GoldenPad

GoldenPad app icon

GoldenEye 007, rebuilt for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Mac.
Apple ARM64 game code, Metal rendering, user-supplied retail data, touch controls, game controllers, saves, audio, and local multiplayer foundations.

iOS and iPadOS 17 or later Apple Silicon macOS alpha Metal renderer Native ARM64 Developer preview ROM not included

GoldenPad RT64 gameplay on a physical iPad in the Bunker mission

Native RT64/Metal gameplay on a physical iPad Pro.

GoldenPad's primary iPhone/iPad runtime uses statically recompiled GoldenEye 007 code, N64ModernRuntime and RT64's Metal renderer. It is not a general Nintendo 64 emulator and it does not contain the game, a ROM, or extracted game assets. The supported retail data remains user-supplied and private.

The same runtime now has a native Apple-Silicon GoldenPad.app in alpha. It reaches authentic gameplay, but its mouse/keyboard experience and performance are still platform-specific, and a thin blue strip remains at the far-right render edge. Preview 7 retains Preview 6's menu and keyboard/mouse controls, including the known sluggish horizontal mouse turning. Those controls received hands-on acceptance; performance depth and renderer parity remain open. See the Mac feasibility and implementation record and Technical Debt before treating it as release parity.

The primary RT64 build reaches the original title sequence, menus and multiple missions on a physical iPad with native audio, the tuned GoldenPad touch layout and Xbox/MFi controller support. The earlier MGB64/Fast3D app is retained as GoldenPad Legacy for regression comparison and fallback only; it is no longer the primary development version.

Development boundary: generated AOT source and retail-derived data are never committed. GoldenPad preview artifacts distribute a compiled runtime only; they contain no ROM, save, extracted retail media, provisioning profile, or signing identity. No official, commercial, or App Store clearance is claimed.

You need an iPhone or iPad running iOS/iPadOS 17 or later, a Mac or Windows computer, an Apple ID, and your own original US GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 ROM.

No jailbreak or JIT is required. Do not search for a TLB-free ROM. Preview 8 accepts your ordinary .z64, .v64, .n64, or .rom dump and prepares the required private runtime copy automatically on the device.

1. Install AltStore Classic by following its official macOS guide or Windows guide. Use AltStore Classic with AltServer, not AltStore PAL. PAL cannot install an arbitrary unsigned .ipa downloaded from GitHub.
2. Download GoldenPad-0.1.0-preview.8-unsigned.ipa. This is the iPhone/iPad app. Do not download the separate Mac .zip.
3. Open AltStore Classic on the device, go to My Apps, tap +, and choose the downloaded GoldenPad .ipa from Files. Follow iOS's prompts to trust your Apple ID and enable Developer Mode if required.
4. Launch GoldenPad, tap Choose Original ROM, and select your own original US retail dump from Files. Other regions and revisions are not interchangeable with the supported release.
5. Keep GoldenPad open while it verifies and prepares the game. The title sequence starts automatically when setup finishes.

Apps signed through AltStore Classic with a free Apple ID normally need to be refreshed every seven days and count toward Apple's three-active-app limit. AltStore documents the current limits and refresh process in its Getting Started guide. Install future GoldenPad updates through the same sideloading setup. Do not delete the app merely to update it: uninstalling can remove its generated game copy, saves, and settings.

If any step fails, use the troubleshooting checklist before reporting that GoldenPad itself does not work.

These user-approved captures were taken from the signed GoldenPad build on a physical iPad. No ROM, save, extracted asset file, or game data is included in the repository or application package.

The mobile baseline was accepted through normal single-player gameplay on a physical iPhone and iPad, including the editable touch layout and Xbox/MFi controller path. Preview 8 retains the bounded in-app ROM importer, frozen experimental multiplayer render repair, Preview 4 shared control mapping, and Runway/Streets tank path while correcting player and guard automatic-fire cadence. It also repairs Mac menu navigation and the iPad utility-menu hit targets. Longer thermal/route sweeps and complete multiplayer acceptance remain open. This developer preview must not be described as App Store-ready.

The Mac app is a separate alpha artifact, not part of the .ipa and not yet a mobile-parity or notarized Mac release.

See Status and Testing for the evidence ledger and remaining physical-device gates. Technical debt and upstream watch records when decompilation, MGB64, and renderer changes are safe to evaluate or adopt. The focused two-player repair and deferred local/ online enhancements are tracked in the multiplayer roadmap.

GoldenPad is a native integration of reconstructed N64 game code, not a general emulator. Another N64 game or GoldenEye revision cannot be substituted.

Download GoldenPad-0.1.0-preview.8-unsigned.ipa and its adjacent .sha256 file. The IPA is intentionally unsigned. Follow Play on iPhone or iPad for the supported AltStore Classic installation path.

On first launch, choose your own original NTSC-U retail ROM from Files. GoldenPad recognizes .z64, .v64, .n64, and .rom byte orders, performs the required TLB-free transformation privately on the device, verifies the exact output, and starts the native runtime automatically. A valid Preview 1 GoldenEye_TLBFREE.z64 is reused unchanged during an in-place update. See the Preview 2 ROM import design and acceptance record, which Preview 8 retains unchanged.

Preview 8 is mobile-only. The unchanged Apple-Silicon Mac Alpha remains GoldenPad-0.1.0-preview.7-macos-arm64-alpha.zip. It is an ad-hoc-signed, non-notarized arm64 app and remains below mobile release quality. It uses the same user-supplied-data boundary and must not be described as mobile parity.

shasum "/path/to/your/GoldenEye.z64"

brew install xdelta
curl --fail --location --output vanilla_to_tlbfree.xdelta \
 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cblock85/GoldenEye64Recomp/a787fe0d95e8278fcba5ba2d768fa6a606e75f55/vanilla_to_tlbfree.xdelta
echo "2942c16049c48a7bdb0ac0288bac21121847059f6f0b4e05343c0c1922a25b90 vanilla_to_tlbfree.xdelta" \
 | shasum -a 256 --check
xdelta3 -d -s "/path/to/your/GoldenEye.z64" \
 vanilla_to_tlbfree.xdelta \
 GoldenEye_TLBFREE.z64
shasum -a 256 GoldenEye_TLBFREE.z64

This is not required for IPA users. The primary RT64/AOT app cannot currently be reproduced from the public checkout alone because its generated game-code inputs are private and intentionally untracked. The public build commands below produce the older GoldenPad Legacy fallback. To use the current primary release, follow Preview 8 and First launch instead.

You need:

• an Apple Silicon Mac with Xcode and its command-line tools;
• Homebrew, CMake 3.28 or newer, and Git;
• an Apple development team for a signed physical-device build; and
• your own legally acquired supported US retail GoldenEye 007 N64 dump.

Install CMake, then clone the repository:

brew install cmake
git clone https://github.com/chrissotraidis/goldenpad.git
cd goldenpad

The public repository contains the Apple integration and maintained patch chain. The complete primary build additionally requires locally generated AOT inputs; those generated sources and retail-derived inputs are ignored. The deprecated legacy fallback remains reproducible from the public source tree:

./scripts/verify-mgb64-ios-renderer.sh

The verifier fetches the exact pinned MGB64 source, applies GoldenPad's narrow mobile patches temporarily, builds Release apps for Simulator and device, checks the linked game/Metal/audio symbols, rejects desktop renderer dependencies, and leaves the upstream checkout clean.

The resulting apps are written to:

build-mgb64-renderer-simulator/Release-iphonesimulator/GoldenPad.app
build-mgb64-renderer-device/Release-iphoneos/GoldenPad.app

For a physical device, add your Apple ID under Xcode → Settings → Accounts, connect and trust the iPhone or iPad, then use your 10-character team ID and a bundle identifier owned by that team:

GOLDENPAD_DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=ABCDE12345 \
GOLDENPAD_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER=com.yourname.goldenpad \
 ./scripts/verify-mgb64-ios-renderer.sh
xcrun devicectl list devices
xcrun devicectl device install app \
 --device YOUR_DEVICE_ID \
 build-mgb64-renderer-device-signed/Release-iphoneos/GoldenPad.app

The signed build stays separate from the reproducible unsigned app. If Xcode has not yet created an Apple Development certificate, use Manage Certificates in the Accounts panel first. See Building for signing diagnostics, Simulator destinations, and the maintained RT64 reference path.

GoldenPad never downloads or bundles game data.

1. Install the unsigned Preview 8 IPA by following Play on iPhone or iPad.
2. Launch GoldenPad and choose your own supported original NTSC-U retail ROM from Files. The importer accepts .z64, .v64, .n64, and .rom byte orders and validates the exact retail revision before conversion.
3. Keep GoldenPad open while it privately converts and verifies the runtime input. The original logos, front end, file selection and missions follow after the native runtime initializes.

The generated TLB-free runtime copy remains in GoldenPad's private Documents container; the original file stays where you selected it. Neither file is in the IPA, repository, release checksum, or diagnostics export. Removing the app can remove its generated copy and saves, so preserve your original ROM and back up important data before uninstalling.

First identify the exact step that failed. Installation, ROM validation, and the game runtime are separate stages with different fixes.

• Confirm that you used AltStore Classic with AltServer, not AltStore PAL.
• Confirm that the device runs iOS/iPadOS 17 or later, Developer Mode is enabled, and the Apple ID profile is trusted when iOS requests it.
• With a free Apple ID, check the three-active-app limit and seven-day expiry in AltStore. Refresh or reinstall through the same AltStore setup rather than deleting GoldenPad.
• Record the complete AltStore or iOS error. If GoldenPad never launches, the failure happened before its ROM importer or game runtime ran.

• Use your own original US/NTSC-U GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 retail dump. PAL, Japanese, modified, overdumped, and other revisions are rejected.
• .z64, .v64, .n64, and .rom are accepted. Renaming another file or ROM does not change its contents and will not pass validation.
• Preview 8 performs the TLB-free conversion itself. Do not download, request, or manually create a TLB-free ROM for the current release.
• If GoldenPad cannot read a valid file from a cloud or third-party provider, copy it into On My iPhone or On My iPad in Files and try again. Keep enough free storage for GoldenPad's private prepared copy.

Fully quit and reopen GoldenPad once. If the app reaches its three-dot menu, choose Share Diagnostics & Logs and keep the generated text file private until you have checked it for personal information.

When filing a GitHub issue, include:

• iPhone or iPad model and iOS/iPadOS version;
• GoldenPad release and build number;
• sideloading method and its exact error, if installation failed;
• the precise screen or action where progress stopped;
• the complete on-screen GoldenPad error;
• the ROM extension and stated region/revision, plus a checksum if available; and
• GoldenPad's diagnostics text if the app ran far enough to create it.

Never attach or link the ROM, generated game data, saves, Apple ID credentials, certificates, or provisioning profiles.

GoldenPad defaults to its current touch template, combining the original GoldenEye movement semantics with modern relative look:

Open the three-dot menu and choose Edit Touch Controls to customize the actual live overlay. The running game remains full size and the real three-dot menu stays visible as a placement reference. The same editor is also available through Settings → Touch Controls.

Touch Controls also contains:

• look sensitivity;
• Toggle or Hold aim behavior;
• Add left-side Fire button, which is off by default and adds a duplicate N64 Z control that can be moved, resized, and faded independently;
• the current iPhone or iPad touch layout.

Both Fire buttons publish the same action safely: if both are held, releasing one keeps Fire active until the other is released.

Preview 4 completed the modern-semantics repair tracked in issue #8: MOVE horizontal sidesteps while LOOK horizontal turns. Original N64 C-buttons remains a separate controller mode for the native layout. The accepted iPhone/iPad placement profiles remain regression controls.

In edit mode, drag a control directly over the running game. The selected control receives a yellow outline and the always-visible top slider resizes it from 55–160%; the opacity slider adjusts that selected control from 20–100%. Reset restores the current device-class defaults, Cancel discards the draft, and Done saves it. Button labels stay on one line and scale down with smaller controls. Phone and tablet layouts use separate persisted profiles.

The phone defaults are the physically accepted iPhone 14 layout: MOVE remains inside the left edge, LOOK clears the action rail, and AIM/FIRE/ACTION plus WEAPON/DUCK fit above the bottom edge at the established 72% opacity. LOOK preserves GoldenPad's tuned relative swipe accumulation. iPad keeps its separate accepted tablet profile.

The primary build automatically uses the first Xbox/MFi extended gamepad for Player 1 and hides the touch overlay while it is connected. Movement, modern right-stick look, aim, fire, action, weapon, crouch and Start are physically accepted. Settings → Controller → Right stick → Original N64 C-buttons restores GoldenEye's native C-left/C-right sidestep input, but replaces modern analog right-stick look with the original C-button behavior. Settings → Controller → Button mapping can reassign the face buttons, bumpers, and triggers; sticks, D-pad, and Menu/Start retain their standard roles. For hardware-limited testing, Cheats & Testing → Two-player input test keeps the attached controller as Player 1 and exposes touch controls as Player 2. Turning it off hides touch and keeps the controller as Player 1. The former multiplayer process crash and large split-screen corruption have targeted repairs. A physical four-player render test kept all quadrants coherent without the former black/checkerboard failure, but slight lighting flicker and real Player 3/4 controller routing remain open. Treat multiplayer as an experimental Preview 2 path, not a fully accepted feature.

The primary host does not yet support peer-to-peer or online multiplayer. It binds one real controller; the additional ports above are diagnostics, not a network or production four-controller layer. The staged local-ownership, determinism, LAN, and internet gates are documented in the multiplayer roadmap.

Open the three-dot menu and choose Settings to select Native N64, ×ばつ or Automatic high resolution, plus ×ばつ MSAA and N64 three-point filtering. These settings are saved immediately and apply after quitting and reopening GoldenPad; the active RT64 session is not rebuilt in place. They alter how the original ROM assets are rendered; no HD texture pack is bundled. To restore the original N64 look, select Native N64, disable both ×ばつ anti-aliasing and three-point filtering, then fully quit and reopen the app.

Cheats & Testing → Unlock all missions defaults to Off on a clean install. It is a testing convenience only and any explicit user choice is preserved during an in-place update.

The primary integration, dependency pins and reversible patches are public. Retail data, converted ROM derivatives and generated AOT game sources remain private and ignored. scripts/package-recomp-prototype-ipa.sh strips the developer signature/provisioning profile, adds the applicable dependency licenses, and invokes scripts/verify-recomp-prototype-ipa.sh; that verifier rejects ROM/save/signing members, N64 ROM headers, private user paths and legacy MGB64 symbols. The older MGB64 IPA workflow remains a fallback only.

• Preview 8 retains Preview 5's native-60-Hz automatic player/guard firing cadence repair through one shared source-derived interval conversion. It does not change semi-auto classifications, first-shot behavior, damage, ammunition, or controls.
• Preview 4 replaced the separate movement adapter with one shared mapping that follows GoldenEye's active 1.1 through 1.4 control style. Physical iPad testing accepted normal movement, native left-stick Aim, and Runway tank controls. Preview 8 retains Preview 6's Mac mission-menu navigation repair and the tank mapping. The Mac reporter confirmed both in Preview 6 and closed the report (issue #17).
• A deterministic first-frame RT64/Metal crash is reported on an A12X iPad Pro with Preview 1. A12-family hardware is not yet validated; the compatibility fix or minimum GPU policy remains open (issue #9).
• Preview 8 retains Preview 7's independent issue #19 correction, explicitly targeting every embedded Metal library at iOS 17. The diagnostic build passed on the affected iPhone 13 mini; the A12X first-draw crash remains separate.
• Multiplayer has a stable experimental render baseline, not final acceptance. Slight lighting flicker and real three/four-controller routing remain open.
• Peer-to-peer, LAN, internet, relay, and rollback multiplayer are not implemented.
• Preview 8 retains Preview 2's complete, package-audited in-app retail-ROM conversion. A clean physical-iPhone installation has reached the empty-container setup screen; fresh real-ROM import, wrong-ROM, cancellation and low-storage coverage remains open in the focused importer acceptance record.
• Some stage-specific geometry glitches remain to be captured precisely.
• Occasional audio static and multi-controller play remain open quality work.
• Settings/share presentation, controller disconnect-to-none, and mobile UI tracking still need explicit neutral-input transition coverage.
• The generated-input pipeline is not independently reproducible from the public repository; private retail-derived inputs are never distributed.
• The runtime keeps a second converted-ROM copy under Application Support. It remains private and package-audited out of releases, but backup-exclusion and explicit file-protection attributes still need to match the Documents copy.
• This source-available developer preview is not an official or commercially licensed GoldenEye distribution.

For engineering work, read in this order: Status → Technical Debt → Plan → Testing. Architecture and the multiplayer roadmap provide subsystem-specific constraints. Historical handoffs and worklogs preserve evidence but do not override those current authority documents.

Generated source trees, build directories, ROMs, saves, signing material, and release artifacts are ignored and must never be committed.

Read Contributing before proposing a change and Security before reporting a vulnerability. Reproducible platform or gameplay defects can be filed through GitHub Issues. Never attach, request, or link to ROMs, extracted assets, leaked builds, saves containing private data, signing identities, or provisioning profiles.

GoldenPad is an unofficial preservation and research project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Rare, Microsoft, MGM, Danjaq, EON Productions, or any other rights holder. GoldenEye 007 and all related names, characters, imagery, and game content belong to their respective owners.

GoldenPad builds on GoldenEye64Recomp, N64Recomp, N64ModernRuntime, RT64, MGB64, the GoldenEye decompilation community, Metal support work, and their contributors. Each upstream component retains its own copyright and license. No ROM, extracted game media, leaked XBLA material, or proprietary matching-target SDK implementation source is included here.