How to Play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC – Full Tutorial Updated 2025

This post is a full tutorial on How to Play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC, and how to Setup the Emulator and patches to play game on Windows PC. This is all for educational purposes only and we recommend you to purchase the game from official channels to support the developers. Lets get started on the process.

Follow the guide below to Play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC

#1

Step 1: Download and Extract the Emulator

Go to official website of Ryujinx Emulator (ryujinx.app) to download the latest build as zip file. Now the first step in process of How to Play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC is get the emulator running. Once you download the release, just extract it and run the Ryujinx executable (there is no installation wizard, just extract and run). Note that after you launch Ryujinx for first time, it will create folders in your %appdata% folder, these are required for functionality of emulator.

Note: Officially Ryujinx development has been stopped in Oct 2024 due to scare tactics from nintendo to developer of Ryujinx, but it is still being maintained unofficially by community in new website. You can also find the latest official released emulator (version ryu-1.1.1403) in some links across the internet.

Ryujinx Download Links

Download Community Maintained Latest Version

Other General Ryujinx Guide and Links:
https://github.com/Abd-007/Switch-Emulators-Guide/blob/main/Ryujinx.md

#2

Step 2: Install Keys for Emulator

When you launch Ryujinx for the first time, an Warning for missing components(Keys) will appear. To fix that, you need the keys files. There are 2 files which are: prod.keys & title.keys, Size around 14KB. Download Keys from a source and extract these.

Where is the keys download Link?

We can not provide these due to piracy and copyright concerns. It is forbidden to request Firmware/Games/Keys/Shaders on our any legit website or on the Ryujinx official sites too. But these are also not hard to find, just search these using duckduckgo.com or on reddit.com community (recommended).

Installing Keys:

1. Now, After dismissing the warning box (just click Ok).
2. Click File at the top left of the Ryujinx window, and then click Open Ryujinx Folder.
3. New Folder window will Open, Navigate down into the system subfolder and paste your “prod.keys” and “title.keys” files there.
4. Restart Ryujinx and you shouldn’t get the error anymore. If you still do, you messed up. Repeat the previous steps.

#3

Step 3: Install Firmware for Emulator

Now to play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC, You are also going to need latest firmware for the emulator to run the game properly. This is similar to adds keys but the steps are bit different. You need to Download the firmware files for emulator from a source and place them in right directory. Latest Firmware version is v20.1.1, which has Size around 340MB in zip file.

Where is the firmware download Link?

Like Keys, We can not provide these also due to piracy and copyright concerns. It is forbidden to request Firmware/Games/Keys/Shaders on our any legit website. But these are also not hard to find, just search these using duckduckgo.com or on reddit.com community (recommended).

Steps to Install Firmware:

1. Open Ryujinx, go to the top left corner and click on “Tools“, then under “Install Firmware” click “Install a firmware from XCI or ZIP“.
2. Navigate to the firmware zip file you downloaded and click open. When prompted if you want to install firmware, click yes.

Note: No need to extract the firmware zip as it is not necessary.

#4

Step 4: Adding games to the Emulator

Now as the initial emulator setup is complete, we can now download the game rom file. You can dump your purchased Tears of the Kingdom Rom to NSP or XCI rom file or you can download it from other sources like ziperto.com or nxbrew.com. The size of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom NSP ROM is about 16GB.

Note: There are two formats for Rom which are NSP & XCI. Both have the same functionality and perform equally. XCI has the update file merged into the game file but NSP has different game and update files, making it easier to update.

Steps to add games to Emulator:

1. Once you download a game rom, place it into a folder where you want to keep all your games (place only the game file and not the update files).
2. Open Ryujinx and click on “Options”, then “Settings”. Under the General tab, find “Game Directories” and click the “Add” button.
3. Navigate to where your games folder is, and click Add. Finally, click “Save” in the bottom right corner.
4. This is basically the final step to Play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC. If you have done everything right, you are almost ready.

#5

Step 5: Download and Install Game Update

This is an optional step but highly recommended as updating the game may fix or add plenty of stuff into your base game. You can get the update files mostly from the same sources which provides rom files. There size is also around 400-500MB but can vary.

Steps to install game updates:

1. Open Ryujinx. Right click on the game you would like to update. Click Manage Title Updates.
2. Then use the Add button to choose the Update files you want to install.
3. If it was correctly installed, it should show the updated version next to the game.

#6

Step 6: Tweak the Settings and Play

You can pretty much just start playing now, as all required steps are complete. To configure your input device and fondle with graphics settings, read on.

1. In Options > Settings, Click the Input Tab and configure the Player 1 controller there to see or edit the controls.
2. On the Graphics Tab, you might want to scale the resolution to 2x or more depending on what your system can handle.
3. In Graphics, Vulkan is the preferred option, but if a game doesn’t work on Vulkan, try OpenGL instead.
4. Hit Apply and Save to save & close the Settings panel. Now you can just double click the game icon to start the game.

Note: When running the game for first time it may take some time, giving you no response or black screen for few mins. Be patient.

#7

Step 7: Install Patches & Mods for Tears of the Kingdom ROM

You might experience low frame rates while playing game no matter how high your PC specs are, therefore you might need to use the 30fps or 60fps patch to make the game run smooth. You can get different patches depending on your issues or needs. The number one most requested patch is 30 FPS & 60 FPS patch fix which is just around few kilobytes.

Bonus Step: How to install mods for Games

1. Download and extract the Patch file zip for either 60fps or 30fps (I recommend 30fps as it is the most stable).
2. Inside the zip file, you will find a folder called 60fps in the 60 FPS patch file, and a folder called 30fps in the 30 FPS patch file.
3. Open the Ryujinx Emulator and right-click on the game. Then click on the Open Mods Directory option.
4. Paste either the 30fps or 60fps folder, depending on your preference, into the Mods Directory. Do not paste both patches simultaneously.

Note: Still the performance of the game may depend on your system’s specs, and these patches may not work for all users.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Where’s the prod.keys files?
We do not support piracy. It is forbidden to request copyrighted content (Firmware/Games/Keys) on our repositories or on the Ryujinx Websites.

Where can I download games?
Same Answer as previous Question 😉

Where can I download the firmware for Emulator?
Same Answer as previous Question 😉

Do I need a Switch to use this emulator?
No, not required but Ryujinx emulator is capable of running many homebrew applications, and can be a crucial tool in the development and debugging of homebrew applications and games.

Why use an emulator if I already have a Switch?
To play in 4K/higher resolutions than the Switch.
Allows multiple different controllers to be used.
Smoother/higher FPS with good enough hardware.

Years down the line, online shops and services will close, and hardware will start breaking down, but emulation and digital dumps won’t; in the future, the console and its games will be preserved digitally thanks to Emulator and your game backups that you created in the present, even after the system is long dead and your console has become a paperweight. Yeah, you will still be able to Play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC.

Also you can check How to Create your own Fantasy Map in Photoshop. Thanks for Reading our post on How to Play Tears of Kingdom on Windows PC.

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