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What was done
This project reverse-engineers the PS2 binary of Need for Speed: Underground 2 into native C++ and OpenGL for Linux. It replaces console emulation with native code, using original game assets to render graphics and logic.
The nfsu2-native project is a functional decompilation of the PlayStation 2 version of Need for Speed: Underground 2 (PAL v2.00, SLES_527.25). The author reverse-engineered the MIPS R5900 executable and rewrote the game logic as C++ code. The project avoids PS2 CPU, VU, and GS emulation, instead producing frames via an OpenGL pipeline with custom GLSL shaders. Audio is handled by an SDL2 mixer using the original sound banks. The project requires a user-supplied game disc to read ZDIR.BIN and ZZDATA*.BIN files at runtime. The repository contains no game code or assets. A modern presentation layer is included, featuring a 3D showroom, shader-based sky, and a re-skinned city, though these are toggleable. Commit history indicates extensive participation from Claude Sonnet 5.5 in decoding game data, such as road network chunks and implementing bWare stubs. The project is currently a playable prototype.
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