project-solana/README.md

Project Solana

Native PC versions of the PlayStation 2 Ratchet & Clank games, built on your own PC from your own disc.

Project Solana is a launcher and a set of static recompilations. Each game's code is translated ahead of time from the game's executable into C, with the decompiled source from OpenRAC where it exists, and compiled into a native Windows program that reads everything else (models, textures, sound, movies) from your disc image at run time.

Nothing from the games is distributed here. The launcher downloads only tools and source code; the game is built on your machine from a disc image you provide.

Playing

1. Download Project Solana.exe from the latest launcher release and put it in a folder of its own (it keeps its files next to itself).
2. Run it and add your disc image: Add disc image, Scan a folder, or drag an .iso onto the window.
3. Select the game and press Build. The first build downloads about 95 MB (Python and the zig compiler, then the game's build kit) and builds the game from your disc: 10 to 30 minutes depending on your CPU. It only happens once per game version.
4. Press Play.

Supported games

Game	Region	Disc executable	Status
Ratchet & Clank	PAL (v2.00)	SCES_509.16, MD5 d86429e2eca4e1da7d7f1cc656af2574	Playable start to finish
Ratchet & Clank	NTSC-U, NTSC-J	SCUS_971.99, SCPS_150.37	Recognised, not supported yet
Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, Deadlocked	all		Recognised, not supported yet

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
• A GPU with OpenGL 3.3 (Upscaled at 3 to 4x wants a GTX 1060 class card or better)
• A controller: Xbox, DualShock 4 or DualSense, over USB or Bluetooth
• About 2 GB free while building, 300 MB after

Settings

Resolution (Native, or Upscaled to a whole multiple of the PS2's 448 lines that covers your screen), VSync, the graphics threads, performance statistics in the log, the length of the F9 glitch capture, and a level select for testing. Rebuild the game fetches the latest build kit and builds again; saves are kept.

Reporting problems

• Open log shows rac1_log.txt (or the build's build_log.txt when a build failed).
• F9 in the game records the next few seconds of graphics input to gsrec_NN.bin (about 260 MB per second of capture); attach it to a report together with what looked wrong.

Repository layout

Path	What
launcher/	Project Solana.exe: Win32 + GDI, no dependencies. python launcher/build_launcher.py builds it (needs zig: pip install ziglang)
games/rac1/	Ratchet & Clank's build kit: build.py, the recompilers (tools/), the host engine (host/: GS in OpenGL and software, DMA, VU, SPU2 and 989snd, disc, pad, memory card, movies), the wrapper (launcher/)
games/rac1/dev/	developer tools (GS capture replay, VU reference check); not part of the kit
release/make_release.py	makes a game's release files
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md	pl_mpeg (MIT), jak-project's 989snd tables (ISC)

How the Build button works

The launcher fetches from the release named after the game (releases/download/rac1/):

File	What
rac1.json	version, file names, sizes and SHA-256s, the levels to build
toolchain-win64.zip	Python 3.12 (python-build-standalone), rabbitizer, zig 0.16; shared by all games, kept in toolchain\ and fetched again only when its version changes
rac1-build.zip	games/rac1 plus the decomp's source as decomp/ (no baserom/)

It checks both zips against their SHA-256s, unpacks them next to itself (toolchain\, games\rac1\), runs build.py --platform windows --iso <your disc>, and then deletes the intermediate files (about 1.3 GB) and the bytes it read from the disc, keeping games\rac1\build\windows (the game, its saves and logs).

solana.ini [build] release_url= (a URL or a local folder laid out like the release) and levels= override where it fetches from and which levels it builds, for testing.

Making a release

python release/make_release.py rac1 --decomp ../rac1-decomp --version 2026.10.13
gh release create rac1 dist/rac1/rac1.json dist/rac1/rac1-build.zip dist/rac1/toolchain-win64.zip

To update an existing game release, upload the new files over the old ones (gh release upload rac1 dist/rac1/* --clobber). Players get them with Rebuild the game.

The launcher itself goes in a release of its own (for example launcher-v1) with Project Solana.exe.

Licence

TODO (maintainers): choose a licence for this repository. Third-party code keeps its own (see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md).