Hydro Thunder Hurricane: Recompiled

A native PC build of the Xbox 360 game Hydro Thunder Hurricane, produced by static recompilation with the rexglue SDK. The game's PowerPC code is translated ahead of time into native x86-64, so this is a real port rather than an emulator running the original executable.

No game content is included, and none ever will be. You supply the files from your own legally obtained copy. See Game files.

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What this build adds

Everything here is beyond what the Xbox 360 release could do:

Feature	Description
Uncapped frame rate	The console was locked to 30. Run it as fast as your hardware allows, or cap it to any refresh rate you like.
Any output resolution	1080p, 1440p, 4K. The game's own scene render target is a fixed size, so raising the output resolution costs essentially nothing - measured identical frame times from 1080p to 4K.
Higher internal resolution	A separate scale for the 3D scene itself, for when you do want to spend the GPU time.
16x anisotropic filtering	Sharpens the surface ahead of you. Nearly free on any modern GPU and the single best-looking change available.
In-game settings menu	Press F5. Display, Graphics, Audio, Input, Game and Fixes, with search and per-tab reset. No config editing.
Frame rate overlay	Press F6 for frame rate, frame time, a history graph and worst-frame tracking.
Mouse & keyboard support	Optional, alongside full controller support.
Modern display handling	V-Sync or tearing/VRR, letterboxing, safe-area cropping, output dithering, monitor selection.

Getting started

1. Extract the release.
2. Run the executable.
3. It asks for your copy of the game and unpacks it. This happens once.

Settings, saves and the shader cache are all kept next to the executable, so the whole install stays portable - move the folder and everything comes with it.

Game files

You must provide the game's files yourself, from a copy you own.

The first time you run it, the game walks you through this:

1. A message explains that no game content is included.
2. A file picker asks for your Hydro Thunder Hurricane package. Hydro Thunder Hurricane was a digital title, so this is a single file whose name is a long string of hex characters, with no file extension.
3. The package is unpacked into a game_data folder beside the executable. This takes a moment and only happens once. DLC is not supported yet - see Known limitations.

After that the game starts, and every later launch goes straight to the title screen.

About the game executable

The executable inside a retail package is encrypted and compressed, and the game cannot run it in that state - it would reach the title screen and then close as soon as you press Start.

This is handled for you. xextool.exe ships alongside the game, and the conversion happens automatically during setup - you will just see a short message saying it was done. The check runs on every launch, so a game_data folder you assembled by hand gets converted too.

If you ever need to do it yourself, the command is:

xextool -c u -e u -o default.xex default.xex

If you have a different kind of dump

The picker expects the packaged form. If your copy is already extracted into loose files, skip the prompts entirely by creating the folder yourself before first launch:

Hydro Thunder Hurricane Recompiled/
├─ hydrothunder.exe
├─ rexruntimerd.dll
└─ game_data/
   ├─ default.xex        <- required
   ├─ Base.apf
   ├─ Audio/
   ├─ Video/
   └─ ...

default.xex has to sit at the top level of game_data, with the rest of the game's files and folders beside it as they are laid out in your copy. When that folder is present the game boots straight into the title screen and never asks.

This project does not provide, and will not help you obtain, game files you do not already own.

Controls

Xbox controllers work out of the box. Mouse and keyboard can be enabled under Input in the settings menu.

Key	Action
F5	Settings menu
F6	Frame rate overlay
F4	Advanced view: every setting the engine exposes, by raw name
F3	Engine debug overlay
`	Console

Key bindings are rebindable in the advanced dialog (F4) under Input/Keybinds.

Settings worth knowing

• Resolution (Display) sets the output size and is effectively free. This is the one to raise.
• Internal resolution scale (Graphics) is the expensive one - it multiplies the cost of the 3D scene, and 2x measures roughly 8x the GPU time. Raise it one step at a time.
• Frame rate (Display) switches between uncapped and capped; the refresh rate is typed in directly rather than dragged on a slider.
• Anisotropic filtering (Graphics) is the best value in the panel.

Settings are written to hydrothunder.toml beside the executable when the panel closes. The file is merged rather than rewritten, so any comments and hand-edits you add to it survive.

Building from source

Requires CMake 3.25+, Ninja, and Clang - rexglue requires Clang, so MSVC is not supported. On Windows the toolchain that ships with Visual Studio's "C++ Clang tools for Windows" component works.

cmake --preset relwithdebinfo
cmake --build --preset relwithdebinfo -- -j3

The recompiled C++ is committed under generated/, so building does not need the game. Only running it does.

Keep the job count modest. The generated translation units are large and each one can take 1-2 GB in the compiler; an unbounded --parallel will exhaust memory on a 16 GB machine.

Known limitations

• DLC is not supported yet - planned for 1.1.0. Installing it makes the game crash after booting, so the option is switched off rather than shipped broken. The base game is unaffected.

Credits

• rexglue SDK - the recompilation SDK this project is built on.
• Xenia - whose Xbox 360 research underpins much of the tooling this ecosystem relies on.
• XEXTool by xorloser - bundled with this release and used to convert the game executable during setup. All credit for that tool goes to its author; it is included unmodified.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is the property of its respective owners. This project is an unofficial, non-commercial port and is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.