OoT: Recompiled OoT: Recompiled, home
Download

From the download to the first frame

Install it

Two downloads, both signed, neither needing administrator rights. Pick one, point it at your own ROM, and play. This page walks through both, then shows where every file goes and how to remove it again. Anything it does not answer is in the FAQ.

Check these first

What it needs

Windows
10 or 11, 64 bit
Graphics
Direct3D 12, Shader Model 6
Processor
x86-64 with SSE4.1
Your own ROM
NTSC-U 1.0, as .z64, .n64 or .v64
For the traced lighting
A card with DirectX Raytracing (optional)
Anything else to install
Nothing: its runtime comes with it

Two downloads

Setup, or a folder you carry.

Setup

Installs into AppData\Local\OoT Recompiled, or a folder you choose, with a Start menu entry and a desktop shortcut if you want them. It is listed in your installed apps, and once you allow it, it fetches new versions and installs them for you.

Download Setup

  1. Run the installer

    OoT-Recompiled-(version)-windows.exe. It asks for no administrator rights.

  2. Choose the folder

    It suggests AppData\Local\OoT Recompiled. Browse puts an OoT Recompiled folder inside the one you pick; a path you type is used exactly as typed.

  3. Choose the shortcuts

    A Start menu entry and a desktop shortcut, both ticked to begin with.

  4. Install, then start it

    Start it from the last screen, or later from the Start menu.

Portable

A zip holding one folder. Put it anywhere, even on a USB stick, and run the recompilation app inside. It keeps its settings and saves beside itself, installs nothing, and tells you when a new version is out for you to download.

Download Portable

  1. Unzip it

    OoT-Recompiled-(version)-windows.zip holds one folder. Put it wherever you like.

  2. Run the recompilation app

    OoTRecompiled.exe, inside that folder. Everything it writes stays in that folder.

Before and after

One download, both pictures.

The original look is not a separate build, and choosing the new one does not lose it. It is a few rows in the settings: Resolution at Original, Aspect ratio at Original 4:3, Texture pack Off and Ray traced lighting Off, and the recompilation app draws the game as the console did. Set them back and you have the after. Switch between the two whenever you like, once you have installed it.

Hyrule Field at sunset, as the console drew it, at 320 by 240 and four by three Captured on version 0.4.0
Hyrule Field at sunset A low sun ahead, and the horse's shadow long across the grass.

The first launch

Point it at your ROM.

It asks one question, then the launcher opens with a ROM row and Play. Every other row it shows is explained on the settings page.

  1. Updates, yes or no

    It asks whether to check for updates. Nothing goes over the network until you say yes, and you can change it later in the settings.

  2. Your ROM

    Put the ROM beside the recompilation app and it finds it by what is in the file, whatever it is called. Or drop the file on the window, or press Enter on the ROM row to browse for it.

  3. The check

    It checks the file's checksum before it uses a byte of it. Only the path is remembered; the file is read from where you keep it every time.

  4. Play

    Once the ROM is accepted, choose Play. An installed copy asks once whether to keep a copy of the ROM beside it; the original is never moved.

The launcher, with the ROM row and Play

When a file is refused

the file could not be opened
It is not where the recompilation app was told, or it cannot be read.
not an N64 ROM
The file is not a cartridge ROM at all.
a ROM, but not this game
A ROM of a different game.
this game, but not the NTSC-U 1.0 version
Another version of this game. Only NTSC-U 1.0 is accepted today.

Updates

Nothing updates until you say so.

With updates on, it checks at start and every four hours while it runs, and nothing about you or your copy of the game is sent. What each release changed is on the roadmap.

Setup
Downloads the new installer in the background, checks it is signed and intact, then opens it the next time the recompilation app starts, or when you press F5. It suggests the default folder again, so if you installed somewhere else, choose that folder.
Portable
Says a new version is out. Download the new zip and unzip it beside the old folder.

Where everything goes

One folder holds all of it.

The recompilation app's Your files screen lists every one of these and opens them for you.

Installed with Setup
  • OoT Recompiled/ In AppData\Local, unless you chose another folder
  • bin/ The recompilation app, its libraries and the uninstaller
  • saves/ The game's own save
  • moments/ Your saved moments and autosaves, each with a thumbnail
  • texture-packs/ Texture packs you add
  • updates/ A downloaded update, waiting to install
  • rom/ Only if you asked it to keep a copy of your ROM
  • mods/ Made by the recompilation app; mods are not supported yet
  • settings.txt Your settings
  • controls.txt Your bindings, for each controller
  • rom.txt Where your ROM is: the path and nothing else
  • oot-recompiled.log This run's log, written fresh each start
  • install.log What Setup did
  • Pictures/OoT-Recomp/ Screenshots and recordings, kept outside it
Portable
  • OoT-Recompiled-(version)-share/ Wherever you unzipped it
  • OoTRecompiled.exe The recompilation app
  • assets/ The recompilation app's own files
  • SDL2.dll With its other libraries, the Visual C++ runtime included
  • README.txt How to run it
  • saves/ The game's save and your saved moments, after the first run
  • texture-packs/ Texture packs you add
  • settings.txt Your settings, with controls.txt and rom.txt beside it
  • oot-recompiled.log This run's log
  • Pictures/OoT-Recomp/ Screenshots and recordings, kept outside it

Updating and removing it

What happens to your saves.

Updating never touches your saves.

An update, whether the recompilation app fetches it on its own or you run a newer setup file yourself, replaces only the recompilation app's own files and leaves your saves, saved moments, settings and texture packs exactly where they are.

A portable copy is only told that an update is out; it downloads one only if you press F5, into its own updates folder, and changes nothing else.

Careful: uninstalling deletes your saves.

Choose OoT Recompiled in Windows' installed apps, then Remove everything on the screen that opens, and confirm.

That deletes the whole install folder, with your saves, saved moments and texture packs in it, so copy anything you want to keep first. Your ROM is moved to your Downloads folder, never deleted, and your screenshots stay in Pictures. If you typed your own install path, that whole folder is the one removed. A portable copy installed nothing: delete its folder.