The guide will be split into several sections. You can use the Table of Contents to easily get to the section you need to be at.
If you want a more detailed guide, you can find Ryujinx's own guide here
If you still have a problem after following this guide and want help, please join our Discord server and ask there. It is easier to help there, as we have more resources and people available. You can join the server by clicking here
As of October 1, 2024 the Ryujinx emulator has been shut down supposedly due to an agreement reached with Nintendo by the lead developer. This guide will remain up, but the emulator will not be updated anymore. Do not expect to play games released after this date to always run flawlessly.
All the links in this guide are encoded in base64. Whenever you come across a link, copy that link and go to https://www.base64decode.org, then paste that link in the top box and click "Decode". The bottom box will contain your link
Most if not all the stuff you download will be in a compressed format (i.e. .7zip, .zip or .rar). You need to extract them with either 7zip or WinRAR
If you just want the downloads you can get them from here
- Section 1: Installing the Emulator
- Section 2: Installing Keys and Firmware
- Section 3: Installing Games, Updates and DLC
- Section 4: Optimizations for best performance
- Section 5: Installing Mods, Saves and Shaders
- Section 6: Misc
Once you download the release, just extract it and run the Ryujinx executable. Optionally, you can run Ryujinx in portable mode by creating a subfolder in the downloaded Ryujinx folder called "portable". System files such as keys/saves/shader caches would be saved in that newly created folder instead.
When you launch Ryujinx for the first time, an error for missing components will pop up. To fix that, you need the prod.keys.
Keys: aHR0cHM6Ly9yZW50cnkub3JnLzEyOGJia2V5cw==
Note: Older keys are included. Download only the latest, and extract the archive using 7zip or WinRAR. If what you download also contains title.keys, delete it. It is not needed.
After downloading the keys, Open Ryujinx, go to the top left corner and click on "File" and then "Open Ryujinx folder". Open the system folder and put (only) the prod.keys file in that folder.
Restart Ryujinx and you shouldn't get the error anymore. If you still do, you messed up. Repeat the previous steps.
Firmware: aHR0cHM6Ly9yZW50cnkub3JnLzEyOGJia2V5cw==
Open Ryujinx, go to the top left corner and click on "Tools", then under "Install Firmware" click "Install a firmware from XCI or ZIP". Navigate to the firmware zip file and click open. When prompted if you want to install firmware, click yes. DO NOT extract the firmware zip as it is not necessary.
Once you have keys and firmware installed, you're done with this step.
Now on to installing games. Here is a list of trusted websites to get switch games, updates and DLC from.
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Note: It is recommended to get an adblocker before visiting any of these websites. You can get one at https://ublockorigin.com/
Note: It is also recommended to get an extension to bypass URL shortner sites. The recommended one can be found at https://fastforward.team/
Note: When downloading, you might be presented with three file types. NSP, XCI, and NSZ. Yuzu and Ryujinx do not support NSZ, so don't download that. XCI has the update file merged into the game file so you need to download only one file. NSP has different game and update files, making it easier to update. Get whichever you like.
Once you download a game, place it into a folder where you wish to keep all your Switch games (place only the game file and not the update or DLC file).
Open Ryujinx and click on "Options", then "Settings". Under the General tab, find "Game Directories" and click the "Add" button. Navigate to where your games folder is, and click Add. Finally, click "Save" in the bottom right corner.
Open Ryujinx. Right click on the game you would like to update or install DLC to. Click "Manage Title Updates" or "Manage DLC". Then use the "Add" button to choose the Update/DLC files you want to install. If it was correctly installed, it should show the updated version next to the game.
You're done here. Next step.
Ryujinx doesn't require many optimizations on Windows, you just go to the controls tab and set up your controller. Vulkan is the preferred option, but if a game doesn't work on Vulkan, try OpenGL instead.
If you choose to manually install Ryujinx on Steam Deck/Linux over using the pinejinx installer, it gets a bit more complicated. It is recommended to ask for the right launch options based on your hardware in the Discord server.
Note: You can pretty much just start playing now, as all required steps are complete. The next sections are optional i.e. installing saves, mods, shaders and some fixes for errors.
You can get some Switch mods from the following sources:
Our Collection: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dY20qH3phqoUfmAEdngTzrtMIvPFwSG4?usp=sharing
TheBoy181's GitHub: https://github.com/theboy181/switch-ptchtxt-mods
Official Yuzu mods page: https://github.com/yuzu-emu/yuzu/wiki/Switch-Mods
To install mods, right click the game you want to install the mod for, click "Open Mods Directory" and paste the mod folder there. You must place the mod folder you downloaded, and not just the files inside of it.
To install atmosphere mods made for real hardware, right click the game and instead click "Open Atmosphere Mods Directory" and paste the mod folder there.
We do not provide shader caches anymore due to emulator updates constantly breaking the shader caches. You should build your own shader caches using Vulkan.
To install shaders:
- Right click a game, click "Cache Management", then "Open Shader Cache Directory" and replace it with your cache.
You can find saves here:
Our collection: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G2gHYZn7Dbx_X9iYUgpOfCBiWCixBTWU?usp=sharing
Alternative: https://www.homebrewgeneral.net/2020/03/switch-games-save.html
To install saves:
- Right click the game you want to install the save for, click "Open User Save Directory" and put the save file(s) there.
Backing up your save files
If you ever need to reinstall Ryujinx, back up your saves folder by going to %AppData%\Ryujinx\bis\user\save and backing up that folder. Replace %AppData%\Ryujinx with your portable folder if using portable mode.
BKTR Error: You get this error when launching an update, instead of the actual game.
Video Core Error: Vulkan drivers are out of date.
- If you use a Nvidia GPU, install the file from https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-beta-45836-windows-10-dch
- For AMD GPU users, just update to latest optional drivers in the AMD Software Panel.
- If this occurs on Steam Deck, something could be very wrong with your setup. You would likely need more support than what can be offered here.
"NCA Header key could not be found" error: Keys are outdated
Crypto revision error: Keys are outdated. Again.
Updates or DLC failing to install: Keys are outdated... Again
Games not appearing in your game list
- You placed the game in a folder inside your game folder. Place just the game file.
- You placed a game update instead of the game inside the game folder. Check this by looking at the file name. You will see either [v0] or [v357534]. [v0] is always the game. If the number is different, it's an update.
- Your game may be in a rar/zip/7z archive. Be sure that the game is extracted and has an xci or nsp extension.
- The game is corrupt. This usually means it must be redownloaded.