FFTA Recomp

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Recomp

Experimental preview. This recompilation is built on gbarecomp, the reusable static-recompilation framework whose reference games are its proving ground. This is not a finished commercial port, so expect rough edges and please report problems. For more context, read Recomp + AI: 5 Months Later ».

Static recompilation of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for Linux and Android, with a validated widescreen view and strict fully-static execution.

The game ROM is not included. You must provide your own legally obtained dump of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (USA). The launch BIOS is included: a clean-room, freely redistributable emibios build committed at bios/ — no Nintendo BIOS dump is required.

Features

• Native Linux, PC, and Android builds
• Keyboard, controller, and touchscreen controls
• Windowed and fullscreen desktop play
• Validated widescreen view up to 448 px
• Cartridge saves and save states
• Fast-forward speed boost — hold Tab / right trigger, tap the FF touch pill, or latch it from the menu; speed (2–10x) set in Assist Tools
• Strict fully-static execution — zero interpreter fallback on any executed path, kept that way by a self-healing coverage loop
• GBA screen simulation: raw, unlit, frontlit, backlit, classic recomp-ui launcher; ROM and BIOS hashes verified at launch

Controls

GBA control	Keyboard	Controller
D-Pad	Arrow keys	D-Pad / left stick
A / B	X / Z	A / B
Start	Enter	Start
Select	Backspace	Back (Select)
L / R	C / V	LB / RB
Fast-forward (hold)	Tab	Right trigger
In-game menu	Esc	Guide button

Controllers are detected automatically, and button mappings can be changed from the launcher. The left analog stick doubles as the D-Pad. Fast-forward runs the game faster while held; its speed (2–10x) and key/pad bindings are configurable in the launcher's Assist Tools page and the in-game menu. On Android, use the on-screen touch controls — tap the FF pill at the top of the screen to toggle the speed boost; open the menu with a long-press, three-finger tap, or the system Back gesture (Esc again steps back inside the menu).

Quick start

Using a release binary (no build)

Grab the latest release zip from releases — Linux x64 (FFTARecomp-*-linux-x64.zip) or Windows x64 (FFTARecomp-*-windows-x64.zip, statically linked, no DLLs) — then:

1. Extract the folder anywhere writable — launcher settings, the ROM path cache, and saves are kept beside the executable.

2. Run it — ./FFTARecomp on Linux, FFTARecomp.exe on Windows (no DLLs to install; everything is statically linked).

3. In the launcher, pick your legally obtained Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (USA) ROM and select Play.

The launch BIOS is bundled — a clean-room, freely redistributable emibios build (bios/ in the zip, LGPL-3.0-or-later) — so you never need a Nintendo BIOS dump. Your ROM is hash-verified at launch: a mismatch error means the file is not the expected USA dump.

System requirements — Linux x86-64 with SDL2, OpenGL, FreeType, and Harfbuzz (Debian/Ubuntu: libsdl2-2.0-0 libopengl0 libfreetype6 libharfbuzz0b); Windows 10+ x86-64 with nothing extra (static exe). Display and widescreen options (--view-width 448, --resize-view, --scale, fullscreen) are listed in docs/README.md.

Desktop (Linux)

1. Clone with submodules and place your legally obtained ROM dump at the repo root:

   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/james2doyle/ffta-recomp.git
   cd ffta-recomp
   cp /path/to/ffta-usa.gba game.gba
   

2. Build with the idempotent bootstrap script (dependencies → framework patches → recompilation → build → strict smoke test):

   python3 build.py
   

3. Run the self-built binary. With no arguments it opens the launcher — select your Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (USA) ROM and select Play:

   ./build/FFTARecomp
   

The launcher pre-fills the BIOS with the bundled clean-room build, remembers your settings, and your ROM is hash-verified at launch. Enable Skip launcher (or pass the paths directly) to start the game without the UI:

./build/FFTARecomp --bios bios/emibios_gba_bios.bin --rom game.gba

Display and window options (--scale, --screen, fullscreen, widescreen) are listed in docs/README.md.

Android

1. Complete the desktop quick start first — the APK build consumes the generated corpus and embeds your ROM.

2. Build the app:

   python3 build_apk.py
   

3. With a device attached, the script installs the APK and runs the boot-health gate. The ROM is embedded, so the app boots straight into the game. Full build, install, and device-validation instructions live in android/README.md.

Building from source

Desktop development requires CMake ≥ 3.20, Ninja, GCC or Clang (C++17), SDL2 development libraries, git, and Python 3.10+.

python3 build.py is the one-command route; re-running after a pull skips finished steps. The raw pipeline it wraps — every step by hand, with troubleshooting — is documented in docs/manual-build.md:

cmake -S gbarecomp -B gbarecomp/build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build gbarecomp/build --target gba_recompile gba_scan --parallel 8
./gbarecomp/build/gba_recompile --rom game.gba --config game.toml \
  --symbols symbols/ffta_symbols.tsv --data-symbols symbols/ffta_data_symbols.tsv \
  --out generated --max-functions 65536
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DGBARECOMP_ENABLE_MODS=ON
cmake --build build --target FFTARecomp --parallel 8

Android build and device-validation instructions live in android/README.md.

Generation requires the supported ROM revision — Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (USA, AFXE), SHA-1 4ac05441f4de70a4ec3dd932116346c61b8783d9, 16,777,216 bytes — pinned in game.toml; the launch BIOS is the bundled clean-room emibios (bios/README.md). ROM-derived generated code, saves, patches, frame dumps, and build output remain local and are never committed.

Contributors can run .venv/bin/python tools/check.py for the automated regression gate (host unit tests, attract hash, widescreen smoke, strict route replays) and tools/play.sh for an instrumented playtest session. Testing, debugging, coverage, and CI workflows live in tests/README.md; the repository map in docs/README.md; project rules in AGENTS.md.

License

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 — see LICENSE. Third-party components retain their own licenses; see THIRD_PARTY_ATTRIBUTION.md.

Legal

This is an unofficial, non-commercial preservation and research project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Square Enix or Nintendo. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and related names, characters, artwork, and game data are trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners.

No copyrighted game ROM or Nintendo BIOS data is distributed by this project. The bundled BIOS is a clean-room replacement, not a Nintendo dump.

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Part of the R.A.I.D. — Retro AI Development static-recompilation community.