The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
3 recomps
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (valentderah)
valentderah/totk-pc-recomp
A static recompilation of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom into a native Windows x86-64 application. The installer builds the game on your PC from your files, and the result contains the game, so it is for your own use only. The README describes it as early development: it is playable on Windows, but visual bugs and crashes are expected. It supports updates 1.2.1 and 1.4.3 with saves that carry over between them, 60 fps by default (up to 144 or the monitor’s refresh rate, experimentally), custom resolutions with supersampling and AMD FSR 1, keyboard, mouse, and gamepad with gyro, and shaders prepared at install time. The first release came out on October 29. On the 31st, 0.1.9 added ultrawide resolutions and 0.2.1 a native Linux build as an AppImage, with Steam Deck defaults that haven’t been measured on one yet; mods made for emulators are still planned. 66 of its last 100 commits list Claude as a co-author.
You needYour own copy of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch, dumped from your console: the base game and the 1.2.1 or 1.4.3 update. Windows 10 or later, an x86-64 CPU with AVX2, a GPU with Vulkan 1.3 and VK_EXT_external_memory_host, and about 36 GiB free during setup (20 GiB after).
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (kuraeow)
kuraeow/ultratears
UltraTears is an unofficial native Windows port of version 1.4.3 for the Switch. It isn’t an emulator: the game’s code is translated ahead of time (static recompilation, ARM64 to C to x86-64), and the console’s system and NVN graphics API are replaced by the port’s own implementations on Windows and Vulkan; shaders and textures are converted when the game is built, not while playing. No executable with the game is published: you download a builder that translates and compiles the game on your PC from your own dump, or build from source. The README calls it early: the title screen, a new game, the prologue and the Great Sky Island play, at the game’s own 30 fps with hitches while new shaders compile. Steam Deck and Linux are planned. The only release, v0.1.0-beta, is from October 25. 1 of its 3 commits lists Claude as a co-author.
You needYour own copy of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with update 1.4.3, as two ordinary folders: exefs (main, subsdk0, sdk, main.npdm…) and romfs (about 304,000 files, 16 GB). .nsp, .xci, .nca and other encrypted packages don’t work, and it reads no keys. Plus 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, a CPU with AVX2, a GPU with Vulkan 1.3 and VK_EXT_shader_object, 16 GB of RAM, and about 32 GB free for the build.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (NotRexed)
NotRexed/SkyboundTotk
An experimental static recompilation project of the base game version 1.0.0 for Windows x64 and Linux x86-64: the AArch64 code is translated to C ahead of time and compiled on your PC, a runtime implements the services the game expects, and the renderer translates the graphics work and shaders to WebGPU (wgpu-native). It is not a general Switch emulator. The README warns of graphical problems and incomplete compatibility, and that some graphics translation still happens at run time; a contribution added version 1.2.1. F6 tries to adjust the camera and HUD to wider screens and is off by default. It has no published releases: you build it with build.bat or from source. 21 of its 32 commits list Claude as a co-author.
You needYour own unmodified copy of base version 1.0.0 (or 1.2.1), with exefs and romfs already extracted into the project’s game folder (it doesn’t extract .nsp or .xci). Plus 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 or x86-64 Linux with Vulkan, Python 3.10 or newer with lz4, Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools on Windows, clang, clang++ and lld, and at least 45 GB free in addition to the dump.
Installs with
Quiver Launcher · Ports Launcher
Questions
Can you play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom natively on PC?
Yes, though unfinished. The catalog has 3 recomps, and one of them is already playable.
What do I need to play it?
Your own copy of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch). Recompendium only links projects that don’t distribute the game, and each entry says which version or region you need.
Which one is the most popular?
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (valentderah), with 2,043 stars on GitHub.