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Tool

Spice86

PC emulator for executing, reverse engineering and rewriting real-mode DOS programs whose source code is unavailable. While a program runs it builds a control-flow graph, and on exit it dumps memory, execution flow, Ghidra-compatible symbols and a self-contained, runnable C# project whose generated functions override the original assembly, so analysts can rewrite them function by function into readable code while the program keeps working. It also provides a GDB remote server with custom analysis commands, a built-in debugger with a C-header structure viewer, an optional HTTP memory API and an MCP server whose tools cover CPU, memory, breakpoints, CFG and device state; an optional Ghidra plugin imports the dumps.

Requirements and limitations

  • Releases are published on NuGet (16.1.0 at review, published 2026-08-05); the GitHub release tagged latest is a rolling development prerelease built from master with debug and release archives. The reviewed master commit (2026-10-13) declares 16.1.0. The project is a C# port and continuation of the original Java Spice86. Running and building need .NET 10 on Windows, macOS or Linux; source builds use dotnet build.
  • The README lists 8086/8088 as fully implemented, with partial 80186, 80286 and 80386 support (no protected mode or paging, and no FPU beyond detection); 1 MB segmented memory with EMS, XMS and HMA; text, CGA, EGA, VGA and VESA VBE 1.2 graphics, with CGA and EGA best effort; a largely complete DOS 5.0 INT 21h; and Sound Blaster, OPL and Adlib Gold audio ported from DOSBox Staging, with MT-32 partial and unavailable on macOS. COMPATIBILITY.md says many programs do not run and lists tested games individually.
  • The analyst supplies the DOS program and its files; the emulated C: drive defaults to the program folder. Dumps go to a subfolder named by the program's SHA-256 hash, and the generated project passes the expected checksum so overrides cannot run against a different binary. The GDB server starts by default on port 10000, and the MCP HTTP server is documented as enabled by default on port 8081. The Ghidra plugin is a separate repository that needs Java 17. The README suggests LLM assistance for rewriting generated functions and points to the project's Cryogenic rewrite of Cryo's Dune as a worked example.
  • Apache-2.0; NOTICE credits the Aeon project, the README credits DOSBox Staging for ported sound code and as the model for CD and floppy emulation, and a prebuilt FastExpressionCompiler DLL is vendored in 3rdparty. Test resources are small DOS test programs, most with assembly sources in the repository. No program was emulated or rewritten here, and the reviewed sources establish no REA connection.

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 · OpenRakis/Spice86 · Revision 28a877f
  2. README.md#L266-L290 GitHub · OpenRakis/Spice86 · Revision 28a877f
  3. COMPATIBILITY.md GitHub · OpenRakis/Spice86 · Revision 28a877f
  4. doc/mcp.md GitHub · OpenRakis/Spice86 · Revision 28a877f
  5. src/Directory.Build.props GitHub · OpenRakis/Spice86 · Revision 28a877f
  6. LICENSE GitHub · OpenRakis/Spice86 · Revision 28a877f
  7. NOTICE GitHub · OpenRakis/Spice86 · Revision 28a877f
  8. https://github.com/OpenRakis/Spice86/releases/tag/latest
  9. https://www.nuget.org/packages/Spice86/16.1.0