ps2-native-recomp turns your own PS2 discs into native PC programs, with 25 games running untouched
An open-source static recompiler builds Windows and Linux programs from PS2 disc images you own. The README lists 39 working games, 25 with no per-game work.
AI-drafted from 1 source. This story was written with AI from the outside reporting listed under Sources, and checked by automated tools before it went up. The originals have the full detail.
ps2-native-recomp is a new open-source project that turns a disc image of a PS2 game you own into a native Windows or Linux program. Instead of working out the main processor's code while you play, it translates that code to C++ once, before you play, and compiles it. The rest of the console, from the graphics chip to sound, disc and pads, is rebuilt in a runtime that comes with each game. The repository went public on 28 October under the MIT licence.
How many games run
The README says 39 games work as far as they have been tested, and 25 of them ran out of the box, with no code written for that game. That list includes God of War, Tekken 4, Persona 4, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. Gran Turismo 4 is on it too, though it needs one small build step to unpack its program. God of War II has been played from start to end, and Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 2 and Shadow of the Colossus are listed as playing well but not finished.
Early days
The README is plain about the limits. Most PS2 games have not been tried, and many still stop at a black screen, crash, or play with missing sound or wrong pictures. It is slower than PCSX2 in every scene the developer measured, and the README says PCSX2 is the better choice for now if your game does not run here. The first time a game reaches code the build missed, it pauses while that code is translated.
Bring your own disc
The repository contains no game code or data, and the README says it never will. You use an image of your own disc, and the developer asks that the generated C++ and the built programs stay on your machine. No BIOS image is used; the console's system services are rebuilt in C++.
The recompiler and runtime started as ps2-web-recomp by Samir Nuri, also MIT licensed. The README says much of the new code was written with an AI coding assistant and checked against a test suite and the developer's own discs.
The developer wants playtesters with their own discs to file reports on GitHub: which games start, how far they get, how fast they run and what goes wrong.
Tip from vitus, the project's developer.