ReaperOfVeriod 040386c0fb Volumes: the reference that did not generalise
Last commit said what would settle the volume candidate and implied one of those
was available. They are not. Recording the failure rather than moving on quietly.

Level 0's data.bin -- the level's file descriptor -- contains the value 799204
exactly once, at 0xab6360, and 799204 is byte-for-byte the offset of the 20-record
144-byte candidate table. A single 4-byte match in 13.3 MB has a chance
expectation of ~0.003, so it was worth checking rather than assuming.

It does not hold up. Each level's own best 144-byte table, searched in that same
level's own data.bin:

    level  candidate   records   refs (chance ~0.0035)
      0    1,810,724      32      0
      1    1,884,884     386      0
      2    2,066,804     224      0
      3    2,438,228     365      0
      4    2,677,780     114      0
      5    1,255,780      14      0
      6    2,496,020     115      0
      7    2,062,072     311      0

None. The level 0 hit at 0xab6360 also sits among high-entropy neighbours, and
level 0's own BEST table -- a different offset, 32 records, not the 20-record one
-- is not referenced either. So the hit does not generalise and is most likely
coincidence.

This retracts what the previous commit implied. Nothing links a 144-byte float
table to volumes: the table is reached by walking structure rather than by an
explicit pointer, so the discriminator I named does not exist, and the candidate
stands exactly where it did.

Recording the three routes that would actually settle it, all of them
unavailable: the game's own volume code (same dead end as the collision anchor
-- a GP-relative string search returns nothing); ground truth, such as a count of
level 0's trigger volumes from a map; or a correlation with a named class, since
gameplay.bin resolves ids through its dispatch records -- but no class name
containing "volume" exists on the disc, which is exactly why this is unavailable.

No test added, because there is no solid claim here to assert. 240 tests,
unchanged.
2026-10-13 07:35:58 +02:00
2026-10-11 20:59:19 +02:00
2026-10-11 20:59:19 +02:00

Going Commando

A native PC reimplementation of Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PlayStation 2, 2003), written in Rust.

The game is reimplemented, not emulated. There is no MIPS interpreter here and no CPU emulator: the systems are ported to Rust so they run as ordinary native code.

Status: initial scaffold. The disc is identified and verified, the workspace builds, and nothing else is implemented yet. See docs/roadmap.md for where things stand and what comes next.

The target

Game Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
Platform PlayStation 2
Disc SCUS_972.68 v1.01, USA Black Label
Video NTSC, 60 Hz
Boot ELF SHA-1 bacda860cbd6723142e86db56f197e47e728970f

Verified against a real disc — see docs/disc-identification.md. This is the build the reference projects pin; Greatest Hits v2.00 is a different binary and is not the target.

No game content

This repository contains no game assets, no disc images, no BIOS dumps and no proprietary toolchains. You supply your own legally obtained copy of the disc as an input, the way the upstream reference projects do.

A pre-commit hook enforces this, blocking disc images, asset directories, container signatures and files over 50 MiB. If you clone elsewhere, enable it:

git config core.hooksPath .githooks

Layout

crates/
  gc-formats/    asset format parsers (pure, no I/O beyond the caller's buffer)
  gc-extract/    disc pipeline: identify, unpack, verify
  gc-game/       game logic: hero, weapons, moby classes, progression, saves
  gc-video/      IPU / MPEG-2 decode
  gc-engine/     Bevy app: Graphics Synthesizer, VU0/VU1, renderer, frame loop
docs/
  disc-identification.md   which disc we build against, verified
  roadmap.md               phases, gates, current status
  plan/                    one file per subsystem, written as work proceeds
  formats/                 format specs, written as formats are reversed
tools/
  identify-disc.py         identify any Going Commando disc image
vendor/
  rerac/                   pinned upstream reference checkout (not tracked)

Building

Requires a Rust toolchain via rustup.

cargo check --workspace
cargo test  --workspace

The host audio backend is disabled in Cargo.toml (see the comment there) so that the workspace builds without system ALSA development headers. Audio decode is the last phase of the port and lives in gc-video; re-enable it and install alsa-lib-devel when that work starts.

Identifying a disc

python3 tools/identify-disc.py <your-disc.iso>

Reports the serial, version and video mode from SYSTEM.CNF, hashes the boot executable, and warns when the disc is not the supported build. Reads only a few megabytes, so it is near-instant.

How it will be verified

Visual and behavioural comparison against PCSX2, replaying recorded input and comparing frames, level by level. The PS2 float model is reproduced rather than approximated — see AGENTS.md.

PCSX2 is installed and working on this machine; the comparison loop that reads the game's own memory over its debug protocol is up, and level 0's and level 1's tfrag lighting are verified byte-exact against it. See docs/plan/pcsx2-verification.md for the setup and how to run it.

Credits and licensing

This project learns from and is built on the work of others. Licences are recorded in PROVENANCE.md and notices must travel with any code derived from them.

  • ReRAC — a native Rust/Bevy port of Ratchet & Clank (2002), the first game. ISC. The architecture this project follows.
  • OpenRAC / rac2-gc-decomp — matching decompilation research for this game. MIT. Source of verified struct layouts and engine documentation.
  • Wrench — community documentation of Insomniac's container formats. GPL, used as a specification reference only; no code is copied.

Ratchet & Clank is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment. This is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Sony Interactive Entertainment or Insomniac Games.

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