Projects

PowerVR SGL Wrapper

Created on 2015-01-12 by Tuxality, last modified on 2026-01-29

SGL wrapper allows to run native PowerVR games on generic GPU on modern systems without the need for real PCX1/PCX2 or any PowerVR related card.

Current features

PowerVR SGL Direct API implementation
PowerVR SGL high-level API stub
DirectDraw API implementation
Two-pass batched rendering
Multiple renderers available such as OpenGL 2.x and Direct3D 11 backend
Upscaling to custom resolution (aspect ratio or forced resolution)
Forcing windowed mode for running DDRAW / SGL application
Possibility to select compatibility mode with rendering as close as possible to selected hardware (PCX1, PCX2) or enforcing bilinear filtering in applications written with PCX1 nearest neighbour in mind
In-game patching to prevent crash on modern systems (Virtual On hangar scene after losing)
Ability to disable in-game 2D overlay
Framerate locking to the specified FPS value on demand
Texture dumping functionality
Texture replacement functionality (high resolution texture packs)
Fully configurable with use of config file and per-application settings override

Currently missing or unfinished features in development:

Mipmapping
PowerVR SGL high-level API (unfinished)

Current version

Current version of PowerVR SGL Wrapper can be found below, for more detailed information regarding configuration please check the README file first.

Download:

not available yet

Compatibility list

PowerVR SGL Direct API


PowerVR SGL high-level API


Other

Screenshots

PLEASE NOTE:

Performance figures are from the debug build running on an Apple M1 based MacBook Pro with Wine Crossover on top of the Rosetta 2 (x86 / x86_64 to ARMv8.5A dynamic recompilation) and multiple layers / wrappers / frameworks in between, such does not indicate performance on a native x86_64 machine.

Virtual On: Cyber Troopers

Bilinear vs nearest neighbour texture filtering selected in game options

Texture replacement, water texture original on the left and AI upscaled 4x on the right as an example:

  

Game upscaled from 640x480 to 1920x1440 resolution (click to open fullsize image)

Purevex (demo version)

  

SGLUVBil demo

SGLLogo demo

Stained demo

Mask demo

Scali's Donut demo

Cyberkd, Seald, Nefsgld, Utexdrct, Additive and PvrView demos

Development diary

Media with current and old versions of PowerVR SGL wrapper are posted below just for reference.

Version: Milestone 5 (outdated)

Unreleased alpha preview based on old source code before SGL wrapper being rewritten from scratch.

Version: Milestone 4 (outdated)

Corrected a lot of SGL issues, now rendering is very close to the original hardware. Still missing fog and mipmapping. DirectDraw is still mostly unimplemented yet, so overlay in Virtual ON is still not working. Optimized some places in code, so it runs quite well on a little more time accurate hardware.

Virtual ON: Cyber Troopers on Retro PC



Running on PC with AMD Athlon 600MHz (Slot A), 128MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS and Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition.

Version: Milestone 3 (outdated)

This is refactored version of my wrapper which contains new (unfinished) DirectDraw wrapper.

Videos

Virtual ON: Cyber Troopers

Screenshots

Virtual ON: Cyber Troopers

      

Biohazard (Japanese version of Resident Evil)

      

Version: Milestone 2 (outdated)

Slightly corrected texturing.

Screenshots

Virtual ON: Cyber Troopers
      

Version: Milestone 1 (outdated)

This is my first attempt, which works as a drop-in replacement for SGL library.

Videos

Virtual ON: Cyber Troopers



Turok Dinosaur Hunter



Biohazard (Japanese version of Resident Evil)

  

Version: Milestone 0 (outdated)

Some simple wrapping and blitting tests, which works as a drop-in replacement for SGL library.

Videos

Virtual ON: Cyber Troopers (various tests)