This profile builds VCSNative.exe for the supported GTA: Vice City Stories PSP executable. It contains the title-specific generated AOT corpus, HLE/profile code, DX12 renderer integration, audio/input support and configuration required by the current native build.

Quick build on Windows

Run BUILD_VCS.bat from this directory for the normal performance build. Generated AOT stays at the maximum MSVC optimization level with AVX2, compiler /MP, MSBuild /m and persistent incremental objects. Host/runtime code may use whole-program optimization, but the 234 generated AOT translation units are explicitly compiled with /GL- so the final linker does not have to hold the entire generated corpus as LTCG IR. The current runtime fast paths remain enabled.

BUILD_VCS_FAST.bat remains the corresponding fast incremental pipeline: generated AOT at O2 with LTCG disabled. No separate experimental max-performance build is used.

The launchers automatically locate CMake from PATH, Visual Studio 2022 (including the bundled CMake component), vswhere, or a standard standalone CMake installation. BUILD_VCS_FAST.bat remains the quickest development/debug-oriented build.

For the single-configuration Ninja workflow used during incremental renderer and generated-code development, see ../../docs/VCS_NINJA_BUILD.md.

Source layout

config/       VCS profile configuration and executable metadata
data/         Redistributable generated profile data
generated/    AOT C++ generated from the supported executable
host/         VCS HLE, bootstrap, renderer, audio, input and native fast paths
scripts/      Maintained Windows build/run/benchmark scripts
tests/        Profile regression tests
tools/        VCS-specific generator and maintenance tools
third_party/  Bundled dependencies and license notices
progress/     Local handoffs/history; ignored by Git

Supported executable

The profile targets the ULUS-10160 PSP release currently used by the generated corpus. No EBOOT or commercial game asset is included.

Prepare local game data

The runtime expects a decrypted ELF and the game's PSP_GAME/USRDIR data from your own copy. This repository does not include decryption code.

Use:

.\profiles\vcs\tools\prepare_game.ps1 `
  -ExtractedUmdRoot D:\VCS_EXTRACTED `
  -DecryptedElf D:\local\EBOOT_DECRYPTED.ELF

The default destination is profiles/vcs/game, which is ignored by Git.

Build on Windows

Fast development build:

profiles\vcs\scripts\build_fast.bat

Optimized release build:

profiles\vcs\scripts\build_release.bat

Run with the default local game directory:

profiles\vcs\scripts\play.bat

Or pass a game root explicitly:

profiles\vcs\scripts\play.bat D:\VCS_GAME_ROOT

For an uncapped CPU/GE measurement, use profiles\vcs\scripts\bench.bat.

Windows link memory

The generated VCS corpus is intentionally excluded from MSVC whole-program IR in the normal release build. Later AOT cross-unit optimizations make whole-program analysis of all generated units unnecessarily expensive in linker memory. This does not disable per-unit /Ox; it only prevents those generated units from being deferred to link-time code generation. Host/runtime LTCG remains available, and the release linker prints LTCG status while it runs.

Resolution configuration

profiles/vcs/config/VCSNative.ini exposes both the presentation resolution and the internal render resolution.

[Display] ResolutionMode accepts PSP, Desktop or Custom. Custom uses Width and Height. With Fullscreen=true, VCSNative uses a borderless desktop-sized window; custom width/height still define the logical output surface used by the presentation/widescreen configuration.

[Rendering] InternalResolutionMode accepts PSP, Scale, Desktop or Custom. Scale uses InternalScale; Custom uses InternalWidth and InternalHeight. These settings control the native render target independently from the presentation window.

Regenerate VCS AOT code

The VCS profile keeps an address-aware generator target separate from the generic framework generator:

vcs_recomp

Its source lives in profiles/vcs/tools/vcs_codegen_main.cpp. Profile-only lowering and measured native leaves belong there or under host/; they do not belong in the root PSPRecomp generator/runtime.

Development history

Old stage reports, validation notes and handoffs are stored under profiles/vcs/progress. That directory is intentionally ignored by the repository so development history does not pollute the public source tree.

Internal SAVE_REPRO diagnostics

VCSNative.ini ships with [Testing] SaveRepro=false. This keeps the F8 checkpoint and F10 trace harness completely unavailable during normal play. Developers may temporarily set it to true for controlled debugging. RESTORE_SAVE_REPRO.bat explicitly opts the harness in for its own process and does not require changing the normal INI. These checkpoints are diagnostic snapshots, not supported gameplay save states.