HP1-Recompiled

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone — Xbox to PC port

A native Windows port of the original Xbox game Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2003), made by static recompilation: the game's x86 code is translated to C and compiled for Windows, with the Xbox kernel, Direct3D 8, DirectSound and input replaced by native code. No emulator. Part of Barthes Recompiled, beside Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban.

Current release: 1.0.2, for the PAL and USA discs. Built on, and with endless thanks to, MiddleDucky's port.

Features beyond the original: resolutions up to 4K with MSAA/SMAA and anisotropic filtering, true 16:9 (widened 3D, 2D kept in shape), windowed/borderless/fullscreen, keyboard and mouse with rebinding, controller remapping, deadzones and vibration strength, colour-blind correction filters, frame-rate caps up to 240 or unlocked, settings pages inside the game's own title and pause menus, cutscene fast-forward, "Quit To Desktop" in the game's menus, and an Archipelago multiworld randomizer.

This repository contains no game content. To play or build it you need the files from your own copy of the Xbox disc. The build regenerates the recompiled code from your default.xbe.

Quick start

1. Download BarthesLauncher-windows-<version>.zip from the Barthes Launcher releases and unzip it somewhere of its own, for example C:\Games (it makes a BarthesLauncher folder).
2. Start barthes_launcher.exe, pick Philosopher's Stone on the shelf and press Install.
3. Press Add disc image or folder... and choose your .iso / .xiso, or the default.xbe of a disc you already extracted. The launcher checks that it is this game's disc, unpacks it, checks every file and installs the build for your disc (PAL or USA).
4. Press Play.

The launcher keeps the port up to date from this repository's releases and never touches your disc files, saves or settings when it updates.

Setting up by hand

1. Download the latest release for your disc: PAL for the European Philosopher's Stone, USA for the North American Sorcerer's Stone. Unzip it into a folder of its own, for example C:\Games\HP1.
2. Make a folder named game beside hpps.exe and put your disc's files in it, so that game\default.xbe exists. A disc image has to be extracted first (the Barthes Launcher does this for you; extract-xiso works too).
3. Start hpps.exe.

C:\Games\HP1\
  hpps.exe
  README.txt, CHANGES.txt, licenses\
  shadercache\         shaders (shipped ones, plus those built on your PC)
  game\default.xbe     ... and the rest of your disc
  hpps.toml            your settings (made on the first start)
  saves\               your saved games, and the game's Xbox disk images in saves\xbox

To update by hand, unzip the new release over the old one; hpps.toml, saves\ and shadercache\ stay as they are. The whole folder is portable: move it or back it up as it is.

Requirements: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), a DirectX 12 graphics card (GeForce GTX 600, Radeon HD 7000, Intel HD 500 or newer) with a current driver, 4 GB RAM, about 3.1 GB of disk. Keyboard and mouse, or an Xbox 360 / One / Series controller (other pads through Steam Input or DS4Windows).

Which disc

Both editions work: the European (PAL) Philosopher's Stone disc, which the code is written for, and the North American Sorcerer's Stone disc, built through the region profiles in port/region/. A build is made for one disc and says so if it is given the other, so each release has a PAL and a USA download.

Settings

• Settings in the title menu and the pause menu: Gameplay, Graphics and Controls pages in the game's own font, including Button Mapping (press the action, then the controller button).
• F10 anywhere: every option, over the game.
• Alt+Enter switches windowed / borderless; Alt+F4 quits, as does Quit To Desktop in the menus.

Both change the same settings and save them to hpps.toml. Highlights: resolutions up to 4K with MSAA, SMAA and anisotropic filtering; true 16:9 with the original cutscene bars kept; windowed, borderless or fullscreen; frame-rate caps of 30, 60, 120, 144, 165 and 240 or unlocked (experimental); keyboard and mouse with rebinding; controller remapping, deadzones and vibration strength; colour-blind correction filters; 5.1 surround; cutscene fast-forward (hold Start or Back) and start-up logo skip, both on by default. Every option and the default keys are listed in port/README.txt, which also ships in the release.

Archipelago

Philosopher's Stone can be played in an Archipelago multiworld randomizer.

• Host: the room needs hpps.apworld, attached to each release. Tested on the PAL disc.
• Player: on the game's Archipelago page in the Barthes Launcher, tick Play this game in an Archipelago multiworld, enter the room's server (for example archipelago.gg:38281), your slot name and the password, and press Play. The game connects on its own.
• In the game: the pause menu gains a Hogwarts Travel page for returning to any day or set piece you have unlocked. With the apworld's Skip Tutorial option (on by default) a new game starts on Day 1 in the dormitory; Day 0 stays on the Travel page.

Without the launcher, set RECOMP_AP_SERVER (server:port) and RECOMP_AP_SLOT (slot name) before starting hpps.exe, and put password = "..." in saves\archipelago\connection.toml if the room has one.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
"Failed to load default.xbe"	The disc files are missing: check that game\default.xbe exists beside hpps.exe.
The game says it is the wrong disc	Download the other build (PAL or USA), or let the Barthes Launcher pick it.
Crashes, missing sound or pictures in one place	A disc file may be damaged: Verify files on the game's page in the Barthes Launcher names it; add your disc again to repair.
The game won't start or closes at once	Update your graphics driver (DirectX 12 is required). Every start writes hpps_run.log beside hpps.exe; send it with your report. For more detail turn on F10 > Debug > Write debug logs and start again. A crash leaves its report in hpps_run.log too.
A short pause the first time you enter an area	Shaders are being built for your card, once per area; later starts prepare them ahead in the menus.
Keyboard doesn't move Harry while a pad is plugged in	Turn off F10 > Controls > Use controller.
Archipelago won't connect	Check the server address and port, the slot name's spelling and the password; the room must use the hpps.apworld from the same release.

Problems and questions: open an issue. What changed in each release is in CHANGES.md.

Building

See port/DEVELOPING.md: MSYS2 (UCRT64) setup, regenerating the code from the XBE, building, debugging tools and how the port works.

Thank you, MiddleDucky

This fork exists only because of MiddleDucky, who made the port itself: the recompilation, the renderer work, the audio, the launcher, and every fix and option in HP-PS-Xbox-Recomp. Everything here is built on that work, and each upstream release (v0.3.0 most recently) is merged in with gratitude. Thank you, MiddleDucky, for bringing this game to the PC and for sharing it so generously. The fork only adds a few things on top (the North American disc, settings pages inside the game, cutscene and logo skips, and Archipelago). If you enjoy this port, go and star MiddleDucky's repositories: it is their work you are playing.

Credits and licences

The port's own code is MIT licensed, © 2026 MiddleDucky (LICENSE). The parts below keep their own licences and copyright.

• xboxrecomp — the static recompilation toolkit this port is built on (runtime, kernel layer, pipeline), MIT, by sp00nz. Its own readme: README.xboxrecomp.md; licence LICENSES/xboxrecomp-MIT.txt; third-party parts (including LGPL code from xemu) in NOTICE and LICENSES/.
• SCDA-XBERecomp by TGP482 — the D3D8-to-Direct3D 12 renderer the port's graphics are based on, MIT (port/src/scda/LICENSE.SCDA).
• Dear ImGui (MIT, port/third_party/imgui) and SMAA (MIT, Jorge Jimenez et al.).

Thanks

These projects were references for hardware behaviour, XDK details or fixes (no code taken unless listed above):

• xemu — Xbox hardware behaviour; the APU code listed in NOTICE
• XbSymbolDatabase — XDK function addresses
• Cxbx-Reloaded and xboxdevwiki — kernel and hardware reference
• Nightfire Windows Port — the same lifter bugs, found first
• DefJamFFNY-recomp — single-core guest thread pinning
• Unicorn Engine — the debug-only difftest build

Harry Potter and all related names and artwork are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. The game is © Electronic Arts. This is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Warner Bros., Electronic Arts or Microsoft.

This project has been aided by Claude Code.