xrevive (launcher for recompiled original Xbox games, with XB Online)

This site is not affiliated with xrevive, XB LIVE, Microsoft or any of the game publishers. We link only the official repository and site, never release files.

What it is

xrevive is a library app. You point it at a disc image (.iso) or extracted game folder; it reads the title ID, version and region, then downloads a matching executable built with Xrecomp, Tera’s recompiler. That executable is the game’s own Xbox code, translated ahead of time into a native Windows program. xrevive then runs it against the data files from your disc.

Most recompilations we list either translate the game’s code on your PC (like BLACK XBE Recomp) or ship it in a release you download yourself. xrevive does the translation on Tera’s side and hosts the result. The README says so: “This version downloads published executables instead of compiling games locally.”

Games are sorted into three channels: Release (“playable to 100%” per the 0.1.12 notes), Beta (playable with rough edges) and Alpha (barely works). The launcher asks before installing a Beta or Alpha build.

Other features listed in the README:

• XB Online sign-in on xb.live (by QR code or on the website), friends by gamertag, live lobbies and player counts, achievements and leaderboards. If xb.live is down, games still start offline.
• Title updates and DLC from XB Online, installed automatically. Online play needs the title update, and since 0.1.23 Play always downloads it first.
• Since 0.2.0 (26 October 2026): Manage > Verify game files checks your extracted files against the retail disc list, Messages sit beside Friends on XB Online, and invited accounts get private Playtest builds.
• Save tools: backup, restore, import from xemu, Midnight Club 3 PS2 save conversion, and save editors for Midnight Club 3 and Ninja Gaiden Black.
• Addons with on/off switches (for example a VIP car pack and fan translations for Midnight Club 3), custom soundtracks, per-game graphics settings (DirectX 12, DirectX 11 or Vulkan), keyboard control, and Add to Steam for the Steam Deck.

What it downloads

We want to be plain about this, because it is not like most ports on this site:

• Not included: game discs, ISOs or the games’ art, sound and video. You supply those from your own copy, per the README.
• Downloaded from xrevive’s server: a per-game executable. It holds code translated from the game’s executable (one user’s crash log in the issues shows a 63 MB Midnight Club 3 Remix EXE). You cannot build it yourself; there is no source to build from.
• Downloaded from XB Online: title updates and DLC. On the original Xbox those came from Microsoft’s servers; here XB Online hosts them. As far as we can tell they are the publishers’ original update and add-on files, not something xrevive made. We couldn’t confirm their exact contents.
• Community addons, credited to their makers in the launcher.

We don’t link any of these files. If you are not comfortable running closed, server-hosted builds, the open-source projects in the table below cover several of the same games.

Supported games

xrevive’s game list comes from its server, so it can change any day. This is what we could confirm on 27 October 2026 from the release notes, the issue tracker and XB LIVE’s posts. We didn’t run xrevive ourselves.

A user also asked about Spider-Man 2 saves in the tracker, and another asked for Conker: Live & Reloaded; we couldn’t confirm either game in xrevive’s list.

What you need

• Your own disc image or extracted files of a supported game, in the edition xrevive expects. The launcher checks the title ID and version and warns about other copies; since 0.1.21 it says a different copy “will probably work fine”. We don’t explain how to obtain game files.
• Windows: the hosted executables are Windows x64 builds. The launcher checks for Windows 8.1+ and Direct3D 11. There is a separate Windows 7 installer.
• Linux and Steam Deck: the launcher’s AppImage runs the Windows games through Wine or Proton, which the README calls experimental. xrevive picks the newest Proton by itself since 0.1.22.
• Mac: macOS packages “can’t play games yet”, per the README.
• Internet for the game download, title updates and XB Online; a free xb.live account for online play.

xb.live and XB Online

xb.live is the site of XB LIVE, a fan community for the original Xbox that turned one year old on 20 October 2026 and had about 3,000 members. In October 2026 it launched XB Online, its own network that replaces Microsoft’s Xbox Live 1.0 (shut down in 2010) for original Xbox consoles. Its anniversary post says it partnered with “@tera, founder of Xrevive”, so recompiled PC games can play against people still on original hardware.

• Not official: the site says it is “neither endorsed by nor affiliated with Microsoft or Insignia”.
• Separate from Insignia, the older Xbox Live revival. XB LIVE wrote on 15 October that Insignia had blocked its data sync and that it will stop Insignia support on 13 November 2026.
• Your password stays on xb.live: per the release notes, the launcher links your account by QR code or on the website.

Is it safe and legal?

• Unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft, per the README, nor by the games’ publishers.
• Closed source. The repository has no code and no licence; Tera’s Xrecomp repository is empty. The owner’s GitHub account was created on 9 October 2026, two days before the repository. Users asked in issue #12 whether AI was used and why there is no source; the author had not replied by 24 October. We have no evidence of malware, and the README says the Windows installer is Authenticode-signed and launcher updates are signed. We didn’t verify the signature ourselves.
• Translated game code is distributed by the server, and title updates and DLC come from XB Online. That is a step further than projects that build on your own PC, and it is the kind of thing publishers send takedowns over.
• Real use: the issue tracker is full of specific bug reports from people playing these games, which a fake repository would not have.
• Get xrevive only from its official GitHub repository. Sites offering “xrevive” bundles with the games included, keys or unlocked installers are not the project and are often malware.

Related

• Midnight Club 3 PC: the game xrevive is best known for.
• Burnout 3 PC (Takedawn) and BLACK PC: open recompilations of original Xbox games.
• LumaDock: another launcher for native ports, for Switch games on Mac.
• Full list: recompiled games.

Unofficial. This page is written by an independent directory. It is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Rockstar Games, Tecmo, Sega, Electronic Arts, Microsoft and others or Teraflopping (Tera) (xrevive (launcher for recompiled original Xbox games, with XB Online)'s author). We do not host any files, and we never link to game files, ROMs or ISOs.