Skies of Arcadia Legends: Recompiled

Skies of Arcadia Legends: Recompiled

A native port of Skies of Arcadia Legends (GameCube) to Windows, Linux, macOS and Android, made by static recompilation: the game's PowerPC code is translated ahead of time into native code, and the GameCube's graphics, sound and input come from Dolphin's hardware code. It adds widescreen, 60 fps, camera control, save states and quality-of-life options.

This is a beta (v0.80). Please report what you run into.

No build contains the game. You need your own copy of the disc.

Download

Get a build from the Releases page:

Platform	File
Windows	SkiesOfArcadiaLegends-<version>-windows.zip
Linux	SkiesOfArcadiaLegends-<version>-x86_64.AppImage (or -linux.tar.gz)
macOS (Apple Silicon)	SkiesOfArcadiaLegends-<version>-macos.zip
Android	SkiesOfArcadiaLegends-<version>-android.apk

Versions ending in -beta (or -rc1, -rc2, ...) are published as prereleases.

Getting Started

1. Install it:
   • Windows: unzip, and run Skies of Arcadia Legends.exe from inside the folder.
   • Linux: make the .AppImage executable (chmod +x, or Allow executing in the file's Properties) and run it; it has the libraries it needs inside. Or extract the .tar.gz and run ./SkiesOfArcadiaLegends from inside the folder.
   • macOS: unzip, and move Skies of Arcadia Legends to Applications if you like. The app isn't notarized by Apple, so the first time macOS says it can't check it: open System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway (or Control-click the app and choose Open).
   • Android: install the APK and open Skies of Arcadia Legends.
2. Choose Select Disc and pick your disc image. The launcher checks it, imports it (a few seconds) and patches it for this port; you only do this once.
3. Press Start Game. Later, Continue starts from your newest save.

Updating from an earlier version: your saves, save states and settings carry over. On Windows and Linux, unpack the new version and run it; if the launcher asks for your disc once more, choose Select Disc and pick the same disc image, which updates your earlier import in a few seconds. On Android, install the new APK over the old one; the app updates the imported disc by itself.

The disc is the USA, the European or the Japanese GameCube release (game ID GEAE8P, GEAP8P or GEAJ8P, the original release; the Japanese one is Eternal Arcadia Legends), as RVZ, ISO, GCM, GCZ, WIA or CISO. The European disc has the text in English, German, French and Spanish (the Language tab in Settings and in the in-game menu, which can restart the game in the new language at once) and runs at 60 Hz like the USA one. The Japanese disc is in Japanese, with its Japanese voices; the port's own menus stay in English. One disc is installed at a time: Change Disc replaces it.

Requirements:

Windows	64-bit Windows 10 or 11
Linux	64-bit (x86_64), with a Vulkan or OpenGL driver
macOS	macOS 13 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer)
Android	7.0+, a 64-bit (arm64-v8a) device

Tested on a Retroid Pocket 5 (Android 13, Snapdragon 865), which runs it at full speed at 60 fps, and on Windows. Slower Android devices may not keep 60 fps (see Slower devices).

Something's Wrong? Quick Fixes

Problem	Try this
macOS: the game opens Apple's Game Overlay and stops responding to the controller	That's the controller's PS button: macOS uses it for its own overlay. Press it again (or Esc) to close the overlay, and use Create for the game's settings menu.
macOS: "can't be opened" / "Apple could not verify" at the first start	The app isn't notarized: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway (once).
Windows / Linux: "Failed to create Vulkan device" or a similar message at start	Your graphics driver can't run Vulkan. The game switches to OpenGL by itself and keeps it (Settings → Display → Graphics backend). If neither starts, install the latest driver for your graphics card.
Android: the game crashes or draws things wrong	Settings → Graphics → Renderer switches between Vulkan and OpenGL ES. On Adreno devices, Settings → Graphics → GPU driver can load another driver (see GPU driver).
Windows / Linux / macOS: "Game files missing" when the game starts	A file of the download (gGEAE8P_recomp.dll, the European gGEAP8P_recomp.dll or the Japanese gGEAJ8P_recomp.dll; .so on Linux; inside the app on macOS) isn't beside the game. Extract the whole zip again and keep its files together; if the file disappears again, your antivirus removed it (allow the folder).
The import refuses your disc	It must be the USA (GEAE8P), European (GEAP8P) or Japanese (GEAJ8P) disc, the original release.
Battle freezes after changing the battle speed	A known issue: change the speed while you choose commands, not while a round plays out.
You want saves from Dolphin, a GameCube or another device	Settings → Saves → Import a save; see Importing a save.
Android: installing an update fails or asks you to uninstall first	It was signed with a different key (a self-built APK). Uninstalling deletes your saves; back them up first with Settings → Saves → Back up saves.
SteamOS / Linux through Steam: the Steam Controller works in menus but not in the game	Steam may have it on its desktop (mouse and keyboard) layout. Hold Start, or pick a gamepad layout in the game's controller settings in Steam.
Still stuck	Open an issue with your platform, device and what happened.

Controls

On Windows, Linux and macOS the keyboard and a controller both work, together or on their own. The game uses whichever controller you press, so a controller plugged in later or a second one needs no setup (started from Steam with Steam Input, Steam's controller works the same way; the Steam Controller shows as "Steam Controller"). On Android the built-in controller, or the first one you connect, is set up for you; without one, the game shows touch controls (the in-game Back menu turns them on and off).

GameCube	Controller (Xbox / PlayStation)	Keyboard
A / B	A / B (Cross / Circle)	Space / Left Shift
X / Y	X / Y (Square / Triangle)	F / R
Z	RB (R1)	Tab
L / R	LT / RT (L2 / R2)	Q / E
Start	Start (Options)	Enter
Control stick	Left stick	W A S D
C-stick	Right stick	I J K L
D-pad	D-pad	Arrow keys

The face buttons go by name, not position: Xbox A is GameCube A. Every button and key can be changed: Settings → Controls in the launcher, or Controls → Button mapping in the in-game menu (on Android too). The controller's A and B can be changed but not cleared, so the menu always works. On Linux the keyboard needs an X11 session or XWayland (what most desktops run games in). On macOS, Control-Command-F switches full screen.

The game's own controls are unchanged; on top of them:

Input	What it does
Esc, the controller's Back / View (Create) / Select, or hold Z and press Start	The settings menu (L / R switch tabs; B, Start or Esc close it). Its Saves tab saves and loads states
Hold Z + C-stick up / down	Tilt the camera
Hold Z + R / L	Zoom out / in
Tap Z in battle	Battle speed: Normal, 2x, 3x, 4x
Hold Z and press X outside battle	Field speed (cutscenes, walking, sailing): Normal, 1.5x, 2x, 3x
L3 or R3 (a stick click)	Invincible on / off (a key for it can be set in Button mapping)

Every setting is also in the launcher's Settings window, with a short description of each. Settings → Controls has the controller, every button and key, the stick dead zone and rumble.

What It Adds

Most of these are set in game from the settings menu (Esc, the controller's Back, or hold Z and press Start), or in the launcher's Settings window.

• Widescreen 16:9 with the HUD at the screen edges, Match screen for any other shape (ultrawide 21:9 up to 32:9, 16:10, a phone's 20:9), or the original 4:3 (identical to the original game). On an ultrawide, a higher Resolution keeps the picture sharp across the width.
• HUD placement on a wide picture: at the screen edges, in a centred 21:9 or 16:9 area (easier to take in on an ultrawide), or the original 4:3 layout in the middle.
• 60 fps by frame interpolation, or the original 30.
• Internal resolution and anti-aliasing.
• Camera control: hold Z and use the C-stick to tilt, and R / L to zoom (towns, dungeons and the world map; on the world map Z + C-stick left / right also turns around the ship).
• Battle speed up to 4x: tap Z during a battle.
• Field speed 1.5x, 2x or 3x for cutscenes, towns, dungeons and sailing: hold Z and press X outside battle. A desktop PC holds 2x everywhere; 3x needs a fast one. Where a device can't keep up, it steps down by itself to what that device holds (a Retroid Pocket 5: about 1.25x-1.5x).
• Options: random encounter rate (off to 4x), Hold B for no random battles, EXP / gold / magic EXP (off to 4x), and Invincible.
• Romhacks that change the game's data, such as Maeson's rebalance (see Romhacks).
• Keyboard and button mapping: play with the keyboard on Windows and Linux, and change any button or key (see Controls). On desktop, any controller you press is picked up without setup.
• Dreamcast music (optional): the Dreamcast version's soundtrack, from your own Dreamcast disc (see Dreamcast music).
• Uncensored (optional): the original Japanese models and textures the Western releases changed (cigars, Bellena's outfit, the tavern sign, the drinks, Gilder's victory pose, Vigoro's outfit), from your own Eternal Arcadia discs (see Uncensored).
• HD textures (optional): a texture pack you downloaded, imported in Settings (see HD textures).
• Save states: five slots, plus an auto-save every 10 minutes on the field (the newest three are kept). Your memory card saves are never touched by a state. Each version of the game keeps its own (the European and Japanese ones in StateSaves/GEAP8P and StateSaves/GEAJ8P), so Continue and the slots only show the disc you play.
• Continue in the launcher starts from your newest save state or memory card save, whichever is newer. A memory card save loads straight into the game, without the intro or title screen.

Importing a save

Settings → Saves → Import a save takes a save you already have and puts it where the game finds it:

• A memory card save from Dolphin or a real GameCube: .gci, .gcs or .sav.
• A whole memory card from Dolphin (MemoryCardA.USA.raw) or a card dump (.gcp): its Skies of Arcadia Legends saves are taken, nothing else.
• A save state from this port, e.g. from your other device. Save states only work in the same version of the port; memory card saves work in every version.
• A backup made with Settings → Saves → Back up saves on Android (.zip): every save in it. Make one before uninstalling the app, which deletes its saves.

A memory card save replaces the file with the same number; the old one is kept beside it as .pre-import.bak. A save has to be from the same version as your disc: USA saves with the USA disc, European saves with the European disc, Japanese saves with the Japanese disc.

Dreamcast music

The Dreamcast release of Skies of Arcadia plays the same soundtrack on the Dreamcast's own sound chip, and it sounds different from the GameCube version. To hear it here:

1. In the launcher, Settings → Dreamcast → Import a Dreamcast disc... and pick your own Skies of Arcadia Dreamcast disc: a GDI (with its track files beside it) or a CHD. On Android, use a CHD. Either disc has most of the music; import both for all of it. Any region works, Eternal Arcadia (the Japanese release) too.
2. Set Music to Dreamcast (launcher Settings → Dreamcast, or the settings menu's Dreamcast tab in game; it switches mid-song).

The port runs the Dreamcast's sound driver on an emulated sound chip and plays the songs from your disc, in place of the GameCube music, with the reverb the Dreamcast plays them with. Two of the streamed songs differ on the Dreamcast, the intro's (disc 1) and a story scene's (disc 2), and play the disc's recordings too (converted once, the first time they're needed, and kept in the music folder); the other two (the title and staff roll, the ending) are the same recordings on both. Intro music (below the import) picks the intro's: the Dreamcast recording is a different cut, so it doesn't line up with this intro's scenes; choose GameCube to keep them in step. Music imported with an earlier version has no streamed songs: import the disc again. The two discs can come from different regions. Where both have a song, the USA or Japanese copy is kept, because the European discs play the story scenes' music slower (made for 50 Hz). Remove deletes the imported music. Only the sound driver and the music are copied from the disc (and, from Eternal Arcadia, the models for Uncensored).

Uncensored

The Western releases changed some of the game's art, and the GameCube versions, Japanese included, kept those changes. Only the Japanese Dreamcast release, Eternal Arcadia, has the originals. With your own Eternal Arcadia discs, Uncensored puts them back:

• Dyne's and Gilder's cigars, and Don's cigar and bottle
• Bellena's outfit in Maramba
• the Sailors' Island tavern sign (a liquor glass, not a chicken leg)
• red-faced drunks and their orange drinks in several towns, and the wine at a party
• the faces and drinks of a few crew members, in town and in battle
• Gilder's victory pose: he smokes instead of holding Willy on his shoulder (one of his three poses, so not after every battle)
• Vigoro's own outfit in Aika's cell at the Grand Fortress (the West gave him a black sleeveless top)

To turn it on:

1. In the launcher, Settings → Dreamcast → Import a Dreamcast disc... and pick Eternal Arcadia disc 1, then disc 2 (a GDI with its track files beside it, or a CHD; on Android, a CHD). Version 1.009, the regular release, is the one checked; the @barai edition (v1.003) isn't.
2. Set Uncensored to On (launcher Settings → Dreamcast, or the settings menu's Dreamcast tab in game). It takes effect from the next area or scene the game loads.

The import copies only the files those models are in, and converts them for the GameCube disc you play (USA, European or Japanese) into DreamcastUncensor in the data folder. If you import another GameCube disc later, its files are converted the next time the game starts. Every file is checked first: a different release of a disc, or a romhack that changed one of those files, leaves that file as it is. Each converted file has exactly the size of the one it replaces, so your save states work with Uncensored on or off. Remove (beside the import) deletes the imported Dreamcast files.

Not included yet: the scenes the Western releases cut or rewrote, such as the drunk sailor in the tavern, Ramirez's blood and the "loqua" text (they need the game's scripts changed).

HD textures

Texture packs made for Dolphin work here, for example Skies of Arcadia HD by Bighead and frozenwings (on the Dolphin forums; it redoes the three leads' faces and costumes, the skies, the menus, text and some effects). None is included: download one yourself, then:

1. In the launcher, Settings → Graphics → Import a texture pack... and pick the .7z or .zip you downloaded (on desktop, Import a folder... takes one you already unpacked).
2. HD textures turns on by itself. Switch it in the launcher or in game from the settings menu's Graphics tab.

Only the pack's textures for this game are copied: its GEA folder (used by both discs) when it has one, leaving out its optional extras (French text, the other flight meter), else every texture in it. Each import adds to what is already imported, so a pack that comes as several archives (the HD Texture Pack 4x Upscaled by Shoopkid comes as six) can be imported one archive at a time, or all at once: pick them all in the Android picker, or put them in one folder or .zip / .7z and import that; a texture in two packs is the last import's. Remove deletes everything imported. On Android, take a pack's PNG download where there is one: most phones can't show BC7 DDS textures (with their own driver; a Turnip driver can), and the app shows how many of them stay as they were. BC1 and BC3 DDS textures work.

Romhacks

A romhack of the game that changes its data plays like the original disc: patch your own disc image with the romhack's patch (DeltaPatcher for an .xdelta, Lunar IPS / Floating IPS for an .ips), then pick the patched image with Select Disc (Android: Change Disc). The launcher shows modified beside the game's name. Enemy and item stats, encounter tables, scripts, text, textures and models all count as data; so do the tables inside main.dol.

A romhack that changes the game's code can't run on this port's recompiled code, and the import says so. One code change is recognised and replaced by an option of the port's own: the hold B for no random encounters patch (cleartonic's, also built into Maeson's rebalance, which therefore plays) becomes Settings → Gameplay → Hold B.

A romhack's save states are kept apart from the original game's (a state brings back the game's item and magic tables, so they mustn't mix): Continue, the menu's slots and the auto-saves only see the disc you play. Its memory card saves sit beside the original game's (the romhack keeps the disc ID), which the romhack's author says is fine.

GPU driver (Android)

On Adreno devices, Settings → Graphics → GPU driver can load a driver package (for example Mesa Turnip) when the device's own driver crashes or draws things wrong. This is unsupported; if the game doesn't close normally with a new driver, the app goes back to the device's own driver by itself, and after the first normal session it asks whether to keep the new one.

Slower devices

If 60 fps can't keep full speed for a while, the settings menu opens once by itself on Frame rate, so you can switch to 30 fps. Nothing changes unless you choose it.

Known Issues

• Changing the battle speed while a round plays out can freeze the battle. Change it while you choose commands instead.
• At a battle speed above Normal, a special attack's sound keeps playing after its animation has ended (#7).
• On Android, battles top out at about 2.5x speed on a Snapdragon 865; 3x and 4x settle at 2x.
• On Android, the field speed tops out at about 1.25x-1.5x on a Snapdragon 865 (1.5x on foot, 1.25x on the world map and in cutscenes).
• An auto-save can cause a brief hitch on Android.

Reporting a Problem

Open an issue and say what happened and where in the game. On Android, open Settings → About → Copy device info and paste it into the report: it names the device, its chip and the graphics driver.

Disc and Storage

Your imported game, saves and settings are kept in:

Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skies of Arcadia Legends
Linux	~/.local/share/Skies of Arcadia Legends
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Skies of Arcadia Legends
Android	The app's own storag