Skate 3 Recompilation Project

This project is an early Skate 3 native Windows recompilation experiment using the XenonRecomp toolchain. The current milestone is a launchable Windows launcher UI that can select, extract, validate, and cache the required game files. Native game boot is not wired yet.

Current Status

• Skate3Launcher.exe resolves the repo root even when run from the build output directory.
• The launcher has a native Windows menu UI with Skate 3 logo art, Play/Settings/Quit actions, a settings screen, and bottom-right asset status.
• It accepts either game/default.xex from an extracted dump or game/Skate3.iso.
• ISO extraction uses tools/bin/extract-xiso.exe.
• Required files are checked through tools/manifest_boot.json.
• Validated files are copied into cache/Skate3.
• tools/run_recomp.bat can build XenonRecomp tools, analyse game/default.xex, and generate raw PPC C++ into generated/ppc.
• setup_recomp.bat builds the recomp-enabled launcher once generated PPC output exists.
• Generated recomp output is intentionally ignored by Git; rerun the tool when you need to refresh it.
• Pressing Play now enters the runtime boot path after validation: it mounts cached content, reads default.xex, parses XEX metadata, decrypts/decompresses the XEX image, reserves guest address space, and reports the current guest-entry blocker.
• The default build still produces only Skate3Launcher.exe. When configured with SKATE3_ENABLE_RECOMP_LIB=ON, the runtime also wires a guarded generated-PPC entry bridge and import stubs for the next launch milestone.

Quick Start

1. Install Visual Studio 2022 with the Desktop development with C++ workload.

2. Put your extracted Skate 3 dump in game/ with default.xex, or put Skate3.iso in game/.

3. Run:

   setup.bat
   

4. Launch:

   build-msvc\bin\Release\Skate3Launcher.exe
   

Press PLAY to select/import an ISO when needed. SETTINGS opens a placeholder settings menu; the Game ISO row already works and lets you pick Skate3.iso. If validation succeeds, the cache is prepared and the launcher enters the runtime boot path. If files are missing, it shows a clear error.

Manual Build

cmake --preset windows-msvc-release
cmake --build --preset msvc-release

The launcher is written to build-msvc/bin/Release/Skate3Launcher.exe.

Recompilation Pipeline

The first native-game milestone is to produce generated C++ from the extracted Xbox 360 executable:

tools\run_recomp.bat

This script expects game/default.xex or a launcher-imported cache/Skate3/iso_extracted/default.xex, builds XenonAnalyse.exe and XenonRecomp.exe, writes switch-table data to Skate3RecompLib/config/skate3_switches.toml, and writes generated PPC output to generated/ppc.

After tools\run_recomp.bat succeeds, build the recomp-enabled launcher with:

setup_recomp.bat

The recomp-enabled launcher is written to build-recomp/bin/Release/Skate3Launcher.exe. The default setup.bat path still builds the lightweight launcher without generated PPC.

The runtime can now stage the XEX image, link generated PPC, fill the generated function lookup table, and dispatch the XEX entrypoint. The next boot blockers are expected to be raw guest-runtime failures such as missing kernel/XAM imports, save/restore helper handling, or unimplemented host services.

Layout

launcher/      Windows launcher and asset validation/import logic
launcher/assets/ Logo and icon assets used by the launcher
runtime/       Early host runtime/HAL shims
runtime/boot/  XEX boot parser and guest-memory launch staging
gameexe/       Optional boot stub placeholder for future recompiled game entry
Skate3RecompLib/ Optional generated PPC static library wrapper and config
tools/         Helper tools and manifests
third_party/   XenonRecomp dependency
game/          User-provided extracted dump or ISO
cache/         Launcher-generated verified content cache
generated/     Ignored XenonRecomp output