Champions of Norrath

Bring-up, started 2026-11-02. The disc extracts (both layers of the DVD9), the game's code recompiles to about 16,100 C++ functions and the first runner is being built. It does not boot yet.

The port targets PS2Recomp's native route from the first day, like Twisted Metal: Black: no emulated GS, VU or IOP hardware, nothing drawn from GS, GIF or VIF packets. Textures and models that the disc only holds as ready-made GS and VIF data are converted once from your own disc into native packs in the build tree, never committed.

✅ works · 🔧 in progress · ⏳ not reached yet

A fully playable Champions of Norrath as a native executable, single player and local co-op (multitap), from the opening movie to the end of the campaign, at the original frame rate. Accuracy first; once it is solid, widescreen and higher internal resolution. Online play is out of scope.

disc files ──► ps2_analyzer (the ELF's own symbol table) ──► recomp/con.toml
                                           │
                                ps2_recomp ──► C++ (one file per function)
                                           │
   PS2Recomp runtime: EE kernel HLE · native renderer · native mixer ─┼─► ps2EntryRunner
   PS2Recomp IOP:     the game's own IRX, recompiled (generated/iop/)

• The ELF keeps its symbol table (about 21,000 symbols), so the functions are named from the start.
• PS2Recomp turns every function into C++. The game's draw and sound paths are then taken over by native code fed from the game's own state, in runtime/.
• runtime/con_overrides.cpp holds the game-specific bindings.

The runtime is the PS2Recomp/ git submodule: TheBozos/PS2Recomp, branch con/ps2-disc-dual-layer (native/renderer plus the dual-layer disc reader), the fork shared with the Twisted Metal: Black, Soulcalibur III, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Dark Cloud and Drakengard recompilations. The top-level CMakeLists.txt builds its runtime, swaps its placeholder function table for the generated one and links the generated code, runtime/ and the recompiled IOP modules into ps2EntryRunner. Every fix made for this port that is not specific to the game goes to the shared fork.

• Linux (developed on Arch) or Windows 10/11 with MSYS2 (UCRT64, see Windows)
• CMake 3.21+, Ninja, Clang with C++20 (or MSYS2's GCC on Windows), rsync, Python 3
• FFmpeg development libraries (libavcodec, libavformat, libavutil, libswresample, libswscale)
• X11/Wayland and OpenGL development headers (raylib is fetched and built by the runtime)
• An OpenGL 4.5 driver (any recent NVIDIA, AMD or Intel driver)
• Your own copy of SLUS-20565 as a disc image (the extracted ELF is checked against the hash above)

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/TheBozos/ChampionsOfNorrath_Recomp.git
cd ChampionsOfNorrath_Recomp
scripts/extract_iso.sh "/path/to/Champions of Norrath (USA).iso"   # disc files, both layers -> game/
scripts/build_tools.sh                                              # ps2_recomp, ps2_analyzer -> build/tools
scripts/recomp.sh                                                   # SLUS_205.65 + recomp/con.toml -> generated/
scripts/build_runtime.sh                                            # runtime + generated code -> build/game (RelWithDebInfo)
scripts/run.sh                                                      # ps2EntryRunner game/SLUS_205.65

The extracted disc folder is the game's cdrom0:. scripts/analyze.sh regenerates recomp/con.toml from the ELF (it overwrites hand edits: diff before committing). JOBS=<n> sets the build parallelism of every script (default: all cores). scripts/build_runtime.sh Release or Debug picks another build type, and CXX another compiler.

scripts/remote_tools.sh and scripts/remote_build.sh build the tools and the runner on another x86-64 Linux machine over ssh (REMOTE_HOST, default stallman) and copy them back to build/; the game still runs locally. The remote host needs rsync, mise and the X11 and OpenGL development headers; the local FFmpeg headers and libraries are copied over once, so the runner links against the FFmpeg it runs with.

It holds the memory cards (mc0/, mc1/), the controls (input.ini), the video settings (video.ini) and the log of the last runs (logs/). PS2X_USER_DIR=<dir> uses another folder, PS2X_LOG_FILE=<file> writes the log there (0: no log file), and PS2X_NO_DIALOGS=1 keeps the message boxes in the log only, for unattended runs.

The same scripts run in an MSYS2 UCRT64 shell, with MSYS2's GCC (MSVC is not supported):

pacman -S --needed mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-{gcc,cmake,ninja,pkgconf,ffmpeg,python} git rsync
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/TheBozos/ChampionsOfNorrath_Recomp.git

Then follow the steps above. scripts/build_runtime.sh ends with scripts/stage_dlls.sh, which copies the DLLs the runner needs (compiler runtime, FFmpeg and their dependencies) from the MSYS2 prefix next to ps2EntryRunner.exe, so it also starts outside the MSYS2 shell. scripts/remote_tools.sh and scripts/remote_build.sh are Linux only.

Everything derived from the game (disc files, generated code, builds, logs) stays outside this repository. Never commit or redistribute it.

• PS2Recomp by ran-j and contributors (GPL), the recompiler and runtime this port is built on.
• TheBozos/PS2Recomp and the Twisted Metal: Black, Soulcalibur III, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Dark Cloud and Drakengard recompilations developed on it; runtime fixes are shared both ways.
• Champions of Norrath © Sony Online Entertainment, developed by Snowblind Studios. This is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by them.