iss_pc/port/packaging/windows/README.md

inFAMOUS Second Son on Windows

The port builds and runs natively on 64-bit Windows 10 (1903+) / 11 with the same sources as on Linux. Players: see README-player.md (it ships in the package, pt-BR and en).

Build

Install MSYS2 (winget install MSYS2.MSYS2), open the MSYS2 CLANG64 shell and install the toolchain and libraries (the counterpart of shell.nix):

pacman -S --needed git patch \
  mingw-w64-clang-x86_64-{toolchain,cmake,ninja,pkgconf,python} \
  mingw-w64-clang-x86_64-{vulkan-headers,vulkan-loader,vulkan-memory-allocator,glslang} \
  mingw-w64-clang-x86_64-{sdl3,fmt,boost,robin-map,xxhash,ffmpeg,zydis} \
  mingw-w64-clang-x86_64-{spirv-tools,spirv-headers,spirv-cross}

magic_enum, miniz and xbyak (not packaged by MSYS2) are submodules under gpu/third_party/. Then, in the repository:

git submodule update --init --recursive
bash build.sh                      # out/tlg-probe.exe, out/tlg-gpu-capabilities.exe, out/tlg-play.exe
TLG_GAME_DIR=F:/path/to/CUSA00223 python run.py
python launcher/infamous_launcher_qt.py   # the Qt launcher (needs PySide6); infamous_launcher.py is the Tk one
bash packaging/windows/package.sh  # dist/infamous-windows-x86_64.zip: inFAMOUS Second Son.exe + DLLs

run.py is the Windows run.sh (same variables; works from a plain Windows Python too). The package freezes the launchers with PyInstaller (a private venv in out/pyenv, from a python.org Python) into inFAMOUS Second Son.exe (Qt) and inFAMOUS Second Son (classic).exe (Tk). Both also run the preparation scripts (--script) and the game without the window (--play): players need no Python. Play inFAMOUS Second Son.exe (packaging/windows/play.c) is a small native program that runs the launcher's --play from its folder and waits for it, for players who want to start the game directly with the saved settings. scripts/patches.py applies the built-in patches only to the game build they were checked against (by eboot.bin sha256; TLG_FORCE_PATCHES=1 overrides); other builds run unpatched. From a source tree it adds C:\msys64\clang64\bin (or $MSYS2_ROOT) to PATH for the DLLs.

The shared core also carries FSR 4 helpers in tools/ that inFAMOUS does not use. NVIDIA DLSS for renderer v2 needs two files the base package does not contain: NVIDIA's nvngx_dlss.dll (the launcher's "Download DLSS from NVIDIA" button fetches it from github.com/NVIDIA/DLSS after confirmation and checks NVIDIA's signature) and the optional bridge tlg_dlss.dll, built with MSVC and the player's copy of the SDK by packaging/windows/build_dlss.sh. Both go in <user data>/dlss; without them FSR 3.1 is used.

The launcher texts are in Portuguese (Brazil) and English (launcher/qt/i18n/strings.json, plus the Tk launcher's own table). The icon (launcher/infamous.ico/.png) is original art drawn by packaging/windows/make_icon.py and built into the executables and tlg-probe.exe (the game window).

What is different from Linux

Linux	Windows
mov rax, fs:[0] rewritten to gs:[0], GS base set with arch_prctl	GS is the TEB and cannot move. The loader rewrites the displacement to gs:[0x1480 + 8*slot] (the TEB's TlsSlots[slot], same 9-byte instruction) and each guest thread keeps its TCB in that TLS slot. The slot is claimed first thing in main (Vulkan drivers take many).
One memfd for direct + flexible memory, mmap(MAP_FIXED) views	A pagefile-backed section; the PS4 range 64 GiB–1 TiB is reserved as one placeholder and views replace placeholders (VirtualAlloc2/MapViewOfFile3, as in shadPS4). Partial unmaps split views and restore page protections (GPU tracking).
-no-pie, heap below 1 TiB	--disable-high-entropy-va: heaps and thread stacks stay low and out of the PS4 range.
SIGSEGV handler, sigsetjmp recovery	Vectored exception handler; tlg_setjmp/tlg_longjmp (src/compat_win.c) restore all Win64 callee-saved registers without SEH unwinding (guest frames have no unwind data; clang's __builtin_longjmp restores a wrong frame pointer on Win64).
Guest thread stacks from runtime_low_map	Windows allocates them, fully committed (pthread_attr_setstacksize): guest code has no stack probes and would skip the guard page. The main thread stack is 16 MiB committed.
glibc nanosleep, monotonic condition variables	High-resolution waitable timers (compat_sleep_ns; winpthreads' sleep rounds to 15.6 ms); semaphore deadlines use CLOCK_REALTIME (winpthreads rejects monotonic condition variables).
libtlggpu.so	libtlggpu.a, linked into tlg-probe.exe by CMake (gpu/CMakeLists.txt), with a manifest for UTF-8 paths and long paths.
execlp bash run.sh (in-game restart)	run.py puts its command line in TLG_RESTART_COMMAND; the new launch waits for the old process (--after PID). The launcher keeps the game in a job object.
Mod overlay with symlinks	Symlinks when allowed (Developer Mode), else junctions for folders and hard links for files.

Diagnostics added on the way: TLG_FRAME_DUMP_TRIGGER=<file> writes the guest display buffer and the presented image of the next frame to TLG_DUMP_DIR (raw 32-bit pixels), which also works for menus and movies.

Not ported: the watchdog/--timeout thread dumps (Linux signals), userfaultfd tracking (TLG_UFFD), MangoHud, PGO (GCC flags) and the tests/ programs (several use Linux-only APIs).

Launchers in the package (Qt default, Tk "classic")

package.sh now freezes two launchers into the same folder with packaging/launcher.spec: inFAMOUS Second Son.exe is the Qt Quick launcher (PySide6-Essentials, pinned by PORT_QT_PACKAGE in packaging/port.env) and inFAMOUS Second Son (classic).exe is the Tk one, kept as a fallback. Both are windowed and share their DLLs. The Qt data (qml, fonts, i18n, icon) is added by the spec under qt\; unused Qt modules, Controls styles, translations and platform plugins are trimmed (see docs/QT_PACKAGING.md). "inFAMOUS Second Son.exe" --selftest opens the QML offscreen, renders one frame and writes selftest ok to the file in ISS_SELFTEST_OUT (a windowed exe has no console); the CI runs it after Package. Estimated size: the zip grows by 55-70 MB.

Status on Windows

Players have tested the Windows package (the occlusion fix for headlights and light glare was confirmed on Windows). Windows-specific points, all described in the top-level README.md:

• Saves and settings live in user/ next to the game by default; the launcher can move them to a fixed folder (suggestion Documents\inFAMOUS-PC), remembered in %APPDATA%\inFAMOUS-PC\launcher.json. ISS_USER_DIR overrides it.
• Logs go to out\logs\run-*.log; the Support screen builds a report without personal paths.
• Red-zone protection (crash at 0x1cfaaf, #29/#41) is on by default on Windows (ISS_RED_ZONE_REWRITE=0 turns it off).
• AMD's Windows driver: tiny BC textures are decoded on the CPU (ISS_BC_TINY). RX 580 / Polaris still crashes in amdvlk64.dll+0xebbbb (#31, #49, #59, #65, #67, #81): cause under investigation; try ISS_BP09=1 and the latest driver.
• The executables are not digitally signed: Windows shows "Windows protected your PC" (More info, Run anyway).