n0madic / Soulcalibur2HD-recomp

# Soulcalibur II HD Online — native build by static recompilation
This project runs the PlayStation 3 game **Soulcalibur II HD Online** natively on a Mac/PC. It is not an emulator: the game's
PowerPC (PPU) and Cell SPU code is translated ahead of time into C/C++ and compiled for your machine, on top of the
ps3recomp runtime. Graphics go through Metal on macOS and Vulkan on Linux and Windows, sound through SDL (WASAPI on Windows).
**You bring the game.** Nothing from the game, from Sony's firmware or from anyone's PS3 is in this repository or in the
release zip. On first start the launcher installs *your* copy of the game, translates it and compiles the result on *your*
computer. The translated code never leaves it.
> Status: **works on Apple Silicon Macs (Metal)**, and on Windows (Vulkan; tested on an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V / Arc 140V
> laptop, see Known issues). The host and the game module also build and run on Linux (a Vulkan window, tried
> only on a software rasteriser, including under WSL2).
## What you need
| | |
|---|---|
| Computer | Apple Silicon Mac (tested on an M4 Max, macOS 26) |
| Python | 3.10 or newer (`brew install python`, or python.org). Only the standard library is used |
| Disk | about 1.5 GB for the installed game and the build, plus about 60 MB for the compiler if it has to be downloaded |
| Internet | only on the first run, to download the compiler (see below) |
| Game | the PSN release **NPUB31366** (USA): the game package and its license; the 01.01 update package is optional |
The files look like `…SC2HDONLINEGAME1.rap` (license), a long-named `….pkg` (the game, about 700 MB, often inside a `.zip`) and
`UP0700-NPUB31366_00-SC2HDONLINEGAME1-A0101-V0100-PE.pkg` (the update). Versions 01.00 (the game alone) and 01.01 (with the update) are supported; the update is optional.
The translated game is compiled with the Xcode command line tools' `clang` if you have them (on Windows and Linux: a clang on
`PATH`, such as a MinGW clang), otherwise the launcher downloads
zig 0.17.0 (about 55 MB, MIT, checked against a pinned SHA-256) into the data directory and uses its `zig cc`.
It asks before downloading (`--yes` answers for you). Either way the game is compiled for your own processor (`-march=native`):
built for the generic x86-64 baseline it is too slow in a fight on Windows, and most of the sound drops out.
## Quick start
 [code] 
`./sc2hd.py` is a Python 3.10+ script: on Windows (or if the execute bit is lost) start it as `py sc2hd.py` or `python3 sc2hd.py`.
If the license is not in the zip, add `--rap .rap`. Give the game first and its update (if you want it) second. To add the update later, run again with both packages: the game is reinstalled and translated again (your saves are kept).
The first run takes a few minutes (about two on a fast machine):
1. **install** (seconds): unpacks the packages and decrypts them with your license;
2. **lift** (about 10 s): translates the game's PPU code and its five SPU programs to C/C++;