Project Gotham Racing - XBE Recomp

Project Gotham Racing - XBE Recomp

An unofficial native PC port of the original Xbox version of Project Gotham Racing, with extended graphics options and other enhancements. The game's own x86 code is statically recompiled into a Windows executable 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 Version

The European (PAL) Xbox release of Project Gotham Racing (title id 4D530003):

Release	default.xbe SHA-1
Europe (PAL), version 5	4878c3bdbd44663b64ce64986b313e8c6b7f8917

The log (logs\pgr1.log) names the SHA-1 of the default.xbe it found. Other releases (North American, Japanese, Platinum Hits) have not been checked yet, and the game asks before starting one.

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)

PGR1Launcher.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 11.
• Your own copy of the game (PAL): an .iso image of your disc, or a folder with the disc's files.
• About 15 GB free, and an internet connection for about 1.4 GB of build tools.

Steps:

1. Download PGR1Launcher.exe from the latest release.
2. Put it in a folder of its own (for example C:\Games\PGR1) and run it. Everything it makes goes in a PGR1 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 a 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. The first start formats the emulated hard disk and copies the game's cache (about 90 seconds of black screen and a short movie); later starts are quick.

When this project is updated the launcher shows Update: press it, then Play. Remove the build files frees about 10 GB once the game is built (an update then builds everything again).

Files, all under the PGR1 folder beside the launcher:

• play\ the game: PGR1.exe, pgr1.toml (settings), hdd\ (profiles, saves and caches), logs\pgr1.log (the game's log), achievements.toml
• 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 PGR1 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 and its folders (Async, FMV, FrontEnd, Game, Images, media, Shaders, ...), or an .iso image of the disc.

1. Clone the repository with its SDK:

   git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/hk21x/pgr1-recomp.git
   cd pgr1-recomp
   

   Cloned without --recurse-submodules? Run git submodule update --init.
2. Put your game files in the assets folder: assets\default.xbe with the game's folders beside it. With an .iso, put the .iso in assets and also copy default.xbe out of it into assets (the build recompiles from that file).
3. Run build.bat from Explorer or a command prompt. The first build takes 30 to 90 minutes; later builds are quicker. Do not run xbe_symbols or edit config\game.toml: the committed configuration is the one for the supported release.
4. Answer Y to "Play now?", or run out\build\release\PGR1.exe. It finds the assets folder beside itself or in any folder above it.

launcher.bat builds PGR1Launcher.exe itself. Files the game writes beside the exe: pgr1.toml (settings), hdd\ (saves and caches; delete it to start again from a first boot), logs\pgr1.log, achievements.toml, and CrashDumps\ if it crashes. WINDOWS.md has more.

Controls and Settings

Settings window: press F1, or Back + Start on a controller. Tabs: Display, Graphics, Game, Achievements, General, Wheel and Controls. Changes are saved at once.

Keyboard (plays as controller 1 while the window has the focus; remap in Controls, two keys per input):

Console input	Keys
Steer / menus (left stick)	Arrow keys, or A / D
Accelerate / brake	W / S
A / B / X / Y	Enter or Space / Backspace / Q / E
Black / White	R / F
Start / Back	Escape or P / Tab
D-pad	Numpad 8 / 2 / 4 / 6
Right stick, stick clicks	I J K L, C and V

Controllers: Xbox, PlayStation and Switch controllers, with hot plugging and rumble; any console input can be mapped to any controller input in Controls.

Features

Display

• Display Modes - Fullscreen, borderless window or window, at any resolution the monitor offers, applied at once.
• Widescreen and Ultrawide - The console game is 4:3 only. Here the 3D views widen to the screen's shape (16:9 from the screen's shape, 21:9 and wider with "Fill the screen") at full sharpness. The race HUD is laid out at 16:9 (its panels out towards the sides, each at its true shape) and the menus stay 4:3 in the centre.
• Frame Pacing - Runs at the game's own rate, 60 frames a second in menus and races as on the console, with vsync and a frame rate cap.
• Monitor - Chooses which display the game uses.
• FPS Counter - Shows the frame rate in a corner.

Graphics

• Render Scale - Renders at a percentage of the screen, from 25% to 200%.
• Renderer - Direct3D 12 (default) or Direct3D 11, at the next start; 11 for GPUs or drivers where 12 runs badly. Without Direct3D 12 the game starts on 11 by itself.
• Anisotropic Filtering - Up to 16x.
• Antialiasing - MSAA 2x, 4x or 8x on the 3D scene, or FXAA on the finished frame; render scale above 100% supersamples.
• Field of View - Widens or narrows the race camera, 50% to 200% of the console's.
• Sharp Text and HUD - The menus', HUD's and text's textures are enlarged with sharp edges, so lettering and gauges stay crisp at high resolutions (on by default).

Controller

Supports Xbox, PlayStation and Switch controllers, with hot plugging and rumble. Any console input can be mapped to any controller input.

Steering wheels and rigs - any DirectInput wheel, pedal box, button box or shifter, also spread over several USB devices; each control bound in F1 > Wheel by moving or pressing it, and force feedback on the steering's device that follows the player's car.

Keyboard

Plays as controller 1, with two keys for each console input, remappable in the settings window.

General

• Launcher - PGR1Launcher.exe: choose your disc, Build, Play, Update; portable build tools, nothing installed.
• Settings Window - Press F1, or Back + Start on a controller, for display, graphics, game options, the wheel and controls. Changes are saved to pgr1.toml.
• Skip Intro - Skips the intro movie, the logos and the warning, straight to the title screen.
• Hide HUD - Clears the race HUD for screenshots.
• Pause On Focus Loss - The game and its sound stop while another window is in front.
• Saves - Profiles, options and Kudos Challenge progress are kept on an emulated hard disk beside the exe.
• Achievements - 31 achievements (every Kudos Challenge level, golds, Quick and Arcade Race, Kudos totals, cars, combos, clean and night wins, split screen) with pop-ups and a list in the settings window, written in RetroAchievements' condition format; the set is in ACHIEVEMENTS.md.

Miscellaneous

• Boot Splash - Place a splash.png (or .bmp) beside the exe to display a splash screen at launch.
• Diagnostics - Logs to logs\pgr1.log, and offers frame captures (F3). See WINDOWS.md.

Status

Boots, plays the movies and menus, saves, and races at 60 frames a second; widescreen and ultrawide, MSAA, wheels and the settings window in. Open: system link and split screen have not been tried, the recorded push buffers the game uses for some models are not replayed yet, and there is no draw distance setting. Progress is in PROGRESS.md, and technical findings in FINDINGS.md.

Community and Support

Join the Discord server for help getting the game running, to report problems, and to talk about the port with other players.

Troubleshooting

• Something wrong: the first lines of logs\pgr1.log list the settings, the GPU and any XBE_* or PGR1_* environment variables; leftover ones from experiments change how the game draws. WINDOWS.md lists the diagnostic switches (frame captures with F3, XBE_DSOUND_LOG for sound, XBE_PERF timings).
• The launcher's build failing: send PGR1\launcher.log (its Details section shows the same). Press Build again after a network problem: it carries on where it stopped.
• "Another release" in the log, or the game not starting: the default.xbe is not the supported release.
• A first boot again (the cache, the intro movie): delete the hdd folder beside PGR1.exe (PGR1\play\hdd with the launcher, out\build\release\hdd when built from source).
• Still stuck: ask on the Discord server, with logs\pgr1.log.

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.

License

This project's code is released under the MIT License. The SDK in sdk/ keeps its own MIT license (sdk/LICENSE). Neither covers Project Gotham Racing itself: the game's code and assets belong to their owners and are not part of this repository.