emulator: XeniOS type: standalone core_classification: community_fork source: "https://github.com/xenios-jp/XeniOS" upstream: "https://github.com/has207/xenia-edge" source_commit: "cf7c7ee452314913124d205e41e325b33891aacb" upstream_commit: "3ff76c9696f3f350c1eb61bd7523ddc209ac4682" upstream_frozen: "XeniOS is not a GitHub fork of xenia-edge, so no compare API names the merge base. 3ff76c96 is the merge base of the two branches read from their histories, the newest edge commit the xenios branch carries." profiled_date: "2026-11-09" core_version: "release-v2.3.1-build-11662" version_basis: kind: tag match: "release-v*" tag: "release-v2.3.1-build-11662" distance: 0 display_name: "Microsoft - Xbox 360 (XeniOS)" cores: - "xenios" - "XENIOS" systems: - microsoft-xbox-360 mode: standalone notes: | Apple-focused fork of Xenia, based on Xenia Edge at their merge base 3ff76c9 (upstream_commit), published from the default xenios branch as xenios_macos_apple_silicon.dmg and xenios_ios_iphone_ipad.ipa (release 2.3.1, build 11662, tagged on cf7c7ee). The macOS CMake build keeps the Xenia-edge bundle and executable name (src/xenia/app/CMakeLists.txt:14-19, 180-182) and tools/build_apple_release.sh renames the packaged app to XeniOS.app with executable XeniOS (tools/build_apple_release.sh:540-562). The iOS build is defined in cmake/ios/App.cmake and is named XeniOS there (cmake/ios/App.cmake:19-22). ES-DE runs it through the XENIOS rule with the ROM and an optional .commands file of extra arguments. The 2.3.1 disk image holds LICENSE and one bundle: beside its code signature it carries Info.plist, MacOS/XeniOS, Resources/AppIcon.icns, Resources/Assets.car and Frameworks/libmetalirconverter.dylib. Rendering runs on Metal. Guest shaders go to DXIL through Mesa's spirv_to_dxil, built by meson and linked statically (third_party/CMakeLists.txt:1254-1263), then to Metal IR through Apple's Metal Shader Converter, an imported shared library copied into Frameworks and reached by @rpath (third_party/CMakeLists.txt:1502-1536, src/xenia/app/CMakeLists.txt:188-207). The code calls IRCompilerCreate as an ordinary symbol and never names the file (src/xenia/gpu/metal/metal_shader_converter.cc:202). MoltenVK is statically linked and its entry points resolve as real symbols, so the Vulkan backend loads no loader library (src/xenia/ui/vulkan/vulkan_instance.cc:31-39, 82-83). The emulator runs games with no Xbox 360 system file. xboxkrnl, xam and xbdm are C++ HLE modules registered at startup (src/xenia/emulator.cc:451-456), the XEX1 retail and devkit keys, the XEX2 retail key and the zeroed XEX2 devkit key are constexpr arrays tried in turn (src/xenia/cpu/xex_module.cc:63-74, used at 95, 363 and 1016-1035), and every XConfig setting is assembled from cvars and constants by BuildSetting, in a file that makes no filesystem call at all (src/xenia/kernel/xconfig.cc:99-270). Launching a folder that holds its own xam.xex or $flash_xam.xex symlinks \SystemRoot to that folder (src/xenia/emulator.cc:877-887). spa.bin is resolved the same way inside an installed DLC package (src/xenia/kernel/xam/content_manager.cc:40, 816-817). A USB system update can be installed into /system: the menu downloads SystemUpdate_17559_USB.zip from Microsoft into system/download/, checks its size and SHA-256, installs it and deletes it, or takes any USB system update zip the user picks, refused only when it holds no $SystemUpdate content (src/xenia/ui/system_files_installer_wx.cc:64-69, 352-393, 395-510, src/xenia/app/emulator_window.cc:2636-2703). The flash, sysext and sysaux folders it writes are mounted as \Device\Flash and the two system partitions at launch, \SystemRoot then points to the flash (src/xenia/emulator.cc:2758-2778). The installed dashboard, flash/dash.xex, can be booted from the menu (src/xenia/app/emulator_window.cc:2123-2135), and XNA indie games are refused unless xna_titlelauncher.xex is found in sysext (src/xenia/emulator.cc:1165-1178). The fork's data ships inside the executable. The UI fonts, the app icon and the XenonJKLatin system font that stands in for a flash font the update only patches are linked in by xe_embed_binary_assets, and the 33 locale catalogues are compiled from .po to .mo at configure time and packed into one compressed bundle (src/xenia/ui/CMakeLists.txt:55-88), which wx_locale.cc serves through a loader that replaces the wxWidgets file-based one (src/xenia/ui/wx_locale.cc:43-111, 139-140). The font is read from that buffer with AddFontFromMemoryTTF (src/xenia/ui/imgui_drawer.cc:375-385), and xe::EmbeddedBundle decodes the SDL controller mappings (src/xenia/hid/sdl/sdl_input_driver.cc:279-297), the game patches and the edge patches (src/xenia/patcher/patch_db.cc:352-373) and the compatibility_data.json and master.json compatibility lists (src/xenia/app/game_compat_db.cc:47-60). Three cvars accept a file and name none by default, so nothing is expected at a fixed path: custom_font_path falls back to the embedded font (src/xenia/ui/imgui_drawer.cc:39-42, 361-385), mappings_file to the embedded controller database (src/xenia/hid/sdl/sdl_input_driver.cc:70-73, 279-297), achievement_sound_path leaves the achievement sound silent (src/xenia/ui/audio_helper.cc:21-24, 44-54). The first two carry an UPDATE_from_path rule that clears the earlier default out of an existing config (src/xenia/ui/imgui_drawer.cc:43-44, src/xenia/hid/sdl/sdl_input_driver.cc:74). Everything else under the storage root is written by the emulator or dropped in by the user: xenia-edge.config.toml and per-title config/.config.toml (src/xenia/config.cc:47-61), patches/*.patch.toml read on top of the embedded set (src/xenia/patcher/patch_db.cc:35-56), plugins/<title id>/plugins.toml behind allow_plugins, which defaults false (src/xenia/patcher/plugin_loader.cc:16-21, 32-34, 58-64), content, cache_host and the per-module executable_addr_flags.bin analysis cache (src/xenia/app/xenia_main.cc:616-641, src/xenia/cpu/xex_module.cc:1521-1528). portable.txt next to the executable keeps the storage root there instead of the user folder (src/xenia/app/xenia_main.cc:578-592). On iOS the embedded patches are written out to Documents/patches (src/xenia/app/xenia_main_ios.mm:169-216) and touch layouts live as Documents/touch-layouts/<id>.toml, written by the layout editor (src/xenia/ui/ios/touch/touch_layout_store_ios.mm:148-155). The only bundle file the code opens by name is embedded.mobileprovision, absent from the published .ipa and present only once the user has signed it, searched for the head-pose entitlement (src/xenia/ui/ios/settings/ios_config_catalog.mm:37-55). files: - name: "SystemUpdate_17559_USB.zip" system: microsoft-xbox-360 required: false path: "system/download/SystemUpdate_17559_USB.zip" size: 115992188 sha256: "38885a3ab6b9854fb4fa31d5ddf21a4fddfd4cfb25e219060cfb0c2fb31f208f" storage: large_file description: "Xbox 360 USB system update 17559, as Microsoft serves it" source_ref: "src/xenia/ui/system_files_installer_wx.cc:64-69, src/xenia/ui/system_files_installer_wx.cc:352-393, src/xenia/ui/system_files_installer_wx.cc:395-510, src/xenia/app/emulator_window.cc:2636-2703" note: "Downloaded from download.microsoft.com into system/download/ by Install System Files, kept only when its SHA-256 matches, then installed into system/flash, system/sysext and system/sysaux and deleted. A zip the user picks is installed from wherever it is, with no hash check. Games run without it. The dashboard and XNA indie games need it." exclusion_note: > XeniOS emulates the Xbox 360 by high-level emulation: the kernel, XAM and XBDM are compiled-in modules, the XEX AES keys are constant arrays and XConfig is synthesised, so no BIOS, NAND image, flash dump or keyvault is read. The one system file it takes is an optional USB system update, installed into its storage root for the dashboard, the system fonts and XNA indie games. Its own data (UI fonts, icons, locale catalogues, SDL controller mappings, game patches, compatibility lists) is compressed into the executable through xe_embed_binary_assets and xe_embed_compressed_bundle, so none of it exists as a file beside the binary. libmetalirconverter.dylib is linked at build time and resolved by the loader through @rpath, no code path names it, and it comes with the download that provides the executable.