Project Nativ
PC port of Killzone: Mercenary
- RecompilationPort Type
- TheLostPantheonDeveloper
- 3 Nov 2026Page Updated
Details
- Developer
- TheLostPantheon
- Port Type
- RecompilationA tool translated the game's original machine code into C automatically, which was then built as a native PC program.
- AI Use
- AI-assistedThe project says: “much of its code and documentation was written with AI assistance, under its developer's direction, and tested on the games themselves.” Source
- Source Code
- GitHub
- Support the Developer
- Ko-fi
- Page Updated
Platform Support
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
Screenshots
Overview
Project Nativ turns PS Vita games into native programs for Windows, Linux and macOS. A static recompiler translates a game’s ARMv7 code, Thumb-2, VFP and NEON included, into C once, ahead of time, and that C is compiled into a program for the player’s computer. Sony’s own libraries that the game loads are recompiled with it from the player’s firmware file, and a runtime stands in for the Vita’s kernel and hardware, running the game’s threads, drawing its graphics on the PC’s GPU and playing its sound.
Nothing of the games or of Sony’s software ships with it. The launcher decrypts the player’s own games and the firmware update file from Sony’s site, and builds each game on their machine. Each game has a pack that knows the exact releases it plays: the US releases of Killzone: Mercenary (1.00 and 1.12, the version for Botzone and online play), Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Unit 13 and Shovel Knight. Other regions and later updates of some of these are not supported yet, and every release so far is a public beta.
Depending on the game, the ports add higher resolutions, wider screens, 60 FPS and mouse aiming that the Vita never had. The developer says much of its code and documentation was written with AI assistance and tested on the games themselves.
How to Set It Up
- Download the Windows zip, the Linux AppImage or the macOS disk image.
- On Windows, unzip it outside Program Files and run
Project Nativ.exe. On Linux, make the AppImage executable and open it. On a Mac, drag Project Nativ into Applications. - In the first-run steps, choose the PS Vita system software update file (
PSVUPDAT.PUP) you downloaded from Sony, then add your games and their updates. - Pick a game and play. Nativ recompiles it on your computer the first time, and again once after each Nativ update.
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What's new in v0.1.5Public Beta v0.1.5
What’s new
- Killzone: Mercenary: takedowns no longer freeze at 60 fps. When an enemy started a close-combat takedown on you at 60 fps, you could both freeze in place for a couple of seconds, with no swipe prompts. Fixed for Botzone and the campaign.
- Uncharted: Golden Abyss on AMD graphics cards. With render scale 2x and Full-resolution world on, the world showed striped, scrambled textures on AMD GPUs. Fixed.
- Uncharted: no more black screen after saving. After the prologue, the game could sit on a black screen.
- Killzone: Mercenary’s HUD no longer flickers at 60 fps.
- Controller layout chosen at the start. In Killzone: Mercenary, with a controller connected, a card at the start offers Standard (the touch controls, with keyboard, mouse and controller) or PS TV (the game’s own controller layout). Tick Remember my choice to skip it next time. Change it in the menu under Game › Controller layout.
- Linux: games build again. v0.1.3 and v0.1.4 couldn’t build games on Linux. Every release is now checked by building every game first.
- Lighter on the processor. Less work per frame on every system, and on Macs a big saving in Low Power Mode on battery.
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