007: NightFire - XBE Recomp

007: NightFire - XBE Recomp

An unofficial native PC port of the original Xbox version of 007: NightFire, with extended graphics options and other enhancements. The game's own x86 code is statically recompiled into Windows executables with the Xbox XBE Recomp tool; the Xbox's graphics, sound and system libraries are reimplemented for Windows (Direct3D 12 or 11, XAudio2, SDL). It is not an emulator.

Supported Versions

The European (PAL) and North American (NTSC) Xbox releases of 007: NightFire (title id 45410026):

Release	default.xbe (on foot, menus)	Driving.xbe (the driving missions)
Europe (PAL; also the En, Fr, De, Es, It, Nl, Sv disc)	796222e048be3595c323b4c6d9795107132dc4ca	e0c41209d8979fcd03ac3d656be78759006023cb
USA (NTSC)	7e4b8f8a54bacc61a5897ba5245fdd65bddc0752	8d46a023dfbd5c89d4ee04fe28b24a9620de546a

The two releases run the same code (their xbes differ only in the signature and certificate); each plays its own movies (25 or 30 frames a second) and files, as on a console of its region. The game is two programs: the driving missions (Paris Prelude, Alpine Escape, Enemies Vanquished, Deep Descent, Island Infiltration) are a second xbe that the game launches and returns from. Both are recompiled, into Nightfire.exe and NightfireDriving.exe, and the switch between them happens on its own. The log names the SHA-1 of each xbe it found. Other releases have not been checked.

Getting Started

There are two ways to get the game running. Both build it on your own PC from your own disc: the game's code is never downloaded, only the tools and this project's source.

The launcher (recommended)

NightFireLauncher.exe does everything for you: no Visual Studio, no Git, no command line, nothing installed in Windows and no admin rights needed.

You need:

• Windows 10 or 11, 64 bit, and a GPU with Direct3D 12 or Direct3D 11.
• Your own copy of the game (PAL or USA): an .iso image of your disc, or a folder with the disc's files.
• About 15 GB free, and an internet connection for the build tools.

Steps:

1. Download NightFireLauncher.exe from the latest release.
2. Put it in a folder of its own (for example C:\Games\NightFire) and run it. Everything it makes goes in a NightFire folder beside it. Windows may warn about an unrecognised app: choose More info, then Run anyway.
3. Your game: choose your disc image or the folder with the disc's files. The launcher checks that it is the supported release.
4. Build: accept the license terms for Microsoft's C++ libraries and Windows SDK (the build uses them), then press Build. It downloads portable build tools (Clang, CMake, Ninja, Git and Microsoft's libraries), this project's source, and builds the game. The first build takes 30 to 90 minutes. You can stop it at any time; it carries on where it left off.
5. Play: press Play.

When this project is updated the launcher shows Update: press it, then Play.

Files, all under the NightFire folder beside the launcher:

• play\ the game: Nightfire.exe, NightfireDriving.exe, settings.toml, hdd\ (saves), logs\ (the game's logs)
• launcher.log the launcher's log (send it with any problem building)
• tools\ and source\ the build tools and the source

To remove everything, delete the launcher and its NightFire folder (keep play\hdd if you want your saves).

Building from source (developers)

You need: Windows 10 or 11 (64 bit), Git, Visual Studio 2022 (Community is fine) with Desktop development with C++ (build.bat offers to add C++ Clang tools for Windows and C++ CMake tools for Windows), about 15 GB free, and your disc's files: default.xbe, Driving.xbe and the game's folders.

1. Clone the repository with its SDK:

   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/hk21x/nightfire-recomp.git
   cd nightfire-recomp
   

   Cloned without --recurse-submodules? Run git submodule update --init.
2. Put your game files in the assets folder: assets\default.xbe with Driving.xbe and the game's folders (eurocom, driving ...) beside it, or your disc's .iso.
3. Run build.bat. The first build recompiles both xbe files and takes 30 to 90 minutes; later builds are quicker.
4. Run out\build\release\Nightfire.exe. It finds the assets folder beside itself or in any folder above it.

launcher.bat builds NightFireLauncher.exe itself. Files the game writes beside the exe: settings.toml, hdd\ (saves; delete it to start again from a first boot), logs\, shadercache.bin (compiled shaders) and CrashDumps\ if it crashes.

Controls and Settings

PC Settings: in the game's own menus, as the main menu's PC Settings item and a choice on the on-foot pause screen (under Continue, Restart and Quit): field of view, mouse sensitivity and invert, skip intro, sharp 2D, aspect, display mode, resolution, vsync and frame cap. F1 opens the full settings window (graphics, renderer, controls) at any time; changes are saved at once to settings.toml.

Keyboard and mouse on foot (remappable in the settings window's Controls tab, two keys per input):

Action	Keys
Move and strafe	W A S D
Look and aim	Mouse (free aim: no lock-on while the mouse plays)
Fire / manual aim	Left / right mouse button
Action, reload	E, R
Jump	Space
Crouch	C or Left Ctrl
Next weapon	1, the mouse wheel (in a scope it zooms), or the right arrow (left arrow or 3: the one before)
Next weapon (another)	Q
Alt. fire	Middle mouse button or F
Next gadget	2 or G
Gadget / zoom	Up and down arrows
Vision mode	V or Tab
Pause	Esc or P

With a scope or a launcher the mouse turns at a quarter of its speed; through a scope the mouse wheel zooms in and out. A guided missile steers with the mouse. Keypads (door codes) take the left mouse button or Enter. In the menus the mouse wheel scrolls, Enter selects and Backspace goes back.

Driving missions have a layout of their own (rebound apart from the on-foot keys):

Action	Keys
Gas / brake and reverse	W / S
Steer	A / D, or the left and right arrows
Pitch up / down (Deep Descent)	Up / down arrows, or Left Shift / Left Ctrl
Fire weapon	Left mouse button or Enter
Gadget	Right mouse button or E
Handbrake	Space
Weapons	Mouse wheel, Q / Z, or 1 to 4
Camera	C
Look back	V or middle mouse button
Pause	Esc or P

On the mounted guns (the Paris van, Alpine Escape's snowmobile turret) the mouse aims, the left button fires, the right button zooms and R reloads.

Controllers: Xbox, PlayStation and Switch controllers, with hot plugging and rumble.

Features

Display

• Display Modes - Fullscreen, borderless window or window, at any resolution the monitor offers.
• Widescreen - The game's own 16:9 mode on a widescreen display.
• Ultrawide - With aspect = "screen", the 3D view widens to fill a 21:9 or wider screen, on foot and in the driving missions; the HUD and menus keep their 16:9 shape in the centre, and the sniper scope's black surround reaches the screen's sides.
• Field of View - fov_percent (50 to 150, 100 the game's) widens or narrows the view on foot, driving and in the engine's cutscenes; the scope zooms in proportion.
• Frame Rate - Vsync, a frame rate cap and an FPS counter.

Graphics

• Render Scale - Renders at a percentage of the screen.
• Anisotropic Filtering and Antialiasing (MSAA or FXAA).
• Clean Fonts - The game's text, in both xbes, is redrawn at eight times the console's resolution from Sour Gummy Black, a close match for the game's own face, so it stays smooth at any resolution.
• Modern Button Pictures - A controller's prompts show today's Xbox pad: A B X Y in the modern style, LB and RB for the White and Black buttons, LT and RT, and the Menu and View buttons for Start and Back (modern_buttons, on by default).
• Sharp Text and HUD - The menus' and HUD's pictures are enlarged with sharp edges for high resolutions (sharp_2d, on by default).
• Shader Cache - Compiled shaders are kept in shadercache.bin, so each is compiled once rather than in every session, and later sessions do not stutter while they compile.

Keyboard and Mouse

• Mouse aiming - The mouse turns the view and aim directly, like a PC shooter (not through the stick's curve), with sensitivity and invert options, and with no auto-aim while it plays. The driving missions' mounted guns aim with it too.
• Keyboard prompts - While you play on the keyboard and mouse, the game's button pictures (tutorials, menus, the controls pages, both xbes) show the keys and mouse buttons bound to them; they switch back when you pick up the controller.
• Every key and mouse button can be rebound in the settings window (F1, Controls tab).

General

• Launcher - NightFireLauncher.exe: choose your disc, Build, Play, Update; portable build tools, nothing installed.
• PC Settings in the game's menus - A native page in the game's own menus, from the main menu and the pause screen (see above).
• Achievements - 19 achievements (every mission, medals, 00 Agent, Bond Moves) with pop-ups and a list in the settings window, written in RetroAchievements' condition format; the set and its memory map are in ACHIEVEMENTS.md.
• Hide HUD - Clears the HUD on foot and in the driving missions, for screenshots (hide_hud, F1; at once). The pause screens and menus stay.
• Quit Game - The main menu has a Quit Game item, and the settings window (F1) has a Quit game button.
• Skip Intro Movies - skip_intro = true starts without the EA and MGM logo movies.
• Saves - Kept on an emulated hard disk beside the exe.

Miscellaneous

• Boot Splash - Place a splash.png (or .bmp) beside the exe to display a splash screen at launch.
• Diagnostics - Logs in logs\, and frame captures (F3, with XBE_CAPTURE_DIR set).

Status

Plays on foot and in the driving missions on Windows, with saves; mouse aiming, the keyboard prompts, modern button pictures, clean fonts, PC Settings (main menu and pause screen), Hide HUD, Quit Game, widescreen and ultrawide are in. Progress is in PROGRESS.md, and technical findings in FINDINGS.md.

Troubleshooting

• Something wrong: the first lines of the log in logs\ list the settings, the GPU and any XBE_* or NF_* environment variables; leftover ones from experiments change how the game runs.
• The launcher's build failing: send NightFire\launcher.log. Press Build again after a network problem: it carries on where it stopped.
• A build failing with "permission denied" on Nightfire.exe or NightfireDriving.exe: the game is still running; close it and build again.
• "The game could not start NightfireDriving.exe" when a driving mission starts: the driving exe is missing. Windows Security may have quarantined it (Protection history: allow it on your device), or a build did not finish: build again with the game closed.
• A short stutter the first time a new area or effect appears: its shaders are being compiled. They are kept in shadercache.bin, so it does not happen there again.
• A first boot again: delete the hdd folder beside Nightfire.exe (NightFire\play\hdd with the launcher, out\build\release\hdd when built from source). This deletes your saves.

System Requirements

• OS - Windows 10 or 11, 64 bit
• GPU - with support for Direct3D 12 or Direct3D 11 (F1, Graphics, Renderer; applies at the next start)

License

The port's own code is under the MIT License (LICENSE); the SDK and the third-party parts under theirs (sdk/LICENSE, sdk/THIRD_PARTY.txt, third_party/). The game is not included: its code is recompiled from your own disc on your PC.

Credits

• Xbox XBE Recomp, the recompiler and runtime this is built on.
• XenonRecomp for the overridable function layout and instruction hooks.
• Zydis for decoding x86 instructions, toml++ for the configs, Dear ImGui for the settings overlay and SDL for the window, input and controllers.
• Sour Gummy by the Sour Gummy Project Authors, under the SIL Open Font License (third_party/fonts/OFL.txt), and stb_truetype for drawing it.