How to Play Zelda on Your Steam Deck [All Versions]
To get Zelda, you need an emulator on Steam Deck
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Key notes
- To play Zelda on Steam Deck, first, enable Expert Mode on Steam Deck.
- Now you need to install an emulator like Emudeck or Yuzu to get the game.
The Legend of Zelda is an action-adventure game that was developed and published by Nintendo. The game has a lot of versions and earlier was limited to Nintendo Switch.
Not anymore; now you can download and play Zelda on your Steam Deck using an emulator. In this guide, we will discuss step-by-step instructions to get it on the handheld device.
How can I play Zelda on Steam Deck?
Before moving to the detailed steps, let us check out a few things that you need to do:
- Ensure you have the game before you emulate it on Steam Deck.
- Turn off anti-aliasing.
- Format your SD card as ext4 (or btrfs) to make it compatible with EmuDeck.
Now follow all the steps in the same manner as mentioned below.
1. Install EmuDeck
- For SD cards, format the SD card in Game Mode on SteamOS.
- On your Steam Deck, press the Steam button, then press the Power button, and select Switch to Desktop.
- Download EmuDeck Installer from the official website. Copy the installer to your Steam Deck’s desktop and run it.
- Next, locate the Emulation/roms folder created by the installer and copy your games to it.
- Launch Steam ROM Manager via EmuDeck. Every parser corresponds to an emulator; enable the ones you like to use.
- Once selected, click Preview, then Parse. The images will be downloaded; wait for the process to complete.
- Click Save to Steam. Once done, selected ROMs and tools will be added to the Steam library.
- Close Steam Rom Manager, click Return to Game Mode on the desktop to complete the installation.
2. Install PowerTools (Optional, helps with performance)
- Go to GitHub’s PowerTools page.
- Locate a green button named Code, and click to get the drop-down.
- Now click Download Zip to get it.
- Double-click the file to get it extracted on Steam Deck.
3. Download the dependencies
3.1 Install Winpinator
- On your Windows PC, visit GitHub’s Winpinator page.
- Go to the Release heading, which is located on the right side of the page, and click Latest.
- Click the winpinator_setup_0.1.2_x64.exe file and download it.
- Double-click the file and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process.
3.2 Install the Cemu emulator
- On your PC, visit GitHub’s Cemu page. Go to the latest release and click it.
- Next, under Assets, locate and click cemu-2.0-45-windows-x64.zip to download it.
- Double-click the file and follow the prompts to install it.
3.3 Get Wii U USB Helper
- On your PC, visit GitHub’s Wii U USB Helper page.
- Go to the latest release, under Assets, locate, and click USBHelperInstaller.exe to download the file. Double-click the installation file and follow the instructions to finish the process.
- Now select the region and agree to the disclaimer.
- Next, the app will ask you to select a folder to store games. So, create a folder in your drive and name it USBHelper Downloads; next, create two folders inside this folder, naming them DL-Enc and DL-Dec, respectively. Choose DL-Enc and click Selected Folder.
- Next on the Ticket page, For the WiiU option, enter this command and click OK:
titlekeys.ovh
- The Wii U USB Helper app will load; it may take some time, so wait for the process to complete.
- Once loaded, go to the Extraction directory option.
- On the next window, select the DL-Dec folder that you created previously.
- Now, it is all set; you can download the games to your PC.
4. Get the game in .wua format
- On the Wii U USB Helper window, type legend of zelda and choose the version you want to download.
- Select the version you want to install, and on the right pane, select Add, Add DLC & Add update.
- Now click Start downloading.
- You will see a Download Manager showing the progress.
- Once it is done, right-click it and select Unpack (Cemu) and select the folder.
- Go to Desktop and double-click Cemu to open it.
- Next, go to File, then select Install game title, update, or DLC.
- Locate and select the game folder; once the title is installed, you will receive Title installed! message. Click OK to close.
- The game will appear in the Cemu menu. Click Tools, then Title Manager.
- On the Title Manager window, right-click the base version of the game, and click Convert to compressed Wii U archive (.wua).
This will convert the old archaic Wii U ROM structure into a single file, saving storage space.
5. Get the game to Steam Deck
- On Steam Deck, go to Desktop mode, use the Discover app, and search & install Warpinator. This tool will help communicate with the Winpinator app to transfer files.
- Press the Windows key, type winpinator, and click Open. Launch Warpinator on Steam Deck.
- Ensure you are on the same network on both devices to establish a connection.
- Now transfer the game file (.wua); if it asks to extract, don’t do it.
6. Setting things up on Steam Deck
- On Steam Deck, go to Desktop Mode, and download Cemu (Windows-x64 version). This will replace the Cemu version with EmuDeck, as the experimental version has native support for .wua ROM files, which are easier to handle.
- Once downloaded, extract the version and drag & drop the files to this location. the path may differ depending on where you installed the EmuDeck:
EmuDeck Emulation/roms/wiiu
- Follow the instructions to write in or overwrite the files if prompted.
- Now right-click Cemu.exe and select Add to Steam.
- Launch the Steam app, right-click Cemu.exe, and select Properties.
- Now click Compatibility, then select Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool and choose the latest version of Proton (7.0-4).
- Locate the Zelda .wua file and move it to this folder:
EmuDeck Emulation/roms/wiiu/roms
- Next, launch Cemu.exe from Steam and check if the game appears in the menu.
- Close Steam and launch Steam ROM Manager; scroll to the parsers list to find Nintendo Wii U – Cemu (.wud, .wux, .wua), ensure it is enabled, and click it.
- Scroll down the settings on the right pane, locate Executable Configuration, and change the path to this folder:
EmuDeck's Emulation/roms/wiiu/Cemu.exe
- On ROM Manager, click Preview, then Generate app list, and change the filter to Wii U. The Zelda game will appear; click Save app list and close Steam ROM Manager.
- Launch Steam again, right-click The Legend of Zelda game shortcut from the games list, and select Properties.
- Click Compatibility, then select Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool and select Proton’s non-experimental version, and it is done.
You can return to Gaming Mode and start playing Zelda on Steam Deck; however, if you want to optimize it for smooth running and better FPS, move to the next section.
7. Optimize the game
- First, you need pre-rendered shader caches; you can find them for the game version from the GitHub page.
- Next, extract the shaders and copy the content to this folder and overwrite the files if prompted:
EmuDeck's Emulation/roms/wiiu/shaderCache/transferable
- Launch Steam, then Cemu.
- In Cemu, select the game, go to Tools, and select Edit graphic packs.
- From the window that pops up, click Download latest community graphic packs.
- Next, expand the Mods tab, enable FPS++.
- Now, to change mode, select Advanced Settings and Framerate LimitS, then choose 40 FPS.
- Switch to the Workarounds tab, enable Enhancements and Graphics.
- To play at native Steam Deck resolution, click Graphics and change Aspect Ratio, then choose 16:10, and for Resolution, select 1280×800.
- Next, ensure you have the PowerTools plugin installed and launch the Zelda game from Gaming Mode.
- In-game, click the physical three dots button on your Deck.
- On the Performance tab, click Refresh Rate, and select 40.
- Click Framerate Limit, and select 40.
- Next, click the same three-dot button on Steam Deck.
- Go to the Plugin tab, and go to PowerTools. Click Disable SMT; and then for Threads, select 4.
If you want to play the game offline without interruption, go to next section.
8. Play offline
- Launch Desktop Mode on Steam Deck, then launch Steam.
- Next, launch Cemu via Steam.
- Go to Options, then click Input Settings.
- Go to Controller 1 (DSUController), and hit the minus button to delete the profile leaving only XInput.
- Change Emulated controller from Wii U Gamepad to Wii U Pro Controller.
Deleting it will prevent Cemu from loading DSUController devices that need an internet connection.
So, these are the steps that you follow to install & play Zelda on Steam Deck and get on to the action-adventure journey of Zelda.
Looking for a way to install Zelda: Breath of the Wild on PC? Read this informative guide to know the easiest ways.
If you have questions or suggestions, please mention them in the comments section below.