TanakaDOOM-cGcm Edition

A Doom port that runs on real PS3 hardware. Based on Chocolate Doom 3.1.0, using raw cellGcm API — no SDL, no OpenGL, just direct RSX GPU control.

Developed entirely through AI conversation (Claude/Anthropic) by a person with zero programming experience. 24+ chat threads over several months.

🇯🇵 日本語版README

Running on RPCS3 (PS3 emulator). The engine includes SPU support, but the current version uses PPU-only decoding as SPU does not work on real hardware yet.

Features

• Raw cellGcm rendering — No SDL. Direct RSX GPU API calls. 320×200 8-bit palette → ARGB32 → 1280×720 scaled output
• Full BGM — All 13 tracks via minimp3 PPU decoding, 44100Hz → 48000Hz resampling
• Sound effects — cellAudio event queue, DMX 8-bit/11025Hz/mono → float32/48000Hz/stereo, 8-channel simultaneous mixing
• 35fps stable — Improved from 0.45fps (80x speedup through timer, vsync, and render target fixes)
• Real hardware tested — CFW PS3 Slim CECH-2000A (Evilnat 4.92.2 CEX)
• RPCS3 compatible — XInput (Xbox controller) recommended
• Save/Load — 6 slots, auto map naming, data persists across PS3 reboot

Note: Both projects are based on different Doom source ports and share no code with each other.

How is this different from xttl's PS3 DOOM?

	xttl PS3 DOOM	TanakaDOOM-cGcm Edition
Base	Original Doom source	Chocolate Doom 3.1.0
Developer	Programmer	Zero programming experience + AI
Rendering	SDL-based	Raw cellGcm
BGM	None	All 13 tracks (PPU decode)
Save/Load	None	6 slots (persistent across reboot)
Development	Hand-coded	AI conversation (Claude)
Source available	Yes (zip)	Yes (GitHub)

Download

Download the pkg from Releases. Install directly on a CFW PS3.

Build Instructions

Requirements

• WSL2 (Ubuntu) or Linux
• PSL1GHT SDK
• DOOM1.WAD (Shareware)
• 13 BGM MP3 files

Get DOOM1.WAD

wget https://distro.ibiblio.org/slitaz/sources/packages/d/doom1.wad -O DOOM1.WAD

Prepare BGM MP3s

1. Extract MUS data from DOOM1.WAD (using deutex or similar)
2. Convert MUS → MIDI
3. Convert MIDI → MP3 (Bear Audio Tool, etc.)

Required files (13 tracks):

D_E1M1.mp3  D_E1M2.mp3  D_E1M3.mp3  D_E1M4.mp3  D_E1M5.mp3
D_E1M6.mp3  D_E1M7.mp3  D_E1M8.mp3  D_E1M9.mp3
D_INTER.mp3  D_INTRO.mp3  D_INTROA.mp3  D_VICTOR.mp3

Build

# PSL1GHT environment
export PSL1GHT=/path/to/PSL1GHT
export PS3DEV=/path/to/ps3dev
export PATH=$PS3DEV/bin:$PS3DEV/ppu/bin:$PS3DEV/spu/bin:$PATH

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/kan8223-dotcom/TanakaDOOM-cGcm.git
cd TanakaDOOM-cGcm

# Place DOOM1.WAD and MP3s in repository root
cp /path/to/DOOM1.WAD .
cp /path/to/mp3s/D_*.mp3 .

# Create build directory
mkdir -p build

# Binary embedding (WAD + MP3 + SPU ELF)
ppu-objcopy -I binary -O elf64-powerpc -B powerpc DOOM1.WAD build/DOOM1_WAD.o

for song in D_E1M1 D_E1M2 D_E1M3 D_E1M4 D_E1M5 D_E1M6 D_E1M7 D_E1M8 D_E1M9 D_INTER D_INTRO D_INTROA D_VICTOR; do
  lower=$(echo "$song" | tr 'A-Z_' 'a-z_' | sed 's/^d_//')
  ppu-objcopy -I binary -O elf64-powerpc -B powerpc ${song}.mp3 build/bgm_${lower}.o
done

# SPU ELF (unused in current PPU decode version, but required by Makefile)
spu-gcc -O2 -Wall -nostartfiles -nostdlib -I./source -o bgm_spu.elf source/bgm_spu.c
ppu-objcopy -I binary -O elf64-powerpc -B powerpc bgm_spu.elf build/bgm_spu_elf.o

# Build
make

# Create pkg (for real hardware)
make doom_ps3.pkg

Install on PS3

1. Copy doom_ps3.pkg to a FAT32 USB drive (root directory)
2. Insert into PS3 → XMB → Package Manager → Install
3. "TanakaDOOM-cGcm Edition" appears in Games → Launch

Test on RPCS3

RPCS3_DIR="/path/to/rpcs3"
mkdir -p "$RPCS3_DIR/dev_hdd0/game/TDCGCM01/USRDIR"
cp doom_ps3.self "$RPCS3_DIR/dev_hdd0/game/TDCGCM01/USRDIR/EBOOT.BIN"

Controller setup (important):

• Handler: XInput recommended
• Left Stick / Right Stick: Clear all bindings (prevents cursor runaway)
• L3 / R3: Clear

PS3-Specific Source Files

The Chocolate Doom core is mostly unmodified. These files were created or modified for PS3:

File	Description
i_doom_interface.c	Bridge between Doom engine and PS3. PS3 implementations of I_* functions
i_video_ps3.c	Raw cellGcm rendering. 320×200 8-bit → ARGB32 → 1280×720 scaling (HSYNC)
i_sound_ps3.c	cellAudio event queue. DMX → float32/48kHz resampling. 8ch mixing + BGM mix
i_music_ps3.c	BGM via minimp3 PPU decode + 44100→48000Hz resampling. Ring buffer
i_input_ps3.c	Controller input. Garbage value filtering, cooldown, timestamp-based KEYUP
i_system_ps3.c	Timer (sysGetCurrentTime), Sleep
p_saveg.c	Save/Load direct memory buffer for PS3 (no FILE* dependency)
g_game.c	PS3 save via sysFsWrite, load via sysFsRead
bgm_spu.c	SPU decoder (reference only — works on RPCS3 but times out on real hardware)
minimp3.h	Header-only MP3 decoder (CC0)
ps3_link_stubs.c	SDL function stubs
source/SDL/	Fake SDL headers (empty files to suppress include errors)

Architecture

Doom Engine (Chocolate Doom 3.1.0)
  │
  ├── Video:  I_VideoBuffer (320×200 8bit) → cellGcm (1280×720 ARGB32)
  ├── Audio:  DMX (8bit/11025Hz) → cellAudio (float32/48000Hz) + BGM (minimp3 PPU decode)
  ├── Input:  ioPad → garbage filter → Doom event
  ├── WAD:    ppu-objcopy static link → direct memory read
  └── BGM:    MP3 embedded via ppu-objcopy → minimp3 PPU decode → ring buffer → cellAudio mix

FPS Optimization History

Problem	FPS	Fix
sysGetSystemTime	0.45	Switched to sysGetCurrentTime
gcmSetWaitFlip	7	Removed
set_render_target every frame	18	First frame only
VSYNC	Capped at 30	Switched to HSYNC
nsec underflow	Stuck at 2	u64 carry handling
After all fixes	35 stable

Known Issues

• SPU BGM doesn't work on real hardware (root cause unknown, bypassed with PPU decode)
• Garbage pixels in letterbox area (no gameplay impact)
• Occasional phantom button presses

BGM Implementation History

• Thread 9: minimp3 on PPU → BGM plays but controller input goes haywire (PPU load interferes with DMA)
• Threads 11-20: Offloaded to 1 SPU → Works perfectly on RPCS3. Controller issue resolved
• Threads 21-22: Real hardware test → SPU never reaches code execution, times out → Reverted to PPU decode
• Conclusion: Xbox controller (XInput) eliminates pad issues even under PPU load. SPU issue is RPCS3-vs-real-hardware emulation gap

Development Blog (Japanese)

• 【狂気】2026年、PS3を開発する
• 【驚愕】AIでPS3を開発した記事、業界の人たちに見つかった
• 【狂乱】PS3のCellGcmでDOOMを動かしてみた
• 【狂喜】PS3のDOOMが実機で動いた。BGM付きで。

License

• Chocolate Doom: GPL v2 (LICENSE)
• minimp3: CC0 (public domain)
• DOOM1.WAD: id Software Shareware (freely distributable)
• PS3-specific code: GPL v2 (Tanaka + Claude/Anthropic)