Shiloh

English | Русский

Shiloh is an open-source engine that runs The X-Files Game (1998, PC, HyperBole Studios / Fox Interactive) on current systems, from the player's own copy of the game. It is written in Rust and has two front ends: a native window (SDL2) and a browser version (WebAssembly, served from your own machine).

It is independently written: the original game was run and traced scene by scene, and the engine was rebuilt to do what the original does. It contains none of the original program's code; the few tables it needs from the game's executable are read from your own copy at run time.

No game data is included. You need your own copy of The X-Files Game — the original discs, a disc image of them, or an installed game. Shiloh reads the files from that copy on your machine; it downloads nothing and distributes nothing of the game.

Status

• The game can be played from start to finish: complete playthroughs have been done in the browser version on both the English DVD Edition and the Russian 1.00 release, and on the German 7-CD release.
• The engine was developed and checked against the Russian 1.00 release (an installed copy). The retail CDs are untested.
• The English DVD Edition runs directly from its disc image (.iso, or the Alcohol .mdf / .mds pair the DVD is often imaged as). Its game program is a later build (2.05) than the Russian 1.00 one: Shiloh reads that build's tables (computer, phone, notes, cheats, cursors) from your copy, and its data adds about 500 objects to the Russian release's. Checked without a window: New Game and the opening, the dialogue box, Russian 1.00 saves loading on the English data, and a replay of the whole recorded playthrough (recorded on the Russian release), which matches where the two releases' data match. Where the 2.05 program itself behaves differently from 1.00 (for example the order of the note pad's days), Shiloh does what 1.00 does.
• The Russian release as a single DVD image (.iso) runs directly too. On that disc the game's database, program and fonts exist only inside its installer (Setup.exe); Shiloh reads them straight out of the installer archive, in memory, so nothing has to be installed first and nothing is written next to the image. The files it gets are identical to an installed Russian 1.00 copy. Checked without a window: the main menu and New Game with the opening.
• The German retail release on 7 CDs (hybrid Mac/PC discs) runs from its images: give all seven, or the folder that holds them (one sub-folder per disc is fine). Its program is another build (1.00.19); Shiloh reads that build's tables too, so New Game, the computer, phone, cheats and e-mail replies work as on the other releases. German is the only language there. The German movies have no subtitles of their own: Settings offers English subtitles only if you also have the English release (an English subtitle pack made with xf-prep --en-subs, or --en-data). Played through from start to finish.
• The English retail CD release runs from its images too (played in a window from CD 1–2 only; all seven discs not tested). Its program and database are the same files as the Russian 1.00 release's; Shiloh tells the language by the game's text resources. Other CD releases are untested.
• With the English DVD alone, English is the only language: the subtitles are the movies' own English captions (F3 or Settings → Subtitles: on; off by default, as in the game), no Russian options. With both an English and a Russian copy, Shiloh can switch the game language and show English subtitles over the Russian release.
• The French edition on the same DVD image (its Francais folder): English stays the default; French is the second game language (F4, Settings → Game language, --game-lang fr, or ?game-lang=fr in the browser) with French voices, movies, texts and interface pictures. The folder alone also works (--data /path/to/Francais). Its program and database are the English DVD's very files. The game has been played through in French from start to finish (in the browser, the Russian release with this image as --en-data). Its movies carry no French subtitles (only a few English sound-effect captions), and two movies of the English folder are missing from the French one (with the image Shiloh plays the English ones there). Given as --en-data beside the Russian release, the image offers both its English and its French.
• Platforms: built and played on macOS (Apple Silicon). The Windows build has been run on a Windows PC (starting it by dropping a disc image onto xf.exe). Linux is untested. The browser version needs a current browser with WebAssembly; played through in Firefox.
• Expect bugs. Where the port's behaviour differs from the original game, a report with the place in the game and what the original does there is very welcome.

Features

• Native window with scaling options (AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0, linear, nearest), window or full screen, and a settings screen (F10).
• Browser version: the engine runs in a Web Worker; a small local server (xf-serve) serves the page and your game files. Saves can stay on that server or in the browser, and can be moved between the browser and the window.
• Subtitles: English subtitles taken from your own English copy (with the English DVD as the game data, straight from its movies). Russian subtitles from a translation table you supply (nothing of it ships with Shiloh). F3 switches captions on and off.
• Game language switch (F4) through every language of the copies you give: the game data's own plus every language folder of the discs (the Russian release with the English DVD Edition image: Russian, English and French). The settings name each language's edition and source (file or folder name).
• Controller support (Xbox / PlayStation pads, Steam Deck) in the window and the browser: the left stick moves the pointer (freely, or resting at the centre as on the PlayStation version), the D-pad jumps to the next thing to click, A / B click (see port/README.md for the full map). Firefox on macOS gets no input from a DualShock 4 over Bluetooth; use Chrome or Safari, a cable, or the window.
• Saves use the original game's save-file format.
• The game's QDesign (QDMC) music tracks are converted once with your own ffmpeg (xf-prep); everything else, including all video, is decoded by Shiloh itself.
• The original game's hidden cheat codes, logins and debug keys work: see EASTER-EGGS.md (spoilers).
• For developers: a hotspot overlay (F1) and a headless mode that writes frames to a directory (--frames N --dump DIR).

Downloads

Ready-made builds are on this repository's GitHub Releases page, one archive per platform: shiloh-<version>-macos-universal.zip (Apple Silicon and Intel), shiloh-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip, shiloh-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz, and shiloh-<version>-web.zip (the browser front alone, for hosting it yourself). SHA256SUMS lists their checksums. You still need your own copy of the game; no archive contains any of it.

Each archive holds xf (the window), xf-serve (the browser version's local server; its page is in web/ next to it), xf-prep (the one-time music conversion), and the license files.

Windows: just drag your disc image (.iso / .mdf) or game folder onto xf.exe.

Starting the game:

1. Unpack the archive and double-click xf (xf.exe on Windows). The first time, it asks for your copy of the game: choose the disc image (select every disc of a multi-disc set) or the game folder. The choice is remembered, so after that a double-click starts the game.
2. Or put the disc image(s) or the installed game folder next to xf (or in a folder beside it): it finds them there by itself, the English DVD Edition first when there are several copies.
3. On macOS or Linux you can also start it from a terminal with the path: ./xf /path/to/your-dvd.iso. On macOS, double-clicking xf in the Finder opens it in Terminal.
4. --data still works and wins over everything else: ./xf --data /path/to/your/game or ./xf-serve --data /path/to/your/game. The options are the same as below.

xf-serve looks for the game the same way (no dialog: it prints what to do when it finds nothing) and, started with a double-click, opens the game's page in your browser. If something goes wrong after a double-click or a drop, xf shows the error in a message box.

• macOS: the builds are not signed. After unpacking, clear the download quarantine once: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine shiloh-<version>-macos-universal. Needs macOS 11 or later.
• Windows: the builds are not signed, so SmartScreen may warn on first start ("More info", then "Run anyway").
• Linux: built on Ubuntu 22.04 (glibc 2.35 or newer). SDL2 is built in; the system's X11 or Wayland, OpenGL and ALSA / PulseAudio libraries are used at run time.
• SDL2 is linked into the window binary on every platform; nothing else needs installing (ffmpeg only for xf-prep).

The macOS build is the one played through; the Windows build has been run on a Windows PC. The Linux archive is built by CI but has not been tried yet.

What you need

• Your own copy of the game: a disc image (.iso, .mdf, .bin / .img) or the disc itself, or an installed game directory (the one holding XFiles.hdb, XFiles.gam, XV/, XS/). These disc images work on their own, with no installation: the English DVD Edition (e.g. as an .mdf / .mds image) and the Russian release as a DVD .iso image (see Status). For discs that keep the game files only inside an InstallShield archive, install the game once and pass that folder.
• Rust (stable, via rustup).
• SDL2 for the native window, found through pkg-config (macOS: brew install sdl2 pkg-config). Not needed for the browser version.
• Optional: ffmpeg, for the one-time music conversion (xf-prep).
• Optional: the wasm32-unknown-unknown target for the browser version (rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown).

Build and run

Native window:

cd port
cargo run --release --bin xf -- --data /path/to/your/game

--data takes a game directory or a disc image directly, e.g. --data /path/to/your-dvd.iso or --data /path/to/XFILES1.mdf.

Music (one time, needs ffmpeg; without it the QDMC tracks stay silent):

cd port
cargo run --release --bin xf-prep -- --data /path/to/your/game

Browser version:

port/web/build.sh                       # builds port/web/www/pkg/xf_web.wasm
cd port
cargo run --release --no-default-features --bin xf-serve -- --data /path/to/your/game
# open http://127.0.0.1:8640/ and click the start screen

xf-serve listens on 127.0.0.1 only by default. Do not expose it to the internet: it would serve your copy of the game to other people.

English subtitles, the English game language, the settings file and all options: port/README.md and port/web/README.md. Keys: Esc opens the game's menu (save / load), F1 hotspots, F3 captions, F4 game language, F10 settings, F11 full screen.

Working on Shiloh

• CONTRIBUTING.md: building, testing, how to propose a change, what must never be committed.
• docs/architecture.md: how the code is organised.
• docs/glossary.md: the engine's terms.

Source comments cite research ids such as H1234 (a hypothesis) or C301 (a behaviour confirmed on the original). They refer to the project's research notes, which are not part of this repository. Many tests need the game data (--data / XF_DATA, or data/InstalledGame/ at the repository root) and skip when it is missing; some also read traces of the original that are not published, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Disclaimer

Shiloh is an unofficial fan project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Interactive, HyperBole Studios, or any other rights holder of The X-Files Game. "The X-Files" is a trademark of its owner; it is used here only to identify the game this engine is compatible with. The game itself, its video, music, pictures and text are the property of their owners and are not part of this project.

Acknowledgements

• The HyperBole Studios team, who made the game and the VirtualCinema engine.
• Zeffuro, for the X-Files PC enhancement patch; its save container code is the basis of port/src/neodb.rs (MIT, see port/LICENSE-THIRD-PARTY).
• mthcore, for the x-files-game research on the game's database format.
• The FFmpeg project and MultimediaWiki, whose format descriptions (QuickTime, Apple RPZA, Cinepak, IMA ADPCM) made the video and sound decoders possible.

License

Shiloh is licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE)
• MIT License (LICENSE-MIT)

at your option. Third-party notices: port/LICENSE-THIRD-PARTY; the programs print them with --licenses, and the browser version links them from its bottom bar.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in Shiloh by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.