AwesomeREA.org

Tool

PS2Recomp

Experimental static recompiler that translates MIPS R5900 code from PlayStation 2 ELF executables into C++ and links it with a bundled runtime. ps2xAnalyzer or a Ghidra export script produces a per-game TOML of functions, stubs, skips and instruction patches; ps2xRecomp emits a literal instruction-by-instruction translation; ps2xRuntime and ps2xIOP supply guest memory, syscall dispatch, IOP module execution with HLE fallbacks and partial, largely stubbed GS/VU hardware. Output is not decompiled source, and getting a game to run remains per-game porting work.

Requirements and limitations

  • Building needs CMake 3.20+ and a C++20 compiler; the README says it is tested mainly with MSVC, and some vector paths need SSE4/AVX host support. CMake fetches ELFIO, toml11, fmt, libdwarf and raylib at configure time, plus Dear ImGui when the debug UI is enabled. GitHub lists five source-only prereleases, v0.0 to v0.4 (the latest from 2026-04-05), with no binaries attached; the reviewed main commit (2026-10-14) is 36 commits after v0.4.
  • The user supplies the game ELF; the project ships no game code, and its project-description guidance names the original release as one the user must own. The preferred workflow exports functions from Ghidra with the bundled ExportPS2Functions.java script, while ps2_analyzer suits ELFs with debug symbols. Stub address bindings and game overrides target one exact ELF build and are not portable across games, regions or builds.
  • The README lists very poor VU and GS performance and partial, often stubbed hardware emulation as limitations. No game compatibility or finished port is implied; downstream ports built with it need separate review. The tree also holds Android and PS Vita build directories and a ps2xStudio front end, which were not reviewed.
  • GPL-3.0; fetched dependencies keep their own licenses, and the README cites PCSX2 as a runtime reference. No recompilation, build or game was run.

About this entry

Type
Tool
Category
Game analysis tools
Relationship
Foundation tool
Targets
Binary · Game

Sources reviewed

The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.

Primary sources

  1. README.md GitHub · ran-j/PS2Recomp · Revision eb8688b
  2. LICENSE GitHub · ran-j/PS2Recomp · Revision eb8688b
  3. ps2xRecomp/CMakeLists.txt GitHub · ran-j/PS2Recomp · Revision eb8688b
  4. ps2xRuntime/CMakeLists.txt GitHub · ran-j/PS2Recomp · Revision eb8688b
  5. ps2xRecomp/tools/ghidra/ExportPS2Functions.java GitHub · ran-j/PS2Recomp · Revision eb8688b
  6. https://github.com/ran-j/PS2Recomp/releases/tag/v0.4
  7. https://github.com/ran-j/PS2Recomp/compare/v0.4...eb8688b2fd191129f103a39543002c005b33409c