AC6Recomp

Caution

This project is still work in progress. It can boot and run in-game, but bugs, crashes, and missing functionality should be expected.

A native PC port of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation built on top of the ReXGlue SDK. The Xbox 360 PowerPC game code is statically recompiled to x86-64, while visible rendering currently remains authoritative in the vendored RexGlue/Xenia graphics backend.

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Disclaimer

This project is an unofficial, non-commercial fan effort. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with Bandai Namco Entertainment, Project Aces, or Microsoft. Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation and all related assets, characters, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This repository contains source code only. It does not contain, and will never contain, any game data. To use this software you must supply your own legally obtained copy of the game. No game files, disc images, DLC packages, title updates, or console keys are distributed here, and none may be committed to this repository.

The software is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind. It is experimental: expect bugs, crashes, and visual or audio differences from the original console release. Do not redistribute builds bundled with game data.

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Features

Everything listed here is on by default unless noted, and each fix can be turned off individually. See Important console variables.

• 60 FPS. The game can now run up to 60 FPS, with the flight model corrected.
• High quality terrain. Terrain is drawn at the full resolution shipped on the disc, twice what the console rendered. Cracks and seams that appear over mountains are also removed.
• Resolution scaling. Render internally at 2× (1440p) or 3× (2160p) and beyond for a much sharper image.
• Ultrawide support. Optional hor+ widescreen in missions and cutscenes.
• AC7-like keyboard and mouse controls. Mouse steering, remappable bindings, live-reloaded from a config file. Controllers work out of the box, including a virtual pad when none is connected.
• Japanese language support.
• Texture replacement modding — see Modding docs.

Fixes

Most of the known issues with the recomp have been fixed. Please report if you have found more issues.

Performance is a known issue with the recomp! Due to native renderer not yet implemented, a powerful GPU is recommended to be able to run the game at 60 FPS at high resolution!

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Quick Start Guide

Requirements

OS	Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
CPU	Must support AVX2 — Intel 4th-gen Core (2013) or newer, AMD Zen (2017) or newer.
GPU	Direct3D 12 capable
Game data	Your own legally obtained copy of Ace Combat 6 (US region only! Europe and Japan is not supported)

Note that the system requirement does not guarantees that the recomp will perform well on your system!

Steps

1. Get a build. Either download from release, or build from source (see How to build).

2. Provide the game data. Put one of the following next to ac6recomp.exe:

   • the game's .iso disc image or
   • an assets/ folder containing the extracted game files.

3. (Optional) Add DLC. Extracted DLC packages can be placed next to the executable, inside a folder named dlc/.

4. Run ac6recomp.exe. On first run it creates ac6recomp.toml beside the executable, which contains the game settings.

5. In-game keys:

   • F3 - toggle FPS overlay
   • F4 - settings overlay (browse and change most options live)
   • F11 - toggle fullscreen

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Important console variables

Settings live in ac6recomp.toml next to the executable. Most can also be changed live in the F4 overlay. Some only take effect after a restart.

Important

In .toml, use forward slashes in paths. A single backslash is an escape character and one bad line silently voids the entire file, sending every setting back to its default.

cvar	default	what it does
user_language	1	Sets the language. 1 for English, 2 for Japanese.
fullscreen	false	Start in fullscreen (F11 toggles at runtime)
draw_resolution_scale_x	1	Internal render scale on the x axis. 1 for 1280, 2 for 2560, 3 for 3840, etc.
draw_resolution_scale_y	1	Internal render scale on the y axis. 1 for 720, 2 for 1440, 3 for 2160, etc.
ac6_unlock_fps	true	Allow framerates above the stock 30 fps
ac6_dynamic_vblank	true	Keep menus and cutscenes at their native 60 Hz pacing while gameplay runs at your target
ac6_performance_mode	true	Reduces logging and diagnostic overhead
ac6_widescreen	false	Ultrawide support (hor+) in missions. Menus and hangar stay 16:9
ac6_widescreen_cinematics	true	With ultrawide on, also widen in-engine cinematics. They are staged for 16:9, so this can expose set edges
ac6_terrain_hd	true	Draw terrain at the full shipped resolution (2× what the console drew), which also removes terrain cracks
ac6_fullres_effects	false	Draw clouds, smokes, trails, and afterburner effect at native resolution (2× what the console drew), slightly affects performance
ac6_cursor_hide_seconds	3.0	Hide the mouse cursor after this many idle seconds. 0 = never hide
ac6_kbm_enabled	false	Enable keyboard and mouse controls. Off by default — controllers work out of the box
ac6_kbm_config	ac6_input.toml	Path to the key bindings file. Edits are picked up live
ac6_texture_swaps_enabled	false	Enable texture replacement mods (see Modding docs)

For 1440p, set both draw_resolution_scale_x and draw_resolution_scale_y to 2. For 2160p or 4K, set them to 3.

For 1440p Ultrawide, it is recommended to set draw_resolution_scale_x to 3 and draw_resolution_scale_y to 2.

Fixes

These are on by default and exist so a problem can be isolated. Turning one off restores the original behavior, bugs included.

cvar	default	what it fixes
ac6_effect_mode_fix	false	IMPORTANT: If your clouds and afterburner effects are flickering, set this to true!
ac6_fix_scaling	true	Upscaling mosaic on deferred passes (only active above 1× scale)
ac6_fix_deswizzle	true	Mosaic and streak artifacts from the game's manual texture de-swizzle
ac6_fix_dof	true	Cutscene depth-of-field striping and ghosting above 1× scale
ac6_fix_trails	true	Invisible missile and jet trails
ac6_fix_water_line	true	Lines across open water seen at a grazing angle
ac6_flare_drop_quad2	true	Faint rectangle around the sun
ac6_cutscene_resync	true	Keeps cutscene video locked to its audio after a render hitch

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Default keybinds

Controllers work with no configuration. Keyboard and mouse are off by default. Set ac6_kbm_enabled = true to enable them.

Bindings live in ac6_input.toml, created next to the executable on first run after ac6_kbm_enabled is enabled. By default, the keybinds are similar to Ace Combat 7.

Flight

action	keys		action	keys
Pitch down / up	1 / 3		Fire machine gun	Mouse1, Left Ctrl
Roll left / right	A / D		Fire missile	Mouse2, Space
Yaw left / right	Q / E		Change weapon	Mouse wheel, C
Accelerate	W		Switch targets	Tab
Decelerate	S		Change view	V
High-G turn	2		Radar / map	R
Autopilot	Z, X		Landing gear	G
Pause	Escape

Mouse steers the aircraft. Hold Left Alt (camera control) to look around with the mouse instead of steering.

Camera: Numpad 8 / 2 / 4 / 6 — up / down / left / right.

Wingman commands: arrow keys.

Menus

action	keys
Navigate	W A S D or arrow keys
Confirm	Space, Mouse1
Cancel	Escape, Backspace, Mouse2
Start	Enter
Back	Tab

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How to build

Option A: Automatic setup (recommended)

The automated build script handles environment setup, ISO extraction, and the multi-step CMake build:

1. Place your legally obtained Ace Combat 6 ISO in the repository root directory.
2. Run setup_and_build.bat. The script locates Visual Studio, extracts the assets, runs codegen, and builds the runtime using the MSVC backend.
3. Copy the compiled executable and default config to the root directory to run:

   Copy-Item out/build/win-amd64-relwithdebinfo/ac6recomp.exe . -Force
   Copy-Item out/build/win-amd64-relwithdebinfo/ac6recomp.toml . -Force
   

4. Run ac6recomp.exe directly from the root directory.
5. Optionally create a shortcut to the executable.

Option B: Manual build

cmake --preset win-amd64-relwithdebinfo
cmake --build --preset win-amd64-relwithdebinfo --target ac6recomp_codegen
cmake --preset win-amd64-relwithdebinfo
cmake --build --preset win-amd64-relwithdebinfo

The executable is placed at out/build/win-amd64-relwithdebinfo/ac6recomp.exe.

On Windows, use the preset commands above rather than plain cmake -L in the repo root. If you previously configured from an x86 Visual Studio prompt or with the wrong compiler on PATH, delete out/build/win-amd64-relwithdebinfo and re-run the preset from a normal 64-bit PowerShell/CMD window or an x64 Native Tools prompt.

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Repository policy

This repository contains source code only.

Do not commit or redistribute:

• retail game data
• default.xex
• disc images, packages, title updates, or firmware files
• console keys or any other proprietary Microsoft / publisher material

Users must supply their own legally obtained game files locally.

Modding docs

• Texture Swap Modding Guide
• Texture Swap Reference

Project layout

AC6_recomp/
|- src/
|  |- ac6_backend_fixes/       AC6-specific backend diagnostics and fix routing
|  |- ac6_native_graphics.*    AC6 frame-boundary analysis and overlay status
|  |- ac6_native_renderer/     Experimental replay renderer and research tooling
|  |- d3d_hooks.*              Guest D3D capture and shadow-state hooks
|  `- render_hooks.*           Timing and frame pacing hooks
|- thirdparty/rexglue-sdk/     Vendored RexGlue SDK
|- generated/                  Generated recomp sources
|- assets/                     Local game files, not kept in repo
`- docs/RENDERER_ARCHITECTURE.txt

License

See LICENSE.