Here Comes The Pain Recomp

WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain — PC recompilation (test build)

A static recompilation of WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain (PlayStation 2, NTSC-U, SLUS-20787) into a native Windows program. The game's MIPS code is translated to C++ with PS2Recomp and compiled on your PC. The PS2 graphics chip is drawn on the GPU by a native Direct3D 11 renderer, and the IOP (sound / disc processor) runs the game's own IRX modules.

HCTP-specific code and configuration live in the HCTP-named directories in this repository.

Download and play

Get HCTP-Recompiled-Windows.zip from the latest release, unzip it to a short path (e.g. C:\Games\HCTP) and open HCTP Recompiled Settings.exe. It asks for your own USA disc (.iso / .chd or its files), builds the game on your PC (30-90 minutes the first time), then gives you PLAY, settings and updates. Optional content and commentary packs are shared on Discord.

No game files or game code are in this repository. You need your own copy of the game; everything generated from it (the recompiled C++ in PS2Recomp/ps2xRuntime/src/runner/ and generated/) stays on your PC and is never committed.

Current status (October 2026)

Working in the native Windows build:

• The recompiled game runs natively on Windows. The game code is recompiled C++, the graphics path is a native Direct3D 11 renderer (1-6x the PS2's resolution), and the audio path runs through the native runtime/IOP integration rather than PCSX2.
• Native video playback works for the game's Sofdec movies, with the game's ADX audio path available alongside the native music option.
• Native game audio works across music, commentary, crowd audio, menu sound effects, and in-match sound effects.
• Gameplay runs at 60 FPS in matches, menus and full-arena entrances on the tested configuration (D3D11 native renderer, RTX 3060).
• Exhibition and Season work. Season has not been tested yet with the restored cut wrestlers or NPCs.
• Boot, loading, menus, character selection, Create-a-Moveset, Season mode, cutscenes, locker-room/backstage scenes, entrances, exhibition matches, and attract-mode demonstrations are functional.
• Commentary is playable in matches, including the HCTP commentary restoration path. The public setup plan supports HCTP, Shut Your Mouth, SmackDown vs. Raw, and the public beta as the core sources, with later games as optional supplements.
• Memory-card screens and save/load paths work in the native test path. PC builds use a user-data save location rather than requiring a PCSX2 memory-card image.
• The release zip holds the launcher, this source and a portable Python; the game is built from your disc on your PC. Copyrighted game files and commentary source audio are never redistributed.
• PPV MODE and ONLINE are on the main menu but do not work yet: ONLINE is only a proof of concept for now, and PPV MODE is in active development and does not function correctly yet.
• PS2 modders: see docs/COMMENTARY_PS2_PORTING.md for the documented pack format, hook addresses, and the remaining ELF code-cave work needed for original-hardware commentary.

Fixed since the first release (Oct 13-14):

• Garbled in-match HUD / season dialogue text (PSMT4HH/PSMT8H upload sizes)
• Crowd piled in the ring, missing skin gloss, stray grey slabs (libvu0 stubs)
• Runaway VU1 programs / garbage polygons (JR/JALR branch fix); all 20 VU1 programs now compiled
• Exhibition match load softlock (IOP heap), whole-screen shimmy, 5-9 s in-match freezes, in-match hit sounds
• Frame rate: demo match ~10 fps -> 32-44 (VU1 throughput mode, on by default; HCTP_VU1_FAST=0 = exact)
• Optional native music (developer/runs/run_hctp_native_audio.bat, HCTP_NATIVE_ADX=1): ADX streams decoded on the PC
• Right-channel audio timing and weak stereo separation
• Wrestler shadow artifacts / visible triangles
• Missing skin gloss, stray grey slabs, and crowd geometry regressions
• Runaway VU1 programs, garbage polygons, and incomplete VU1 program coverage
• Exhibition loading softlocks, long in-match freezes, and missing in-match hit sounds

Fixed Oct 26:

• Wrestler / referee shake (runtime dispatcher dropped the last bones of the skeleton copy after a checkpoint)
• Entrance frame-rate drops (per-read GPU depth stalls in the flare visibility test)
• Holes in the entrance nameplate (depth readback overwrote the texture stored in the Z buffer's top byte)

Fixed Oct 26-27:

• Rope shadows sitting too high
• Hulk Hogan's modern entrance with his shirt tear (restored content)
• Pyro slowdowns and wrong spark sprites (HBK, Goldberg, Triple H), HBK's head particles
• THQ logo hang, CAW forehead band, entrance-load hang

Known limitations:

• HBK's entrance slows down when he does his pyro in the ring
• Leaving the attract-mode demo with Start can leave a black screen (title movie does not restart)
• Random crashes or hangs are possible in parts we haven't tested yet
• Commentary is mostly tested but not completely

Near-term plan: roster expansion (new wrestler slots) over the following weeks, finished together with Nero's 3X mod; a fuller launcher with a mod manager, along the lines of the SvR 2011 recomp's; then PPV mode and online.

Found a bug? Write down exactly what you did and what happened, and send it to jrich102948@gmail.com, Discord or GitHub Issues.

Layout

Path	What
PS2Recomp/	submodule: the recompiler + runtime, branch hctp (EE scheduler, VU1, GS front-end, IOP, SIF, libsdr ...)
overrides_hctp/	HCTP-specific runtime overrides (heap, CD search, movie hooks, native libsdr hookup, profiler)
config_hctp/	recompiler configuration for SLUS_207.87 (function names / stub lists only)
tools/	vu1_recomp.py (VU1 microcode -> C++), autotest.ps1 (automated boot + attract-demo test with screenshots and audio dump), audio_check.py (stereo offset / click analysis)
run_hctp.bat	normal HCTP developer runner
developer/runs/	optional cycle-exact, field-inversion, native-audio, and slow-VU1 diagnostic runners

Building

Players: use the release zip above. Developers - toolchain: Visual Studio 2022+/MSVC x64, CMake, Ninja, Python, a Direct3D 11 GPU:

1. Put your own unmodified SLUS_207.87 and the disc files in a folder.
2. Recompile it with PS2Recomp using config_hctp/hctp.toml (generates the runner C++ locally).
3. HCTP_VU1_RANGES="0x44c6e4:0x44eb70,0x4526a4:0x452d08" python -I tools/vu1_recomp.py SLUS_207.87 generated/vu1_compiled.cpp
4. build-fast.bat (quick, for development) or build-runtime.bat (fully optimised).
5. Run from the game folder: ps2EntryRunner.exe SLUS_207.87 (see run_hctp.bat for useful environment variables).

Credits

• ran-j/PS2Recomp — the recompiler and runtime this is built on
• upstream PS2Recomp components — recompiler, runtime, IOP/SIF support, and related tooling
• paraLLEl-GS — GS on Vulkan (the earlier renderer; reference)
• PCSX2 — hardware behaviour reference
• BT3-Recomp, Ace Combat 5 static recompilation, NBA Street V3 recomp — techniques and references

License

GPL-3.0, as the base project (see LICENSE and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt). WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain is (c) its owners; this project contains none of its files or code.