FAQ
Looks good — how can I play it?
Head to the Downloads page. You need two things from there — the installer (on GitHub) and the remastered asset pack for each game you want — plus your own discs. Drop the disc images into a folder, run install.bat (install.sh on a Steam Deck), and it builds the game on your machine — a shortcut on your desktop, or a game in your Steam library on the Deck.
Wait — no emulator? How does that work?
The games are recompiled. The installer reads the program off your own disc and translates every instruction of it into C ahead of time, then compiles that into a normal program for Windows or SteamOS. The PlayStation's chips — graphics, sound, CD drive, movie decoder — are rebuilt in software around it. Nothing emulates a console while you play, and none of the game's code or data is in any download: it all comes from your discs.
Is it finished?
Every disc of both games is in, with the remaster on top. Both games have been play-tested by automated AI players across every disc, through to their endings — but a few stretches were only covered by automated exploration, so expect the odd bug. When you hit one, tell me at [email protected].
I'm not new to IT, decomps, design or coding — can I contribute?
The port's own code is on GitHub under the MIT licence, so you can fork it, change it and take it wherever you like. I can't promise to coordinate contributors or get to every pull request — but carrying the work further is exactly what it's shared for.
I have my own ideas and would like to see more — how can I share feedback?
Any constructive feedback is welcome — just send it to [email protected].
Do I need the original game discs to play it?
Yes — your own discs, all four of each game: the USA releases, and Fear Effect 2 must be version 1.1. Images as BIN/CUE (or raw .bin/.img). You don't need a PlayStation BIOS: the port brings its own.
How faithful is the remaster? Why do some scenes look different?
Faithful where the source allows, reinterpreted where it doesn't. The originals are 320×160 pre-rendered video, so for scenes with almost no detail to work from, the redraw invents plausible detail instead of leaving it mushy. A deliberate ~15% of rooms also use a palette and shading I preferred over the original lighting. Expect faithful in spirit and sharper — not a pixel-perfect 1:1 restoration. Some rooms I think beat the original; a few are still being reworked.
I spotted an error — a mistranslated sign, a missing button, an off color.
Fair. This is one person's AI-assisted project, not a studio restoration, and the hardest scenes (tiny text, fine UI) sometimes come through wrong. I fix the ones I catch; some slip. Spotted one? Send it to [email protected].
Which platforms and devices are supported?
Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) and the Steam Deck (SteamOS 3). Both games run as native programs on each — on Windows you need a graphics card with OpenGL 3.3, and on a weaker one you can lower the internal resolution in the settings.
Can I play it on my Steam Deck?
Yes — natively, as a SteamOS program, not through Proton. Install it in Desktop Mode by running install.sh: it builds the games from your discs and adds them to your Steam library with cover art. Then play in Game Mode. The controls are mapped for the Deck (the View button toggles the remaster, View + bumpers save and load states), and the games start with settings made for its screen and GPU.
How much space do I need?
The asset packs take about 17 GB for Fear Effect and 28 GB for Fear Effect 2 once unpacked, plus your disc images — on a Steam Deck, plan for about 21 GB and 33 GB of free space (internal storage or an SD card). The installer also downloads its build tools once: about 200 MB on Windows (Python, a C compiler, SDL2 and FFmpeg), about 65 MB on the Deck, which already has the rest.
Where can I get it, and how are updates delivered?
Everything is on the Downloads page — the installer on GitHub, the asset packs on two mirrors, Cloudflare and Google Drive. Updates land in the same places: grab the new version of the repository (or a new pack), run install.bat (or install.sh on the Deck) again, and it rebuilds the game. Your saves, save states and settings are kept.