Saw2Recomp

Unofficial native PC port of Saw II: Flesh & Blood (Xbox 360) built with the ReXGlue SDK (v0.10.0).

This is a static recompilation, not an emulator. The PowerPC code inside Default.xex is translated ahead of time to C++ and linked against the ReXGlue runtime (Xenos GPU, audio, input, filesystem). There is no JIT in the play path.

Bring your own dump. This repository does not ship game files, ISOs, or XEXes. You need a legally owned Xbox 360 copy.

Author: Matt-code-d

Title ID: 4B4E0822 · Engine: Unreal Engine 3 (SAW2GAME/CookedXenon)

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Status

Playable on Windows (RelWithDebInfo) with a WPF launcher for ISO install, language detection, and common runtime flags.

Still early: expect occasional missing PPC function hints (easy to patch), and a few graphics quirks (see Known issues). Achievements unlock and persist; the host toast UI is disabled because it was crashing this title.

See PROGRESS.md for the bring-up log.

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Quick start (launcher)

1. Install the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (and the .NET 8 SDK if you build from source).
2. Build the game once (below). CMake also publishes Saw2Launcher.exe into the same folder as saw2.exe.
3. Put extract-xiso at ../tools/extract-xiso/artifacts/extract-xiso.exe (sibling of this repo), and the ReXGlue SDK at ../tools/rexglue-sdk-bin/win-amd64.
4. Run the launcher from the build output (or dotnet run from launcher/ while developing):

.\out\build\win-amd64-relwithdebinfo\Saw2Launcher.exe

In the launcher:

1. SETUP / ISO → pick your .iso → EXTRACT & INSTALL
2. LANGUAGE → only packs present on that disc are listed
3. VIDEO / AUDIO / INPUT → tune as you like
4. PLAY

Settings land in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\saw2\launcher_settings.json. Logs go to Documents\saw2\saw2.log.

Prefer RelWithDebInfo for play. Debug can assert in the Xenos path.

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Game data layout

After extract (gitignored — never commit this):

game/
  Default.xex
  SAW2GAME/
    CookedXenon/
    Movies/
    Xbox360TOC.txt

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Build from source

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 x64
• CMake 3.25+, Ninja, Clang / VS 2022 clang-cl
• Vulkan-capable GPU + Vulkan SDK
• ReXGlue SDK 0.10.0 unpacked to ../tools/rexglue-sdk-bin/win-amd64

Codegen + compile

$env:PATH = "..\tools\rexglue-sdk-bin\win-amd64\bin;$env:PATH"
$env:CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH = "..\tools\rexglue-sdk-bin\win-amd64"

# Needs Default.xex under game/ (from your ISO)
rexglue codegen saw2_manifest.toml

cmake --preset win-amd64-relwithdebinfo -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="..\tools\rexglue-sdk-bin\win-amd64"
cmake --build --preset win-amd64-relwithdebinfo

Binaries (same folder): out/build/win-amd64-relwithdebinfo/saw2.exe and Saw2Launcher.exe

If the game dies with [FATAL] Call to invalid or unregistered function at 0x........, add that address to config/functions.toml, re-run codegen, rebuild. That is the normal bring-up loop for ReXGlue titles.

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Launcher settings (what they map to)

Panel	Runtime
VIDEO	resolution, window size, fullscreen, letterbox, V-Sync, FPS / guest refresh, VRR tearing, present effect (bilinear / CAS / FSR*)
AUDIO	mute, SDL queue depth
INPUT	sdl / xinput, mouse+keyboard, sensitivity
LANGUAGE	--user_language from packs on your ISO
ADVANCED / MODS	boot logo skip via UE3 -nostartupmovies (guest --cl=), experimental HUD mod (health/syringes/items), achievements on/off + safe text toast, log level, extra CLI args

*FSR/CAS need a FidelityFX-enabled Xenos build of the SDK. Stock 0.10.0 binaries usually expose bilinear only. DLSS is not available on the Xenos path.

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Known issues

• Squares in fog / mist — mitigated by defaulting use_fuzzy_alpha_epsilon (override with --no-use_fuzzy_alpha_epsilon if needed).
• Black squares in water puddles / some reflections — fixed with D3D12 rov + gpu_allow_invalid_fetch_constants (present upscaling FSR/CAS/bilinear is independent). Avoid stacking --readback_resolve, --gamma_render_target_as_unorm16, or --clear_memory_page_state near water — they hitch. resolution_scale stays 1 so ROV cost isn’t multiplied.
• Movie subtitle tracks — disc ships unsuffixed Movies/*.txt; localized probes like lvla_p_ITA.txt are hardlinked at launch so cutscene captions resolve.
• Missing .xxx probes in the log (Textures.xxx, numeric hashes, etc.) are often optional UE3 companions — noisy, not always fatal.
• Achievements — launcher Mods toggle; unlocks save under Documents\saw2\achievements with a safe text toast when enabled (stock ImGui achievement dialog stays off).
• HUD health — experimental guest memory bind; may not track real HP yet.
• Input race — guest XamInput* calls are serialized (same heap-corruption race fixed in other ReXGlue ports when a pad is connected).

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Project layout

saw2-recomp/
  config/functions.toml   # manual PPC function boundaries
  src/                    # app hooks + game fixes
  launcher/               # WPF setup / play UI
  generated/              # codegen output (local; regenerated)
  game/                   # your dump (gitignored)

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Credits

• ReXGlue SDK — Tom Clay and contributors
• Xenia / Xenia Canary — foundations for the Xenos runtime
• extract-xiso

Port work by Matt-code-d.

Some bring-up steps (function-boundary hunting, launcher wiring, crash triage) used AI assistance as a tool alongside manual reverse-engineering and testing. The runtime, game dump handling, and final decisions stay human-owned.

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, the missing-function loop, and PR rules.

License

This repository’s original code is under the MIT License (attribution required).
MIT covers only this port’s own work. It does not cover the game itself or third-party libraries/SDKs/tools (ReXGlue, extract-xiso, etc.) — those keep their own licenses.

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Legal

No copyrighted assets, disc images, or XEX binaries are redistributed here. Use only with a copy you own.
Saw II: Flesh & Blood © Konami / Zombie Studios / respective rights holders. This project is unofficial and unaffiliated.

This project is built around not sharing game data. The repo and releases ship tooling only; every user must provide their own dump locally.
The maintainer does not authorize, host, or endorse any upload/reupload of game files to the internet (or elsewhere). Anyone who redistributes game content does so on their own, outside this project.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the maintainer disclaims liability for such third-party redistribution.