso"
   

   It installs to ~/Games/RE-Amped2 unless you give a folder after the disc image. Like the Windows installer, it compiles the game on your PC. If build tools are missing, it shows the apt, dnf or pacman command for them and runs it only if you agree. On Bazzite, Silverblue and other image-based distros it offers a Distrobox container instead.

3. Start RE-Amped2 from your applications menu, or ./RE-Amped2 in the install folder.

You need OpenGL 3.3 or newer, and 4.2 for the RE-Amped2 look. Java is only needed for the RE-Amped2 menus; without it they are left out.

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Playing

Controller: an Xbox-style controller works out of the box, with rumble.

Keyboard (KeyboardPreset in amped2.ini; a controller works alongside either):

Action	default	wasd
Steer (left stick)	number pad	W A S D
D-pad	arrow keys	number pad
A / B / X / Y	Z / X / A / S	Space / J / K / L
White / Black	Q / E	U / O
Left / right trigger	1 / 3	Q / E
Right stick	I J K L	arrow keys
Start	Enter	Enter or Esc
Back	Backspace	Backspace or Tab

Keys: F11 or Alt+Enter switches between a window and full screen. F3 shows the frame rate and the active mods.

Saves are in game\UDATA in the install folder.

Settings

With the RE-Amped2 menus, Options and Mods › Game Options has Window and Resolution, and Options and Mods › Mods turns mod packs and texture packs on or off.

Every setting is in amped2.ini, next to RE-Amped2.exe. The game writes it the first time it starts, with each line commented out. Remove the ; in front of a line to use it, then restart.

Section	Setting	Values
[Display]	WindowSize	1280x960, 1920x1080, …
	WindowMode	windowed or borderless
	RenderScale	1 to 8, or 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 4k
	VideoModes	which of 480p, 720p, 1080i, widescreen the game may use, or none
	Anisotropic	1 (off) to 16 (default)
	FXAA	1 on, 0 off (default)
	TextAspect	1 (default) draws text at its own proportions in 16:9
[Input]	KeyboardPreset	default or wasd
	KeyMap	your own key bindings, e.g. A=SPACE|Z,START=RETURN
	DeadZone	0 to 0.9
	Rumble	1 or 0
[Audio]	Volume	0 to 100
[Game]	PlayMovies	1 (default), 0 skips the intro movies
	Mods	1 (default), 0 plays the original game data
	ModPacks, TexturePack, MoviePack	1 (default) or 0

Mods and texture packs

Mods live in the install folder's mods folder and never touch your game files. mods\mods.json lists the packs to use, and each pack is a folder in mods\packs\. The RE-Amped2 look (logo, splash and loading screen) is one of them, re-amped2. To make your own, see the modding sections of the developer guide.

HD movies (Windows, experimental). Tick Convert the movies to HD in the installer. It downloads two free tools, FFmpeg and Real-ESRGAN (with your consent; 120 MB). After the install it makes 1440x1080 copies of the game's movies from your own disc, upscaled on your graphics card, into mods\movie_pack\. The game shows each copy in place of the original 640x480 picture as soon as it is done; sound, timing and skipping are unchanged.

All 50 movies take a few hours (about 5 hours on an RTX 2070 laptop GPU) and about 6.5 GB. The conversion runs in a minimised window. If you close it, Convert HD movies.cmd in the install folder carries on where it stopped. MoviePack=0 in amped2.ini turns the copies off. The recipe is tools\mods\movie_pack.py (see the developer guide).

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Known issues

In the current release (0.3.0):

• Linux is a preview. It has only been tested under WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04 on Windows): install, menus and riding a level. It has not been run on a real Linux PC yet, and a controller has not been tried on Linux. Reports from Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Bazzite and others are very welcome, working or not.
• HD movies are Windows-only for now. On Linux the movies play at their original resolution.
• Now and then the in-level music repeats the same few seconds until the next track starts. Sound effects keep working. Your amped2.log from such a session helps.
• An occasional 1–2 second hitch in a level, about once an hour.
• Menu pictures are stretched in 16:9. Text is drawn at its own proportions.
• Not checked yet: the Legend challenges. If you get that far, we'd like to hear how it went, good or bad.

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Reporting problems

Open an issue and include:

• what you were doing, what happened, and how often;
• amped2.log from the install folder. The game rewrites it on every start, so copy it before starting again;
• after a crash, the newest folder in crash in the install folder, zipped. The game saves a report there and tells you where;
• amped2-coverage.txt from the install folder, if you like. It lists the parts of the game's code that are still guesses and that your play reached, which tells us what to fix first;
• for install problems, install.log, and the step that failed;
• your disc (USA or Europe), Windows version (or Linux distro), graphics card, and whether you play with a controller or the keyboard.

Not sure it's a bug, or just want to ask something first? The Discord is the quickest place. Bugs still belong in an issue, so they don't get lost.

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Community

The RE-Amped2 Discord is the place to ask questions, share clips and screenshots, tell us how it runs on your PC (Linux reports especially welcome), and follow what's coming next.

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FAQ

Is this an emulator? No. The game's code is translated into C once and compiled into a normal Windows program, which is why it runs so well.

Why does the installer compile the game? So that none of the game is ever distributed. The translation happens on your PC, from your own disc, and the result stays there.

Can I get the game files here? No. You need your own copy of Amped 2.

Which disc works? The USA and the European/Australian releases.

Online play? No. Xbox Live for the original Xbox shut down long ago.

Linux? A preview since 0.3.0: see On Linux (preview). So far it has only been tested under WSL2 on Windows, not on a real Linux PC. Steam Deck and macOS come after it.

Xbox, PlayStation? Planned or being explored; see PLAN.md, Parts C and D.

Windows says "Windows protected your PC". The installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway, after checking the SHA-256 on the release page if you like.

I only have the physical disc. You need a disc image made from it. Any tool that rips original Xbox discs to .iso or .xiso works.

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Where the installer comes from

• What you download: RE-Amped2-Setup.exe (Windows) and RE-Amped2-<version>-linux.tar.gz (Linux), from the Releases page only. Neither is code-signed. The game itself, RE-Amped2.exe, is compiled on your PC during the install, so it is never downloaded.
• How it is built: by the Installer workflow on GitHub Actions, from this repository at the release tag and the toolkit fork Nico-D-eu/xboxrecomp at the commit in installer/toolkit.ref. The two third-party tools in it, xdvdfs and unluac, are downloaded at fixed versions and checked by SHA-256. Anyone can read the workflow and its runs.
• Who maintains it: Nico-D-eu. Changes from anyone else come in as pull requests and are reviewed before they are merged.
• Checking a download: compare its SHA-256 with the one on the release page. On Windows: certutil -hashfile RE-Amped2-Setup.exe SHA256 in a command prompt. On Linux: sha256sum -c with the .sha256 file. If it doesn't match, don't run it; open an issue with its SHA-256 and where you got it.

Privacy

This program will not transfer any information to other networked systems unless specifically requested by the user or the person installing or operating it.

• The installer downloads only while it installs, and sends nothing about you or your PC:

  • the build tools you agree to, through Windows' package manager (winget), from their publishers;
  • the recompiler's Python packages (Capstone, plus NumPy and Pillow for the RE-Amped2 menus) from the Python Package Index;
  • only if you tick Convert the movies to HD: FFmpeg and Real-ESRGAN, at fixed versions checked by SHA-256, from GitHub releases (BtbN's FFmpeg builds, and Real-ESRGAN's own).

  On Linux, install.sh uses your distro's package manager for the build tools you agree to, and pip for the recompiler's Python packages.

  These downloads fall under the Microsoft Privacy Statement, the PyPI Privacy Notice and the privacy policies of each tool's publisher.

• The game makes no network connections.

• Logs and crash reports (amped2.log, crash\) stay on your PC unless you attach them to a report yourself.

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For developers

• Developer guide: the recompilation pipeline, building from source, the installer, and the bring-up notes.
• Nico-D-eu/xboxrecomp, branch amped2-fixes: the toolkit fork with RE-Amped2's changes. The build expects it in a sibling folder, ../xboxrecomp.
• CONTRIBUTING.md: how to help. The one rule is never to submit game files or anything made from them.
• AGENTS.md: rules for AI coding agents.

Support the project

RE-Amped2 is free, and it stays free. If you'd like to say thanks, you can buy me a coffee. It's entirely optional and unlocks nothing: every player gets the same game, the same releases and the same help. Bug reports and play-testing help the project just as much.

Credits

• Amped 2 was made by Indie Built and published by Microsoft Game Studios.
• xboxrecomp by sp00nznet and its contributors is the toolkit RE-Amped2 is built on. Its audio core comes from xemu.
• xdvdfs extracts the disc image. unluac decompiles the menu scripts for the RE-Amped2 menus. Capstone disassembles the game's code. FFmpeg and Real-ESRGAN make the optional HD movies.

Legal

• RE-Amped2 is an unofficial, free fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Amped, Amped 2 and Xbox are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Amped 2 © Microsoft Corporation.
• No game code or data is in this repository or in its releases. The installer builds the game on the player's PC, from the player's own disc.
• This project's own code is under the MIT licence (LICENSE). Third-party components and their licences are listed in NOTICE.md.
• RE-Amped2's art and the screenshots in this README were created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Amped 2, and they are not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft. The screenshots are not part of any download.