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Folklore (Game Republic / SCE, 2007) statically recompiled from its PS3 executable to native x86-64 Windows code with ps3recomp. There is no emulator: the game's PowerPC and SPU code is translated to C++ and runs on a runtime that stands in for the PS3's OS, with Direct3D 12 for graphics.

This repository contains no game code and no Sony code. You build the game yourself from your own disc; setup does the translation on your PC. No PS3 firmware is needed: the SPU job system the game runs on (SPURS) is reimplemented here (folklore/docs/SPURS.md).

Status: playable on the author's PC (Windows 11, Ryzen 7 7800X3D): it boots, does the first-boot install, and plays, including capturing Folks with the original motion controls. Expect rough edges. folklore/docs/STATUS.md is the full engineering log.

Extras over the PS3: 60 fps or unlimited frame rate (with physics stepped to match), up to 3x resolution, ultrawide, FXAA, anisotropic filtering, sharpening, borderless fullscreen, save backups.

You need both of these. Neither is in this repository and neither can be downloaded from it.

• Title ID BCUS98147 (North America) or BCES00050 (Europe), disc version 1.00. The code is translated from those exact executables; the Japanese release and the 1.10 update will not work. A build is made from one of the two and runs that one (folklore/docs/REGIONS.md).
• Dumped from your disc to a folder (the "JB folder" format RPCS3 uses): a folder that contains PS3_GAME\, with PS3_GAME\PARAM.SFO and PS3_GAME\USRDIR\EBOOT.BIN in it. Your dump is only ever read, never written to.

The dumped PS3_GAME\USRDIR\EBOOT.BIN is encrypted. Decrypt it with RPCS3: Utilities → Decrypt PS3 Binaries, choose that EBOOT.BIN. RPCS3 writes EBOOT.elf beside it — leave it there.

The decrypted file must be 6,518,936 bytes (BCUS98147) or 6,518,912 bytes (BCES00050); setup checks this.

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, a Direct3D 12 graphics card, and a CPU with AVX2 (x86-64-v3: Intel Haswell / AMD Zen or newer).
• About 30 GB free on the drive you clone to (tools, build files, and the game's own first-boot install of several GB).
• An internet connection for setup (it downloads its tools).
• A controller: any XInput pad, or for motion controls a DualShock 4, DualSense (or Edge), Switch Pro Controller (USB or Bluetooth, no extra software), or a DualShock 3 with DsHidMini in SXS mode.

Clone this repository (or download it as a ZIP and unzip it) somewhere with the space free — a short path such as D:\Folklore is best. Open PowerShell in that folder and run these one at a time:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\setup.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\build.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\run.ps1

1. setup.ps1 (15–30 minutes, once)
   • First it asks for your dump: a folder picker (choose the folder that contains PS3_GAME). It is checked; if something is wrong (still encrypted, wrong version) it says what and asks again. You can also pass it: .\setup.ps1 -GameDir D:\Games\BCUS98147
   • Then it runs on its own: downloads Git, CMake, Ninja, Python and FFmpeg into tools\, and — only if you have no Visual Studio with clang-cl — Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools (about 6 GB, one UAC prompt; the Visual Studio Installer always goes on C:).
   • Translates the game's code from your EBOOT.elf into folklore\src\recomp\ (about a minute). It stays on your PC.
   • Builds the ps3recomp runtime library.
2. build.ps1 compiles about 1.5 million lines of translated C++: roughly 10–30 minutes the first time on a modern 8-core CPU, incremental after that. Result: folklore\build\folklore.exe.
3. run.ps1 starts the game and writes logs\run-<date-time>.log. It uses the game folder you gave setup (saved in folklore_settings.ini), and the game's first boot copies several GB of data into hdd1\. run.bat does the same with a double-click (any run.ps1 options can follow it, e.g. run.bat -ResetInstall).

With both releases (an EU copy of this folder beside it, see Sharing what you built), .\build_all.ps1 builds this folder, brings the EU copy up to date and builds that too; then run.bat in either folder runs its build.

• Every step writes a log in logs\ (setup-*.log, build.log, run-*.log); the error message names the one to look at.
• setup can't find clang-cl after installing Build Tools: open Visual Studio Installer → Modify → Individual components → tick C++ Clang Compiler for Windows and MSBuild support for LLVM (clang-cl), then run setup.ps1 again.
• "EBOOT.BIN is still encrypted": decrypt it with RPCS3 as described above.
• "not a v1.00 EBOOT of a supported release": your disc is the Japanese release, or the EBOOT is from the 1.10 update. Only the v1.00 discs BCUS98147 and BCES00050 work.
• Both releases: a build follows the dump setup lifted. .\setup.ps1 -GameDir <dump of the other release> switches it (setup lifts the game code again, then build.ps1 rebuilds everything). To keep one of each, use two copies of this folder.
• setup and build are safe to re-run; each step skips what is already done.

Press L3 + R3 together (or F1) in game. D-pad / left stick or the arrow keys move, Cross / A or Enter changes a setting, Circle / B, Start or Esc closes. The game ignores the controller while the menu is open. Settings are saved to folklore_settings.ini.

• Frame rate: 30 fps (the game's own limiter), 60 fps or unlimited. Above 30 is experimental — the game was built for 30.
• Precise frame limiter: wakes every 1 ms instead of every 10 ms, so frames end on time (on by default).
• Motion controls (on by default): capture Folks by moving the controller, as on the PS3. Works with any controller that has motion sensors (below); a controller without them still captures by itself. Turn it off and every capture completes by itself, whatever the controller. The menu shows which controller is connected and whether its sensors are live.
• Physics: step physics by the frame time, which keeps cloth and hair stable above 30 fps (on by default).
• Language (European build only): English, French, Spanish, German or Italian, for the menus, text, subtitles and cutscene sound. The game picks its language as it starts, so a change applies on the next start. The North American disc only has English.
• Graphics
  • Fullscreen (borderless; Alt+Enter toggles it any time).
  • Render resolution: 1x (1280×720, the PS3's), 2x or 3x. Applies on the next start.
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9, match display, 21:9 or 32:9 — a wider field of view, not a stretched picture (menus and HUD are stretched). Next start.
  • Anti-aliasing (FXAA), Anisotropic filtering (up to 16x), Sharpening.
  • Build new shaders in the background (no hitch when an effect first appears).
• Game files: the game folder in use (change it here; it applies on the next start) and where the installed data and saves are.
• Performance overlay: fps, frame time and where the time goes.
• Save data snapshots: copy the game's saves to save_snapshots\ and put any snapshot back later, then load it from the game's own Load menu.

Escape closes the menu; it does not quit the game (use the window's close button or Alt+F4).

Folklore captures Folks with motion gestures. These controllers are read directly — buttons, sticks and the motion sensors — and take controller port 0 (an XInput pad takes the next port):

A controller presented as an XInput pad by another program (DS4Windows, Steam Input, DsHidMini in XInput mode) has no motion data. If DS4Windows hides the real controller (HidHide), the game cannot see it either; close it or let the game through. If two of these controllers are connected, the DualShock 3 is used, otherwise the first one found.

.\run.ps1 -GameDir D:\other\BCUS98147     # a different dump (otherwise the saved one)
.\run.ps1 -DevFlash D:\RPCS3\dev_flash    # firmware fonts (optional; or dev_flash= in the ini)
.\run.ps1 -ResetInstall                   # wipe hdd0/hdd1 and redo the first-boot install
.\run.ps1 -Verbose                        # very detailed logging (slow)
.\run.ps1 -Profile                        # report where the CPU time goes (every 10 s)
.\run.ps1 -Libsre                         # Sony's libsre instead of the port's SPURS, to compare (see below)
.\run.ps1 -InterpJobs                     # SPU jobs in the interpreter (A/B, slower)
.\run.ps1 -TraceSpurs                     # record what SPURS does (logs\spurs-*.trace; folklore/docs/SPURS.md)
.\build.ps1 -Clean                        # full rebuild
$env:AUDIO_LATENCY_MS = '48'; .\run.ps1   # more audio buffering if sound breaks up (default 32)

Start the game with run.bat / run.ps1: that is the tested way. A binaries package (package.ps1) includes them, with run.ps1 finding folklore.exe beside itself.

folklore.exe can also start without them (double-click it or a shortcut). It asks once for the game folder and remembers it, then does what run.ps1 does: it sets the same environment and starts the game as a second folklore.exe process, with its output going to logs\run-<date-time>.log. hdd0\, hdd1\, gamedata\ (saves), the shader cache and logs\ go beside the exe (or in data_dir from folklore_settings.ini). (Running the game in the first process instead, as earlier builds did, drew the title screen wrongly and stopped at a black screen.)

When something draws wrong, press F2 (or the PS button on a DualShock 3) while it is on screen, or double-click capture.bat. The next four seconds of draws go to logs\capture-<date-time>\.

Until October 2026 the port ran the game's SPU jobs on Sony's own SPURS library, lifted from each player's firmware. That is still possible, for checking the port's version against it:

1. Install the PS3 firmware into RPCS3 (File → Install Firmware).
2. Decrypt dev_flash\sys\external\libsre.sprx with Utilities → Decrypt PS3 Binaries.
3. Run .\setup.ps1 -LibsrePrx <the libsre.prx it wrote> (or -WithLibsre for a file picker), then build.ps1.
4. Run .\run.ps1 -Libsre.

-TraceSpurs records either one, and the two recordings compare (folklore/docs/SPURS.md).

.\package.ps1 -Kind BuildKit     # dist\Folklore-buildkit-<date>.zip: this repository's contents
.\package.ps1                    # dist\Folklore-<date>.zip: your built game, ready to run
.\package_all.ps1 -EuGameDir D:\Games\BCES00050
                                 # both releases: builds this folder (US) and an EU copy beside it
                                 # (Folklore-EU), then dist\Folklore-<date>.zip and Folklore-<date>_eu.zip

The build kit contains nothing from the game or the firmware — the same as this repository. The binaries package contains your folklore.exe, which is Folklore's code translated and compiled (plus Sony's libsre, if you lifted it for comparison): giving that to someone else distributes that code. Point people at this repository instead.

Created by the scripts and ignored by git: tools/, logs/, hdd0/, hdd1/, gamedata/, dist/, folklore/build/, ps3recomp/build/, the lifted sources and folklore_settings.ini.

• This project (scripts, port code, patches): MIT licence, see LICENSE.
• ps3recomp © Ned Heller / sp00nznet, MIT licence (ps3recomp/LICENSE).
• Dear ImGui © Omar Cornut, MIT licence (folklore/src/third_party/imgui).
• FFmpeg (LGPL) is downloaded by setup for the cutscenes; it is not part of this repository.
• Folklore is © Sony Interactive Entertainment / Game Republic. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sony or Game Republic, contains none of their code or data, and requires your own legally obtained copy of the game.