- PERMUTER OVERHAUL (tools/, no submodule edit): masked_diff.py floor-free relocation-masked scorer (killed the ~1750-2100 stock floor -> true closeness); permuter_weights.py §31-class- directed mutation; permuter_ils.py warm-restart ILS; p16_permute pin/typedef/-O0/comment fixes. - GIANT ENDGAME COMPLETE: every matched region-a giant banked ×134 — the whale func_80144B9C (770, -O0 struct-assign memcpy §38), the flagship func_80132784 (400, "irreducible 22 phases"), the §G batch (6/8 cracked), + this close's func_801770E0 (152) + func_801372B0 (207). 2 permanent walls remain (func_801412A8, func_80178004 — G4). NO matched giant remains ×1. - INTEGRATION/PROPAGATION TOOLING: recover_integration.py, reconcile_decls.py, dedup_propagate --recover + find_site fixes + overlay_files _o0b/_after (post-whale gap), lint_symbol_refs.py. Fixed the Phase-21 latent clean-rebuild breakage (62 stale INCLUDE_ASM refs) -> true clean 136/136. - TOOLKIT MATURED: cookbook §18-§39 + gcc-2.7.2-map (S11/S12/S13, RC-6..RC-13, giant idioms). - STRATEGIC REFRAME (R14): the frontier grouped by STRUCTURE (h_norm) reveals 2764 families / 11.1 MB hidden by byte-grouping; 46% of large "solo monsters" are family members -> the idiom- curriculum endgame (Phase 25). Survey scripts .run/analyze_frontier.py + probe_hnorm.py. - check-all 136/136 BYTE-IDENTICAL (R22), dedup 1783->1813/0, 0 NON_MATCHING (G4). No new rules (techniques -> cookbook; the reframe -> Phase-25 backlog). worklog -> logs/Phase24.md (R19).
BFM-decomp
A matching decompilation of Brave Fencer Musashi (PlayStation, SLUS-00726, USA 1998) — the first public decompilation effort for this game.
What "matching" means
The goal is C source code that, compiled with the original-era toolchain (PsyQ 4.x / GCC 2.7.2-family + ASPSX via maspsx), produces a byte-for-byte identical SLUS_007.26 and, eventually, byte-identical overlay binaries. SHA1 checksums are the ground truth; "functionally equivalent" does not count.
No ROM content
This repository contains no game assets, no disassembly output, and no ROM-derived data — only source code, build configuration, symbol names/addresses, hashes, and documentation. To build or contribute you must provide your own dump of the game disc (4-track BIN/CUE, redump layout). See .gitignore for the firewall.
Project status
Latest (Phase 19, 2026-06-20): the project builds 136 binaries byte-identical from a clean tree (the EXE + the resident engine + all 134 location overlays);
make check-all→ 136/136. Fleet byte-identical-from-source is 58.0% (function-instance-weighted; see the PhaseEnds for the byte-weighted ~30% figure and what it includes). Shared engine functions are matched once inov_SC01_077and propagated ×134 viatools/dedup_propagate.py. (The narrative below is Phase-11/12-era; a full refresh is part of the public-flip prep.)
Gen1 (foundation) complete — the matching pipeline is proven end-to-end. make extract && make build && make check rebuilds SLUS_007.26 byte-for-byte identical (SHA1 143dbb89…) from C + assembly, reproducibly across many sessions.
- Compiler pinned by evidence:
gcc-2.7.2-psx -O2 -G0 -mips1 -mcpu=3000+maspsx --aspsx-version=2.56 --expand-div. - 52 functions hand-matched to byte-identical machine code — including the LZSS streaming decompressor — with a decomp-permuter + matching-cookbook "flywheel" to accelerate the next.
- 959 PsyQ SDK functions linked byte-identical (libcd, libgs, libgte, libspu/libsnd, libgpu, libc2, libmcrd, libapi/libcard, libetc) straight from the real PsyQ 4.0 libraries instead of re-decompiling them — bringing byte-identical-from-source coverage of the EXE to ~50%.
- File-loader / overlay system reverse-engineered, with the resident engine blob + location overlays' load addresses proven byte-identical against a live PCSX-Redux RAM dump.
About half the EXE is still INCLUDE_ASM stubs (correct bytes, not yet C), and the bulk of the game lives in compressed overlays inside the .CD archives — Gen2 (overlays & engine at scale) is underway:
- The build toolchain is binary-agnostic (one parameterized pipeline builds any binary), and the always-resident engine blob rebuilds byte-for-byte from source (SHA1
8e17e02f…) — the second binary reconstructed exactly, after the EXE — and is now 86% hand-matched C (123 / 146 functions, up from 0): its scripting turned out to be compiled-MIPS state/mode dispatch, not a bytecode VM, and the save-file + sound (SQV) formats are documented. The harvest used a reusable swarm-of-agents + bit-for-bit byte-gate method (a wrong match can't be accepted) —tools/harvest_verify.py+tools/match_one.py, which carry straight into the overlay phase. - A cross-binary deduplication pipeline is live: a Ghidra-free signer fingerprints all 134 location overlays, and the report finds ~9,000 byte-identical function groups shared across binaries (~28 MB of collapsible code) — a single engine function is byte-identical in all 134 overlays. This is "one match unlocks many": each engine match will be auto-credited across the overlay fleet.
Current phase and detailed progress live in phase-ends/ (newest PhaseEnd_*.md = current state); methodology, rules, and the full roadmap are in PROJECT_CONTEXT.md; environment setup in docs/SETUP.md.
This project is developed primarily by Claude Code driving Ghidra through an MCP server; see CLAUDE.md.
License
Private repository for now. AGPL-3.0 is planned at public release, modeled on sotn-decomp. tools/brave-CUE/ is CUE's BRAVE extractor (GPL, source included) and retains its own license.