Mega Man X5 Recompiled — v0.0.1-alpha

The first public cut. Mega Man X5 boots from the real PlayStation BIOS and
plays as a native Windows program — no emulator behind it — on the
PSXRecomp framework, the same one behind
TombaRecomp and
MegaManX6Recomp. The game's MIPS code
is machine-translated ahead of time into native C and compiled into a real
Windows executable that runs on a faithful simulation of the PS1 hardware plus
the recompiled PS1 BIOS.

✨ Highlights — what works

• Boots and plays. PS1 BIOS → disc detect → engine load → opening → stage
  gameplay, with no known crashes.
• Intro cutscenes / FMV now decode and play. This is the headline of this
  release. The opening movies (CAPLOGO.STR / X5OP.STR, with BGM.XA audio)
  previously bailed out with zero decodes; a faithful CD read/seek-timing
  fix in the framework (the CD "data ready" cadence was firing too eagerly, so
  the movie player gave up before it decoded a frame) makes them play. This is
  what makes X5 release-worthy.
• Memory-card save / load. Standard PS1 .mcd / .mcr images,
  emulator-compatible.
• Controller input. MMX5 requires an analog-capable pad before it reads
  buttons, so the runtime presents a DualShock by default. Keyboard and SDL
  gamepads both work; per-player override in the launcher.
• Fast loading (turbo loads). Loads fast-forward the whole machine at full
  host speed while keeping authentic 1× guest CD timing (and audio) intact.
• FMV auto-skip toggle. Off by default so you see the now-working intro;
  flip it on in the launcher (Settings → "Skip FMVs") to skip movies the instant
  they start.
• Supersampling + anti-aliasing. Internal-resolution SSAA (1×–4×) with
  optional linear present filtering.
• Graphical launcher. Pick BIOS / disc / memory cards, verify the disc, and
  configure renderer, supersampling, and controller — choices persist between
  launches.
• Self-contained overlay toolchain. As you explore new areas the runtime
  converts the game's overlay code to native code in the background. That needs
  no developer tools installed — the release bundles a fully self-contained
  toolchain (embedded Python + TinyCC), so newly visited areas are accelerated
  on any machine.

⚠️ Known issues

• Not yet verified end-to-end. Gameplay works with no known crashes, but a
  full start-to-finish playthrough hasn't been confirmed — please report where
  it happened if you hit something deep in a stage or boss.
• OpenGL flicker → software is the default. The OpenGL renderer shows
  intermittent black-frame flicker in this build, so the clean software renderer
  ships as the default. OpenGL is still selectable in the launcher if you want
  to try it. See ISSUES.md.
• No widescreen this release. X5 ships 4:3 only. The true 2D wide
  field-of-view is not wired up yet — the background hook sites are located and
  documented but not implemented (see annotations/widescreen_bg2d_sites.md).

📝 Setup

• Bring your own PlayStation BIOS (SCPH1001.BIN) and Mega Man X5 (USA,
  SLUS-01334) disc image — the launcher asks for each. Verify your disc against
  DISC.md before reporting regressions. Use .cue + .bin (or .bin); do
  not convert to a 2048-byte "cooked" .iso — that discards the XA sectors
  the movies and audio stream from.
• Options live in the launcher's Settings and are remembered between
  launches.
• The overlay cache grows as you play; please keep overlay_captures.json
  private — it contains game code read from your disc (see README).