Xbox 360 Recompiler, XenonRecomp, Released
XenonRecomp allows users to turn Xbox360 titles into executables to play on other platforms. The recompiler’s already been used to turn Sonic Unleashed into an (unofficial) PC port, and the doors are open for other delisted, or soon-to-be delisted, 360 titles to get the same treatment.
XenonRecomp works by converting Xbox360 executables (the file that runs the game) into C++ code, which is one of the most common coding languages around. However, users will really need to know their way around compiling code as XenonRecomp requires a lot of set-up and handling.
“The project relies on compiler-specific intrinsics and techniques that may not function correctly on other compilers, and many optimization methods depend on Clang’s code generation,” the creator, hedge-dev, said on the GitHub page. “On Windows, you can use the clang-cl toolset and open the project in Visual Studio’s CMake integration.”
In Layman’s Terms, Please
XenonRecomp functions by attempting to turn the original Xbox360 code into a different type of equally usable code, using tech relevant to x86 platforms–basically, any computer that supports x86 infrastructure, such as many Intel and AMD processors.
This in turn means that the new version of the game should run on a decent range of devices, but there are still considerations to take into account. The question of assets is one of the main ones, as it’s outright illegal for anyone compiling an existing game to use the assets from the original file.
Many modders get around this, as they did with Sonic Unleashed, by importing character models and so on, from their personal copy of a game. It’s still a legal gray area though, so anyone interested in taking a crack at it should proceed with caution.
Goodbye, 360
One of the main reasons tools like XenonRecomp exist is to catalogue and preserve games that have an online shelf-life, or exist for a piece of hardware that’s been depreciated. N64: Recompiled is a particularly famous tool for doing this, and was the inspiration for XenonRecomp.
The Xbox360 was released towards the end of 2005 and during its lifetime saw approximately 4,800 games released, with around half this number being physical releases. However, of the digital releases, some have already disappeared from online stores and the official Xbox360 shop is closing its virtual doors on July 29, 2024. Delisted games currently include such titles as 007: Quantum of Solace, Driver San Francisco and Guardians of Middle-Earth, with around 500 more no longer available online through official channels.
