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The developers of SEEDS say their space game runs an emulated 64-bit RISC-V computer with Alpine Linux for in-game tools. They have published PasRISCV, the Object Pascal emulator behind it, as open-source software under the zlib license.
The developers of SEEDS, a space game, say it runs a complete 64-bit RISC-V virtual machine with Alpine Linux to power some of the tools players use in-game. In a report published October 3, they described the in-house emulator, PasRISCV, and said it is available as open-source software under the permissive zlib license.
The game’s computer interface runs native Linux programs rather than only imitating a desktop or rendering fixed screens, according to the developers at Against All Odds. They say the emulated system can run even when the game itself is running on a Windows computer. Examples include applications that show planetary information and statistics through the homebase computer’s program selector.
PasRISCV emulates a full machine, including the processor, memory-related devices, display, storage and interrupts, rather than just translating Linux applications. The developers list support for SMP/MultiHART and the RV64GC and RVA23 profiles, along with hypervisor, vector and cryptography extensions. The report says the emulator combines an interpreter with a tracing just-in-time compiler; the JIT is currently limited to x86-64 host systems.
The game uses a modified Alpine Linux version 3.23.6 installation and a custom kernel, the developers say. PasRISCV can boot a standard Linux kernel through OpenSBI and U-Boot, and supports virtual disk devices and shared host directories. The team says the game uses a framebuffer for its display, which lets its graphics apply effects such as scanlines and phosphor glow. The emulator and its frontend companion, pasriscvemu, are distributed under the zlib license.
Linux Tools Inside a Game
The implementation gives players a working Linux environment as part of the game’s interface, while also making the emulator a standalone project that other developers can inspect or adapt. That combination is unusual in a game setting: the in-world computer can run native programs on a virtualized RISC-V machine, rather than relying solely on bespoke menus or simulated command screens.
For developers, the report offers a practical example of using an open instruction-set architecture to host a guest operating system inside another application. The authors describe support for storage, graphics, sound and host-file sharing, features that can matter to projects seeking more than CPU instruction emulation. However, the report does not provide independent performance measurements or comparisons with other emulators, so it does not establish how the project performs across hardware or workloads.
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How SEEDS Uses the Emulator
According to Against All Odds, the emulator starts booting in the background when a player starts or loads a SEEDS game. The team chose a virtual machine that boots a Linux kernel, rather than an approach limited to running Linux userspace programs. Its boot process uses OpenSBI followed by U-Boot, which allows the guest to load a system disk image.
The developers say the guest’s root partition can be mounted read-only, while a separate user partition holds player data such as mini-game high scores. This arrangement lets updates replace the game’s system image without overwriting that separate data. They describe it as a temporary arrangement until player state can be stored through the game’s own save system.
PasRISCV also supports several virtual graphics and audio devices, according to the report. SEEDS uses a simple framebuffer for its screens, while the emulator includes other graphics options, including VirtIO GPU with experimental 3D capabilities. The team says it has run an X server and Motif Window Manager in the virtual machine, but describes that setup as too slow for practical use on most machines.
“For PasRISCV we chose the latter and emulate a machine including display and storage devices, interrupts, everything down to the last thing, so that for the running kernel it appears as a complete hardware system, even though it’s virtual.”
— Against All Odds, the SEEDS developers
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Performance and Compatibility Limits
The developers’ report does not include benchmark results, a supported-host list, or independent tests of PasRISCV. It says the JIT is currently restricted to x86-64 hosts and that roughly 99% of instructions encountered in the team’s use case are supported by it; the workload and measurement method behind that figure are not specified. It is not clear how performance or compatibility varies on other host architectures or with software beyond the examples described.
The report identifies PasRISCV and pasriscvemu as open source under the zlib license, but the supplied material does not detail release packaging, installation requirements, or a support schedule. The developers also describe 3D graphics as experimental and the X server setup as slow on most machines. Those caveats leave open how suitable the emulator is for general desktop use beyond its role in the game.
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Where the Project Goes Next
The developers invite readers to examine the PasRISCV and pasriscvemu source and consider using the projects. They direct readers to the repository for the full list of emulated features. The report does not announce a release roadmap or a date for further updates, so the next visible steps depend on what the team or outside contributors publish.
For SEEDS, the developers say the separate player-data partition is being used until the game has a mechanism to preserve that information as part of its own game state. They have not given a timeline for that change. Further details about host support, performance testing and the emulator’s development plans have not been provided in the report.
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Key Questions
What does PasRISCV do in SEEDS?
It emulates a 64-bit RISC-V computer that boots Alpine Linux and runs native Linux programs used for some of the game’s in-world computer tools, according to the developers.
Is PasRISCV open source?
The developers say PasRISCV and its frontend companion, pasriscvemu, are free open-source software under the permissive zlib license.
Does the emulator run only on Windows?
No. The report says Linux programs in the guest can run even when SEEDS is played on a Windows machine. It says the JIT compiler is currently limited to x86-64 host systems; a complete list of supported hosts was not provided.
How does the virtual machine store player data?
The developers say the guest can use a separate user partition for items such as mini-game high scores, apart from the read-only root partition used for system files. They describe this as a temporary arrangement until player data can be stored through the game’s own save system.
Has PasRISCV been independently benchmarked?
The supplied report does not include independent benchmarks or detailed performance comparisons. The developers provide a JIT instruction-support estimate for their own use case, but do not specify its measurement method or how it applies to other workloads.
Source: hn
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