OVERWind Waker HD Recompiled 0.4.0 brings a world editor and a big Android update with dual-screen handheld support
There are a few Wind Waker HD ports for Android now, and this is the one most of them build on. ZeldaWWHDRecomp statically recompiles the Wii U version of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD: the game's PowerPC code is translated to C ahead of time, the Cafe OS libraries the game calls are rewritten natively, and its GX2 graphics are drawn directly in Vulkan or Metal. There's no Cemu inside and no GPU command emulation. Version 0.4.0 came out on October 21 for Android, Windows, Linux (including a Steam Deck-friendly AppImage) and macOS. The project is MPL-2.0 licensed and has close to 1,000 stars on GitHub.
What's new for Android handhelds
- Two-screen handhelds: on devices like the AYN Thor, the Wii U GamePad view can go on the lower screen. A GamePad screen Off option frees that screen for other apps, and turning it back on restores the GamePad view and touch controls.
- Heat guard for handhelds with a fan, plus even frame pacing at 60 fps.
- Dynamic resolution (off by default): lowers the internal resolution in small steps when the GPU can't keep up and raises it again when there's headroom, without stutter.
- Keep game speed holds full speed on devices just short of 60 fps, and there's a new 40 fps mode.
- Less GPU work, shadows on GPUs without depth clamp (older Mali and PowerVR), fixes for PowerVR phones such as the Pixel 10, code mods on Android and a Share log button.
The world editor
The headline feature for PC players is a preview world editor. Start the game with --editor and you can place villagers, enemies, chests, switches and doors while the game runs, give villagers routes, build quests without code, and add your own islands, water and dungeons. Mods made this way install from inside the game through the project's mod catalogue. On all platforms, 0.4.0 also adds toon clouds and cloud shadows, auto-save states and a last-session save, and fixes such as the Pirate's Charm ringing at 60 fps and up.
What you need
The release has no game code, assets or keys. On Android you need an arm64 device on Android 13 or newer with Vulkan 1.3. Recent Snapdragon handhelds such as the AYN Odin 3, AYN Thor and Retroid Pocket 6 qualify, and Adreno users can try a custom Turnip driver if the stock one misbehaves. You also need your own USA or European copy of the game, version 0 without the update, as one of these: a .wux/.wud disc image with its disc key and the Wii U common key, both from your own console; a Cemu .wua archive, which needs no keys; or an extracted game folder. The app builds the game on your phone once, which takes a few minutes. If you have the Japanese release, Nycolazs's Wind Waker HD Recompiled for Android Plus fork in our ports directory supports it. ZeldaWWHDRecomp is now in that directory too; if you try it, send us a compatibility report.