silent-hill-decomp rebuilds Silent Hill as a native binary from decompiled PSX source

It is a real executable, and PsyCross stands in for the hardware

The distinction the README is most careful about is what this project is not. The game runs as a real Windows or Linux executable compiled from decompiled C source. It is not an emulator, and it is not a static recompilation, which means no part of the original binary is translated by a tool. Everything the console did is now code you can read, step through and rebuild. The stated goal is fidelity: care has been taken to leave the original game code intact wherever possible and to work around it where needed, so game logic and feel still match the PSX original. At default-faithful settings the port is described as playing like the original, with the same logic, the same feel and the same look, including the original fixed camera system reproduced one to one. Everything beyond that is opt-in, and the README is explicit that enhancements are optional and always will be. The hardware abstraction layer is PsyCross, described as a PsyQ SDK compatibility layer originally written for REDRIVER2, and the project maintains its own fork of it rather than tracking the upstream. That single choice explains a lot about the shape of the code. The decompiled source was written against the PlayStation's own libraries and its own hardware registers, so something has to stand in for the console's memory layout, its GPU behaviour and its sound hardware. Using a compatibility layer means the game logic can stay close to the original instead of being rewritten against a modern engine. The port also relies on PsyCross being the place where the platform differences are absorbed, which is also why the same codebase is expected to reach consoles and handheld targets later on, since the abstraction is the portability boundary rather than the game code itself.

The licence covers the port, not Konami's decompiled code

This is the part of the project that requires the most care, and it is handled explicitly. The port itself is GPL-3.0, covering pc_port/ with the engine, launcher, tooling and docs, plus every SH_PC_PORT addition to the decompiled sources. The files carrying an SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later header are the ones being licensed that way, so you can tell from the source which parts you are dealing with. The decompilation is not licensed by the project. src/, include/, configs/, asm/, lib/ and rom/ are a decompilation of Konami's Silent Hill and remain the work of the silent-hill-decomp contributors, and the project asserts no copyright over that code and grants no rights to it. No game data is included either, since Silent Hill belongs to Konami, and a legally obtained copy of the PlayStation disc is required to play. COPYRIGHT.md carries the full breakdown, including bundled third-party components.

Building from source needs a MIPS toolchain and a Python toolchain

The build is defined by a Makefile with switches for each piece, and the version of the retail disc is selected in the same place:

BUILD_EXE      ?= 1
BUILD_ENGINE   ?= 1
BUILD_SCREENS  ?= 1
BUILD_MAPS     ?= 1
BUILD_ITEMS    ?= 1
CHECKSUM       ?= 1
NON_MATCHING   ?= 0
SKIP_ASM       ?= 0

GAME_VERSION = USA

The commented notes in that file warn that BUILD_ITEMS is only available for the European release, and they explain the COMMON segment handling, which exists to satisfy the way the original toolchain laid out data. Supporting that toolchain is what the container image is for. It starts from python:3.12-slim-bookworm and installs the cross compiler and the utilities the pipeline needs:

FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm
ARG USERNAME=user
ARG UID=1000
ARG GID=1000
# Install packages with minimal overhead
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    make \
    gcc \
    binutils-mips-linux-gnu \
    cpp-mips-linux-gnu \

The Python side of the toolchain is pinned in requirements.txt, and the two entries that matter most are the splat and disassembly tools:

python-Levenshtein
python-ranges
toml
splat64[mips]==0.39.1
spimdisasm==1.40.2

Alongside those are build_image.sh and docker_run.sh for the container, ninja_config.py and a Makefile-driven ninja build, .clang-format and .clang-tidy for style and analysis, morpheus.cfg, permute.sh and permute_defaults.toml, and a research/ directory.

From a release to the first run takes three steps

The short instructions are deliberately simple, because most of the difficulty was in the build rather than the launch. Extract the release anywhere on your PC. Put your game disc image into the gamedata folder, and the launcher auto-detects it by region, so any filename works, with Silent Hill (USA).bin given as a safe default. Then either run SilentHillPC_Launcher to configure things, or run SilentHillPC to play. There is one warning worth repeating: the build is unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen may block it the first time, and the workaround is to run the game once and then the launcher. The launcher is also where the disc picker lives, which is how fan translation discs are picked up, and the launcher interface itself is localized into ten languages. Default keyboard bindings map the PlayStation buttons to keys, with C for action and shoot, V for flashlight, Z for map, X for run, A and D for sidestep, the shift keys for view and aim, the arrow keys for movement, Enter for pause and Space for inventory.

The enhancement list is long and every item is optional

What distinguishes this port from a plain recompile is the size of the optional layer. On graphics there is any resolution, widescreen at 16:9 and beyond, uncapped frame rate, optional rewritten PGXP perspective correction, MSAA, texture filtering, tone mapping and post-process looks including CRT, scanlines and film grain. The flashlight has four modes, Classic and Modern, each with optional per-pixel shadow mapping up to 8192x8192. The camera system keeps the classic fixed cameras and adds third-person, over-the-shoulder with free aim and first-person views with their own control schemes, plus a mouse-look free camera. Audio offers optional surround 5.1 and 7.1 with positional effects and reverb, with XA cutscene voices streamed from the disc image and FMV playback that accepts HD AVI and MP4 replacements. Quality of life includes mouse-clickable menus, quick save and load, an in-game PC Options menu and an F10 quick-options overlay that stays live during play. There are cheats and tools too, with an in-game console, a cheat menu, play as any of fourteen characters, a global monster pool and a collision visualizer.

Mod support and platform reach are the two big bets

Two areas go beyond a faithful port. The first is modding, with a built-in Mod Manager that extracts the disc and handles texture packs, loose-file replacement and DuckStation-style packs, plus character retextures, full character model replacement between ILM and OBJ or Blender formats, modern glTF inventory item models, VAB audio extraction and repacking, and AVI FMV replacement. On top of that sits a Lua-scripted Randomizer mode, described as experimental, and a TrenchBroom based level editing pipeline that is still in development. The second is platform reach. Windows is the primary target, Linux and macOS builds exist as work in progress, and ports are in development for Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, iOS, Android and even an N64 demake requiring the Expansion Pak. The released versions show how that is staged: Beta Release 1 on 2026-07-02, Xbox Alpha 1 on 2026-07-11 and a Cross-platform Beta for PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and Xbox on 2026-09-04, with nightly builds kept in a separate repository. The integration layer is small but telling, with RetroAchievements and Discord Rich Presence supported.

AI-assisted development and an honest list of known issues

The project is open about how it is built. Development is described as heavily AI-assisted, naming Claude Opus 4.6, 4.7 and the newer Fable model, and the README stresses that this is not automated translation of the game. Every change is a reviewed, hand-directed edit to real source, tested against the original behaviour. That distinction is the one to hold on to: the value is in the review and the testing, not in the model doing the work. The known issues section is short and concrete. Linux and macOS builds still have issues, and Windows or wine is recommended where possible, so on Linux the recommendation is to use wine for the time being. Visual glitches can appear on certain systems or hardware, and the renderer config option is the escape hatch, with d3d11, vulkan and warp as the choices. Some minor visual bugs and cosmetic issues remain, and everything else known is tracked on the issues page. The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-10-19.

The upstream decompilation is the other route, and it targets a different goal

The alternative for anyone interested in this codebase is the upstream silent-hill-decomp project, the one whose contributors hold the decompiled sources this port builds on. The difference in approach is the goal at the end of the build. A decompilation aims to produce a binary that matches the original, byte for byte where possible, and its tooling exists to prove equivalence against a retail image. This port takes the same source and aims at something else: a native executable you can run at modern resolutions with optional enhancements, mod support and console targets. That is why the port keeps its own tree of PsyCross, its own launcher, its own mod manager and its own console ports, and why the Makefile still exposes switches such as NON_MATCHING and SKIP_ASM. If your interest is proving the original hardware can be reproduced, use the decompilation. If your interest is playing and extending the game on modern hardware, this port is the one built for that, and it is the wrong choice for you if you need Linux or macOS today or if the licensing split does not suit how you plan to distribute your build.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt this port if you own a PlayStation disc, want Silent Hill running natively at modern resolutions with optional enhancements, and prefer a rebuilt executable to an emulator. Do not adopt it if you need Linux or macOS today, since the README recommends wine on Linux and marks both builds as work in progress, and do not expect a licence that covers Konami's decompiled sources, because the GPL-3.0 grant reaches only pc_port/ and the SH_PC_PORT additions. Before you start, confirm you can supply a disc image, read COPYRIGHT.md for the exact boundary between the port and the decompilation, and decide whether the GPL-3.0 terms on the port code fit how you intend to distribute any build you produce.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: GPL-3.0
2. Project website
3. README
4. Releases
5. SlickAmogus/silent-hill-decomp on GitHub