Syphon Filter PC

Syphon Filter PC brings Syphon Filter to PC.

README

Syphon Filter PC

An unofficial Windows PC runtime for the NTSC-U 1.1 release of Syphon Filter (SCUS-94240). The project combines the original PlayStation gameplay code with a native Windows host for rendering, input, menus, audio and FMV playback.

This repository does not contain the game or a disc image. A legally obtained BIN/CUE image of the supported release is required. The project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Public test

Download the latest Windows x64 build from GitHub Releases. Release-specific changes and checksums are published with each release. See CHANGELOG.md for the aggregate history.

Quick start

  1. Download SyphonFilterPC-<version>-win64.zip from the release page.

  2. Verify its SHA-256 checksum:

    $Version = '<version>'
Get-FileHash ".\SyphonFilterPC-$Version-win64.zip" -Algorithm SHA256

  3. Extract the ZIP into a new folder.

  4. Run syphon_filter.exe.

  5. On Launch, select Browse and choose the CUE file for Syphon Filter USA v1.1. Review Graphics and Controls, then select Play.

The single-window launcher also includes the Dossiers gallery. Its complete interface is available in English and Russian.

Keep every BIN file next to its CUE file and do not rename the files referenced by the CUE sheet. The launcher remembers the selected image but never copies it into the game directory.

Supported game image

Only this revision is supported:

FieldRequired value
RegionUSA / NTSC-U
SerialSCUS-94240
Revisionv1.1
FormatBIN/CUE
PS-X EXE SHA-256bac292061ad5bc718ce137ef5b43d3d7e9b1b65248fb0d52229f328ccfe4ab4e

The runtime validates the executable from the selected image. Other regions, revisions, repacks and modified images are not expected to work.

Runtime features

  • Original R3000A mission/gameplay execution with native Windows presentation.
  • Complete 20-mission campaign flow, checkpoint restore and persistent mission unlock progress.
  • Modular single-window launcher with Launch, Graphics, Controls and Dossiers tabs. The complete launcher UI is available in English and Russian and keeps all settings staged until Play.
  • Configurable internal resolution, aspect mode, fullscreen, frame pacing, texture filtering, SMAA/MSAA and optional volumetric particle effects.
  • Optional Russian text pack for all 20 missions, menus, briefings, weapon descriptions and baked map labels, with a unified Industry Bold 2x pixel atlas matching the original Industria-style interface for Latin and Cyrillic text. Speech, music and FMV remain sourced from the selected USA v1.1 image and are never replaced.
  • Remappable keyboard/mouse controls and retail-style gamepad controls.
  • Native OpenAL presentation of game audio and FFmpeg-backed PS1 STR playback.
  • High-resolution, perspective-correct and Z-buffered scene rendering with PGXP geometry support.
  • Dynamic scene lighting layered over the authored PS1 vertex colours: intact mission lamps, fire, alternating police lights, muzzle flashes, explosions and the retail flashlight illuminate terrain, props and actors with bounded falloff and surface-aware response. Gabe, allies and enemies cast posed, light-directed shadows onto authored floors, slopes and moving lifts.
  • Restored PS1-style HUD, inventory, objectives, parameters, weapons and map pages, including current-position and active-objective indicators.
  • Correct scene occlusion for pickups, grenade sprites and transient effects.
  • Weapon muzzle flashes for player and enemy weapons, with first-person behavior matching the current camera mode.
  • Restored glass/window destruction shards and restart-safe destructible state.
  • Integrated Dossiers tab with four sharpened bonus pages.

The implementation is still a public test. Gameplay remains driven by the guest runtime; rendering, platform integration and selected presentation systems are native. Bug reports should include the mission number, reproduction steps, GPU, screenshot and the generated log, but never a BIN/CUE image.

User data and original cheats

Saves and launcher settings are stored outside the installation directory:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\SyphonFilterPC

The release archive contains no saves, settings or mission unlocks. Mission selection normally follows campaign progress. The original PS1 button cheats are available in their original pause-menu contexts and their current state is shown under Options > Cheats. Creating an empty file named syphon_filter_cheats beside syphon_filter.exe enables every persistent cheat and unlocks the complete in-game mission list automatically. The launcher itself intentionally contains no mission or cheat controls; the marker is excluded from release artifacts.

Controls

The Controls tab exposes all native keyboard, mouse and controller actions, controller backend selection, stick layout and vibration. Remapped bindings are saved in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SyphonFilterPC\launcher.ini. Defaults and rebinding are documented in docs/CONTROLS.md.

Useful window controls:

  • F11 or Alt+Enter: toggle borderless fullscreen.
  • Escape or Enter: open the in-game menu.
  • C, X or Enter: confirm in menus.
  • Z, V or Space: back/cancel in menus.
  • C, X, Enter, V, Z or Space: skip an FMV.

Build from source

PsyCross is vendored under external/PsyCross because this port contains renderer, PGXP, filtering, framebuffer and platform changes that are required by the executable. A separate submodule checkout is not needed.

Prerequisites:

  • Windows 10/11 x64.
  • CMake 3.24 or newer.
  • Visual Studio with the Desktop development with C++ workload.
  • vcpkg with VCPKG_ROOT pointing to its installation directory.
  • Git for cloning the repository.

Configure and build the playable release target:

git clone https://github.com/Madxbio97/SF-pc-port.git
Set-Location SF-pc-port
$env:VCPKG_ROOT = 'D:/path/to/vcpkg'
cmake --preset windows-psycross
cmake --build --preset windows-psycross-app-release

The executable is written to build/windows-psycross/Release/syphon_filter.exe. No original game data is needed to compile, but a supported BIN/CUE image is needed to run the campaign.

For the core libraries and complete validation suite:

cmake --preset windows-msvc
cmake --build --preset windows-release
ctest --preset windows-release

cmake --build --preset windows-psycross-release
ctest --preset windows-psycross-release

The Windows preset currently targets the Visual Studio generator recorded in CMakePresets.json. See docs/BUILDING.md for toolchain overrides, ROM-gated probes and release packaging.

Command-line launch

The launcher is the normal entry point. These equivalent forms skip image selection only when a CUE is supplied:

.\build\windows-psycross\Release\syphon_filter.exe --game 'D:/Games/Syphon Filter (USA) (v1.1).cue'
.\build\windows-psycross\Release\syphon_filter.exe 'D:/Games/Syphon Filter (USA) (v1.1).cue'

Selected options can also be specified directly:

--no-launcher
--resolution=WIDTHxHEIGHT
--fullscreen
--msaa=0|2|4|8
--bilinear | --nearest
--trilinear | --no-trilinear
--anisotropic | --no-anisotropic
--smaa | --no-smaa
--aspect-adaptive | --aspect-4-3
--volumetric-effects | --no-volumetric-effects
--vsync | --no-vsync
--fps-limit=0|20..1000
--language=en | --language=ru

--smaa and --msaa=N select alternative antialiasing paths; the last one specified wins.

Development modes:

  • --platform-test <game.cue>: empty platform smoke test.
  • --title-test <game.cue>: connected title/campaign compatibility alias.
  • --scene-test <game.cue> --mission=N --no-launcher: direct mission start, where N is 1..20.

Repository layout

PathPurpose
apps/Executables, launcher and diagnostic probes
assets/Port-owned launcher and DOSSIERS presentation assets
external/PsyCross/Vendored and modified native PS1 compatibility backend
include/sf/, src/Runtime, emulation, game and platform implementation
tests/Deterministic unit/integration tests
tools/Release packaging, generated assets and reverse-engineering helpers
docs/Architecture, build, controls, milestones and release documentation

Documentation

License

Project-owned source code is available under the MIT License. Vendored and dynamically linked dependencies retain their own licenses; see THIRD_PARTY.md and the corresponding files in each component. No rights to Syphon Filter, its game data, characters, artwork or trademarks are granted by this repository.