Pinyon Shift is a Windows-only playable preview of a native recompilation of the Xbox 360 release of Forza Horizon. The project is early, imperfect, and surprisingly drivable.
This repository contains the launcher, build tools, host code, configuration, and patches needed to create the preview on your own computer. It does not contain the game, game assets, generated translations, or a prebuilt game executable.
- Download
PinyonShift-Launcher.zipfrom the latest release. - Extract the two files to a folder and run
PinyonShift.Launcher.exe. - Select an ISO you personally dumped from a supported original disc.
- Confirm ownership, then choose Verify & Build.
- Leave the launcher open while it installs the Windows build tools and builds the preview. The first build can take 20–60 minutes and requires roughly 25 GB of free disk space.
The preview launcher is not code-signed yet, so Windows may identify it as an unrecognized app. Use only the archive attached to this repository's release and verify its published SHA-256.
The launcher verifies the image before reading it. Unsupported or modified images are rejected. Your image and extracted game files stay on your machine. The launcher downloads build tools and the pinned ReXGlue source, extracts the disc locally, generates the translation locally, and compiles the executable locally. Administrator permission is requested only if Visual Studio Build Tools must be installed.
Supported today: the USA retail base disc, serial MS-2505, title ID
4D5309C9. Windows 10/11 x64 and a DirectX 12-capable GPU are required.
This is a public preview, not a finished remaster. Please report reproducible problems using the issue template and do not attach game files or generated code.
Keep the launcher open while playing. If the game exits unexpectedly, the launcher catches the exit, creates a sanitized diagnostic ZIP, and offers one button to open a prefilled GitHub issue with that ZIP selected in Explorer. Attach the selected ZIP and add the shortest reliable reproduction steps.
The public report includes build hashes, a stable crash ID, exception details, the end of the runtime log, runtime settings, Windows build, CPU, GPU, and driver versions. It excludes the game, saves, generated code, input capture, local paths, and memory dumps. A fuller dump stays on the player's computer and should only be shared privately if a maintainer requests it. Non-crash bugs can be reported with Report a problem in the launcher.
From a PowerShell terminal in a repository checkout:
.\tools\setup-preview.ps1 -IsoPath C:\path\to\your-disc.iso
.\tools\launch-preview.ps1The setup script provisions pinned dependencies under .local/, downloads and
patches ReXGlue, verifies/extracts the disc, generates translated source, and
builds Release. See Building and
Troubleshooting for details.
Only independently authored project files are licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License. Microsoft, Xbox, Turn 10 Studios, Playground Games, Forza Horizon, and third-party dependencies remain the property of their respective owners. Pinyon Shift is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. See Legal and distribution and Third-party notices.
Start with CONTRIBUTING.md. Repository checks reject disc images, executables, generated translations, extracted assets, build products, and other machine-local material.
Pinyon Shift is and will remain free. If you would like to support its continued development, you can sponsor arcanite24 on GitHub. Sponsorship is entirely optional and does not provide builds, game content, support, or influence over the project roadmap.