Files
goldeneye-pc-port/docs/building.md
T
James Dansereau 81f02c7d3a docs: honesty pass on status + platform claims
- README: "not playable yet" callout under the screenshots (no audio,
  broken front-end models/text, expect crashes past the level intro).
- README/building.md/ci.yml: platform testing is Windows-only. The Linux
  build is provided but has had zero functional testing at runtime; the
  CI job is a CMake-configure smoke test, not a Linux-support claim.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01UpTM1AcBRJuTetoZNcCD5V
2026-09-01 19:43:40 -04:00

3.5 KiB

Building the PC port

Building has two stages:

  1. Extract assets from your ROM — a one-time step that uses the decompilation's own toolchain to pull levels, models, textures, fonts and music out of your ROM into assets/.
  2. Build the port — a CMake build that compiles the game sources plus the port/ layer into a native executable.

You need a GoldenEye 007 N64 ROM you legally own (.z64, big-endian). See the Requirements table in the README for accepted versions and hashes.


1. Dependencies

Port build

Only the Windows (MSYS2 MINGW64) path is tested. The Debian/Ubuntu and macOS columns below are best-effort guidance — the port has never been built or run on Linux or macOS. Expect to fix build breaks yourself on those platforms.

Need Windows (MSYS2 MINGW64) Debian/Ubuntu macOS (Homebrew)
toolchain mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain build-essential Xcode CLT / gcc
CMake mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake cmake cmake
SDL2 mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2 libsdl2-dev sdl2
zlib mingw-w64-x86_64-zlib zlib1g-dev zlib
OpenGL (in the toolchain) libgl1-mesa-dev (system)
Python 3 mingw-w64-x86_64-python python3 python3

Asset extraction (decompilation toolchain)

The extraction scripts need binutils-mips-linux-gnu (or an equivalent MIPS binutils), make, git, python3, and qemu-irix for the IRIX IDO compiler. On Windows this is easiest under WSL or a Linux VM. Full details and alternatives (Docker, the recompiled IDO toolchain) are in SetupGuide.md.


2. Extract assets

Put your US ROM at the repository root as baserom.u.z64 (this name is required by the extraction scripts; it is git-ignored and never committed), then:

./scripts/extract_baserom.u.sh

For PAL or JP, additionally place baserom.e.z64 / baserom.j.z64 at the root and run:

./scripts/extract_baserom.u.sh && ./scripts/extract_diff.e.sh   # PAL
./scripts/extract_baserom.u.sh && ./scripts/extract_diff.j.sh   # JP

(US extraction is a prerequisite for the others.)

This populates assets/ with the generated .bin blobs the build needs. See SetupGuide.md for the in-depth build/asset pipeline.


3. Build

./build-pc.sh ntsc-final        # or: pal-final / jpn-final

which is equivalent to:

cmake -S . -B build-pc -DROMID=ntsc-final
cmake --build build-pc -j

For PAL/JP you must first generate that region's ROM-asset symbol file (the US one is committed):

python3 scripts/gen_romassets.py e     # PAL   -> port/src/romassets_e.s
python3 scripts/gen_romassets.py j     # JP    -> port/src/romassets_j.s

The executable lands at build-pc/ge007.x86_64 (.exe on Windows). PAL/JP builds are named ge007.pal-final.x86_64 / ge007.jpn-final.x86_64.


4. Run

mkdir -p data
cp /path/to/your/rom.z64 data/ge007.ntsc-final.z64
./build-pc/ge007.x86_64          # run from the repo root

The port maps the ROM at the N64 cart address at runtime, so the ROM file itself is still required to run — not just to build. ge007.ini is written next to the working directory on first launch.

Useful flags / env

-level_NN boot straight into a solo level (e.g. -level_09 = Bunker 1)
GE_PCDUMP="first-last:step" dump rendered frames as PPM (debugging)

More diagnostic switches are catalogued in dev/GE-ENV-PROBES.md.