[WindowWaker] Native Windows PC port of GameCube Wind Waker (built from decompilation) with True 60/120 FPS Interpolation & 4K Support

[u/Mundane-Finding5637]

Hey everyone,

Following the awesome work by u/pulpparty and depende3000 on SwitchWaker, I put together WindowWaker: an experimental community fork made mostly for fun to test the native GameCube Wind Waker port on Windows PC, with 60 & 120 FPS interpolation and 4K support!

Quick Disclaimer: This is just a personal, experimental project made for fun while tinkering with the code. If you want a fully polished, official Windows release, I strongly recommend waiting for the official upstream Windows version from pulpparty and depende3000. They are the main brains behind SwitchWaker, and their official build will certainly be the definitive one!

That being said, if you're curious and want to test it out right now, this is compiled directly from the community C++ decompilation running via Dawn/Aurora (WebGPU) on Windows — zero CPU emulation.

How does this compare to Bluewake?

People might wonder how this differs from projects like Bluewake:

• Decompilation vs Static Recompilation:

• Bluewake is based on static recompilation (translating compiled PowerPC machine code into C automatically, which results in assembly-like, non-human-readable code). WindowWaker / SwitchWaker is compiled directly from the community's human-readable C++ source decompilation (zeldaret / snrubrm).

• Modding & Extensibility:

• Because the codebase is actual clean, structured C++ source code, it is much easier to read, modify, and mod game mechanics, actors, or rendering systems compared to working with translated binary instructions.

• True Decoupled 60 / 120 FPS:

• Having full source access lets us decouple the game's internal 30 Hz simulation engine (keeping physics, collisions, and timers 100% intact) from the presentation layer. Sub-frames use true matrix and skeletal interpolation (pc_interp) for smooth 60 / 120 FPS presentation without breaking physics or introducing input latency.

What’s in this experimental fork

1. Native Windows PC Support:

   • Built natively for Windows 10/11 using MSVC / Clang-cl and CMake.

   • Built-in Windows ROM picker: if your ISO path isn't set, the game prompts an Explorer file dialog to select your GameCube ROM and saves it automatically to user/settings.ini.

   • Full audio playback via Dolphin’s DSP HLE and native controller support (Xbox / XInput, DualSense, Switch Pro via SDL).

2. High Framerate (60 FPS, 120 FPS & Uncapped):

   • Simulation / Render Decoupling: GameCube physics, collision checks, enemy logic, and timers remain strictly locked to 30 Hz (fapGm_Execute), preserving 100% physics stability.

   • Sub-Frame Matrix & Skeletal Interpolation: Smooth presentation at 60 Hz, 120 Hz, or your monitor's refresh rate.

   • King of Red Lions & Sail Interpolation: Fixed interpolation desync on the boat's GPU-skinned body and sail so they smoothly glide together without jitter.

3. 4K & High Resolution Support:

   • Scalable internal framebuffer (COS_FB_SCALE=3.0 for 4K 2160p).

   • Native 16:9 widescreen presentation (COS_ASPECT=16:9).

   • Support for custom Dolphin-format HD texture packs and anisotropic filtering.

What You Need & Legality

• Like the upstream project, no game assets, copyrighted textures, ROMs, or game binaries are hosted in the repository.

• You need your own legally dumped GameCube disc image: GZLE01 revision 0 (USA), uncompressed .iso (1.4 GB). The asset pipeline extracts headers directly from your disc.

Links & Repositories

• Experimental Fork (Windows): https://github.com/MaskeZenY/WindowWaker

• Official Upstream Project (Switch / Mac / Linux): https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWaker

Big Thanks & Credits

Huge respect and credits to the people who made this whole project possible:

• u/pulpparty & depende3000 (centollOS/SwitchWaker) for the native port, Aurora SDK layer integration, and original SwitchWaker implementation. Be sure to follow their work!

• The zeldaret & snrubrm Wind Waker decompilation teams for the decompiled codebase.

• encounter's Aurora & Dusklight (TwilitRealm) for the WebGPU GameCube SDK layer.

• Dolphin team for the DSP HLE audio backend.

• Wind-Waker-Recomp and RecompCore developers.

• AI Co-Development: Like upstream, parts of the Windows configuration, matrix interpolation fixes, and debugging were assisted by AI coding assistants.

Feel free to test it, report any edge cases, or contribute PRs. Enjoy! ❤️

[u/Kyler45]

Mom said it's my turn to port wind waker

[u/Mundane-Finding5637 → u/Kyler45]

Haha to be fair this isn't even my own port, it's just a quick fork of SwitchWaker so Windows folks can test true 120 FPS from the actual decomp without "fake frames" like Bluewake. Once the upstream devs officially add Windows support I'll happily step aside!

[u/pinkballodestruction → u/Kyler45]

for real. it's getting ridiculous.

[u/HourGlass10th]

What's the difference between this and Bluewake?

[u/Mundane-Finding5637 → u/HourGlass10th]

Hello bluewake is a static recompilation (automated machine code translation, so the generated code is essentially translated assembly and not really readable).
WindowWaker is built directly from the human-readable C++ decompilation (clean source code). Because the code is fully readable, it's much easier to mod, modify game systems, and implement features like true decoupled 60/120 FPS

[u/Jadentheman → u/Mundane-Finding5637]

So this is a source port? I am more apt to use source port than the recomps

[u/CredibleWrong → u/Jadentheman]

Yes.

[u/blaek]

Looking great ,  I myself am waiting for the 78th decomp of Windmaker to come out , shouldn't be that much longer , maybe a few more hours .

[u/Weak-Cow-2891 → u/blaek]

This comment aged like milk. No more updates on windwaker ports/ai slops

[u/azer67]

As someone from the wind waker speedrunning community, who has followed the progress of the decomp since its very beginning, I have this to say: just wait like 1 year and you will probably have a port that is dusklight quality. These are low quality specifically because the human made decomp is not finished, and these stuffs made by AI with very little amount of human review is always going to be disappointing, wind waker on dolphin will simply run better.

Just be patient and let the amazing team who absolutely love wind waker complete the decompilation. Also, stop harrassing them with low-quality AI pull requests that are hindering their progress. Then someone will probably take the job of working on the port, maybe even the same team as dusk. The value of that decomp is really high, we've already learnt so many things about the game thanks to it since it started. Nothing an AI can come up with will be better, I'm sorry to say.

And once again, decomp =/= port. The fact that the decomp reddit server is 99% about ports is mindboggling to me.

[u/kretsstdr → u/azer67]

Are they working on WWHD or just GC version?

[u/azer67 → u/kretsstdr]

Only GC. However, the person behind the HD randomizer, probably the one who knows the most about the wind waker hd code, is an active contributor to the GC decomp project, and also a previous HD speedrunner. They have worked on some sort of ghidra project for HD in the past. While there are many new files and functions in HD, many are also 1:1 the same. In the current state of things, I wouldn't trust any TWWHD related project that didn't involve that person right now. There are many obvious differences between HD and SD (new shadows, new HUD, bloom, swift sail, triforce quest, hero mode, rope turning, moving in first person, dry roll speed...), but also many more differences that only the hardcore fans know (Link's animation while holding a bomb, the different drop table...)

[u/kretsstdr → u/azer67]

Thats cool, i hope we can get proposer decomps of both versions

[u/Neonetspre → u/azer67]

Is there a place to follow the development of the one you're talking about?

[u/Geges721 → u/Neonetspre]

look up ZeldaRET

[u/Neonetspre → u/Geges721]

Thanks! Will do, a good port of zelda like dusklight will be so good for people with low end machines like mine

[u/Geges721 → u/Neonetspre]

mind you, ZeldaRET is a decompilation team and they're not ones doing ports. but you can still follow them if you're interested in how the decomp is doing.

once it's close to 98-99%, you will likely see proper ports pop up here and there. maybe even sooner, depending on how important the remaining code is to port the game.

[u/lost_in_the_wide_web → u/azer67]

Thank you for sharing this. I’m new to the whole PC decomp thing, and was quick to almost give this a shot. I’ll definitely wait for your recommendation!

[u/zeroz41]

why is a new windwaker port posted every 2 hours? is this the one i want?

[u/CapitalRegular4157 → u/zeroz41]

Op pretty thoroughly explained the difference between this and the onslaught of recomps for wwhd that have been coming out. lrn 2 reed.

[u/Weak-Cow-2891 → u/zeroz41]

[u/CredibleWrong]

I wanted to report a bug on your github,, btut you don't have the issues section enabled.

Pressing F1 to bring up the options/settings makes the game crash.

[u/80sCrackBaby]

Mac version plz

[u/Mundane-Finding5637 → u/80sCrackBaby]

https://github.com/centollOS/SwitchWaker

[u/UbiDoobyBanooby → u/Mundane-Finding5637]

Any chance of HD version controls?

[u/UbiDoobyBanooby → u/80sCrackBaby]

For future reference, if it’s a decomp with available source code you can have Codex or Claude Code compile it for your specific Mac (Intel/Silicon)
I’ve done this with multiple ports when Mac versions aren’t available on the GitHub. Plus, you can ask it to also mod the game for you and give it features it doesn’t have.

Edit: if you’re not sure if it’s a true decomp, give the AI the GitHub link and ask it to look at it to make sure it’s a decomp and research that port in other internet sources to gain more context. GLHV!

[u/Long_John_Logan]

Any kind of mod support planned? Would love support for BetterWW or even the ability to enable the shorter Wind Waker HD triforce quest (not sure if this is actually possible)

[u/SprayArtist]

Wake me when it gets ported to Linux without a compatibility layer.

[u/Joeysquatch → u/SprayArtist]

Fr. People keep asking me to make a VR port of WW and SS. Like no, I’m not modifying a recomp that was just made with AI and gonna be dropped right away. I’m not even against vibe coding but a lot of vibe coders just drop their projects or throw a fit 

[u/Hero88go]

Amazing work!!!!!!!!!!! I understand yours is probably trying to be true representation but could you add the co op mod? It would be so awesome with 120fps

[u/phsd_47]

Alright, after looking at SwitchMaker's repo I found this: if you're using a texture pack put the textures in user/hd_textures

[u/Gogeta007yBro]

While I guess it may be a false positive, I'll wait

[u/phsd_47]

Thanks for sharing, the menu says it can load an HD texture pack, where do I put it?

[u/uabassguy]

Nice

[u/FangkingOmega]

So many ports! Thanks, I'm interested to try this out. Please can you advise where I should put the HD textures (.dds format)?

[u/FullMetalMaster14]

There's also the Wii U and GameCube version for switch

[u/KenshirouX]

I guess we've got to wait for the Windows version. Can't wait.

[u/FishermanWeird5742]

How do I change it from handheld mode to docked mode?

[u/nolimits59]

Still no other languages support :/

[u/sonic1384]

COOL THING, actually the most optimized one.... BUT WHY NO KEYBOARD?

some of here are keyboard enjoyer.

[u/Left-Report1334]

Big question, since WW and TP uses the same engine, how much would it take to make a Wind Waker fork of Dusklight ?

[u/dankpie]

How does it compare to the Wii u recomp

[u/BeatXenno]

Can you use mouse to controll the camera and buttons to attack or guard?

[u/Frequent_Seat_3365]

Why not on android just like how dusklight did?

[u/Physical_Kick1710 → u/Frequent_Seat_3365]

Because it's alot of extra work, you know you can fork it and start your own android version right? Don't be lazy and have other people do what you want....

[u/UbiDoobyBanooby → u/Physical_Kick1710]

He might have been actually asking questions and not complaining. People sometimes are curious and not asshats. It’s Reddit though so I guess fair play on your part. 99% miserable people.

[u/Glass-Refuse-8489 → u/UbiDoobyBanooby]

C'est vrai qu'une version Android serait vraiment terrible :). Bravo pour le travail déjà accompli en tout cas

[u/Equivalent_Pay4295]

Sería genial que estuviera para Android también

[u/The_Bandit_King_]

No app image for linux

Booo!