A new update has been released for Xemu , the open-source emulator designed to play the original Xbox console on modern systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Born as a fork of XQEMU , which in turn is based on QEMU , Xemu uses a low-level emulation approach, directly replicating the original console hardware.

This method provides potentially superior compatibility to other Xbox emulators, such as Cxbx-Reloaded , although it does have some practical limitations.

The project continues to be actively developed to offer an experience ever more faithful to the original hardware.

The latest update saw several technical improvements, mostly focused on the continuous integration (CI) system and dependency maintenance.

Several GitHub Actions workflows have been updated, such as benc-uk/workflow-dispatch, actions/setup-python, softprops/action-gh-release, docker/build-push-actionand peaceiris/actions-gh-pages.

These updates improve the stability and security of the automated build process, as well as ensure more efficient code and version management.

In addition to workflow improvements, the team worked on updating key components for cross-compiling on Windows, such as Vulkan headers , SPIRV-Reflect , and glslang .

New automatic code formatting controls have been introduced via clang-format, integrated directly into the build system.

Some files have been reorganized to maintain code readability and maintainability, including changes in files related to the nv2a and mcpx subsystem .

Particularly noteworthy is the work on the mcpx/dsp module , which has been refactored as a separate library.

Basic tests have been added, minor bug fixes have been fixed, disassembly functionality has been restored, and the modular structure of the code has been improved by moving debug functions and register definitions into dedicated files.

Some debug messages ( DPRINTF) have been replaced with trace events more suitable for detailed analysis.

Finally, automated execution of Xbox-related tests has been started to further improve the reliability of the project, while the control system has been expanded to include Python tools such as python3-tomliand python3-pip, suggesting a potential future expansion of Xemu’s scripting or tooling capabilities.

Changelog

General

Continued development of the low-level emulation core for greater fidelity to the original Xbox hardware.
Improved code structure with numerous internal refactorings.

Testing and Automation (CI)

Added automatic testing for Xbox system.
Migrating linting controls into build.yml.
Added formatting control clang-formatand updated .gitignoreto include it.

Updated dependencies (via Dependabot)

benc-uk/workflow-dispatchupdated from 1.2.2 to 1.2.4.
actions/setup-pythonupdated from 5.1.0 to 5.5.0.
softprops/action-gh-releaseupdated from version 1 to 2.
docker/build-push-actionupdated from 5.4.0 to 6.15.0.
peaceiris/actions-gh-pagesupdated from 3.9.3 to 4.0.0.

Build System

Added configuration dependabotfor auto-updating GitHub Actions.
Updated containers for Windows builds.
Updated Vulkan headers , glslang , and SPIRV-Reflect to support the latest shader and compiler versions.

Source code

Renamed some headings ( *.inlin *.c.inc, methods.hin methods.h.inc) to improve clarity and organization.
Enabled bypass of formatting check on files with deliberate alignments in registers ( clang-format off).

MCPX / DSP

Complete refactoring of the module mcpx/dsp, now structured as an independent library.
Added basic tests for mcpx/dsp.
Introduced structural improvements: moved registers, debug and disassembly functions into dedicated headers and modules.
Replaced messages DPRINTFwith tracking events.
Dead code cleanup and minor formatting improvements.

Python & Tooling

Added packages python3-tomliand python3-pipas prerequisites for control or installation scripts.

Xemu Emulator Updates to Version 0.8.47

Changelog

General

Testing and Automation (CI)

Updated dependencies (via Dependabot)

Build System

Source code

MCPX / DSP

Python & Tooling

Links

MacOS

Linux

Windows

Source Code

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