2Xtreme for Mac

Play 2Xtreme (PlayStation, 1996), skating, biking, blading and snowboarding around the world, as a native Mac app. Bring your own disc: the app builds the game on your Mac from your copy, the first time you open it. No emulator setup and no BIOS file needed.

Status: early preview, built in public. First launch and the pause menu work; the rest of the roadmap is in docs/ROADMAP.md. Download the latest preview from Releases, or build it yourself (below).

How it works for players

1. Download 2Xtreme.zip from Releases, unzip it and drag 2Xtreme.app to Applications.
2. The app isn't notarized by Apple yet, so the first time macOS will refuse to open it. Open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway.
3. Choose (or drop) your 2Xtreme (USA) disc image. Use the .cue file so the music tracks come along.
4. Wait about 15 seconds while it prepares the game for your Mac. Then you're at the 2Xtreme intro. Later launches go straight to the game.

What you need: a Mac with Apple silicon on macOS 26 or later, and your own disc image of 2Xtreme (USA), SCUS-94508, as .cue + .bin (or a single .bin / .iso, without music). .chd isn't supported yet. You don't need Xcode, Apple's command line tools, Homebrew or Python.

In the game: press Esc (or ⌘,, the controller's Guide button, or Select + Start) to pause and open the menu: Resume, Picture (sharpness, textures, full screen), Sound (volume), Quit. Changes are remembered; picture changes show as soon as you resume.

Your files live in ~/Library/Application Support/2Xtreme/:

Folder	Holds
disc/	A copy of your disc image, so the game never loses it
game/	The game built from it, plus settings.toml
saves/	Memory cards (card1.mcd, card2.mcd)

To start over, quit and delete that folder.

What's done and what isn't

✅ First launch: disc check, preparing in ~15 s, straight in afterwards
✅ Pause menu in 2Xtreme's style (keyboard verified; controller still to test)
⏳ The game's own Options item opens the same menu	M4
⏳ Full speed everywhere, verified picture settings, maybe true widescreen	M5
⏳ Controller rebinding, rumble, Player 2, save states	M6
✅ Preview download (not notarized yet)
⏳ Signed, notarized release; older macOS versions	M7

Gameplay is the original. Experiments (16 racers, forced high-detail models) are developer-only and off.

Legal

You must own the original game. Nothing from the disc, no game code and no BIOS is in this repository or in the app: the game code is generated on your Mac from your own disc and stays there. The app runs on the bundled MIT OpenBIOS. psxrecomp is PolyForm Noncommercial, so releases are free.

For developers

Start with docs/HANDOFF.md. Project rules: docs/PRODUCT_RULES.md, design: docs/DESIGN_PRINCIPLES.md, player journey: docs/PLAYER_JOURNEY.md, why on-device building: docs/DISTRIBUTION_RESEARCH.md.

Build the app from source

You don't need the disc to build the app: it contains no game code and builds the game on first launch, like the download. You need an Apple silicon Mac on macOS 26+, Apple's command line tools (xcode-select --install), Homebrew and zig 0.16.0 (sha256 b23d70deaa879b5c2d486ed3316f7eaa53e84acf6fc9cc747de152450d401489), which the app bundles as its on-device compiler.

brew install cmake ninja freetype harfbuzz
git clone --recursive https://github.com/catsandsoup/2Xtreme-recomp.git
cd 2Xtreme-recomp
git -C psxrecomp apply "$PWD"/patches/psxrecomp/*.patch
ZIG_DIST=/path/to/zig-aarch64-macos-0.16.0 tools/macos/make_app.sh

The result is dist/2Xtreme.app (about 250 MB, a few minutes the first time). The script builds the runtime against a pinned SDL3 release, packs the SDK, recompiler and zig, signs ad hoc, and runs a release guard (no disc-derived data, no local paths, nothing that needs a newer macOS). Test hooks (fresh data folder, automatic disc pick, scripted menu input) are listed in the handoff.

Dev build with debug tools, from your own disc

The generated C stays local:

./psxrecomp/tools/ci/build_emitters.sh
python3 psxrecomp/psxrecomp_cli.py generate \
  --config game.toml --project-root . --disc disc/<your>.cue
cmake -S . -B build-release -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build-release --target psx-runtime

Built on psxrecomp and recomp-ui. Symbols: symbols.toml → python3 tools/sync_symbols.py → psx_symbols.h (see psxrecomp/docs/SYMBOLS.md).

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