Matthew Stanley e8094affb4 Phase 4: seed VBlank chain handler + add RAM write-trace
EvCB write-trace instrumentation confirmed OpenEvent is never called for
any event class during boot, not only VBlank. Static ROM analysis found
that the only instruction in SCPH1001.BIN that stores to the VSync
counter at 0x80079D9C lives in an unrecompiled 15-instruction function
at 0xBFC425BC (identified as the VBlank chain handler: increments the
counter, optionally calls the user callback at *0x800DFF40). Added as a
seed so the function is now compiled and present in the dispatch table.

Recompile alone does not unblock the boot — no JAL, literal, or
lui 0xBFC4 exists in ROM that would load this address, so the kernel
registrar that enqueues it on the root-counter chain is itself missing
and needs to be found (next session, via DuckStation cross-reference).

Changes:
 - recompiler/seeds: +0xBFC425BC (vblank_chain_handler), 825 seeds total
 - debug_server: wtrace_range / wtrace_dump / wtrace_clear TCP commands,
   1024-entry ring buffer capturing (addr, old, new, ra, width); default
   range 0x0000E000..0x0000E1F0 active from process start so early-boot
   writes are captured before a TCP client can attach
 - memory.c: inline bounds check + hook call in psx_write_{word,half,byte}
 - tools: print_wtrace.py, sample_ra.py, sample_ra_long.py,
   scan_f2_sites.py — investigation helpers

Runtime behaviour unchanged (still hangs in VSync spin at Sony logo) —
the seed is a prerequisite; the upstream registrar is the next bug.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-13 21:19:32 -07:00

Current Milestone

The authoritative milestone document is FIRST_MILESTONE.md. The authoritative phase plan is PLAN.md, Phase 1 section.

  • Phase 1a — Boot Slice: COMPLETE (2026-04-06). Reset-vector slice 0xBFC00000..0xBFC00074, 30 instructions, terminating at j 0xBFC00150. generated/boot_slice.c, generated/boot_slice_manifest.json, and an empty generated/unsupported_ops.json are the proof artifacts. Do not redo. Do not extend.
  • Phase 1b — Instruction Coverage: NEXT. Every R3000A opcode the BIOS uses must have a real implementation in strict_translator, with generated/instruction_inventory.json and generated/instruction_coverage.json as proof.
  • Phase 1c — Function Discovery Pipeline: after 1b. Bounded walk from explicit seed file, producing function_manifest.json, function_edges.json, discovery_run.log.json.
  • Phase 1d — Indirect Control Flow Recording: after 1c. Records, does not resolve. Produces indirect_jumps.json and the Ghidra cross-reference.
  • Phase 1e — Relocation Planning (HARD GATE): after 1d. Produces relocation_proofs/, address_aliases.json, normalization_rule.md. Full BIOS recompilation is forbidden until 1e is complete.

See PLAN.md → "Phase 1 — Controlled Recompiler Bring-up" for required artifacts, failure conditions, and acceptance criteria per sub-phase.


Non-Goals (Current Phase)

The following are explicitly out of scope for the entire Phase 1 window. Touching any of them is architectural drift and is not permitted regardless of how convenient it would be:

  • No runtime. There is no runtime/ directory in v4 yet, and Phase 1 does not create one.
  • No MMIO. No psx_mmio_read_* / psx_mmio_write_* entry points. generated/cpu_state.h stays compile-only.
  • No GPU. No GP0, no GP1, no software rasterizer, no VRAM.
  • No interrupts. No I_STAT, no I_MASK, no COP0 IRQ delivery hooks. (mtc0/mfc0/rfe are translated as instructions in Phase 1b — they are not wired to any runtime delivery path.)
  • No DMA, no timers, no SIO, no memcard, no CD-ROM, no SPU.
  • No full BIOS recompilation. Bounded walks only until Phase 1e closes.
  • No game loading. No PS-X EXE ingestion. No ISO. No Tomba. The game side does not exist in v4 until Phase 5.
  • No BIOS interpreter. Not as a fallback, not as a "temporary" bridge, not for "code we couldn't recompile yet".
  • No HLE BIOS functions. No bios.c, no A0/B0/C0 reimplementation in C. The recompiled BIOS is the BIOS.

Definition of Done (Current Phase)

Phase 1a (already met):

  • generated/boot_slice.c compiles cleanly with -c.
  • generated/boot_slice_manifest.json is complete.
  • generated/unsupported_ops.json is empty.
  • Every instruction in the slice is accounted for in the manifest.
  • No TODO / FIXME / XXX in any generated file.

Phase 1 as a whole (the gate that unlocks Phase 2):

  • All Phase 1a artifacts above continue to regenerate identically.
  • generated/instruction_inventory.json and generated/instruction_coverage.json exist and show every BIOS-used opcode implemented in strict_translator.
  • generated/function_manifest.json, generated/function_edges.json, and generated/discovery_run.log.json exist from a normalized Phase 1c re-run, with no duplicate functions under any normalized address.
  • generated/indirect_jumps.json, generated/indirect_jump_classes.json, and generated/indirect_jump_ghidra_xref.json exist and cover every indirect jump site in every discovered function.
  • generated/relocation_proofs/ exists with one subdirectory per proven ROM→RAM copy operation, each containing both Ghidra and DuckStation evidence.
  • generated/address_aliases.json and generated/normalization_rule.md exist and are mechanically derived from relocation_proofs/.
  • generated/unsupported_ops.json is still empty.
  • Nothing under generated/ was hand-edited.

PSXRecomp v4

A static MIPS-to-C recompiler for the PlayStation BIOS, with PS1 games as a follow-on layer. The BIOS runs as native compiled C, not as interpreted MIPS bytes.

This is a clean-slate restart after three failed prior attempts (v1, v2, v3) all collapsed into emulator-with-HLE shape instead of true static recompilation. See PLAN.md for the full background, the architectural decision, the salvage list, the phase plan, and the open questions we want outside review on.

Layout

psxrecomp-v4/
├── PLAN.md              the document, hand to outside reviewers
├── CLAUDE.md            rules for in-session work (Architecture A locked in)
├── README.md            this file
├── bios/
│   └── SCPH1001.BIN     the recompilation target, 524288 bytes
├── duckstation/         modified DuckStation, used as runtime oracle
└── recompiler/          MIPS->C translator, salvaged from v3
    ├── src/
    ├── include/
    ├── lib/             rabbitizer, fmt, toml11
    └── CMakeLists.txt

The runtime is intentionally absent at this stage — it will be built up fresh in Phase 2 once the recompiler can ingest the BIOS ROM and emit SCPH1001_full.c.

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