ReRAC Launcher

ReRAC Launcher is a native port of Ratchet & Clank for Windows, Linux, and macOS that installs and updates the game and extracts game data from your disc image.

README

ReRAC

ReRAC Launcher

Website · Game · Launcher

The ReRAC launcher installs and updates versions of ReRAC, a native rewrite of the PlayStation 2 game Ratchet & Clank (2002). It extracts the game data from your own disc image and starts the game. Mod management is planned. It is built with Tauri.

[!WARNING] ReRAC is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Sony Interactive Entertainment or Insomniac Games. You need your own, legally obtained PlayStation 2 disc of Ratchet & Clank (NTSC-U, SCUS-97199, version 1.00). Neither the launcher nor the game contains any game assets.

Usage

Website documentation: coming later. Nothing has been released yet, so for now you need a game build from the game repository (see Running a local build of the game).

  1. Add a game version. Settings → Version Management → Development → Install from zip… (or Add build folder…), then Set active. Official releases will be downloadable from Settings → Version Management → Official once they are published.
  2. Install the game data. Ratchet & Clank in the sidebar → Install via ISO, then pick the image of your disc. The active version's extractor checks the disc, copies the data (about 4.5 GB) and prepares it.
  3. Play. The launcher starts the game with the extracted data and shows Running… until it exits.
  4. Optional: the game screen's ⋯ menu has Export assets… (textures, audio, models, levels, collision and text as PNG, WAV, glTF and JSON) and Re-extract from ISO.

If the game cannot start, the launcher says why and offers Re-extract when the data is missing, incomplete or made for another version.

Asking for help

The launcher has no support-package export. Attach your log files to the report instead: Help → Logs folder, or Settings → Folders → Open logs, opens the folder. Every extraction, verification, asset export and game session writes its own file there (extract-rac1-<time>.log, verify-rac1-<time>.log, export-rac1-<time>.log, rac1-<time>.log). The launcher itself writes only launcher.log, for one-off notes such as copying the data folder from before the rename to ReRAC (the old randcrw folder is copied once to rerac and left as it was).

With the default data folder, the logs are in:

  • Windows: C:\Users\<YOUR_USER_NAME>\AppData\Local\rerac\logs
  • Linux: /home/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/.local/share/rerac/logs (or $XDG_DATA_HOME/rerac/logs when that is set)
  • macOS: /Users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/Library/Application Support/rerac/logs

These folders are hidden by default. If you moved the data folder (Settings → Folders), the logs moved with it into <your data folder>/logs.

Development

The Tauri 2 backend (Rust, in src-tauri/) does all file, process, dialog and network work; the React 19 + TypeScript + Vite page in src/ is a thin view. The interface between the launcher, the extractor and the game is in docs/contract.md. Development happens on macOS; Windows and Linux are untested.

Prerequisites
  • Rust, stable, through rustup (the crate needs 1.77 or later).
  • Node.js with npm. package.json pins no version; a current LTS works.

Plus the Tauri 2 system dependencies for your OS (Tauri prerequisites):

Windows

Install the Microsoft C++ Build Tools with the "Desktop development with C++" workload. WebView2 ships with Windows 10 (1803 and later) and Windows 11; on older systems install it as described in the Tauri prerequisites.

Linux

On Debian and Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev

Other distributions: see the Tauri prerequisites.

macOS
xcode-select --install
Building and running
npm install
npm run tauri dev

Other commands:

npm run dev                    # the page alone in a browser at http://localhost:1420, with a mocked backend
npm run build                  # typecheck and production build of the page
npm run tauri build            # release bundle
cd src-tauri && cargo test     # backend tests
cd src-tauri && cargo clippy

To keep a test run away from your real data folder, point the launcher at another one:

RERAC_DATA_ROOT=/some/dir npm run tauri dev
Running a local build of the game

In your local checkout of re-rac/rerac, cargo xtask package makes a version folder and a zip, dist/rerac-<version>-<os>-<arch>.zip. In the launcher, Settings → Version Management → Development → Install from zip… installs it into <data folder>/versions/development/<version>/; Add build folder… with the unpacked dist/rerac-<version>-<os>-<arch>/ folder uses it in place instead. Then Set active. There is no environment variable for this; the Development source is the only way.

The game's own documentation for this is docs/workflows/launcher.md in the game repository.

src-tauri/tests/e2e_real_build.rs runs the whole path (install the zip, extract your disc image, start the game, check the exit codes) against a real build. It is ignored by default; its environment variables are documented at the top of the file.

Testing without the game
  • Browser mock. npm run dev uses src/backend/mock.ts instead of the Rust backend. URL parameters pick a state, for example /?mock=extracting, /?mock=installed, /?mock=error21, /?mock=playing, or #/settings/versions/development. The full list is in src/backend/mock.ts.
  • Mock game version. dev/mock/ is a complete fake version folder whose extractor and runtime are small Node scripts that follow the contract. Add it under Settings → Version Management → Development, set it active, and install from any .iso file. dev/mock/make-test-isos.sh <dir> makes empty test images whose file names steer the outcome: (USA) succeeds, Europe or PAL gives error 21, notrac error 20, errNN any code. RERAC_MOCK_ERROR=<code> forces a code, RERAC_MOCK_SECONDS sets the copy time, RERAC_MOCK_VERIFY_FAIL=1 fails verification, and RERAC_MOCK_RUN_SECONDS sets how long the mock game runs. These scripts need Node on PATH (macOS and Linux).
  • Real extractor, mock game. dev/make-real-extractor-version.sh makes dev/real/ (git-ignored) with the game repository's real rerac-extract and the mock runtime. Add that folder under Development instead. It looks for the game in $RERAC_GAME_DIR, your local checkout of re-rac/rerac (default: the sibling folder ../randcre).
Releasing

Releases are built by GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/release.yml) when a v* tag is pushed.

  1. Set the version in package.json (tauri.conf.json reads it from there) and in src-tauri/Cargo.toml, then run cargo check in src-tauri to update Cargo.lock. The version is numbers only (0.2.0), because the macOS and Windows installers require that; a prerelease suffix goes on the tag only.

  2. Add a ## vX.Y.Z[-pre] section to CHANGELOG.md, for players, one paragraph per line. It becomes the release notes; the workflow stops if the section is missing.

  3. Commit, tag and push the tag:

    git tag -a v0.2.0-beta.1 -m "ReRAC Launcher v0.2.0-beta.1"
git push origin main v0.2.0-beta.1

The workflow creates a draft release, builds macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux in parallel, uploads each installer twice (tauri-action's versioned name and a stable one: rerac-launcher-macos-arm64.dmg, rerac-launcher-macos-x64.dmg, rerac-launcher-windows-x64.msi, rerac-launcher-linux-x86_64.AppImage), and then publishes it once both macOS installers are there. Windows and Linux are untested and do not block the release. Tags containing -alpha, -beta or -rc become prereleases. The website links to /releases/latest/download/<stable name>, and GitHub's "latest" skips prereleases, so those links work only once a release without a suffix exists.

Secrets (Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions):

  • Needed now: none. The workflow uses the built-in GITHUB_TOKEN.
  • Optional: SITE_DISPATCH_TOKEN, a token that may write to re-rac/re-rac.github.io. When it is set, publishing sends that repository a release-published dispatch so the website rebuilds.
  • Later, macOS signing and notarization: APPLE_CERTIFICATE, APPLE_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD, APPLE_SIGNING_IDENTITY, APPLE_ID, APPLE_PASSWORD, APPLE_TEAM_ID.
  • Later, the Tauri updater: TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY, TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD (plus the updater plugin and its public key in tauri.conf.json).

The signing lines are in the workflow, commented out; uncomment them once the secrets exist.

Related

License

ISC. See LICENSE. The license covers ReRAC's own code only; it grants no rights to Ratchet & Clank or any of its assets. The bundled fonts, Russo One and Exo 2, are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 (src/assets/fonts/LICENSES.md).