ZOE-Recompiled

ZOE-Recompiled — Zone of the Enders on PC

By Yz.

A native Windows port of Zone of the Enders (PlayStation 2, USA, SLUS_201.48), made by statically recompiling the game's MIPS code to C++ with PS2Recomp and running it on a PC runtime (OpenGL renderer, compiled vector-unit programs, IOP and sound emulation). The game runs at a steady 60 frames per second (measured at up to three times the PS2's internal resolution), with widescreen, progressive output, save states, remappable keyboard and controller input, DualShock 2 pressure buttons, rumble, and two controllers for Versus mode.

You need your own copy of the game. This repository and its releases contain no game assets: no disc image, no textures, no music, no movies. On first start the program asks for your disc image (.iso), checks that it is the USA Zone of the Enders, and copies the few files it needs out of it. The game's data stays inside the image and is read from there while you play.

Made for a controller. This release is set up and tested for playing with a game controller (DualShock 4, DualSense, Xbox and similar). Keyboard controls exist but are not tuned yet. For now the options menu (Esc) needs the keyboard: Q/E switch sections, arrow keys move and change values, Enter selects, Esc closes.

What works, what does not

• The whole game is playable from the intro to the final area, including in-engine cutscenes, movies with sound, the Hub, and the hidden Versus mode (an option unlocks it without a cleared save).
• Known issues you may meet: the Esc menu and the boot screen do not follow a controller reliably yet (use the keyboard there: Q/E sections, arrows, Enter, Esc; in game controllers work normally), a rare freeze when the warehouse before the second Neith fight loads (a stream chunk goes missing; reload your save), a freeze reported once after the long lift movie to the final area, and small HUD details in the cockpit view.

Requirements

• Windows 10/11, 64-bit, a GPU with OpenGL 3.3 (anything from the last ten years).
• Your own retail USA disc image of Zone of the Enders as an .iso with 2048-byte sectors (the undub release carries the same program and works too). The check expects SLUS_201.48, 3,001,304 bytes, CRC-32 A0A48DD1.
• To build: Visual Studio 2022 (C++ desktop workload, which includes CMake), Python 3, and Git for Windows (the regeneration script runs in Git Bash). The first configure downloads the third-party libraries.

Playing

1. Download the latest zip from the Releases page, unzip it anywhere (not inside Program Files) and run ZOE-Recompiled.exe. The boot screen opens in the game window. If Windows reports MSVCP140.dll missing, install the Visual C++ Redistributable (x64).
2. First start: pick your disc image. The program checks it (five steps shown on screen), copies the program and its IOP modules to %LOCALAPPDATA%\PS2Recomp\SLUS-20148\game\, and remembers the image path.
3. Start plays; Settings opens the same menu as Esc in game; Disc picks another image.

Keys: Enter = Start, arrows/WASD = D-pad, X/Space = Cross, C = Circle, Z = Square, V = Triangle, Q/E = L1/R1, Shift = L2/R2, Tab = Select. Esc opens the menu (display, sound, controls, overlay, extras). F5 saves a state, F8 loads it, F6/F7 change the slot. Controllers (SDL2: DualShock 4, DualSense, Xbox, Switch Pro, …) are picked up live; the first one is player 1 together with the keyboard, the second is player 2 for Versus; Esc > Controls shows who is who and has a Swap players button.

Settings and memory cards live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\PS2Recomp\SLUS-20148\ (settings.ini, game\mc0, states\).

Building it yourself

The recompiled C++ (about 37,000 files, 335 MB) is generated from your own copy of the game's program and is not in the repository. The build is three steps.

1. The translator. Configure PS2Recomp/ with CMake (Visual Studio 2022, Release) and build the target ps2_recomp. The scripts expect it at PS2Recomp/out/build/ps2xRecomp/Release/ps2_recomp.exe (the folder Visual Studio's "Open Folder" uses; set SOURCE_DIR in ZOE-Recompiled/zoe.cfg for another location).

2. The game's code. Put SLUS_201.48 from your disc into ZOE-Recompiled/game/ (7-Zip opens the .iso), open ZOE-Recompiled/work/SLUS_201.48.toml and set the three paths at the top (input = that ELF, output = .../ZOE-Recompiled/work/output, ghidra_output = .../ZOE-Recompiled/work/SLUS_201.48_map.csv; absolute paths for now), then in Git Bash:

   bash work/regen.sh -g zoe MAIN
   

   This runs the translator with the shipped function map (SLUS_201.48_map.csv) and the reviewed configuration (the recompile list in the TOML, the stand-in review stubs_reviewed.csv) and writes about 37,000 files in two to three minutes. No Ghidra needed.

3. The runner. In PowerShell, from the repository root:

   .\build.ps1 -Game zoe
   

   The first build compiles all generated files (35-40 minutes); later builds take about 2½ minutes. The script checks the result (every function present, no unresolved symbols, the stand-in review) and prints BUILD OK. The exe is ZOE-Recompiled/build/ps2xRuntime/Release/ps2EntryRunner.exe; ZOE-Recompiled/play.bat runs a copy of it with the development settings and logs.

Paths in zoe.cfg are relative to that file; only CD_IMAGE (your disc, used by play.bat) is yours to set.

How it is put together

Folder	What
PS2Recomp/	the translator, the runtime (GS renderer, VU engines, scheduler, save states, front-end, menu), the IOP and sound emulation; a modified copy of ran-j/PS2Recomp (MODIFIED.md)
ZOE-Recompiled/	everything specific to this game: overrides and compiled VU programs in src/, the translator configuration and reviewed stand-in list in work/, test routes, and the documentation in docs/
build.ps1, games/, tools/, work/	the per-game build script, its config loaders, shared Python tools (stub review, name matching, profiling, PINE), and the shared pipeline scripts

More detail: building and debug switches, ZOE's internals and the glossary.

Credits and licence

• ZOE-Recompiled: Yz. PS2Recomp/ is a modified copy of PS2Recomp kept in this repository; what changed and from which upstream commit: PS2Recomp/MODIFIED.md.

• PS2Recomp by ran-j and contributors: the translator and runtime this port is built on.

• The SPU2 sound core in PS2Recomp/ps2xIOP/src/emulator/spu2/pcsx2/ is PCSX2's, copied unmodified from PCSX2 at commit 1d102db (GPL-3.0+; provenance and file list in that folder's README). PCSX2 was also the behaviour reference throughout.

• Third-party libraries fetched at build time: raylib, SDL2, Dear ImGui (with rlImGui), fmt, toml11, nlohmann/json, ELFIO, rabbitizer, libdwarf, FFmpeg.

• Zone of the Enders is © Konami. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Konami.

Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3 (see LICENSE).

Support

ZOE-Recompiled is free and stays free. If you enjoy it and want to support more work like this, there is a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/yz_games. It helps with what comes next: controller support in the menus and the remaining freezes. Bug reports on the Issues page help just as much.