Zelda Tears of the Kingdom fans have a new way to play it on PC, as UltraTears arrived—a PC port that runs without an emulator—and it lets you navigate Link’s adventure using a keyboard or Xbox and PlayStation controllers, although for now it remains an early version that’s being refined almost daily.
The project was published on October 25 on GitHub by user kuraeow, and its 0.1.0 beta version runs with the game’s 1.4.3 update, which is good news for those who were hoping to see Zelda Tears of the Kingdom on PC after the other port we told you about a few days ago, which is a different project.
What the Zelda Tears of the Kingdom port brings
Unlike an emulator, which mimics how the Nintendo Switch runs the game while you play, UltraTears translates the game’s code before playing, so it runs as a native Windows program, and it also replaces the console’s system and graphics with PC-tailored versions designed for PC GPUs.
The most remarkable aspect is that the game is built on your own computer, since the port doesn’t include any Nintendo code, and it’s your PC that converts your copy of the game into an executable, along with textures and shaders adapted for NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel graphics cards, a process that takes around half an hour.
Moreover, the port supports Xbox controllers, PlayStation DualSense, Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and other models, and it can also be played with a keyboard.
What can be played and what’s coming in the next updates
According to the developer’s tests on a PC with an RTX 3060, for now you can run the title screen, start a new game, the prologue, and the Isle of the Dawn, maintaining the original Switch’s 30 FPS.
That said, being an early version, there are stutters the first time a new effect or location appears, while the game prepares its shaders, something the developer is addressing, and for now there isn’t a options menu either, although resolution, window size, and upscaling will come later, as will a version for Steam Deck and Linux, which is one of its priorities.
Therefore, if you’re interested in playing Zelda Tears of the Kingdom on PC, it’s wise to keep an eye on the port’s updates, because each new release should bring performance improvements, graphical options, and more parts of the game that work, and updating it is very easy, as we explain below.
Requisitos para jugarlo
- Windows 10 or 11 64-bit, with an AVX2-compatible processor, like an Intel Haswell or an AMD Ryzen or newer.
- A graphics card with up-to-date drivers, since it requires Vulkan 1.3 support, something current NVIDIA, AMD and Intel GPUs provide.
- 16 GB of RAM.
- About 48 GB of free disk space, of which 16 GB are for your copy of the game and about 32 GB for the assembled game.
- Your own Zelda Tears of the Kingdom copy with update 1.4.3, extracted from your Switch in two normal folders named exefs and romfs, since .nsp, .xci or .nca files don’t work.
Step-by-step how to install the Zelda Tears of the Kingdom port
- Enter the Releases section of the GitHub project and download the file named UltraTears-builder, followed by the version and the term windows-x86_64, which ends with .zip.
- Create a new folder for the game, for example one called UltraTears inside a Games folder, on a drive with at least 48 GB free.
- Extract the entire .zip file into that folder, without opening any file from within the .zip, and verify that the setup.bat file and the deps, tools and game folders are all together.
- Copy your exefs and romfs folders into the game folder, and if your copy of the game is in another location and you don’t want to move 16 GB, you can drag the folder containing exefs and romfs directly onto the setup.bat file.
- Double-click setup.bat and keep the window open, because the program will verify that your copy is version 1.4.3, package the game files, translate the code, assemble the executable and convert shaders and textures, a process that takes about 33 minutes on an 8-core processor.
- Wait for the Done message, which indicates everything is finished, and if the computer shuts down or the window closes earlier, simply re-open setup.bat, because the work already completed does not repeat.
- Open UltraTears.exe inside the same folder to play, and don’t move the executable elsewhere, because it needs the ultratears.cfg file and the data folder next to it, while your saves are stored in the userdata folder.
If, when assembling the game, you encounter an error saying your copy isn’t 1.4.3, check that the update is installed and that you don’t have mods, and if the game opens with a black screen, update your graphics card drivers and re-run setup.bat.
Controles con teclado
With a keyboard you move with W, A, S and D, pan the camera with the arrow keys, and the Switch button mappings are as follows: J is the A button, K or Space is B, I is X, U is Y, Q and E are L and R, Left Alt and Left Shift are ZL and ZR, Enter is the +, Tab or Esc opens the map, T, F, G and H act as the D-pad, and F11 or Alt+Enter toggle fullscreen.
If you play with a controller, note that the buttons follow the Switch layout, so the A button is the right one, not the bottom like on an Xbox controller.
Cómo actualizar el port
When a new version is released, you simply need to download the new release file and extract it over the old folder, then reopen setup.bat, taking care not to delete the userdata folder, where your saves are stored.
That said, it’s wise to download it soon, as Nintendo has begun removing several ports of its games from GitHub in recent weeks, so it’s not clear how long it will remain available.
