v0.3.0

NHL 3 on 3 Arcade PC port for Windows and Linux.

Custom rosters. An optional roster pack adds 22 players to the arcade lineup, with their own headshots, numbers, handedness and player type: McDavid, Matthews, Bedard, MacKinnon, Makar, Kucherov, Draisaitl, the Sedins, Jagr, Forsberg, Selanne, Lidstrom, Roy, Price and more. Unzip it next to the launcher and the game applies it on its next launch. No tools or scripts needed.

Portrait mode plays top-down. With a portrait aspect_ratio (such as 9:16), matches use a top-down camera that always puts the end you attack at the top of the screen, and the sticks are turned to match what you see.

Everyone in a match should update to v0.3.0. Online, players are now only matched with players on the same roster: everyone on the stock roster, or everyone on the same roster pack version. The community server (nhl3on3-turtle.fly.dev) has been updated; if you run your own server, update it from server/ too.

You need your own copy of the game (Xbox Live Arcade, title ID 58410975). No game files are included: copy your Xbox 360 package file into the game folder and the game unpacks it on first launch. See the README.

Which file do I download?

File	For
NHL3on3-v0.3.0-windows_64_portable.zip	64-bit Windows 10 / 11. Unzip, put your game package in game\, run NHL3on3 Launcher.bat.
NHL3on3-v0.3.0-linux_64.tar.gz	64-bit Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 / Fedora 39 / Arch or newer). tar xzf it, put your game package in game/, run ./nhl3on3-launcher.
NHL3on3-v0.3.0-SHA256SUMS.txt	Checksums for both archives.
NHL3on3-roster.zip	Optional custom roster pack (v2). Unzip it into the same folder as the launcher, so you have roster/roster.json and roster/headshots/.

Both game archives are portable and self-contained: the launcher, the game, runtime libraries and an empty game folder are included. A CPU with AVX2 is required.

Upgrading: copy the new files over your old folder, or move your game folder and nhl3on3.toml into the new one.

Changes since v0.2.1

Custom rosters

• New optional roster pack. Its players take over arcade star slots, so they show up on the Starting Lineups switch list with their own name, number, headshot and handedness (shoots).
• A player's type (all_around, fast or strong) gives them the ratings and build of an arcade star of that type and position. Players who were already arcade stars, such as Forsberg and Selanne, get their listed type too.
• The game applies the pack on startup. Editing roster.json or replacing a headshot updates it on the next launch; players without a headshot are skipped.
• Custom players have to take over an arcade star's slot, and the game has 32 forward, 6 defense and 5 goalie slots, some of them kept for legends like Crosby, Lidstrom and Brodeur. A player who doesn't fit is skipped with a warning in the log instead of stopping the whole roster.
• Without the pack, nothing changes: you get the stock arcade roster.

Online

• Quick match only pairs players on the same roster. Players without the pack play each other on the stock roster, and pack players only meet players with the same pack version. This applies to both ranked and team play.
• If players with different rosters still end up in a team play lobby, it shows ROSTER MISMATCH: same pack required and won't start, instead of starting a match that would desync.

Display

• Portrait: new top-down match camera (portrait_camera = "topdown", the default; "game" keeps the stock camera). The end you attack is at the top. topdown_direction = "reverse" flips it, and topdown_tilt (degrees, default 12) and topdown_zoom (default 1) adjust the view.
• Portrait: the left and right sticks are turned to match the top-down view, so up on the stick is up on the screen.
• Portrait: menus and the HUD sit at the top of the screen instead of the middle, out of the way of play. portrait_ui_position can be top, center or bottom.
• Portrait: players and goalies near the ends of the rink no longer disappear. The game only drew what its original side camera could see; it now draws everything in the taller view. Ultrawide gets the same fix at the left and right edges.
• Fixed: missing text in menus, the pause menu and the scoreboard with an ultrawide or portrait aspect_ratio.
• Fixed: player name tags and arrows were offset from their players with an ultrawide or portrait aspect_ratio.
• Fixed: with ultrawide_ui_16x9 on, a portrait match could be squashed into the top third of the screen with black below, which also hid the scoreboard clock.

Known issues

• Portrait mode is still new. If a portrait match shows black across the bottom two-thirds of the screen, set the render scale to 2x or turn off ultrawide_ui_16x9, and please attach the newest log from logs/.
• In a portrait match the scoreboard is part of the game image, so it's stretched taller rather than kept at 16:9.
• The roster pack changes player ratings, so everyone in an online match must have the same pack version, or nobody uses one. A pack update means everyone updates.
• Custom players wear the arcade all-star jerseys like every other player; the game has no team jerseys to give them.
• With long gamertags or a full 4-on-4 lobby, the ready/waiting line above the title may be cut off.
• The Starting Lineups screen doesn't show who's playing goalie.

v0.2.1

NHL 3 on 3 Arcade PC port for Windows and Linux.

Ultrawide and portrait displays. Set aspect_ratio (for example 21:9, 32:9, 9:16, or auto to match your desktop) and the in-game view fills the screen at the right proportions, while menus, the HUD and movies stay 16:9 in the middle of the screen.

Lower input lag in Online Team Play, and the lobby screens now show who's ready.

Everyone in a match should update to v0.2.1. The server hasn't changed, so if you run your own you don't need to update it.

You need your own copy of the game (Xbox Live Arcade, title ID 58410975). No game files are included: copy your Xbox 360 package file into the game folder and the game unpacks it on first launch. See the README.

Which file do I download?

File	For
NHL3on3-v0.2.1-windows_64_portable.zip	64-bit Windows 10 / 11. Unzip, put your game package in game\, run NHL3on3 Launcher.bat.
NHL3on3-v0.2.1-linux_64.tar.gz	64-bit Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 / Fedora 39 / Arch or newer). tar xzf it, put your game package in game/, run ./nhl3on3-launcher.
NHL3on3-v0.2.1-SHA256SUMS.txt	Checksums for both archives.

Both are portable and self-contained: the launcher, the game, runtime libraries and an empty game folder are included. A CPU with AVX2 is required.

Upgrading: copy the new files over your old folder, or move your game folder and nhl3on3.toml into the new one.

Changes since v0.2.0

Display

• Ultrawide works properly. The in-game camera widens to show more of the rink at the sides (ultrawide_fov = "hor+", the default), or set ultrawide_fov = "vert-" to keep the 16:9 width and trim the top and bottom instead.
• Menus, the HUD, scoreboard and movies stay 16:9 in the centre of an ultrawide or portrait screen instead of being stretched. Turn this off with ultrawide_ui_16x9 = false.
• New: portrait displays (9:16, 9:21, or any taller-than-wide W:H). The game opens a portrait window, and the in-game camera keeps the full width of the rink while showing more above and below.

Online

• Less input lag in Online Team Play. The input lead now follows your actual round trip to the server (plus a margin for jitter) instead of always adding a full extra input period. It also drops back down gradually, so a single late packet no longer causes a hitch.
• Select Sides: READY now shows on the panel for the side the player actually picked. Before, it went by who was hosting, so a ready player could light up the other team's panel. A side's panel now shows READY once everyone on that side is ready.
• Starting Lineups: a side shows READY once everyone on it is ready, not as soon as any one player readies. A teammate readying no longer lights up the other side's banner.
• In Online Team Play, the line above the screen title on Select Sides and Starting Lineups lists who's ready and who you're still waiting for (READY: … WAITING: …).

Known issues

• Portrait mode is new and hasn't had much testing. In fullscreen, aspect_ratio must match your monitor's shape (or use auto), otherwise the picture is distorted. Resizing the portrait window to a different shape distorts it the same way.
• With long gamertags or a full 4-on-4 lobby, the ready/waiting line above the title may be cut off.
• The Starting Lineups screen doesn't show who's playing goalie.
• Full 4-on-4 games with human goalies still haven't had much play. If a match freezes or a player's screen goes black, please attach the newest log from logs/ from every player.

v0.2.0

NHL 3 on 3 Arcade PC port for Windows and Linux.

Online Team Play now goes up to 4 on 4, with human goalies. A match can have up to eight players: three skaters and a goalie per side. A side's fourth player plays goalie, or anyone can ask for the net by adding --play_goalie=true to the launcher's Extra arguments. The camera sits behind the goalie, fitted to the smaller 3-on-3 rink.

Everyone in a match needs v0.2.0. It can't play online against v0.1.x. The community server (nhl3on3-turtle.fly.dev) has already been updated; if you run your own server, update it from server/ too.

You need your own copy of the game (Xbox Live Arcade, title ID 58410975). No game files are included: copy your Xbox 360 package file into the game folder and the game unpacks it on first launch. See the README.

Which file do I download?

File	For
NHL3on3-v0.2.0-windows_64_portable.zip	64-bit Windows 10 / 11. Unzip, put your game package in game\, run NHL3on3 Launcher.bat.
NHL3on3-v0.2.0-linux_64.tar.gz	64-bit Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 / Fedora 39 / Arch or newer). tar xzf it, put your game package in game/, run ./nhl3on3-launcher.
NHL3on3-v0.2.0-SHA256SUMS.txt	Checksums for both archives.

Both are portable and self-contained: the launcher, the game, runtime libraries and an empty game folder are included. A CPU with AVX2 is required.

Upgrading: copy the new files over your old folder, or move your game folder and nhl3on3.toml into the new one.

Changes since v0.1.4

• Online Team Play takes up to eight players (four per side), up from six.
• Human goalies in Online Team Play. Each side's goalie is the first player on that side who set --play_goalie=true; if nobody asked, it's the side's fourth player. Sides with no goalie player keep the computer goalie.
• The camera follows a human goalie from behind the net, placed for the 3-on-3 rink instead of a full-size one.
• Player names on the Starting Lineups screen use the proper font again. The game expects arial.ttf, which isn't in the Xbox package, so the game now copies it from Windows at launch (on Linux, Arial or Liberation Sans if installed).

Known issues

• The Starting Lineups screen doesn't show who's playing goalie.
• Human goalies have mostly been tested in two-player matches; full 4-on-4 games haven't had much play yet. If a match freezes or a player's screen goes black, please attach the newest log from logs/ from every player.

v0.1.4

NHL 3 on 3 Arcade PC port for Windows and Linux.

Your in-game options now stick between sessions. The game never saved its options (camera, camera direction, controller preset, volumes, game rules), so they reset every time you started it. Now any option you change in the game's menus is saved to nhl3on3.toml and restored the next time you launch. The mouse cursor is also hidden in fullscreen.

v0.1.4 can play online against v0.1.3; nothing about online play changed.

You need your own copy of the game (Xbox Live Arcade, title ID 58410975). No game files are included: copy your Xbox 360 package file into the game folder and the game unpacks it on first launch. See the README.

Which file do I download?

File	For
NHL3on3-v0.1.4-windows_64_portable.zip	64-bit Windows 10 / 11. Unzip, put your game package in game\, run NHL3on3 Launcher.bat.
NHL3on3-v0.1.4-linux_64.tar.gz	64-bit Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 / Fedora 39 / Arch or newer). tar xzf it, put your game package in game/, run ./nhl3on3-launcher.
NHL3on3-v0.1.4-SHA256SUMS.txt	Checksums for both archives.

Both are portable and self-contained: the launcher, the game, runtime libraries and an empty game folder are included. A CPU with AVX2 is required.

Upgrading: copy the new files over your old folder, or move your game folder and nhl3on3.toml into the new one.

Changes since v0.1.3

• In-game options are saved when you change them in the game's menus and restored at startup. They're kept in a game_settings line in nhl3on3.toml; delete that line to go back to the game's defaults, or add restore_game_settings = false to turn this off.
• The mouse cursor is hidden while the game is fullscreen.

v0.1.3

• networking fixes for linux users

v0.1.2

• more networking fixes

v0.1.1

• networking fixes

v0.1.0

First public release of the NHL 3 on 3 Arcade PC port, for Windows and Linux.

You need your own copy of the game (Xbox Live Arcade, title ID 58410975). No game files are included; see the README for how to extract them into the game folder.

Which file do I download?

File	For
NHL3on3-v0.1.0-windows_64_portable.zip	64-bit Windows 10 / 11. Unzip, add the game files to game\, run NHL3on3 Launcher.bat.
NHL3on3-v0.1.0-linux_64.tar.gz	64-bit Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 / Fedora 39 / Arch or newer). tar xzf it, add the game files to game/, run ./nhl3on3-launcher.
NHL3on3-v0.1.0-SHA256SUMS.txt	Checksums for both archives.

Both are portable and self-contained: the launcher, the game, runtime libraries and an empty game folder are included. A CPU with AVX2 is required.

Highlights

• Native recompiled build: no emulator, up to 2160p internal resolution, frame rate cap up to 240 or unlocked, ultrawide aspect ratios.
• Online play through the community server, with no port forwarding needed: 1v1 up to 3v3 team play, with position locks.
• Settings launcher on both platforms; F11 / Alt+Enter toggles fullscreen.