ApeEscapeRecomp

This recompilation is a byproduct of developing psxrecomp — the games are the proving ground, the framework is the goal. These are in-development previews, not finished ports — expect rough edges, and depth will keep landing over months, not days. My time for any one title is limited, so I ask for your patience. Contributions are welcome — testing, issues, and PRs to the game or framework all help and will accelerate this game's polish. More on the why at: Recomp + AI: 5 Months Later »

Ape Escape (USA, SCUS-94423) statically recompiled to a native PC executable with PSXRecomp — the same framework behind TombaRecomp and MegaManX6Recomp.

Known issues live in ISSUES.md.

What This Is

This repository contains the game-specific configuration, seeds, tools, and build glue for running Ape Escape on the PSXRecomp framework. The game's MIPS code is machine-translated ("recompiled") ahead of time into native C, then compiled into a real Windows program that runs the game's own logic on a faithful simulation of the PS1 hardware (GPU, SPU, GTE, memory cards) plus the real, recompiled PS1 BIOS — no high-level emulation shims.

It does not contain the Ape Escape disc image, a retail PS1 BIOS, generated game code, or any decompiled game C. Release builds include the MIT-licensed OpenBIOS from PCSX-Redux; game data and an optional retail BIOS come from your own legally obtained assets.

Important files:

• game.toml: runtime / recompiler / video / controller / widescreen config.
• mods/preloaded/: built-in, default-off mod packages shown by the launcher.
• seeds/: Ghidra-derived function starts and game-specific seed data.
• tools/regen.ps1: regenerates the recompiled C output.
• tools/package_release.ps1: builds the redistributable release zip.
• psxrecomp-v4/: framework submodule commit this project is known-good against.
• ISSUES.md: game-specific issue log.
• DISC.md: source-disc identity and verification hashes.

Status

Playable preview — v0.2.1. Ape Escape boots from the PS1 BIOS and plays — through the intro, the title, and into gameplay, with dual-analog controller input including L3/R3 stick clicks (added in v0.0.3), a controls fix so the analog stick no longer spins the camera (v0.0.5), and working memory-card save/load (fixed in v0.0.2). It has not yet been verified all the way to the end, so treat it as a very playable preview rather than a certified full playthrough.

Area	State
Boot (real PS1 BIOS)	✅ Boots to intro / title / gameplay
Rendering	✅ OpenGL (default) and Software backends
Controller	✅ DualShock analog (auto-bound; the net/movement scheme is dual-stick)
Memory cards	✅ Standard PS1 .mcd save/load
Save states / rewind	✅ Launcher-backed hotkeys and runtime state capture
FMV / audio	✅ MDEC video + XA/SPU audio (auto-skip FMV optional)
Mods	✅ Built-in catalog with Ape-specific and framework-owned enhancements
Widescreen 16:9 / 21:9 / Adaptive	✅ Opt-in 16:9, 21:9, and live-window adaptive modes
Temporal frame blending	✅ Opt-in display / 120 / 144 / 165 presents-per-second modes
Full playthrough	⚠️ Not yet verified end-to-end

Built-in mods

The launcher's Mods page includes four Ape-specific bundled enhancements:

• Ape Escape Widescreen moves the existing game-specific enhancement out of generic Video settings. Its picker offers 16:9, 21:9, and Adaptive (live window aspect from 4:3 through 21:9).
• Ape Escape Frame Smoothing crossfades completed game frames at the display refresh or a fixed 120, 144, or 165 presents/s. It leaves the executable, simulation, timers, and audio at stock cadence. This is temporal blending, not motion-vector frame generation, so it cannot create true in-between object positions. All OpenGL presentation remains on the renderer's original thread and context.
• Skip FMVs ends movies through the game's normal completion path.
• Quick Gadget Select, contributed by mthsk, recreates the later Ape Escape quick gadget switching flow for the face-button gadget menu.

The widescreen mod uses Ape Escape's stable GTE projection-and-stretch path for a wider 3D field of view. HUD/UI proportion correction is enabled for its front ordering-table layer; remaining draw-distance and scene-culling limits are tracked in ISSUES.md. With the mod disabled, 4:3 presentation is unchanged.

The launcher's Video page exposes Supersampling (1x-4x), Antialiasing, and Texture filtering. On OpenGL, supersampling is true ordered-grid SSAA: geometry and shading are rasterized at a higher internal resolution and resolved to the window, while native PSX VRAM remains the authoritative game-visible buffer. Antialiasing controls the linear SSAA resolve and final presentation filtering; it is not RT64-style MSAA. Try 2x first on a discrete GPU, keep texture filtering at Nearest for the authored PSX look, and return to 1x if a demanding scene misses full speed.

Playing

1. Run ApeEscapeRecomp.exe. A launcher window opens.
2. OpenBIOS is selected automatically. Optionally select your legally obtained SCPH1001.BIN in the BIOS row.
3. Set the game disc (a legally obtained Ape Escape (USA, SCUS-94423) image — .cue+.bin, pick the .cue). Do not convert to a 2048-byte "cooked" .iso; that discards the XA sectors used for FMV/audio.
4. Adjust display options and select any features on the Mods page, then press Launch.

Ape Escape is a dual-analog title — the right stick swings the catch net — so an analog controller is strongly recommended. Any plugged pad is auto-bound and presented to the game as a DualShock; a keyboard folds onto the analog stick. Save states and rewind are exposed through launcher hotkeys; by default F7 opens the save-state menu and F8 rewinds. The disc path, optional retail BIOS choice, and options are saved next to the exe. Clear the BIOS row to return to OpenBIOS.

Development Rules

• Use the real recompiled BIOS and real hardware simulation in PSXRecomp.
• No HLE BIOS shims, no stubs, no fake events, no hand-edited generated files.
• Framework changes go in mstan/psxrecomp, not here.
• Game binaries, generated code, memory cards, Ghidra databases, and build outputs stay local.
• See CLAUDE.md for project-specific rules.

License

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0. See LICENSE.

Ape Escape is copyright Sony Computer Entertainment / SIE. This repository contains none of the game's original binaries or assets. Release packages include PCSX-Redux OpenBIOS under the MIT notice in bios/OpenBIOS.LICENSE; they contain no retail BIOS, game assets, or disc data. The release executable contains a statically recompiled (machine-translated) build of the game's code.

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