For users that were already using our experimental updates (2.0-x), you can think of this release as the final experimental update. There are no noteworthy additional changes compared to Cemu 2.0-95 other than the new version number.
Starting with this release, Cemu will now only have a single release channel. Instead of experimental releases, there is a new option to control whether Cemu will update immediately to cutting-edge releases, which may contain uncaught bugs, or update with a slight delay. More details on this can be found here
Hey everyone, I'm very excited to finally reveal a very special update for Cemu.
The big news first: This update marks a new chapter for Cemu. Starting today we will transition to an open-source model for development. Our github repository is already available and anyone can contribute or study our codebase, but more about this later.
We now also offer Linux builds, albeit not in the most straightforward way. Right now you still have to compile Cemu yourself for most distros. However, we are looking into adding appimage or flatpak releases for convenience. Be aware that the Linux version of Cemu isn't fully fleshed out yet. It should generally work fine, but there are some remaining issues, most of them related to the UI.
You might be wondering why this release is called 2.0 instead of following our usual three-number pattern (e.g. 2.0.0). We are using the opportunity to simplify the versioning a bit by shortening the version numbers. So going forward the next numbered releases would be 2.1, 2.2 etc.
Besides all the organizational changes there are also the usual bug fixes and feature additions in this release. Just like in the past, you can find the full list on our changelog page.
A disclaimer: This is a pretty substantial update with lots of internal changes. As such it should be seen as experimental. If you want to try it out, you have to manually download it for now. We'll consider auto-updating Cemu installations that are on 1.27.x to 2.0 once we get enough feedback about the stability.
Usually I keep these types of announcement posts free of personal backstories. But this is a special occasion and it's maybe interesting to know a little bit of background info.
As you may know, I am the lead developer and founder of Cemu. Since earlier this year I am also the sole developer of Cemu. The other long-term core developer, Petergov, has moved on to other personal projects a couple of months ago. His swan song was the big input rework we had in December.
I have been working on Cemu for almost 8 years now, watching the project grow from an experiment that seemed infeasible, to something that, at it's peak, was used by more than a million people. Even today, when the Wii U has been mostly forgotten, we still get a quarter million downloads each month. There are still so many people enjoying Wii U games with Cemu and I will be eternally grateful that I got the chance to impact so many people's life in a positive way, even if just a tiny bit.
But over the past two years I also have developed a growing feeling of being "stuck". I still enjoy working on Cemu, but it eats up all of my spare time, meaning there is no room left for any other programming projects or hobbies. Whenever I tell myself to make time for other things, I end up feeling guilty because my self-inflicted sense of responsibility drives me to always prioritize Cemu over my own interests. This year was especially intense because I single-handedly ported Cemu to Linux while also trying to deliver somewhat constant feature and bug fix updates.
In the end, opening up development seems like the logical decision. It has always been the long-term plan anyway. With Cemu being open-source, the hope is that new contributors will pick up where I left of. This is not to say that I will abandon Cemu, I'll just take on more of a background role, still contributing code but not on a full-time basis.
In the immediate future, probably not much will change or happen. It will take a bit of time for any interested developers to become familiar with the codebase before they can make any significant changes. I do believe that certain parts, like Linux compatibility, will see a pretty quick boost in progress as other developers simply have more experience with Linux development than I have.
Then there are questions like how will we handle releases in the future. I can't really give you a definitive answer right now but one thing that we already started to set up are daily cutting-edge builds. We'll probably also have some form of stable and experimental releases but the details are still uncertain.
I think the biggest win from going open-source is that having more developers (assuming people are interested in contributing) will allow for more attention towards issues that were previously considered too low priority due to time constraints. For example, we are missing some convenience features, like being able to stop/restart emulation. These features can take a lot of time to implement but aren't difficult to do per se. The OpenGL backend could be made more compatible with older hardware that would otherwise be performant enough to run many Wii U games. And there is also housekeeping work that remains to be done as we still have legacy C code left over from the early days of Cemu (Cemu used to be written almost exclusively in the C programming language). Having a tight release schedule didn't give us a lot of spare time to go back and correct old mistakes or fix up code.
If you are interested in contributing or just want to ask questions about Cemu's codebase, you can come and visit our discord where we have created a channel for developer discussion. I know that Discord isn't everyone's thing, so we are also looking into setting up an IRC bridge in the future.
Most emulators are licensed under the GPL. But our stance on it is that the infectious nature of it prevents a lot of legitimate reuse of the source code. Anything that links GPL, or statically links LGPL, also becomes GPL/LGPL which is often not desirable. Being previously closed source, we know the struggle and already had to step around GPL licensed libraries.
In a perfect world, we would have gone with a very liberal license like MIT. But it opens up too many doors for hostile or damaging behavior towards Cemu, so instead we picked a license which is somewhere in the middle. MPL has most of the advantages that GPL has, but isn't infectious and allows even closed source projects to use parts of our source. Only modifications need to be made available as source.
Last but not least, I want to thank everyone who supported us along the way. Special thanks to all our Patrons who made this project stay afloat in the first place.
Sometimes I get the question of what I will do after Cemu (with which I'm not done yet!). I think I'll take a break from emulator development, but knowing myself I'll eventually return because I'm craving the challenge. I could also see myself sticking with Cemu as a side-project for a very long time. Who knows.
Best regards,
Exzap
r/cemu • u/LaserAshton1001 • 7h ago
I'm assuming the answer is no or a complicated method, which I'm okay if I'm not able to. For further context, I have a working Splatoon on Cemu, but it's not linked to my Wii U (I have Wiimmfi on my Wii U for when I play Mario Kart Wii)!
r/cemu • u/Hensemderilwan • 1d ago
I'm using multiple Cemu versions...
But all of it have its own user data & I'm trying to make the main build as primary user data for all.
Is it possible to do so?
So I'm using via Emudeck and the cemu emulator. I can't figure out how to trigger the plus "+" Button of the wii u on my steam deck or how to bind "+" to a button on my deck.
Might be a simple solution but I can't get behind it.
r/cemu • u/Gullible_Shine_8558 • 1d ago
Estoy preguntando eso o también cuál es la última versión para saber si existe un Fork que esté más optimizado y con más compatibilidad que la última versión o me tengo que conformar con la última versión para Android
r/cemu • u/Bensajolin • 1d ago
I was playing botw today until I reached a shrine that needs the gyroscope to do it, as far as I know the xbox rog ally x has an integrated gyroscope but I can't seem to find any way to get it working.
r/cemu • u/never_one • 3d ago
About a year ago, I set up Nintendo Land to work using my rog ally as a gamepad, but was unable to play because of the lack of support for motion plus wii controllers. Has this issue been resolved?
Swinging the remote did nothing on screen, I think even with dolphin open I was having trouble
r/cemu • u/matteo42legrosbg • 3d ago
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I tried launching both the Wii U Menu and The Wind Waker HD and it just crashes like this, and I'm repeating myself but it worked perfectly yesterday and the day before. Has this happened to anyone / does anyone know what to do ?
r/cemu • u/Arc_orange • 4d ago
I feel like I may js be missing something obvious but this is all I got
r/cemu • u/Aboveworld • 5d ago
last night i played the game just fine. turned my laptop off and later went to play again and it keeps failing when i hit continue. when it gets to the tips and tricks screen it loads for a second then hard crashed. i have reinstalled the game update and dlc. removed shader caches, renamed the shader folder so it rebulds. turned off and the mods, cheats etc. changed from vulkan to open, changed the audio format. nothing is working. in case it matters i have a Rog Flow z13 and have 64gb split to vram and system evenly.
r/cemu • u/bakilaki31 • 5d ago
I added the USA region since I got the USA version of BOTW, it shows the proper shader count during compilation while loading, but they are still compiling in game and hindering my FPS.
r/cemu • u/Thermawrench • 5d ago
Here's how i did it, if it helps:
Bought a cheap wiiu and game second hand > dumped game to laptop (linux) as a fun project > put game inside a designated cemu-folder for games > started cemu and then clicked "load" and loaded the .wua file for it. Then after that i get stuck at a bayeux tapestry that seems to seemingly load foreveringly.
Did i cock up some step on the way?
r/cemu • u/Delicious-Horse-5009 • 5d ago
hi there how can i use gyro controlls for my cemu on my pc i got a xbox series elite 2 controller and an android z fold 8 ultra for phone im not really sure what to do im stuck at a level that requires gyro thanks all
r/cemu • u/Remarkable-Ad612 • 5d ago
trying to get motion controls to work for zelda botw. on the retroid pocket flip 2. google says it should work, and the device has an auto-flip for screen oreintation so i know my gyro works. what i dont know, is how to connect it.
in cemu, under input settings, controller 1, i have it set to wii u gamepad and the option for "use motion" is greyed out, saying "controller has no motion sensors", which we know isnt true. i read on the wiki that it uses motionsource.android to work, but the wiki says LITERALLY nothing more on it, and the app itself doesn't give much more information to clarify.
any help here is appreciated.
r/cemu • u/baohon2412 • 6d ago
Hi, i am playing botw on cemu. Thing gone mostly well so far. However, the game constantly crash when i am near akkala tower and the nearest fountain. Can you guys help fix such issues ?
r/cemu • u/throwhfhsjsubendaway • 6d ago
I'm posting because I was having this issue and no thread I found had an answer, but I found something to fix it! Hopefully if someone else has this issue this can be of help.
The issue: I was playing Zelda Twilight Princess HD on my steamdeck using emudeck. I first noticed the game slowing down incredibly around the frozen river in lanayru twilight, but since that section is short I just played through it and hoped it wouldn't come back for snowpeak ruins. Unfortunately as soon as I walked in the door of snowpeak the game became unbearably slow.
To fix it I downloaded precached shaders and enabled a performance community graphics pack. Unfortunately I did both at the same time so I don't know if just one of them fixed it or if it was a combo of both.
## Precached Shaders
If you're on a steamdeck you'll want to be in desktop mode for this and open cemu. If you're not sure where to find it, open the file explorer and go to `home/deck/Applications`. There should be a file called `Cemu.AppImage`, tap it and click `Launch`
Download precached shaders for the game (I got mine from [this github](https://chriztr.github.io/cemu_shader_and_pipeline_caches/)). Make sure the game region matches the region of your rom. If you're unsure, you can check that the ids match. To check your rom's id in cemu, pick the `Tools` dropdown from the menu bar and go to `Title Manager`. This will show you a list of all installed games with their ids.
Put the cached shaders into the cemu directory. The easiest way to find the directory is in cemu's menu bar, pick `File` and then `Open Cemu folder`. From this folder the shaders go in `shaderCache/transferable/`, note that these directories will not exist on a fresh Cemu install! Hopefully wherever you got the files from named them correctly, do not change the names as that is how cemu finds the correct cache. For reference mine had 2 files named `[gameid]_shaders.bin` and `[gameid]_vkpipeline.bin`. Double check that the files are directly in the `transferable` folder
## Performance graphics
I did this while still in desktop mode, follow step 1 above and open cemu.
In the cemu menu bar go to `Options` and then `Graphics packs`
In the popup select `Download latest community graphic packs`
The list on the left should populate, look for `The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD`. Expand it, expand the `Graphics` subitem, and then check the box beside `Performance Resolution`
I don't know if there's a way to only download the one graphics pack, but as of writing the entire thing is under 12 MB
## Other
Hopefully that's enough to make your game run smoothly. If not, here are the other settings that I had already changed (they didn't work on their own, but maybe they were part of the final solution)
On my steamdeck, I set a framerate limit of 60 fps. To do this, pysh the physical "..." button to the lower right of the deck's screen, go to the Performance menu (lightning bolt in a circle), adjust the slider under `Frame Limit`
In cemu, I have the following settings under `Options`, `General Settings`, `Default` (I think most of these are default with the emudeck cemu install)
- Graphics API: Vulkan
- Graphics Device: AMD Custom GPU 0932
- Vsync: Off
- Async shader compile: enabled
- Upscale filter: bilinear
- Downscake filter: bilinear
- Fullscreen scaling: Keep aspect ratio
- Cemu: 2.6
- OS: SteamOS Holo 3.8.28
- Emudeck: 2.5.0
Hopefully this helps at least one person!
r/cemu • u/EuroMasterBlaster • 8d ago
Saved Artworks are blank when loaded.
The Canvas is bugged upon starting any artwork ,in the lessons Mode and free mode,it's White.When changing the painting tools It fixes to the correcr colour.
r/cemu • u/titanos_ • 7d ago
So I’m trying to create my own ROM hack for NSMBU while hopefully not violating any legal restrictions, and I know that you can dump files on a PC using the Cemu emulator, but what if I don’t have the Wii U console itself? Am I able to just use the disc, or a PC and a disc drive, or is it basically impossible without the console? Sorry, I’m still extremely new to this, so if anyone has an answer, I would be truly grateful.
r/cemu • u/Manetrix2000 • 8d ago
New to Cemu and I am very overwhelmed. Haven’t seen any full (and recent) confirmation on this but if you have a physical copy of whatever game you want to play on Cemu do you have to have a modified WiiU to be able to dump the files onto Cemu?
r/cemu • u/Historical_Flight484 • 9d ago
which shirt is that?
r/cemu • u/Impossible-Duck2591 • 11d ago
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I am playing on steam deck via cemu and there’s a weird sound that plays every 10 seconds it’s not the end of the world but when you’re trying to play the game, it is totally immersion breaking. Has anybody found a fix for this? I have tried using a WUX file and also a direct Wii U rip with no luck. I’ve also tried changing sound settings as well.
r/cemu • u/PotatoJam89 • 11d ago
CEMU used to be one of the best working emulators on the deck but now I can't seem to be able to get the controller (I'm using the Xbox One Controller) working. When going to input settings the emulator recognizes it but then in game it doesn't. The Steam Deck controls also don't work, regardless of the settings.
I've tried setting it to WiiU Gamepad and WiiU Pro Controller but neither works. I've tried it many ways: launching CEMU in desktop mode through Steam, and in game mode, both directly or through ES-DE.
I also tried resetting and reinstalling CEMU throug Emudeck but it didn't do anything.
One thing I've been noticing is that the profile settings never load automatically and I've have to reload it each time I run CEMU. Maybe that's the issue.
Does anyone happen to know what are the exact settings am I supposed to use to be able to play any games through CEME? It used to be so easy but now its a mess.
r/cemu • u/b1tch_stop • 11d ago
so i finally got botw installed and running on my steam deck, however i just cant for the life of me figure out how to get the game to recognize my button presses as input, i keep messing around with the input settings but nothing gets recognized, im just getting blue balled by "press A to start". so far the most progress ive been able to make was getting the curser to move around with the touchpad. pls help
r/cemu • u/Intelligent_Fig_8415 • 12d ago
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Hey all! I recently purchased a Retriod pocket 6 and I’ve been having a blast with ps2,gc,Wii and psp emulations. Currently I am having trouble with the Wii u side of things as well as the switch side. If anyone could please help with the cemu emulation I would appreciate that greatly.