SwitchWakerHD 0.4.1

SwitchWakerHD runs The Wind Waker HD (Wii U, version 0: USA 00050000-10143500 or Europe 00050000-10143600) natively on a Switch with custom firmware: the game's code is statically recompiled to C and drawn with deko3d. No emulation.

No game inside, no binaries. Every build carries the game's code recompiled from your own dump, so you build it on your computer with one script and copy the result to your SD card. Do not share what you build.

Install

1. Download SwitchWakerHD-v0.4.1.zip below and unzip it.
2. Follow INSTALL.md: one command builds everything from your dump:

   python3 tools/switch/make_sd.py --image game.wux      # or --wua game.wua, or --game-dir <extracted game>

   On Windows this now works with a native devkitPro: no Docker, no WSL.
3. Copy build/sd/ to the root of the SD card and start the Homebrew Menu in title mode (hold R while starting any game).

Updating from 0.3.0: build the same way and copy wwhd.nro over the old one. Saves and settings.ini stay. The graphics compiled on the console are made again once, in the background, the first time each place is visited (the shader compiler changed).

What's new since v0.3.0

The European version (issue #4)

• The European game (title 00050000-10143600, version 0) builds and plays like the USA one, in its own five languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish), chosen from the console's language. make_sd.py recognises which version your dump is.
• Tested on hardware with both versions: new game, save states and warps.

Windows without Docker or WSL

• On Windows 10/11 the game now builds with a native devkitPro install: no Docker Desktop, no WSL, just Python and devkitPro, from a normal PowerShell window. It is now the recommended way on Windows (INSTALL.md, "Windows: devkitPro"); Docker with WSL still works.
• Cemu .wua archives work directly (--wua), with no keys, for both the USA and the European game (on every system, not only Windows).
• The HOME-screen icon on Windows: with your console's own prod.keys (in %USERPROFILE%\.switch\, never inside the release folder), make_sd.py also builds the forwarder .nsp, so the game starts from the HOME menu without holding R. Without keys that step is skipped and the game builds as usual.

New

• The GamePad screen in a corner of the TV picture (Switch tab, off by default): the map, the items and the Picto Box view without switching screens.
• Run and swim faster (Mods tab, off by default): hold L3 (or another button, or toggle) to make Link run and swim 1.25x to 4x faster.
• Save states remember the controller mode (Pro Controller or GamePad) and restore it on load.
• A performance report for bug reports (Switch tab → Debug, with the render profiler on).

Fixed

• Dots of light around torches and lamps (a shader compiler issue).
• Loading a save state no longer races the GPU.
• The Master Sword cheat now only equips the Master Sword and Mirror Shield until the next reload; before, it gave them for good, which the game takes as story progress (Medli stayed away from Dragon Roost, upstream #85).
• The developer debug server no longer hangs the game after many connections.

Also

• Upstream ZeldaWWHDRecomp v0.2.9–v0.2.11 merged (European support, the cheat fix, run/swim speed, mod manager updates). Upstream's code mods and native guest mods are desktop features and are not available on the Switch.
• The Language / About tab shows the build's version.

Thanks

A big thank you to @digdat0, this project's first outside contributor, for the Windows build and the Windows forwarder (#2, #3), tested on Windows 10 and on a Switch. 🎉

Known limits

• The first visit to a place compiles its graphics in the background: an object may appear a moment late, once per console.
• The sun's corona and lens flare are not drawn yet (the renderer does not read depth back).

Credits, licenses and how AI was used: see the README. Built on ZeldaWWHDRecomp by Lukas S and its contributors. License: MPL-2.0.

SwitchWakerHD 0.3.0

SwitchWakerHD runs The Wind Waker HD (Wii U, title 00050000-10143500, USA, version 0) natively on a Switch with custom firmware: the game's code is statically recompiled to C and drawn with deko3d. No emulation.

No game inside, no binaries. Every build carries the game's code recompiled from your own dump, so you build it on your computer with one script and copy the result to your SD card. Do not share what you build.

Install

1. Download SwitchWakerHD-v0.3.0.zip below and unzip it.
2. Follow INSTALL.md: with Docker and Python installed, one command builds everything from your dump:

   python3 tools/switch/make_sd.py --image game.wux      # or --game-dir <extracted game>

3. Copy build/sd/ to the root of the SD card and start the Homebrew Menu in title mode (hold R while starting any game).

Updating from 0.2.0: build the same way and copy wwhd.nro over the old one. Saves, settings.ini and the compiled graphics stay. An old env.txt is converted into settings.ini on the first start and renamed env.txt.old.

What's new since v0.2.0

Faster, fewer stutters

• The opening island's heaviest view went from 22 to about 29 fps at stock clocks: the renderer's per-draw work dropped by about a fifth.
• Shader variants seen in an earlier session come from a new cache file (shadercache_dk_translations.bin): effects that stuttered every session now do so only the first time. New textures unpack about three times faster.

New

• Save states work on the console: five slots in the Saves tab (upstream's portable save states: your progress and Link's place, boat included).
• Rumble on the Joy-Con and the Pro Controller (Switch tab → Rumble).
• Gyro aiming in Pro Controller mode too (the default), lower default sensitivity, turning-axis choice and Recalibrate.
• 16x anisotropic filtering (Switch tab → Picture, off by default).
• Every option now lives in the menu (settings.ini); env.txt is gone.

Fixed

• Black letters in the Rito post office's sorting game (now playable).
• A crash with quick doors in Tingle's jail on Windfall (upstream #61).
• A possible hang where one game thread waits for another (upstream #62).

Defaults

• The console runs at stock clocks by default (CPU 1020 MHz, stock GPU). The busiest scenes (sailing near Dragon Roost, the volcano island) run at 26–29 fps there; the CPU's 1224 MHz step is marked Recommended in the Switch tab and holds a steady 30 fps. A clock you already saved in the menu is kept.

Also

• Upstream ZeldaWWHDRecomp v0.2.7–v0.2.8 merged (fan translations as content mods, including right-to-left scripts).
• One log per session in logs/ (the 10 most recent kept).
• A network debug server for developers, off by default (Switch tab → Debug).

Known limits

• The first visit to a place compiles its graphics in the background: an object may appear a moment late, once per console.
• A picture-in-picture GamePad screen (in a corner) is planned.

Credits, licenses and how AI was used: see the README. Built on ZeldaWWHDRecomp by Lukas S and its contributors. License: MPL-2.0.

SwitchWakerHD 0.2.0

SwitchWakerHD runs The Wind Waker HD (Wii U, title 00050000-10143500, USA, version 0) natively on a Switch with custom firmware: the game's code is statically recompiled to C and drawn with deko3d. No emulation.

No game inside, no binaries. Every build carries the game's code recompiled from your own dump, so you build it on your computer with one script and copy the result to your SD card. Do not share what you build.

Install

1. Download SwitchWakerHD-v0.2.0.zip below and unzip it.
2. Follow INSTALL.md: with Docker and Python installed, one command builds everything from your dump:

   python3 tools/switch/make_sd.py --image game.wux      # or --game-dir <extracted game>

3. Copy build/sd/ to the root of the SD card and start the Homebrew Menu in title mode (hold R while starting any game).

What's new since v0.1.0

• GamePad mode: the menu's Switch tab chooses whether the controller acts as a Wii U Pro Controller (default) or as the GamePad. In GamePad mode, ZL + ZR + Minus switches between the TV picture and the GamePad screen (items, map, sea chart), and the touch screen works on it.
• Gyro aiming with the Joy-Con, the Pro Controller or the console in handheld mode (GamePad mode; Switch tab → Gyro aiming).
• Settings menu on Minus held half a second; a short Minus goes to the game (in GamePad mode that is its Off-TV Play).
• Defaults for players: no frame-rate counter; the frame capture (both sticks) and the A/B test switches moved to a Debug section, off.
• Docked mode tested on a TV: 1080p output, picture profile per mode.
• Upstream ZeldaWWHDRecomp v0.2.3–v0.2.6 merged: mod manager update (content mods, Cemu graphics packs), GamePad sound fix, render-thread profiler, performance report header.
• tools/switch/make_sd.py builds and lays out the SD card in one step; INSTALL.md is the guide for players.

Known limits

• Played by hand mostly on the opening island and a few other areas reached with the Warp tab; dips below 30 fps in the busiest views.
• The first visit to a place compiles its graphics in the background: an object may appear a moment late, once per console.
• A picture-in-picture GamePad screen (in a corner) is planned.

Credits, licenses and how AI was used: see the README. Built on ZeldaWWHDRecomp by Lukas S and its contributors. License: MPL-2.0.

SwitchWakerHD 0.1.0

First tagged version of SwitchWakerHD: a native port of a 2013 Wii U adventure game (title 00050000-10143500, USA, version 0) to the Switch (homebrew), forked from ZeldaWWHDRecomp. No emulation: the game's code is statically recompiled to C and its graphics are drawn with deko3d, the Switch's own GPU API.

Source only. There are no binaries to download: every build contains the game's code recompiled from your own dump, so you build it yourself and must not share the result. See the README for building and installing.

What's in it

• Plays on the Switch in handheld mode, with sound, controllers (as a Wii U Pro Controller), saves, save states and mods.
• sdmc:/switch/wwhd/wwhd.nro; start the Homebrew Menu in title mode (hold R), or install the optional HOME-screen forwarder.
• deko3d renderer: the game's shaders are compiled with uam, from an offline cache (shadercache_dksh.bin, built with tools/switch/dksh_cache) or on the console in the background, once per shader. About 30 fps in handheld (median 29.9 on the test route at stock CPU and the 460.8 MHz GPU profile).
• Options menu on Minus: CPU clock (every step from the stock 1020 up to 1785 MHz; 1224 MHz by default), Nintendo's official handheld GPU profiles plus a 614 MHz overclock, picture adjustments, frame-rate counter, save states, Warp (teleport to any stage), mods, language.
• Frame captures for bug reports (L3 + R3).
• The desktop and Android builds of upstream still build from this repository (docs/upstream-README.md).

Changes in this version

• deko3d replaces the earlier OpenGL (Mesa nouveau) renderer, which was removed; it is in git history at 207349b.
• uam fixes for this game's shaders (runtime/third_party/uam/PATCHES.md), among them a scheduling fix that removed flickering 4x8-pixel specks on sunlit surfaces.
• README, CONTRIBUTING and THIRD_PARTY: credits to the projects this builds on, how AI was used, every component and its license.

Known limits

• Docked mode (1080p output) is implemented but not yet tested on hardware.
• Played by hand mostly on the opening island and a few other areas reached with the Warp tab; dips below 30 fps in the busiest views.
• Notes and open work: docs/deko3d-plan.md, docs/switch-port.md.

Credits

Built on ZeldaWWHDRecomp by Lukas S and its contributors, Cemu's shader decompiler, zeldaret/tww, and devkitPro's libnx, deko3d and uam. This fork's own code was written with an AI coding agent; see the README, "How it was made: AI use". License: MPL-2.0.