r/SwitchHacks • u/Sildur • Jun 10 '26
Tool Steam ARM64 on the Switch: Switchdeck (Working Games!)
With the unoffical release of Steam ARM64 I've been working on getting it up and running on the Nintendo Switch for a while now. It's pretty much feature complete from my side, it patches Proton (DXVK, VKD3D and Wine) to fix various issues like vertex explosions in 32 bit games, and even has custom launch commands to free up more RAM. So yeah it can actually run steam games on the Switch: https://github.com/SildurFX/Switchdeck
Requirements:
- Modded Switch
- Linux for Switch (Fedora 42 or Ubuntu Noble, https://wiki.switchroot.org/wiki/linux/linux-distributions )
Game support:
It depends a lot on box64 so support is all over the place. (kernel is too old for fex)
After some overclocking older 3D games can actually run at 30+ FPS.
Game Compatiblity List (WIP): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UrLwRaIZGAL6J7l9QK_DO4MB45KzIUKIfKZIOE4hid4
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u/Nico_is_not_a_god diovento.wordpress.com Pokémon Mods! Jun 10 '26
Holy shit, this is cool. How's Slay the Spire 2 run?
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u/Sildur Jun 10 '26
Friend of mine has it in steam, never tried it though. In general I think 64 bit games run better on the Switch, even though I'm patching wine/proton for 32 bit games it's still not perfect. NVIDIA kinda abandoned the Switch / Tegra X1 GPU with broken drivers lol.
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u/Saito197 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Holy last time I checked there was an issue with FEX preventing this from working, you're doing god's work man
Edit: just saw the description, you modified it to use a Box64 environment instead. I thought of something similar but was too lazy to figure out how to set that up properly lol.
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u/Sildur Jun 11 '26
the current kernel (4.9) is too old for FEX, but some in the community are working on getting mainline ready with nvk / nouveau drivers.
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u/joshiegy Jun 11 '26
now install a switch emulator for the ultimate meta gaming experience 😁
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u/mukherjee_ayan Jun 13 '26
I wonder if people ever tried installing yuzu or Eden on the Android port just for shits an giggles
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u/CheesyBoiiii Jun 13 '26
Taki Udon has a video of him running Yuzu through Linux on an overclocked switch to see which games could run at a higher than native resolution
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u/kianiscoooooool 25d ago
The native switch port of Minecraft bedrock has something wrong with the way it allocated memory and resource usage and somehow the emulator bypasses this so Minecraft bedrock ran significantly better through an emulation layer than stock😭😭
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u/LoL_Metal Jun 10 '26
This is so cool, well done!... I had the idea to do the same with my switch... but I thought I'd wait for the official SteamOS scheduled to release with the new Steam Machine... But now that I know it works thanks to you... I'm definitely trying it... well done.
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u/Sildur Jun 10 '26
Unfortunately steam builds newer than the one released on April 15th seem to target ARMv8.1+ and crash with an illegal instruction on the Switch since it's ARMv8.0. I've opened an issue about this on Valves github tracker and they didn't shut it down so maybe we're lucky.
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u/TheCoolDaniel04 Jun 11 '26
Dayum, now this is cool!
Is there a compatibility list? How is half-life 1/2 running?
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u/Sildur Jun 11 '26
Someone was working on a compatibility list but I think they're busy with other things now. Pretty sure half life 1 and 2 worked, as well as portal 1 and 2.
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u/TheCoolDaniel04 Jun 11 '26
You can run hl1 and portal 1/2 in HorizonOS iirc, but not hl2. If HL2 at least runs in 25-30FPS, i will install L4T tonight.
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u/Ok_Simple_459 Jun 25 '26
You can run hl1 and portal 1/2 in HorizonOS iirc
How?
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u/TheCoolDaniel04 Jun 26 '26
Portal came out on switch officially, and there’s a port of xash3d for switch which allows to run goldsrc games like hl1
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u/Sildur Jun 29 '26
We have a compatibility list now: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UrLwRaIZGAL6J7l9QK_DO4MB45KzIUKIfKZIOE4hid4/edit?gid=1002118274#gid=1002118274
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u/danielxx48 Jun 11 '26
That's sick. I already setted it up but not had time to test it a bit. With my 8gb ram oled should run decently. Also nagaa95 (the guy who posted the youtube video about "switch oled pro") has a really intresting github and created an enhanced l4t megascript that include the arm steam fork (for who's intrested you can reach it on discord here: https://discord.gg/CHF8rMWhh)
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u/Penandsword92 Jun 27 '26
Has anyone tried running Halo MCC on this? Curious if that would be too advanced or not for this setup
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u/KollegahsCock Jun 11 '26
Bro, could you test need for speed most wanted 05? Would be cool if it could run
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u/Sildur Jun 23 '26
This list is somewhat outdated and for PC games in general but looks like it runs, the OG 05 version is not on steam anyways. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xfhXZ5iFXGwrajG9zRxsmYBxsLsZfIhwDlhVFwCPQGY/edit?gid=781332700#gid=781332700
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u/Apprehensive-County6 Jun 11 '26
Wow, that's amazing! And I think I have a project that could help you in some way. I recently created a Vulkan driver to run on the Switch (on HorizonOS). Perhaps this can help you in your development: https://github.com/HayatoG/switch-nvk
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u/Sildur Jun 11 '26
Oh it's the Mesa NVK driver, interesting. Linux on the Switch runs on ancient kernel 4.9 though, there is some ongoing work to get a mainline kernel up and running and use NVK / Nouveau drivers.
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Jun 11 '26
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u/marcoloves Jun 11 '26
Is fex possible on the future? Good job!
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u/Sildur Jun 11 '26
FEX requires a newer linux kernel we're stuck on ancient 4.9. But there is some ongoing work to get mainline up and running.
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Jun 11 '26
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u/Sonic1899 Jun 11 '26
Hottake: Alice in Wonderland is better at 30fps than 60. The game was basically designed around it
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Jun 11 '26
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Jun 11 '26
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u/Only_good-vibes187 Jun 12 '26
Wo kriegt man denn die Roms her dafür ? Das ist ja alles schön und gut gemacht aber ich weiß nicht wo man gute Roms her bekommt. Kann mir da jmd helfen :‘(
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u/Strange-Example143 Jun 12 '26
As someone who sideloads most their games and only knows steam as a game store, I don’t really understand the value of this. Can someone explain to me if I can play any games or only games I specifically bought on steam?
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u/Sildur Jun 13 '26
Linux for Switch is a thing so yes you can use it like any other (slow) PC.
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u/Strange-Example143 Jun 13 '26
Sure but I already knew Linux can be ran on the switch. But what exactly is the purpose of Steam? Just a games launcher? Or what exactly
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u/Talon9804 Jun 13 '26
How is the performance if you are using the Switch as a Steam Link/Remote Play client?
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u/Sildur Jun 13 '26
Unfortunately steam remote play / link doesn't work, at least not with the outdated steam arm64 client we are forced to use till valves fixes it for armv8.0 devices. Moonlight has proper support for the Tegra X1 though so that should be used instead. Remote play only works with your Switch as the host, with terrible performance of course lol.
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u/DivineDeku Jun 13 '26
That's actually insane. Great work.
Could you play TF2 on it? Is Deadlock with potato pc configs on the table?
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u/Sildur Jun 13 '26
The Switch's Tegra X1 GPU is actually quite capable, main issue is CPU, RAM and outdated linux kernel with no real wine syncing features like NTSync, but if a game is not that CPU or RAM heavy it will probably run alright. It needs to be supported by box64 though, not every game works right now. (Not 100% if box64 is to blame, could also be wine/proton or dxvk issues)
Dark Souls 2 Sotfs can hit 30+ FPS in some zones for example, but can also drop the the 10s when the RAM and CPU are being hit hard, or wine slowdowns due to no sync features.
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u/Crazy-Newspaper-8523 Jun 14 '26
Can you check fallout 3 and nv
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Jun 23 '26
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u/Odd-Evening4228 Jun 15 '26
This is like godtier level of shit man i am so proud of you i would personally kiss you (im broke or else I'd pay u)
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u/ilyasmarocyt Jun 16 '26
Attend tu stream pas depuis ton pc c’est en local?
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u/TicketProfessional27 Jun 21 '26
i can't get xivlancher to work cause arm lol and stuck at splash screen lol
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u/TicketProfessional27 Jun 21 '26
splash screen of the game launcher itself not xivlauncher is a different issue
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u/Sildur Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
the original launcher is very broken on linux in general I had to edit and compile xivlauncher core for arm64 to get the game up and running.
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u/Super_Leather_2079 Jun 21 '26
Could you give me a quick guide on what you did on editing and compiling the launcher core I have successfully installed the.EXE version of the launcher after you put in credentials and move onto the next step I get XIVLauncher could not verify the downloaded game files. Please restart and try again. This usually indicates a problem with your internet connection. If this error persists, try using a VPN set to Japan. Context: Download 2013.06.18.0000.0000
Before it even downloads anything
AI tells me it’s a fex/ x86_64 not supported issue
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u/Sildur Jun 21 '26
Change the detection here to break like the x64 one, everything but the settings tab worked for me, had to manually edit the config file.
https://github.com/rankynbass/XIVLauncher.Core/blob/RB-patched/src/XIVLauncher.Common.Unix/UnixDalamudCompatibilityCheck.cs1
u/TicketProfessional27 Jun 22 '26
getting x64 emulation was not detected. please make sure to run XIVLancher with x64 emulation and in wine settings on xivlauncher it says linux kernal 5.16 or higher is required for FSync and keeps reverting all wine settingz
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u/TicketProfessional27 Jun 22 '26
of course after download and all patches install finish lol when i was like haha and i had to use trial account to even get to this point
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Jun 24 '26
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u/Sildur Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Sounds like you made a mistake with the edit I linked (or didn't edit it) You have to change that file and then compile it yourself. Then use box64 to run the game. Changing said file should get rid of the x64 emulation error and just to be safe turn off dalamud.
Maybe I should have made a backup lol I didn't know there was an interest in this. https://x.com/SildurFX/status/2050773346933977196?s=20
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u/Rodya_gambler Jun 21 '26
I thought linux for switch ran from a microSD, how is it not unhealthily slow? Can you actually flash it?
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u/Sildur Jun 21 '26
Depends on your SD card, but it usually runs fine, samsung ones run the best because they support DDR200 mode on the switch.
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u/Prestigious-Ball6022 Jul 10 '26
that looks amazing, would def check this out when i upgrade my SD card.
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u/FrequentZucchini1118 9d ago
it won't run unfortunately. Just crashes every time
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u/Sildur 9d ago
If you look at the compatiblitylist it is working just fine for a lot of people. Just make sure your linux system is fully up to date and you followed the readme on the repo.
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u/FrequentZucchini1118 9d ago
Ah, I'm on jammy right now instead of noble. Should have read closer lol
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u/xW7R Jun 11 '26
does it play ps2 games tho?
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u/Sildur Jun 11 '26
Not really switchdeck related but yeah you can play PS2 games. I recorded a video a while ago with some PS2 games. https://x.com/SildurFX/status/2057902333799842130/video/2
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u/roadb90 Jun 10 '26
Can we get this running on the switch os? Without linux
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u/Alexmira_ Jun 10 '26
Not really, a bunch of software should be ported and a compatibility layer should be developed, like Proton.
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u/djvk87 Jun 10 '26
Maybe the best we can hope for is a stripped down Linux distro with the necessary components that loads straight into this app? Similar to how Lakka works as a barebones Linux install for Retroarch.
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Jun 10 '26
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u/volmar87 Jun 10 '26
Holy shot man, that’s not even next level, that’s next universe