Burnout 3: Takedown — static recompilation

A static recompilation of the Xbox version of Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion, 2004) into a native Windows executable. The game's own x86 code is lifted to C by the xboxrecomp toolkit. It boots through its real entry point and runs its own menus, races and renderer on the toolkit's Xbox runtime. No game logic or screen is hand-written.

Generated source is not distributed. The repository holds the build glue, the per-title data and the docs. You supply your own disc image; the recompiler runs on your machine and writes the C into a gitignored folder.

Two-player split-screen, recorded headless with --record-style per-flip frames and scripted pads.

Status

Alpha. Every game mode boots, renders and plays, one or two players, driven by an Xbox/XInput pad. It is not yet fun to play: the NV2A GPU is emulated in software, so menus run at about 14 fps and races at 2–4 fps on a 12-core machine. There is no save profile yet, so every launch replays the tutorial videos.

Known gaps: vertical streaks over the menu backdrop movie, seams in the sky dome, bump-mapped (dot-product) texture stages read as zero, and no profile saving. ROADMAP.md has the list; docs/boot.md has what it took to get here, fix by fix.

This is one title in the xboxrecomp family and follows its house style: the toolkit carries everything that isn't specific to Burnout 3, and this repo carries only what is.

Screenshots

More in docs/screenshots.

Getting Started

You need:

• Windows 10 or 11, x64, with about 12 GB free
• your own Burnout 3: Takedown disc image (.iso)
• an Xbox or XInput controller (two for split-screen); there is no keyboard mapping

Quick start

1. Download this repository (green Code button, Download ZIP) and unzip it somewhere with space, for example C:\recomp\burnout3.

2. Double-click Setup.cmd.

   It checks for Python 3.10+, the capstone package, Git, CMake and the Visual Studio 2022 C++ build tools, and asks before installing any that are missing (with winget), saying what each is and how big. It fetches the xboxrecomp toolkit beside the repo folder, then asks for your .iso (it looks next to the repo and in Downloads first). After that it unpacks the disc, regenerates the C and builds.

   Each step is skipped once done, so after a failure just run it again. What went wrong goes in setup.log, and the window says what to do next.

3. Double-click Play Burnout 3.cmd, which the setup leaves in the repo folder.

The first build takes 20–40 minutes. Nothing from the game is downloaded or bundled: the only game data used is your disc image.

Step by step

The same steps as Setup.cmd, by hand. Commands are for PowerShell, except where the step says Git Bash.

1. Install the prerequisites.

   Tool	Version	Get it
   Python	3.10 or newer, with the py launcher	winget install -e --id Python.Python.3.12
   capstone	5.x	py -3 -m pip install --user capstone
   Git for Windows	any recent, which includes Git Bash	winget install -e --id Git.Git
   CMake	3.20 or newer	winget install -e --id Kitware.CMake
   Visual Studio 2022	Build Tools with Desktop development with C++	winget install -e --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools
   ffmpeg	optional, for --record	winget install -e --id Gyan.FFmpeg

   Open a new terminal afterwards so PATH picks them up. If python opens the Microsoft Store, that's the Store alias; use py -3 as below, or turn the alias off under Settings → Apps → Advanced app settings → App execution aliases.

   > py -3 --version
   Python 3.12.10
   > cmake --version
   cmake version 3.31.6
   

2. Put the repo and the toolkit side by side. The build looks for the toolkit at ..\xboxrecomp.

   git clone https://github.com/sp00nznet/burnout3
   git clone https://github.com/sp00nznet/xboxrecomp
   

   The toolkit's main has everything Burnout 3 needs (xboxrecomp #138-#156).

3. Unpack your disc image into burnout3\Burnout 3 Takedown\, using the toolkit's XDVDFS reader:

   cd xboxrecomp
   py -3 -m tools.xiso unpack "D:\isos\Burnout 3 - Takedown (USA).iso" -o "..\burnout3\Burnout 3 Takedown"
   cd ..\burnout3
   

   You should end up with Burnout 3 Takedown\default.xbe next to Data\, Tracks\, ovid\ and the rest (about 2.4 GB).

4. Regenerate the C (Git Bash, from the burnout3 folder):

   $ ./regen.sh --disasm
   ==> xbe_parser
   ==> disasm
   ==> func_id
   ==> abi_analysis
   ==> recomp
   ==> done. Now: cmake --build build-xr --config Release
   

   This writes src/game/recomp/gen/, about 29 files, all gitignored.

5. Build (PowerShell or Git Bash):

   cmake -S . -B build-xr -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64
   cmake --build build-xr --config Release --parallel 2
   

   It ends with burnout3.vcxproj -> ...\burnout3\bin\burnout3.exe. --parallel 2 together with the default /MP (half your cores) keeps the machine usable while it compiles. Each generated file is large at /O2.

6. Run it from the repo folder, so it finds Burnout 3 Takedown\ and saves\:

   .\bin\burnout3.exe
   

   A window opens titled Burnout 3: Takedown | FPS: n | draws: n, and you see the EA and Criterion intros, then "Press START".

Usual trip-ups: regen.sh needs Git Bash, not WSL's bash. A tool installed a moment ago isn't found until you open a new window. The build needs the 64-bit generator (-A x64).

Usage

bin\burnout3.exe [--headless] [--record out.mp4] [--seconds N] [path\to\default.xbe]

Scripted input, for recording or testing without a pad in hand:

set RECOMP_PAD_SCRIPT=20000:start:1200,30000:a:400,90000:rt:60000,90000:p2-rt:60000
bin\burnout3.exe --headless --record race.mp4 --seconds 900

Each entry is <ms>:<button>[+<button>][:<hold ms>], timed from when the game first reads the pad, and a p2- prefix sends it to the second pad. RECOMP_PAD_LIVE=pad.txt instead reads steps appended to a file while the game runs. docs/running.md lists the buttons, the environment variables and the capture tools.

The emulated hard disk lives in saves\. Delete it to see the first-boot flow (profile creation) again.

Building from source

regen.sh runs the toolkit's pipeline on default.xbe. The stages are XBE parser, disassembler, library-function identification, ABI analysis and the recompiler. CMake then builds the generated C against the xboxrecomp runtime. That runtime supplies the Xbox kernel, a software NV2A GPU, the MCPX audio processor, a USB OHCI host with emulated pads, and the XMV movie player. See docs/architecture.md for which part owns what.

The C is regenerated, not edited. If the output is wrong, the fix goes in the toolkit's recompiler or in this repo's per-title data (config/seed_functions.json, src/game/main.c), never by hand in gen/.

Contributors

See CONTRIBUTORS.md. Contributions are welcome; read CONTRIBUTING.md first, especially Where your code comes from.

License

MIT, see LICENSE. This covers the code in this repository only. Burnout 3: Takedown and its assets belong to their owners and are not included.