Orta Recompiled

Orta Recompiled

A static recompilation of Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox, Europe / PAL) into native PC code, with a Vulkan renderer and a set of modern extras: higher resolutions, the game's own widescreen mode, antialiasing, button remapping and a full settings menu inside the game.

This project contains no game data, no game code and no keys. You need your own copy of the game (PAL disc).

AI disclosure: AI assistance yes (Claude Code by Anthropic).

Open beta (v0.6.1-beta): playable, but not finished - it will be completed step by step over the next weeks. I expect bugs I have not found myself yet: please report every bug you find as an issue, I will try to fix each one as fast as I can.

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A benchmark for option-c

This port is first and foremost a benchmark for option-c, a branch of my fork of the xboxrecomp toolkit (xboxrecomp-option-c).

What option-c is: a change of the toolkit's code model at the root. The lifter (which translates the Xbox code to C) used to keep the guest CPU's registers in globals and access the game's state through blanket volatile - correct, but the compiler could keep almost nothing in host registers. option-c gives every guest thread its own register set, passed to each translated function as a __restrict context, without blanket volatile (after the model of XboxXBE-Recomp, MIT). The result is C code the compiler can really optimise. It was only merged after a gate of conformance tests against real x86, a behaviour comparison on a real game and micro-benchmarks (docs/option_c.md). My earlier port, THPS 2X Recompiled, still runs on the older code model; Panzer Dragoon Orta is the first complete game on option-c.

Comparison with SeveerJ's Orta_PC_Recomp v0.7.1, an independently developed recompilation of the same game (same machine: laptop with an RTX 3050 Ti, attract demo, 16:9, 480 lines, frame cap 60, matching scenes, CPU in cores busy):

	Orta Recompiled	Orta_PC_Recomp v0.7.1
CPU, menus	0.22 - 0.26	0.10 - 0.33
CPU, movies	0.21 - 0.28	0.62 - 1.27
CPU, gameplay	0.39 - 0.45	0.71 - 0.90
GPU load	5.8 %	14.5 %
RAM	375 MB	297 MB

These are numbers from one machine and one scene set, not a ranking - both ports are young and will change. The two projects also serve different players: Orta_PC_Recomp runs on DirectX 11, so it also supports older hardware, and it targets the USA version; this port is the PAL version and needs a GPU with Vulkan 1.3.

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Features

Native port, no emulator

• The original Xbox code is translated to C ahead of time and compiled for the PC – no CPU emulation at run time.
• Vulkan 1.3 renderer, SDL3 for window, input and audio, plain C code.
• The game's own sound engine runs on an emulated audio chip, with the game's own effects mix.

Rearranged menus

• Main menu: CONTINUE, NEW GAME, PANDORA'S BOX, OPTIONS, EXIT GAME (asks before it quits). The practice missions moved into OPTIONS.
• Pause menu: CONTINUE, RETRY, EXIT GAME (asks with the game's own dialog), SAVE & QUIT, QUIT GAME - aiming and vibration are set in OPTIONS only.
• New lines are in English in every language; the game's own lines keep their language.

Rearranged options menu

Everything is set inside the game's own OPTIONS menu – no external tool, no overlay. Y puts the selected line back to its default - only that line. Every change is kept when you leave the menu, also after a restart.

Entry	What it does
PRACTICE	The game's practice missions (flying, aiming, dragon forms).
SOUND	The game's own volumes.
CONTROLS	AIMING (normal / inverted), VIBRATION and BUTTON MAPPING (keyboard or controller, then remap its buttons).
RECOMP OPTIONS	All port settings (see below).

RECOMP OPTIONS

Changes are saved immediately. Settings that need a restart are marked, and leaving the menu asks RESTART NEEDED.

Setting	Values
Display mode	Borderless (default), Fullscreen (exclusive), Windowed – window size and position are remembered
Render resolution	From the original 480 lines up to 5x (e.g. 1080p, 1440p, 4K) – independent of the window size
Aspect ratio	4:3 or 16:9 – the game's own widescreen mode (wider view), not stretched
Anisotropic filter	Off up to 16x
Antialiasing	Off, FXAA (default), SMAA, MSAA 2x, MSAA 4x
Frame rate	V-Sync and an FPS counter (FPS, frame time or both); the game runs at its original 60 fps
Boot animation	Plays your own intro video before the game, for example the original Xbox boot animation ;)
Language	System (follows Windows), English, German, French, Spanish, Italian
Brightness and contrast	The game's own brightness and contrast, now visible on the PC screen

Widescreen (16:9)

• Panzer Dragoon Orta has its own 16:9 mode; ASPECT RATIO 16:9 switches the game to it - menus included.
• The game arranges some screens differently at 4:3 and 16:9 (e.g. the options background: a dense cloud layer at 4:3, a large relief with thin clouds at 16:9) - both are the game's own layouts.

Button remapping

• Keyboard and every gamepad (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, generic) can be remapped per device; identical pads share one mapping.
• The menus always stay usable with the default layout, so a bad mapping can never lock you out.

Everything in one folder

• The port runs from one folder that can be moved or copied anywhere – even to a USB stick.
• Nothing is written outside it: no registry, no AppData, no shortcuts, no temp files left behind.

Installer built in

• A small setup window asks for two things: your disc image and the folder to install into. Go builds the game there, Play starts it. Your disc image is only read - it is never changed or deleted.
• The image is checked, extracted and verified; a wrong game or an unsupported version is refused with a clear message.
• No GPU with Vulkan 1.3? The setup and the game say so at once, with an apology, instead of crashing.

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Getting started

Requirements

• Windows 10/11, 64-bit (Linux via Proton / Wine is not tested yet)
• A GPU whose driver offers Vulkan 1.3 with the extension VK_KHR_push_descriptor (NVIDIA GTX 900 and newer, AMD RX 400 and newer, Intel HD 500 / UHD 600 and newer, Intel Arc). If something is missing, the game says so at the start and names your GPU, its Vulkan version and what it lacks.
• Your own copy of Panzer Dragoon Orta (Europe / PAL)
• About 7 GB of free disk space during the first start (the image and its extracted files), about 4 GB afterwards. No internet needed: the compiler ships inside the release zip.

Supported version

Version	Title ID	default.xbe SHA-1
Europe (PAL)	4947002B	57213FF35A19807DEF664F9018CC2923815DFA1F

Other versions (USA, Japan) are refused with: "This Panzer Dragoon Orta version is not supported. Supported version(s): Europe. Please provide a supported version."

First start

1. Download Orta-Recompiled-v<version>-win64.zip (about 210 MB, the compiler included) from the release page and unpack it (keep the tools\ folder next to the exe).
2. Start Panzer Dragoon Orta Recomp.exe. The setup window asks for your disc image (.iso, XISO or full redump image) and the folder to install into (it suggests one). Press Go.
3. The setup copies itself into that folder (with the folders below, each with a short README.txt) and sets everything up there, the progress in the same window:
   • the image is checked, extracted and verified,
   • the compiler (llvm-mingw, a fixed release, in the zip's tools\download\) is checked by its SHA-256 and unpacked – only if that file is missing is it downloaded,
   • the game's code is translated and compiled on your PC (a few minutes, only once - about 4 on a 6-core laptop).
4. Press Play. Later, start Panzer Dragoon Orta Recomp.exe in the install folder - it goes straight into the game.
5. Optional: add a boot video (see next section).

Already have an extracted disc? Put the files (or one image) into game\ next to the exe and start it there - it installs in place, as before.

Updating from an earlier version

Unpack the new zip over the old folder. The game is built once more at the next start (a few minutes); your saves\ and media\ stay.

Windows warning: the exe is not signed. SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC" – click More info → Run anyway. Smart App Control (Windows 11) blocks unsigned apps completely; the port can only run with Smart App Control turned off.

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Where your files go

Panzer Dragoon Orta Recomp/
├── Panzer Dragoon Orta Recomp.exe   start this (sets everything up on the first start, then starts the game)
├── ORTA.exe                         the port – built on your PC on the first start
├── game/                            YOUR GAME: put the disc image or extracted files here
├── media/                           YOUR MEDIA (read only – the port never changes it)
│   └── boot.mpg                     optional boot animation
├── saves/                           your saves and settings – never deleted
│   ├── UDATA/4947002B/              the game's saves
│   └── settings.ini                 all port settings
├── data/                            caches and logs – safe to delete at any time
└── tools/                           translator, compiler and licences (used on the first start and for a repair)

Game → game\

• One disc image (.iso) or the extracted disc folder. default.xbe must sit directly in game\.
• The image is deleted only after every extracted file has been verified. On any error it stays.

Boot animation → media\boot.mpg

• Your own intro video, played before the game starts. It cannot be skipped – keep it short. It can be switched off in RECOMP OPTIONS (the change applies at the next start).
• Format: MPEG-1 video with MP2 audio. Convert any video once with the free ffmpeg, keeping it at full quality (1080p, 60 fps):

  ffmpeg -i boot.mp4 -c:v mpeg1video -q:v 1 -qmin 1 -bf 2 -g 30 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a mp2 -b:a 256k boot.mpg
  

• A boot.mp4 or boot.mkv alone is not played; BOOT ANIMATION then says "CONVERT BOOT VIDEO TO BOOT.MPG SEE README". The port never converts or changes your files.
• Never shipped with the port – you supply your own video.

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Controls

Gamepads work out of the box via SDL3, with the game's own vibration (OPTIONS → CONTROLS → VIBRATION). Keyboard default (physical key positions):

Key	Xbox pad
W A S D	left stick
Arrow keys	D-pad
Enter / Backspace	Start / Back
I / J / K / L	Y / X / A / B
U / O	Black / White
Z / P	left / right trigger

Remap in OPTIONS → CONTROLS → BUTTON MAPPING. Emergency exit: if a mapping leaves you stuck, start once with the environment variable ORTA_BIND_RESET=1, or delete the bind. lines from saves\settings.ini.

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Advanced

• Settings file: saves\settings.ini (plain key=value), shared by the menus.
• Overrides: every setting can be forced for one run with an environment variable ORTA_<SETTING> (e.g. ORTA_ASPECT_RATIO=16:9); an override is not written to the file.
• Logs: data\orta.log (the previous run is kept as orta.previous.log); the first-start setup logs to data\launcher.log. Please attach data\orta.log to a bug report.
• Frame rate or stutter reports: start with the environment variable RECOMP_FRAME_TIME=1 and attach data\frametime.csv too.
• Repair: "Panzer Dragoon Orta Recomp.exe" --repair unpacks, translates and compiles everything again; saves\ and media\ are never touched.

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Known issues

• In some fast scenes of episode 2 the picture can look smeared, as if frames ran into each other - under investigation.
• The lock-on markers are not confirmed against the original yet.
• The Sega Saturn Panzer Dragoon in Pandora's Box is not part of this port (selecting it shows a message).
• The game has no custom soundtracks.
• The exe is not signed (see Windows warning above).

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Roadmap

• v0.6.0-beta: open beta - playable from the start (tested through the first episodes), the reworked options menu.
• v0.6.1-beta: setup window, rearranged main and pause menus with EXIT GAME, vibration, options kept on leaving.
• Next weeks: bug fixes from your reports, then v1.0.
• Later: 120 fps (the game's logic decoupled from the frame rate).

Non-goals

• Online play (the game has none).
• The Sega Saturn bonus game.

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Building from source

The release exe is built from this repository and the toolkit xboxrecomp-option-c; Windows 10/11 x64. Folder layout (tools\paths.ps1; every path without spaces, the compiler and Ninja use them directly):

<root>\projects\orta\<this repo>      generated files go to <root>\projects\orta\private\
<root>\tools\xboxrecomp_orta          the toolkit; its dependencies go to <root>\tools\private\
<root>\roms\xbox\                     your disc image (optional, lift.ps1 -Iso takes any path)

1. powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File tools\setup.ps1 – installs Python 3.12, CMake, Ninja, LLVM-MinGW (UCRT) and the Vulkan SDK with winget, and capstone for Python.
2. tools\deps.ps1 – builds glslang and SDL3 from source with the same compiler.
3. tools\lift.ps1 -Iso "<path to your PAL .iso>" – extracts the disc into the install folder and generates the C code (into a private\ folder next to the repo, never into it).
4. tools\build.ps1 – builds into the portable install folder Panzer Dragoon Orta Recomp\.
5. Optional: tools\release.ps1 -Version <name> – the single release exe (the launcher with its payload).

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Legal

This repository and its releases contain no game data, no XBE, no generated game code and no keys. You need your own legally obtained copy of the PAL disc.

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA or Smilebit. Panzer Dragoon and all related names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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Credits & third-party code

Project	Used for	Licence
sp00nznet/xboxrecomp	toolkit base: XBE lifter, kernel/runtime, game template	MIT
TGP482/XboxXBE-Recomp	the code model of option-c (per-thread register context)	MIT
antoxa2584x/burnout3-sw	Vulkan NV2A renderer, back-end interface, pushbuffer executor	MIT
xemu-project/xemu	MCPX APU core, ADPCM decoder, NV2A definitions, fixed-function vertex shader	LGPL-2.1-or-later (these files)
comoria08/defjam_recomp	lift pipeline and seeds workflow	MIT
takedawn-xboxrecomp	XDVDFS disc reader	MIT
iryoku/smaa	SMAA antialiasing	MIT
miniz	unpacking the compiler	MIT
phoboslab/pl_mpeg	boot animation (MPEG-1 video, MP2 audio)	MIT
SDL3, glslang	window, input, audio; shader compiler	zlib; BSD/MIT
Python 3.12 (embeddable), capstone	the translator on the first start (shipped in tools\)	PSF; BSD
mstorsjo/llvm-mingw	the compiler (shipped in the release zip) and its runtime	Apache-2.0 with LLVM exception; MinGW-w64 runtime licences

Reference (read, no code or data taken): SeveerJ/Orta_PC_Recomp - the other Orta recompilation, a great help while tracking down rendering and timing issues. Details: docs/sources.md.

Full licence texts and attributions: the toolkit's NOTICE and LICENSES/, and in the release tools\licenses\.

Licence

GPL-3.0-or-later – see LICENSE. Third-party code keeps its own licence.