simplysanatori--KartFrame/translator

Wiicompiled Static Recompiler

The translator parses GameCube/Wii DOL files, decodes PowerPC instructions, lifts them through IR/SSA and type inference, and emits C++ that is compiled into a native executable together with a runtime in runtime/. Project-specific paths and addresses are supplied through a versioned YAML manifest, so the translator itself contains no game-specific data.

Translating a DOL does not exempt you from owning the game it came from.

How translating a DOL works

A project manifest (YAML) names the input DOL and pins its layout; everything else is derived.

Translation is four commands:

1. translate-recursive <entry-point> --project <manifest> - walks the call graph from the entry point, decodes every reachable function, and emits C++ (plus JSON metadata describing what was emitted).

2. generate-data-init --project <manifest> - writes the embedded .data/.rodata/.sdata section initializer and RuntimeConfig.h.

3. emit-build-shards --project <manifest> - emits the CMake build graph (shards.cmake) covering both generated sources and runtime/src.

4. CMake + Ninja with Clang compiles runtime/ plus the generated output into one executable.

Discovery is purely recursive from the entry point unless the manifest provides an optional function_map (one hexaddr name per line) that seeds additional function boundaries. Unsupported instructions fail translation by default.

See projects/examples/generic-dol.yml for a minimal manifest driven by RECOMP_GENERIC_DOL.

Prerequisites

Tool	Notes
.NET 8 SDK	Builds and runs the translator.
CMake ≥ 3.16 and Ninja	Configures and drives the native build.
Clang / LLVM	The shipped build uses LLVM-MinGW targeting x86-64-v3. MSVC is not the tested path.

Build the CLI once and invoke the assembly directly:

dotnet build translator/src/Translator.Cli/Translator.Cli.csproj -c Release
$translator = 'translator/src/Translator.Cli/bin/Release/net8.0/Translator.Cli.dll'

Manifest essentials

• inputs.dol.path - the DOL to translate; optional SHA-256 pinning rejects wrong revisions.
• memory.base / size - guest address space.
• memory.sda_base / sda2_base - the r13/r2 Small Data Area bases your DOL's boot code installs (lis/ori pairs in __init_registers). Required by any command that writes RuntimeConfig.h; the translator does not guess them.
• translation.function_map.path - optional symbol map used as the discovery oracle.
• translation.allow_unsupported_instructions - off by default; enabling it emits runtime traps instead of failing, and such a build can never ship.
• translation.entry_observer - optional header, C symbol, and entry-point list for a read-only host observer. Its callback must accept (uint32_t, const CpuContext*); the translator materializes the complete guest context before every direct or transitive path that can reach it.

Relative paths resolve from workspace_root, which itself resolves from the manifest directory.

Commands

• info [--project path]
• translate-recursive <address> --project path
• generate-data-init --project path
• emit-base-manifest --project path
• emit-build-shards --project path
• translate-mod --project path [--profile name] ... - static Kamek/Pulsar module translation

Any command prints its own option list with --help.

Test

dotnet test translator/Translator.sln -c Release