Armored Core: Master of Arena

Static recompilation of Armored Core: Master of Arena built on psxrecomp and recomp-ui.

This is an owned-input setup kit. You supply your own SLUS-01030, SLUS-01081 2 disc images and your own SCPH-1001 (USA) BIOS dump; first-run setup generates and compiles the game on your machine. The kit and its release archives contain no game disc, retail BIOS, generated game code, or saved game.

Region	USA
Disc serials	SLUS-01030, SLUS-01081
Discs	2
Supported dump	Redump Armored Core - Master of Arena (USA) (Disc 1).cue, Armored Core - Master of Arena (USA) (Disc 2).cue as CUE/BIN or CHD
BIOS	SCPH-1001 (USA), 524288 bytes, SHA-256 71af94d1e47a68c11e8fdb9f8368040601514a42a5a399cda48c7d3bff1e99d3

Setup

1. Download the setup ZIP for your platform from Releases and extract it into a writable folder.
2. Start Armored_Core_Master_of_Arena (.exe on Windows).
3. In the setup wizard select your 2 disc images (the Redump CUE, or a CHD of the same dump) and your BIOS file.
4. Run Generate & rebuild and wait for the game to start. The first run compiles the game and takes several minutes.

On Windows the wizard downloads the portable build tools (cmake-clang-v1) or uses cmake/ninja already on PATH. On Linux and macOS install CMake, Ninja, Python 3, and a C/C++ compiler first. Keep a CUE and every file it references together. Setup starts with Disc 1; later discs are selected when the game asks for them. Setup produces both a normal and a diagnostic build; see Diagnostic mode below.

Retro Launcher

You can run this title standalone (release zip + the built-in recomp-ui Generate & Build flow), or manage installs, updates, ROM/BIOS wiring, and queued builds more intuitively with Retro Launcher — the Retro Compilation Manager hub for self-compiling recomps.

Downloads · Full README & features

Retro checks for updates, rebuilds with existing build data when possible, shares the portable toolchain used by per-title launchers, and automates BIOS/ROM/save plumbing so you are not stuck repeating each game’s wizard by hand.

Status

Version 0.1.0 release candidate.

• Windows: the exact setup package passed automated clean-extract setup, generation, compilation, and a headless start check on the pinned framework.
• Windows play testing on the private build this kit derives from: reported Playable at the first operator tally (September 12, 2026).
• Linux and macOS: packages are built by CI from the same recipe; native setup and gameplay have not been verified.

Full-game completion, audio fidelity, and multiplayer are not claimed. Runtime snapshots from older builds are not qualified compatible; ordinary memory-card saves are preserved across updates.

Known issues

• A seam artifact reported during play testing is under separate investigation and is not addressed in this release. PGXP stays off by default.
• Disc changes during play have not been qualified on the recompiled build; setup and start were verified with Disc 1.

Diagnostic mode

If the game crashes, freezes, or misbehaves, switch to the diagnostic build that first-run setup already produced (no recompiling): create an empty file named diagnostic-mode.txt next to Armored_Core_Master_of_Arena.exe and start the game as usual, or run Armored_Core_Master_of_Arena.exe --diagnostic. Reproduce the problem, quit, then run Armored_Core_Master_of_Arena.exe --collect-diagnostics: it writes diagnostics-<date>.zip next to the exe. Attach that zip to a GitHub issue on this repository with a short description of what you did. The zip holds only the runtime's report files, never saves, BIOS, or disc images. Delete diagnostic-mode.txt to go back to normal mode. Details: psxrecomp/docs/DIAGNOSTIC_MODE.md.

Legal

You must own the original game. Disc images under disc/ are gitignored and must never be committed. Retail BIOS dumps are not redistributed and OpenBIOS is not shipped: this title is retail-BIOS-only, so first-run Generate needs your own legally dumped SCPH-1001 image.

Default app icon: assets/psxrecomp.ico (and .png / .svg) — Retro-themed controller mark from psxrecomp/assets/. Windows builds embed it via APP_ICON.

Box art is not shipped in this kit or its repository. Redistribution permission for third-party cover images is unresolved, so the launcher runs without one.

About this project

This project was developed with AI assistance. AI assists with code, documentation, and investigation; Alex tests the game and makes release decisions. Validation claims describe only the tests actually performed.

Credits and licenses

Framework: psxrecomp, built from the pinned fork commit named by the psxrecomp submodule. Launcher: recomp-ui, pinned by the recomp-ui submodule. This kit's own files are under LICENSE; third-party notices are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md, and the framework and launcher licenses remain in their source directories. The original game and its trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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