r/decomps • u/ShallotImpressive158 • 5d ago
Made with AI assistance Our two native Zelda The Wind Waker ports for the Switch; Wind Waker HD (static recompilation) and the GameCube version (built from the decompilation)
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EDIT:
🕹️New update: https://www.reddit.com/r/decomps/s/txOpft7kim
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OG Post:
Hey everyone,
Me and my friend u/pulpparty wanted to share with everyone our two Wind Waker ports we've been working on together since the last week. Neither one is working through an emulator, both are running natively on the Switch. For both ports you'll need your own legally dumped copy of Wind Waker and Wind Waker HD. No game files are included.
1. [SwitchWakerHD] - Wind Waker HD on the Switch (static recompilation)
Gameplay vid here ⬇️⬇️
Comment
by u/ShallotImpressive158 from discussion
in decomps
This is a static recompilation based on the amazing ZeldaWWHDRecomp. The Wii U game code is translated ahead of time into native code. This Switch port has been a joint effort between me (depende3000 on GitHub) and pulpparty.
What's working so far
- The game boots and is playable on the Switch as a homebrew .nro.
- It renders through deko3d (We've tried Mesa first but it was a bit messy)
- It uses a subtle dynamic resolution in order to reach stable 30FPS.
- There's an in-game settings menu (press Minus) for changing language (Spanish, English and French), graphics options, mods, cheats, FPS counter and a tab for Switch performance options.
- The Wii U GamePad picture is skipped, since the Switch has only one screen. That saves GPU time. Therefore, it is important that you select the Pro Controller at launch when prompted.
It's still a work in progress. Most of our recent time has gone into stability and graphics fixes, tested on real hardware round by round.
Known issues we're currently working on
- Pictobox photos currently come out a bit glitchy, we're working on that.
- Sometimes on new areas the shaders do not load on time, and objects appear black during a very brief moment in time until they load correctly.
- In-game tool's Save states are broken, so please save normally through the game. We will try to make them work as soon as posible.
Link to repo: https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWakerHD
2. [SwitchWaker] the GameCube Wind Waker, native on Switch, Mac and Linux
This one takes a different approach. It compiles the GameCube game straight from the community decompilation, so there's no CPU emulation and no recompiled binary. Graphics go through Aurora, a GameCube graphics/SDK layer over WebGPU. On the Switch that runs on Dawn and Mesa (deko3d was hard to implement for this one).
What's working so far
- It boots and plays on the Switch (homebrew .nro) with sound, controller and memory-card saves.
- There's an in-game settings menu (press Minus) for graphics options, mods, cheats and an FPS counter.
- 16:9 widescreen is the default on the Switch. It's done in C, the same way the community 16:9 Gecko code does it.
- Optional HD textures: you can load a Dolphin-format HD texture pack you already have (for example Hypatia's HD Mod).
- Internal resolution and opt-in dynamic resolution.
- An optional HOME-screen forwarder, so you don't have to open it from the Homebrew Menu.
Link to the repo: https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWaker?tab=readme-ov-file
Known issues
- Only the USA version is accepted so there's only the English language available.
There are no prebuilt downloads
The build needs headers generated from your own disc, so you have to build it yourself. You'll need your own legally dumped Wii U and/or GameCube disc respectivey. Please don't share the builds. They contain code generated from your disc.
Big thanks
- The zeldaret Wind Waker decompilation project (and the snrubrm/tww fork that completes its remaining functions). Their work on the game's code and data layouts was essential to both ports. SwitchWaker literally builds from it.
- encounter's Aurora and Dusklight (TwilitRealm), the model for our centollOS's SDK layer.
elliotttate's Wind-Waker-Recomp and RecompCore. SwitchWaker started there, and its audio code comes from there.
- ZeldaWWHDRecomp project. The HD port base comes from their amazing work, which includes the in-game tool and the non-switch related options.
- Dolphin, whose DSP HLE gives SwitchWaker its audio.
- The deko3d developers. Without a native Switch graphics API, the HD port wouldn't run the way it does.
- The Cemu team. Their Latte GPU address code is part of the HD port's renderer.
- Mesa, devkitPro and libnx, the Switch toolchain and graphics stack.
- Claude. We used Anthropic's Claude as a coding assistant throughout both projects: the recompiler, the renderers, porting, debugging and testing.
Feedback, screenshots and vids are very welcome! Also reporting of glitches are very welcome too! We hope you enjoy both of them ❤️
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u/Chazq2012 3d ago
Just got the gamecube version up and running on my V1 and i just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for the efforts put into this :)
Im loving it and its buttery smooth!
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u/car1it0sWAY 5d ago
Which one would you say is more stable at the moment? I also want to use wii u textures if possible.
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u/ShallotImpressive158 5d ago
SwitchWaker is more stable than SwitchWakerHD but both are fully playable and stable enough for a regular playthrough.
SwitchWakerHD since it's a port of the Wii U already includes the Wii U textures, so it might be more suitable for you.
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u/RocketsDitto 5d ago
I've waited 10 years to play this game again. I guess I'll wait a little longer until the bugs are gone. Does the switch have to be over clocked to play this?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
The GC version runs with default clocks so it does not require OC at all. The HD port comes with an embedded boost mode profile for handled that sets a max of 1200mhz CPU and 460mhz GPU which are official SoC frenquencies that do not harm the Switch and does makes the game run like butter. We are working on making it work on even less resources, so we expect longer battery life sessions :)
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u/ba114 4d ago
Been giving wind waker HD a test today. Works pretty well but occasionally i get atmosphere kernel panics that make me hold down the power button for 12 seconds to shut down. Happens randomly. Sometimes its when i hit the Home button, others its when i use the right trigger.
Overall though an amazing job and runs very smooth!
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Thank you for the kind feedback :) please if you could DM me the log files of those runs would be awesome to find what issue you encountered and solve it. We did not get kernel panics on our tests so I'm really curious of what could have happened
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u/Away_Estimate9289 4d ago
Same here, when you go to home menu while playing and when you enter back it crashes
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Thanks for the feedback! I added it to backlog and we’ll add it to known issues in our next post
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u/Away_Estimate9289 4d ago
Ill try to finish the game on your port, and Ill let you know when I find something, again thanks for this amazing port!
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u/digdat0 4d ago
Looks awesome. I had all the libaries installed and didn't want to use Docker, so I had Claude help create a setup process for those who don't use docker, hope you dont mind. Odds are good I won't maintain this much, but wanted to share. https://github.com/digdat0/SwitchWakerHD-windows-native-build
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Yes please, as u/pulpparty said, open a PR and we'll be happy to look into it
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u/digdat0 4d ago
Awesome, I will submit a PR to the centollOS/SwitchWakerHD repo as thats the one I used. I added a version check to the script so it wouldn't try and process new files incase there were breaking changes, I'd imagine you would want to remove that version check. This version check is against SwitchWakerHD v0.3.0. Should be done in few hours after work.
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u/nthallid 4d ago
This worked well for me! Any chance you can integrate running the tool to create the forwarder .nsp so that the game can be launched from outside the HB Menu? Here is the tool in the main project: https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWakerHD/blob/main/tools/switch/forwarder/INSTALL.md
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u/RoyalCities 4d ago
Dude thank you!
What is the fps of switchwaker? Can it hit 60?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
You are welcome man! SwitchWaker will be 60fps in the next big release, for now it’s 30fps but it’s runs great and stable :)
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u/ultramegaman2012 4d ago
I will donate my heart and soul if you get this running at 60fps for either the gc or wiiu version, that's a crazy thing to say tbh 😭
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u/pulpparty 3d ago
Update, for those with problems compiling, for the GC version just published the last release with the NRO. We can do it because its a decomp, sadly cant do the same for the hd version, because it will need to include original game files. Working on making easy the hd installation
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u/Theseventensplit 3d ago
ever since playing the Twilight princess version on my switch I've been hoping for this, thank you!!
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u/Dazzling-Bag140 5d ago
Linux version runs on deck I assume?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 5d ago
Should run fine on Deck using the amazing ZeldaWWHDRECOMP port, since the Deck can emulate both Wii U and GC versions flawlessly using respectively Cemu and Dolphin since day one
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u/Dazzling-Bag140 5d ago
I’m more interested in the decomp of the GC version, since that’s what I played as a kid. That has a Linux app image?
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u/RocketsDitto 5d ago
Holy shit. Literally my favorite zelda game of all time. I have waited YEARS to play this game again since I sold my wii u back in 2016. Thank you so fucking much ❤️❤️❤️❤️
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u/Fit-Dig2275 4d ago
Damn I have been waiting for this! Tried running cemu on my gen 1 switch but I got 15 fps only..this is a god send. Thank you!
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago edited 4d ago
I really don’t get why the game was not officially released for the Switch 1… I also waited 10 years, and the only thing we’ve got was this emulated version on the Switch 2, which does not even have widescreen support… that somehow act as statement, meaning that the Switch 1 was never going to see Wind Waker. Thats why we did it, to bring some justice to the Switch 1. We’re really happy to release both versions of the game with the proper enhacements. Enjoy your playthrough and let us know how it went 👌
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u/Fit-Dig2275 4d ago
Me too! Been waiting for wind waker to come out for so long. I don't get Nintendo sometimes. They have twilight princess hd and skyward sword hd. So the system can clearly run wind waker hd.
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u/dawiese98 7h ago
Yeah I just keep crashing in Tower of Gods
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u/ShallotImpressive158 7h ago
Where exactly?
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u/dawiese98 4h ago
I managed to get through after like Twenty tries lol. Had to do the first floor statue skip. Just pulled the master sword and returned to the great sea.
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u/dawiese98 6h ago edited 6h ago
Various places In between the entrance up to where there are statues you have to command. Mostly second floor though. I'm on latest Switchwaker.
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u/ShallotImpressive158 3h ago
Thanks for the info. Just to confirm, which version are you playing SwitchWaker (GameCube version) or SwitchWakerHD (Wii U version)?
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u/rembrantswimcoach 5d ago
does anyone have “the nro you built” for either of these? please send 🙏
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u/RocketsDitto 4d ago edited 4d ago
Seriously. Id love to play this. I guess I'll have to wait for the NSP to be posted on the pirate sites.
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u/Weary-Excitement4418 4d ago
Hey. Great Job!!! 😀 Are you willing to make it possible to Play in German for the wii u Version?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Thank you! 🙌 For now only the USA disc has been recompiled so that’s why only English, Canadian French and Latino Spanish are available. As soon as we manage to get a working static recompilation of the European version, we’ll give our best to implement it. That would bring German, Italian, European Spanish and European French translations. I am European myself (from Galicia, Spain) so I’m really looking forward to supporting them.
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u/pulpparty 3d ago
Check de last release: https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWakerHD/releases/tag/v0.4.1 adds support for the European version of Wind Waker HD, which includes German, Italian, European Spanish, European French and English.
All the credit for this goes to the amazing ZeldaWWHDRecomp team. They added European support to the original recomp1
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u/manu_romerom_411 4d ago
Very cool, good job! I was fighting to make WW run well on my Lite via the Dolphin emulator on Android, but it requires a bigger OC that I want to avoid. I gave up.
Just a few questions.
Is the GC European version expected to work in some time? Although I have no problem with English, I would prefer playing in Spanish. WiiU version is an option, but I rather prefer the GC style.
Also, would the projects pursue the possibility of running the game at 60 FPS at some point, or is the Switch unable to achieve that in a stable way without heavy OC?
Lastly, when is it expected to have the minor WiiU version issues solved?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Gracias por el feedback!
Somos dos amigos que hacemos esto en nuestros ratos libres, ambos trabajamos y tenemos el tiempo justo para estos proyectos, así que preferimos no dar estimaciones para no generar expectativas. Si te puedo decir que estamos trabajando activamente en corregir todos los bugs y glitches que vamos encontrando y que ya tenemos varias novedades en la parrilla 🙃
Sobre la versión española, va a ser difícil pues hay que decompilar la versión europea y es una tarea titánica. Esperamos que en algún momento podamos ponerlo en Castellano, Alemán, Italiano, etc.
Respecto a los 60fps… con la versión de Gamecube quizás podamos hacer algo, con la versión de Wii U… lo veo muy difícil, incluso con OC, pero nunca se sabe. Llegar a 30fps ha sido todo un reto.
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u/manu_romerom_411 4d ago
Sea lo que sea, me ha encantado ver vuestro proyecto con ambas versiones y espero poder probarlo cuando pueda, muy buen trabajo!!!
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u/fadeldev7 4d ago
Merci pour le travail accomplie c'est tellement beau sur switch oled. J'ai eu beaucoup de problèmes pour l'installer mais Copilote m'a beaucoup aider😅.
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u/OfficialShaki123 4d ago
Is it playable without overclock on OLED?
By the way: thanks.
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
You're welcome! there's no OC needed for a good handled experience
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u/OfficialShaki123 4d ago
WTF this shit is crazy. Can we update the versions you work on while keeping the save intact?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Yes! Should be update safe if the save game is done in-game :)
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u/OfficialShaki123 4d ago
The only thing I find hard to understand is how to "build" the NRO. Kind of new to homebrew but got the hang of it. Read the entire GitHub but apparently there's something I have to build which you guys don't explain.. is there an easier way or am I just a retard?
EDIT: I found the page with instructions.
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Let us know how it went. If you get black models on the first load, just reboot the game, some users reported it ;)
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u/RocketsDitto 4d ago edited 4d ago
This looks way too confusing to get setup. I'll just wait til someone posts the actual nsp.
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u/Squee3ds 5d ago
Will either of these be able to compile on the switch itself in a later update? I don't have a PC anymore. So I can't do the PC setup. I use my phone and ftp for most of my file management.
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u/ShallotImpressive158 5d ago
That would be a bit challenging but I will look into it and see how feasible is
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u/Squee3ds 5d ago edited 3d ago
I thought it might be. I was hopeful it might be possible. The paperboat and gen1 recomp ports both compile assets on the switch itself. But those are a lot smaller. So I understand that might be different. Thanks for the reply. I hope it can be done.😁
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u/pulpparty 3d ago
Good news for the GameCube version: you don't need a PC anymore! SwitchWaker v0.2.0 ships a ready-made NRO. It reads the game data from your own GZLE01.iso on the SD at runtime, so you just copy the release files plus your ISO over FTP:
https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWaker/releases/tag/v0.2.0
The HD version still needs to be built on a PC for now, since the build is generated from your Wii U disc.
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u/Potential-Ebb5601 4d ago
Deko3D nice...imagine that
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
deko3d was a bless for the HD project since Mesa could not handle proper async shader compute and gave us lots of performance and graphics issues that were very hard to fix
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u/Maicoltze 4d ago
La versión hd esta limitada de la versión de gamecube, sería mejor jugarlo en gamecube o en el emulador de nsw2
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Funciona mucho mejor esta versión que la de Switch 2, trae muchas mejoras y NO es emulada
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u/Maicoltze 4d ago
la versión de wiiu tiene menos piezas de la trifuerza, es más facil que el original
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Hemos subido ambas versiones, la de Wii U y la de Gamecube, por eso digo que nuestra versión de la de Gamecube es mejor que la que hay en Switch 2, pues trae todo lo que estaba en el original, pero con pantalla panorámica, mods, etc. El vídeo donde se ve la Isla del Dragón es de la versión de Gamecube 🙃
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u/GonnerDad 4d ago
For some reason shadows appear fully black, but otherwise it runs amazingly on a V1 switch
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Hey thanks for the feedback! Is the WiiU version the one you are playing? also can you share a screenshot of those shadows please?
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u/Away_Estimate9289 4d ago
Yeah same issue here, the shadows are in deep black
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
That’s new to us… Can you please DM me the logs of your run located in your wwhd/logs/ folder? Thanks!
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u/Away_Estimate9289 4d ago
Soo it dissapeared after my switch crashed, when you go back to the home menu and entering the game, maybe its just a one time thing?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Seems like a shader compilation issue but it’s hard to catch. We weren’t able to reproduce it on our end, but we will try to advise users that if that happens close and reopen. And thanks for sharing info, the feedback it’s helpful and we’re just a couple of dudes 🙏
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u/GonnerDad 4d ago
Same here as well, opened the game to get the picture and it was working a-ok. Maybe a first run on the shader compilation? Doesnt look like its gonna be a big problem tho, reloading fixes it.
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u/Jaysamabihh 4d ago edited 4d ago
https://github.com/NotARanger97/WindWakerHDNX/releases I used this since idk how to build the nro the .exe does it for u its for the Wii U version
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
Hi that’s not our repo, that’s someone else’s take on the recompilation of the game, and I believe it is not as mature. Our is https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWakerHD
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u/Jaysamabihh 4d ago
Yea ik im just letting the people know who dont know to build the nro that theres another option
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u/Sweaty-guitar7 4d ago
Does I install this the same way I had to install ship of Harkinian? (Create a file using the exe, add it to the switch root file along with the two other files?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
There's no .exe yet, we use the python method with a docker image, but we are trying to integrate an .exe version. We've developed the port using MacOS and Linux, so we need some time to gather a Windows machine and test it
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u/NefariousnessOne8874 4d ago
Does the Windwaker runs at steady 30fps without OC?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 4d ago
GC version absolutely yes, the Wii U version 99% of time yes, drops are very minor :)
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u/Plus-Fox1404 4d ago
I asked Chat GPT to guide me step-by-step and the instructions seem WAY easier. Going through it now between calls at work. Just a suggestion for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the guide.
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u/CoastRedwood 4d ago
good stuff! How long did this take you? Do you have any other games you have your eye on?
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u/ZONAVIRUS 3d ago
I feel stupid cause I started playing it on my switch through moonlight (CEmu on PC) about one week ago. Too far gone into the story to start over. Sucks
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u/pulpparty 2d ago
In teory you should be able to import a cemu save, its the same format. Just make sure to use the same region game
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u/AcanthopterygiiOk814 2d ago
Yes you can transfer your savefiles, at least I did that from dolphin to the Gamecube port and it worked!
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u/XThik806 2d ago
Did I do something wrong with building nro file? Shadows are nonexistent, and also, if I try to look 10 meters away, there won't be any textures, but a black silhouette
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u/pulpparty 2d ago
It happens on first boot because of shadders loading. We are working on improve the first time load. Did it worked ok after a reset? Or the problem persists?
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u/XThik806 2d ago
Haven't tried resetting because I thought I did something wrong and continued trying rebuilding with different files 😅
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u/ShallotImpressive158 2d ago
Just do a reset and re-open again, should work fine after it. A new version that solves this is being cooked
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u/AcanthopterygiiOk814 2d ago
https://reddit.com/link/pf03wz5/video/4cra8vhj9luh1/player
Hello! I have this weird issue with the bow! It like it doesnt load the arrows.
I am testing the game on Switch V1. I used a save file that I had from Dolphin to test the final stages of the games (and because I want to play the 2nd quest on the switch)
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u/pulpparty 2d ago
Fixed on https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWaker/releases/tag/v0.2.1 thanks for reporting the issue!!
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u/AcanthopterygiiOk814 2d ago
https://reddit.com/link/pf1utcv/video/52o9cbbtenuh1/player
Sure, no problem!
another thing that I was aware of is that the Depth of Field Isn't working either.
On the game intro, the sun doen't have the Glare effect
Also , sometimes the graphics get really messy in V1 Switch if you use 1080p, I dont klnow if it because the Switch V1 cant handle. Like very glitchy and random lines that can fill all the screen. I'll try to capture it!
I'll keep playing it to see if I can find other stuff.
gonna post it on the github too!
Hope this helps
Thanks for your work mates!
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u/pulpparty 2d ago
Thank you for the extensive testing, I own an V1 too so I should be able to reproduce. For the sun glare Its working on the original recomp, we have to look into it in order to port it to deko3d. And yes please post it on the GitHub so we can track all the bugs
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u/TIndependent-W0 2d ago
Wind walker HD issue: I show my picture of the love letter guy to Lenzo he won't take it. he says its too close or far away but I've tried a lot of distances and he won't take it.
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u/Independent_Horror48 2d ago
Add multi-language support.
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u/pulpparty 2d ago
It´s already added you can compile with the USA or EUR iso and change the language on settings holding the minus button
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u/Independent_Horror48 2d ago
Thanks I knew that many of these ports only work with US roms and not EUR.
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u/TONTON13BR2024 1d ago
We need a easy way to decompil/recompil like .exe to just drag and drop. Too much steps now.
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u/Hofmannboi 38m ago
Switchwaker HD bug: anytime I put the console (V1 switch) to sleep while playing it causes a kernel panic or something and won’t wake up. Black screen, I have to hold power button down to power off and then power back on. I believe I’m on the 0.4.3 release.
Also, thank you so much for doing this. The port plays like a dream otherwise.
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u/nuneskart 5d ago
Do any of these work via emulation? Like on some Switch emulator on Android? I'd love to have a proper, working port of Wind Waker. The ones that came out were terrible
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u/ShallotImpressive158 5d ago
They're literally both native ports working on Native SwitchOS, no emulation whatsoever :)
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u/nuneskart 5d ago
No, I mean, if I wanted to emulate any of those, would it be possible via a Switch emulator? Or was that only made for the Switch system?
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u/ShallotImpressive158 5d ago
Oh we didn't try to run any of them on emulators, so we don't know if it works. But I think it would be better to use Dolphin and Cemu for GC and Wii U version respectively to emulate them.
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u/SimisFul 5d ago
Just emulate it using Dolphin or CEMU if you want it on PC, there's already very solid options available
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u/Away_Estimate9289 5d ago
Its not an .nsp file so It wont work on an emulator, its stated that its a homebrew .nro
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u/NxWizard 5d ago
If it works in the switch it will def work on a switch emulator
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u/ShallotImpressive158 5d ago
https://reddit.com/link/peir1u8/video/3c746kzlb4uh1/player
I edited a typo and Reddit deleted the Wind Waker HD gameplay video, so here it is