Case study
Budokai Tenkaichi 3: a native PC port built on a matching decompilation
Compiles the decompiled code of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (PS2, USA release SLUS-21678) for PC on a new renderer, sound, input and platform layer rather than an emulator. The game code comes from the separate BT3-Decompiled matching decompilation, and the game's data is read from the user's own disc image. The README reports the full game loop and experimental online play and says AI helped make the project; these results remain project-reported.
Requirements and limitations
- README describes a native PC port of the PS2 USA release, not an emulator: the game's code from BT3-Decompiled sits in src/ and include/ with PC changes behind #ifdef PORT, on a new platform layer with Vulkan and OpenGL 3.3 renderers, sound and input. It reports the whole game loop working (boot, movies, menus, saves, fights, split screen), plus experimental online play with rollback through a Cloudflare Worker matchmaking service whose source is included; the 32-bit Linux build has no rollback. The port log in docs/port records what is and is not verified.
- Supply your own disc image of the unmodified USA release (SLUS-21678) as an .iso. The setup and install.py read the game's data from it and check SHA-1 digests of the extracted main program (SLUS_216.78) and menu program (BIN/DBZP.BIN); a patched or damaged image is rejected. The repository carries the built-in data tables as shapes without values (port/data), which the program fills from the disc at start; no game data is distributed.
- Releases target 64-bit x86 Linux (glibc 2.35 or newer) and Windows 10/11 with Vulkan, falling back to OpenGL; Apple Silicon macOS is experimental and source-only. On Linux, install.py checks gcc/g++, clang with its Python bindings for the 64-bit pointer rewriting, glslc and SDL3, then reads the disc, builds the program and runs the game's demo fight headless as a self-test. Linux and Windows release archives are built in a Docker container (clang/LLVM, SDL3, mingw-w64) without any disc input.
- The BT3-Decompiled README reports 99.92% of the main program's game code and 99.97% of the menu program in matching C, with both rebuilt binaries byte-identical; Sony SDK and CRI libraries are out of scope. The port log reports a replay recorded in PCSX2 matching console health values at sampled ticks and the final clock, while an early entry still noted differing fighter state words; macOS is reported to match the Linux state on every demo frame. These remain project-reported, and this collection ran nothing.
- The port's own code is AGPL-3.0-only after commit 06e4671 and MIT up to and including it; bundled libraries keep their own terms. README states that the game code in src/ and include/ belongs to the game's rights holders, and BT3-Decompiled's CC0 1.0 dedication covers only its own reconstruction work. README says the project was made with AI help, and the docs carry working rules for parallel decompilation agents; no REA use is documented and no runtime reproduction is claimed.
About this entry
- Type
- Case study
- Category
- Independent reconstruction cases
- Relationship
- Independent reconstruction project
- Targets
- Game
Sources reviewed
The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.
Primary sources
- README.md GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- docs/port/README.md GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- install.py GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- config/SLUS_216.78.yaml GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- .github/workflows/release.yml GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- docs/agent_rules.md GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- LICENSE GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- LICENSE-MIT GitHub · z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp · Revision ec3c85a
- README.md GitHub · z3xox/BT3-Decompiled · Revision 95b9503
- LICENSE GitHub · z3xox/BT3-Decompiled · Revision 95b9503