If you're interested in contributing, come talk to us on the GC/Wii Decompilation Discord in the #prime channel. We're happy to help with any questions that come up.
There are several useful resources you can use for this decomp:
- Metaforce is a nearly complete non-matching decompilation. For 90% of classes, you can find Metaforce's version and use it as reference. This will be the best resource for game structs and code, but there are caveats described below.
- We have a shared Ghidra server, chat with encounter in Discord for access. This will sometimes have more accurate struct definitions than Metaforce. It's highly recommended cross-referencing the Ghidra project along with Metaforce.
- Metroid Prime had an early demo version ship with a symbol map. While this symbol map is missing many classes that exist in the retail version of the game, it's still recommended to reference it for information on inlined functions, class/function/variable names, and function parameters. You can find this demo map inside of "Interactive Multi Game Demo Disc Version 7" as
MetaforceCWD.map
.
Visual Studio Code is recommended.
objdiff will be your primary diffing tool. You can fetch a binary from the latest GitHub Actions build, or build from source with cargo run --release
.
Set the project directory to the repository root, and all settings will be loaded automatically. (Assuming you ran python configure.py
and objdiff.json
was generated.)
objdiff will automatically rebuild and reload the object on source changes, so you can quickly iterate on functions.
With CodeWarrior, the -inline deferred
flag reverses the function order in a translation unit. You'll work bottom-up in most asm files. Dolphin SDK files do not use -inline deferred
, so their function order is top-down.
When you have a function mismatch that you want help on, you can upload a scratch to decomp.me:
- Use
tools/decompctx.py src/path/to/file.cpp
to generatectx.c
which you can put in the "Context" field. - Set preset to
Metroid Prime (USA)
.
Metaforce is a non-matching decompilation, and often uses modern C++ features that won't work in C++98. This aims to be a (non-exhaustive) reference for things to watch out for when converting Metaforce code into decomp-matching code.
The python script at tool/metaforce_renames.py
automates many simple renames listed next, but not everything works perfectly.
Metaforce -> decomp
s8
->char
u8
->uchar
s16
->short
u16
->ushort
s32
->int
u32
->uint
zeus::CTransform
->CTransform4f
zeus::CFrustum
->CFrustumPlanes
- Any other
zeus::
class has the prefixed removed, i.e.zeus::CVector3f
->CVector3f
std::vector
->rstl::vector
std::optional
->rstl::optional_object
std::pair
->rstl::pair
std::unique_ptr
->rstl::single_ptr
orrstl::auto_ptr
(auto_ptr
has an adjacent boolean)std::shared_ptr
->rstl::rc_ptr
orrstl::ncrc_ptr
std::array<T, N> var
->T var[N]
std::string
->rstl::string
std::string_view
->const rstl::string&
std::make_unique<T>
->new T
std::move
is removedstd::min
->rstl::min_val
std::max
->rstl::max_val
std::clamp
->CMath::Clamp
(depends on context)
Metaforce -> decomp
zeus::CTransform::frontVector()
->CTransform4f::GetForward()
zeus::skForward
->CVector3f::Forward
g_Renderer
->gpRender
zeus::degToRad
->CRelAngle::FromDegrees
Metaforce often uses default values inside of class definitions, like the = false
below:
TAreaId x4_areaId;
TUniqueId x8_uid;
TEditorId xc_editorId;
std::string x10_name;
std::vector<SConnection> x20_conns;
bool x30_24_active : 1;
bool x30_25_inGraveyard : 1 = false;
bool x30_26_scriptingBlocked : 1 = false;
bool x30_27_inUse : 1;
This is unsupported in C++98, and need to be removed:
TAreaId x4_areaId;
TUniqueId x8_uid;
TEditorId xc_editorId;
rstl::string x10_name;
rstl::vector< SConnection > x20_conns;
bool x30_24_active : 1;
bool x30_25_inGraveyard : 1;
bool x30_26_scriptingBlocked : 1;
bool x30_27_notInArea : 1;
Instead, these values are set in the constructor like so:
CEntity::CEntity(TUniqueId id, const CEntityInfo& info, bool active, const rstl::string& name)
: x4_areaId(info.GetAreaId())
, x8_uid(id)
, xc_editorId(info.GetEditorId())
, x10_name(name)
, x20_conns(info.GetConnectionList())
, x30_24_active(active)
, x30_25_inGraveyard(false) // <--
, x30_26_scriptingBlocked(false) // <--
, x30_27_notInArea(x4_areaId == kInvalidAreaId) {}
In retail, classes almost always have private members, and use getters/setters. Metaforce often doesn't represent this, and may require transitioning.
Be sure to search the demo symbol map for hints on names, getters and setters.
Example in Metaforce:
void CActor::SetTranslation(const zeus::CVector3f& tr) {
x34_transform.origin = tr;
xe4_27_notInSortedLists = true;
xe4_28_transformDirty = true;
xe4_29_actorLightsDirty = true;
}
Would convert to:
void CActor::SetTranslation(const CVector3f& pos) {
x34_transform.SetTranslation(pos);
SetTransformDirty(true);
SetTransformDirtySpare(true);
SetPreRenderHasMoved(true);
}
Note that Metaforce had somewhat inaccurate names for these fields, and the real names for the setters were located in the demo map under SetTranslation__6CActorFRC9CVector3f
.
Metaforce almost exclusively uses enum class
, which isn't supported in C++98. These will be transitioned to standard enum
s with a prefix based on the enum name.
Metaforce example:
enum class EFluidState {
EnteredFluid,
InFluid,
LeftFluid,
};
Decomp:
enum EFluidState {
kFS_EnteredFluid,
kFS_InFluid,
kFS_LeftFluid,
};
Metaforce makes use of ranged-for and <algorithm>
, neither of which can be used in C++98.
Commonly, you'll see:
for (const SConnection& conn : x20_conns) {
if (conn.x0_state == state && conn.x4_msg != skipMsg) {
mgr.SendScriptMsg(x8_uid, conn.x8_objId, conn.x4_msg, state);
}
}
This will be converted to use rstl::vector<T>::iterator
or const_iterator
like so:
rstl::vector< SConnection >::const_iterator it = GetConnections().begin();
for (; it != GetConnections().end(); ++it) {
if (it->x0_state == state && it->x4_msg != skipMsg) {
mgr.SendScriptMsg(GetUniqueId(), it->x8_objId, it->x4_msg, state);
}
}
Though sometimes the original code will instead use an indexed for loop instead, which will generate different code.
A common thing you'll see in Metaforce are const
overloads for getters:
CWorld* GetWorld() { return x850_world.get(); }
const CWorld* GetWorld() const { return x850_world.get(); }
However, in retail, the standard is to use GetX()
for const and X()
for non-const, like so:
CWorld* World() { return x850_world.get(); }
const CWorld* GetWorld() const { return x850_world.get(); }