Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance Recomp

Native C++ static recompilation of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Game Boy Advance, USA) for Windows x64, built on the GBARecomp framework with the integrated native recomp-ui Dear ImGui player launcher.

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Architecture

This project adopts an Ahead-of-Time (AOT) static recompiler architecture:

• CPU Code Translation: ARM7TDMI (ARM / Thumb) cartridge instructions are translated offline into native C++ compilation units (src/game/).
• Silicon Emulation: The shared GBARecomp runtime handles hardware peripherals:
  • PPU: Tile modes, OBJ sprites, window layers, and color blending.
  • DMA / Timers / Interrupts / Keypad
  • APU / Direct Sound audio synthesis.
  • Flash512 Cartridge Save: 64 KiB flash device emulation (CASTLEVANIA1.00).
• Compilerless Player Runtime: Runtime on-the-fly compiler is disabled by default (GBARECOMP_SELFHEAL_RECOMPILE=0). Execution paths not yet statically mapped gracefully fall back to the built-in Stage-1 interpreter without requiring user development tools.

[!NOTE] Verification Scope: Verification covers BIOS boot, Konami logo, title screen, opening intro cutscene, character movement, status/equipment menus, and initial castle exploration in FULLY_STATIC recompiled mode. Full game completion across all endings and Boss Rush has not been exhaustively tested.

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Verified ROM & BIOS Requirements

This project is an open-source engine reimplementation and does not contain copyrighted game ROMs or BIOS files. You must provide your own legally obtained dumps:

Field	Value
Game	Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (USA)
Game Code	ACHE
ROM Size	8,388,608 bytes (8 MiB)
ROM SHA-1	b90da0d9be0b3a0893cd9e2c399056bcf9579e21
ROM CRC32	88C1B562
BIOS Size	16,384 bytes (16 KiB)
BIOS SHA-1	300c20df6731a33952ded8c436f7f186d25d3492
Save Type	Flash 512 Kbit (64 KiB, signature CASTLEVANIA1.00)

Strict SHA-1 validation is enforced on both the ROM and the BIOS before launch.

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recomp-ui Graphical Launcher

Double-click CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonanceRecomp.exe (or hod.exe) to launch the native Dear ImGui interface:

1. Game Page:
   • File pickers for ROM and GBA BIOS.
   • Real-time SHA-1 hash validation and file size checks.
   • Play, Skip Launcher, and Reset Settings buttons.
2. Input Page:
   • Keyboard and SDL2 GameController controller support.
   • Hotplugging and real-time button remapping.
   • Default Controls:
     • Movement: Arrow keys / WASD
     • Jump: Z (GBA A)
     • Attack / Confirm: X (GBA B)
     • Backdash: Q / A (GBA L)
     • Forward Dash / Subweapon: E / S (GBA R)
     • Pause Menu: Enter (GBA Start)
     • Map View: Right Shift / Backspace (GBA Select)
     • Fullscreen Toggle: Alt + Enter
3. Video Page:
   • 1x to 6x integer window scaling.
   • Aspect ratio preservation (3:2, native 240×160 resolution).
   • Windowed and fullscreen mode toggles.
4. Audio Page:
   • Master volume slider with instant feedback and persistent storage.
5. Configuration & Persistence:
   • Settings are stored portably in config.ini, keybinds.ini, rom.cfg, and bios.cfg.
   • Pass --launcher from the command line anytime to reopen the launcher.
   • Headless CLI parameters supported: --rom <path>, --bios <path>, --save <path>, --config <path>.

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Flash512 Save Support

• This game uses a Flash 512 Kbit (65,536 bytes) chip (type = "flash512"). It does not use SRAM.
• New saves default to saves/hod.sav.
• The launcher automatically discovers and preserves existing legacy saves in the executable directory (Castlevania - Harmony of Dissonance(US)(Konami)(64Mb).sav, hod.sav).
• The --save <path> parameter has highest priority.

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Developer Build Instructions

To build the executable from source using MinGW-w64:

# 1. Setup SDL2 SDK (optional if _sdl2 is present)
.\scripts\setup_sdl2.ps1

# 2. Build host executable with 2 parallel jobs (default)
.\scripts\build.ps1 -Jobs 2

# 3. Run launcher contract test
.\scripts\build.ps1 -BuildContractTest

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Third-Party Notices & Licenses

• Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is a registered trademark of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
• This recompilation project is released under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0 (see LICENSE).
• Third-party components (GBARecomp, recomp-ui, Dear ImGui, SDL2, toml++) are attributed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.