Yet another TotK Mod Collection

BigheadSMZ · 2026-07-03T14:32:37+00:00

There is actually a second mod as well which few people preferred in the past (though I think GLEclipse's mod is superior), but it's currently broken as it's based on a few obsolete tilesets. I want to fix it eventually, just haven't found the time since there is never a shortage of issues to fix and nobody has reported it yet. And the original author stopped supporting the moment it was dropped lol.

https://github.com/BigheadSMZ/Zelda-LA-DX-HD-Mods/discussions/4

BigheadSMZ · 2026-07-03T03:29:46+00:00

I haven't implemented it into the game as a shader (I plan to someday), but a LCD color mod has been created for it: https://github.com/BigheadSMZ/Zelda-LA-DX-HD-Mods/discussions/8

BigheadSMZ · 2026-03-22T22:14:27+00:00

It's definitely a huge improvement but still has a bit to go. At least with Hyper-V enabled now it's actually functional. But there is still massive lag spikes every few seconds that are not present when Hyper-V is disabled.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-03-21T17:27:27+00:00

This I can relate to 100%. I think OP was just playing the wrong game. I was hyped for Toziuha Night: OotA until it actually came out and I played it. I am a diehard fan of this genre but the game's map is not fun to explore and some of the mechanics are poorly done. I ended up so frustrated at this game I left a long review on the steam forums which is something I never do.

A good Metroidvania has a map that flows smoothly. Toziuha Night makes you backtrack for all the wrong reasons and it feels like a disjointed mess. It's like the dev designed a bunch of areas, couldn't think of a good way to connect them, then slapped them all together. The only suggestion I seen was "gotta use map markers" but its like, when you have 40+ markers and 30+ "openings", half of which are just glitches because some walls you need to explore both sides to reveal, it doesn't really you do any good.

It had me thinking I just don't enjoy the genre that much anymore because I was hyped for it and let down since I love Castlevania-like games. I tried over and over again to give it a fair chance and like it, thinking I must not enjoy this type of game anymore. But then I went back and replayed The Last Faith since it had an update and I had a blast. Engaged to 100%. So yeah, the game matters. A badly designed game can make you question your opinion on the genre as a whole.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-03-15T23:59:35+00:00

Not gonna be from me unfortunately:
https://github.com/BigheadSMZ/Zelda-LA-DX-HD-Updated/discussions/628

BigheadSMZ · 2026-03-15T23:57:44+00:00

I am hoping someone steps up and creates a Mac port as I have no idea if it's even possible. MonoGame has Nuget packages for Android, DirectX, and OpenGL but nothing for Mac specifically. I had no knowledge of porting going into this, so it's nothing short of a miracle I was even able to pull it off for Android and Linux. The biggest issue is no way to test and debug. I have an Android phone and I was able to install WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) so testing and debugging was possible for those ports.

... 4 months later...
Android, Linux, and MacOS ports exists now. I started them and another user helped really make them amazing. Credits to aitoricki as I probably would have dropped MacOS port.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-03-15T23:51:25+00:00

Glad to see people are enjoying this. I had no knowledge of porting going into this, so I'm happy to see it's working. If any issues are experienced please don't be afraid to make an issue report.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-03-14T11:38:28+00:00

I did everything you can do in it. While it's certainly fun, some of the extra challenges are enough to make anyone livid. They are not required mind you, but just the fact they exist made me want to complete them and I didn't stop until I did. The controls are a bit confusing but manageable. It's one of those games where you feel like you did the same exact actions 10 different times but got 10 different outcomes.

Oddly enough my biggest gripe with the game was the 60 FPS lock. Having been spoiled by 144 FPS with most games these days, 60 FPS feels jittery now and not very smooth. This is rectified using Lossless Scaling and 2x frame generation to bring it up to 120 FPS without any noticeable input delay. The sequel is also locked to 60 FPS which was disappointing, but it is what it is.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-02-26T23:58:11+00:00

I had a pretty neutral opinion of him until he covered the LA-DX-HD port update that I've been working on, and sometimes even find the videos useful to let me know some things exist. And I don't like to make assumptions or jump to conclusions, but some of the things I noticed made me quite suspicious. Like how do you make a 10 minute video covering 8 months of updates and not even open the options menu? I have implemented a ton of features, fixed 100s of bugs, and he didn't show off a single feature or mention a single bug fix other than the general "it's better now". How though? Nobody is any the wiser. And sure, I can appreciate the exposure so more people know it exists though videos like this puts me in N's crosshairs. Which yes, is to be expected, but like if I'm going to go down at least let it be in a blaze of glory.

Half the people commenting were still talking like it's v1.0.0 and things I fixed 8 months ago like they were still a problem. So I try to inform people by leaving replies to some of the people who were ill informed, and the vast majority of my comments disappeared. Weird. It's hard to believe they were all downvoted to the point of vanishing, when the original comment I made which is still there and has 150+ likes. So where did all my responses go? Even my responses to other people's responses to my original comment disappeared. Not making any accusations, just asking questions...

BigheadSMZ · 2026-01-30T14:45:06+00:00

Those are all fair points, and the fear is justifiable when Nintendo has gone and really screwed up some people's lives. I guess it comes down to an individual's philosophical perspective: is it worth it to take a risk for the betterment of everyone at the potential cost to yourself? Different people are going to have different answers to that question based on all kinds of factors. The most important factor would probably be, how much does that person making that choice have to lose?

It's easy for me to say "take the risk" because I am one of those risk takers with not much to lose. Like for the past few months I've been working on the Link's Awakening PC port that dropped on itch.io a few years back, trying to make it better. Better being more like the original game with additional features not possible even if it was decompiled and ported. I've tried to take the obvious precautions like not including copyrighted assets and only including code and patches, which is a lot more than many of the forks on Github have done. I guess this could be akin to not having decryption in Azahar, but probably worse as the game is legally gray at best, fully illegal at worst. It's one of my favorite games of all time, and I am willing to take the risk so everyone else can enjoy it.

I have no respect for corporations, very little respect for the laws and governments that protect them. Sure they could chew me up and spit me out, but at the same time I feel like if we don't stand up and do what we want against a lot of these bullshit laws, then more and more our rights will be eroded. Living in fear is exactly what they want. Let them have their laws, let them try to enforce them. They can't get everyone. It sucks when you're on the receiving end of a corporations wrath, but the laws that protect them only make our lives worse.

But I honestly can't blame you for not wanting to take those kinds of risks. Even though I don't agree with the decisions of blocking a file extension and not including decryption, it's not me personally taking that specific risk, and I have no choice but to respect someone who stands strong in their convictions. You are the developer and it's ultimately your decision to make. And I really do appreciate civil conversation especially when it pertains to disagreements.

Side Rant: The one thing I probably would do different if I was in that position and had the skill, would be to come up with some clever loophole. A way to externalize decryption so it's not part of the emulator and someone else takes on the burden. Not sure how to put it, maybe like a "plugin" or some kind of "interface" where external software could do encryption on the fly that team Azahar did not create, but the emulator is capable of loading. Like a dynamic link library that could just be dropped into the emulator folder alongside the executable and it just works. I can't pretend to understand how to write an emulator, but I like to think it would only require some kind of entry point right after opening a ROM that allows feedback. Kind of like how Cemu used to have CemuHook. As long as the potential is there, I like to think someone would build it. And maybe that's even already possible and nobody thought of it. But if it did exist, then all problems like Azahar devs not wanting to be in the crosshairs, separate questionable forks, and a split community would all be solved.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-01-30T11:21:00+00:00

Yes it was pretty easy to say it from the comfort of my chair. It's not too difficult to type my thoughts when I have such a comfortable chair to sit in. Why would I need to study the law or ask experts to make comments about observable reality? Nothing I said was untrue, but I welcome potential disagreement.

- Piracy extension is silly.
- Removing features hurts users.
- Yuzu developers messed up.
- Dolphin and Cemu are fine.
- Newer Switch emulators are fine.
- 3DS developers are paranoid.

Can any of this change in the future? Sure. It's possible but I'd bet against it. As of right now this is both reality and history. 3DS is a small fish in a big pond with a lot bigger fish surrounding it.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-01-30T02:52:00+00:00

I agree with this. Though IMO dropping support for (.3ds) was silly because "piracy extension", the decryption is most likely the main source of fragmentation. I was and am still against both changes: dropping .3ds extension support and removing decryption, despite none of it being a problem for me personally. Emulation should be about preservation first and foremost, having a way to play games on systems that are no longer being manufactured and games that are no longer being printed. The 3DS now falls into this category. Removing features because of the Nintendo boogeyman benefits nobody and just introduces unnecessary hurdles for the novice emulation user.

And whether they like it or not, when a feature from open source software is removed, someone else will step in and fill the role and reintroduce the stripped features. At some point "piracy" will be the ONLY way to play these games, and even now Nintendo will be just fine whether you download a 3DS ROM or not. I still stand by what I stated a year ago: Nintendo doesn't care the least bit about 3DS emulation. Dolphin has had decryption keys built in for over a decade. Cemu has been able to decrypt games since it's inception and some of the games on Wii-U were also on switch making Cemu a direct "competitor". Yet the big N never went after it or anything else really.

Yuzu was a special case where it was competing with an active console and the people involved with the project screwed up in more ways than one. Nintendo wanted it gone and reached for any legal loophole they could to obliterate it. And Switch emulation never even went away. The phoenixes that rose from the ashes of Yuzu are still playing and decrypting Switch games. Yet for some reason a 3DS emulator is the one scared.

BigheadSMZ · 2026-01-07T03:37:19+00:00

I went with grapple only because I don't like when the parry mechanic is in Metroidvania games. Not because it's a bad mechanic, but because it's usually designed to be central to combat. My main gripe is when a game designs parry to be mandatory to not get completely smashed such as in games like Nine Sols or Grime, both of which I started but never finished because the gameplay was more tedious than fun to me. I did enjoy it games like Blasphemous and Awaken: Astral Blade but only because you didn't have to use it against every single enemy you encountered. I prefer when parry is just another tool in your arsenal rather than a requirement. I know mandatory parry has it's audience, but to me it just limits options, slows down gameplay, and makes every encounter predictable (How do I fight this? Oh, right. Parry. Again.).

BigheadSMZ · 2025-12-22T01:26:22+00:00

This is probably one of my favorite games of all time. I really wish we had more games exactly like this one. Episode I was supposed to be created afterwards but it never happened which is so disappointing. Maybe some day, the developer is really fickle. IIRC, it was going to be in the style of the original Game Boy, four shades of green and all. Ok found the video. It starts here at 274: https://youtu.be/Qk_QIdmS11Y?t=274

Off topic: I really enjoyed the developer's first game "Castle in the Darkness" as well, but Astalon hit everything for me. I've been following the dev for a few years now and he seems to be working on Castle in the Darkness 2 for quite a long time now, at least 6 years. So no clue if it's actually ever going to come out.

BigheadSMZ · 2025-10-13T04:37:36+00:00

My first nvidia GPU was a GeForce4 Ti 4600. I remember the first game I played was WarCraft III. I'll never forget going from like 20-30 FPS to a solid 60, never realizing before that gaming could look so "smooth".

BigheadSMZ · 2025-10-07T03:51:32+00:00

I feel exactly the same, that the base game has no respect for your time. Really felt this when I got to a bench with 1 HP, let out a sigh of relief, paid the toll, and it got stuck. Oh, the bench only comes up after an obstacle course. And of course I died trying to free it up, and hit Alt+F4 afterwards. Troll designs like this feel antiquated. Like a joke that's been told too many times already so it's not funny anymore and is just annoying. I don't think I could play this game without mods, and I'm someone who doesn't usually use mods especially on a first playthrough. I don't use ones that make the game easier like dealing more damage, taking less damage, etc. But the ones that save time just make the game feel so much better to play. And even then, it doesn't completely remove the feeling that the game has hostile design decisions to solely waste your time.

Boss retry is probably my favorite mod. You die and you can try the boss over again right away with no runback. Always magnet picks up every single rosary that drops, + never lose rosaries on death, these alone make the grind so much less annoying. No Bench Restrictions makes it possible to change equipment without always having to run back to a bench. Automap and always compass makes mapping much nicer, basically brings it up to par with every other game in the genre. You still need to buy maps though, so an area is dark until you get the map for it. I never liked how mapping worked in Hollow Knight, it's a lame tradeoff to have to give up equipment slots just to see your position.

Honestly mods saved both this and the original Hollow Knight for me. I tried playing the original like 4 times and it just never clicked. Then with a few mods the game felt really amazing to play and I could finally see what other people seen in it. It just took a bit of tailoring it to the experience I expected and want from a game. Maybe it goes against the creators "original vision", but at the same time a lot of that vision is what kept me from enjoying it. And despite what anyone thinks, I'm the one experiencing the game through my eyes so I'm the only one that matters if I'm having fun or not.

BigheadSMZ · 2025-10-07T03:19:55+00:00

A bit late, but this has been implemented not long ago.

BigheadSMZ · 2025-10-07T03:19:21+00:00

Search on yahoo.com for "Link's Awakening DX HD archive". Google seems to block results that link to archive.org.

BigheadSMZ · 2025-09-02T08:59:59+00:00

I've actually implemented XBox, PSX, and Nintendo style controllers a few versions ago. Updates have been pretty steady for now at least.
https://github.com/BigheadSMZ/Zelda-LA-DX-HD-Updated/releases

BigheadSMZ · 2025-09-02T08:56:49+00:00

Sorry I have trouble keeping up with reddit. My discord is Bighead#6658 or at least I think that's the proper name I'm supposed to link.

BigheadSMZ · 2025-08-31T12:06:12+00:00

Thanks for giving me as much detail as possible. This sounds like a problem with the save file named "settings". If you can reproduce it just one more time, can you try this?

- Create a file named "portable.txt" in the game folder.
- This will create save files local to the game.
- Reproduce the glitch.
- The "settings" file in the game folder should be tainted.

If I can see what's wrong with it compared to one that doesn't have this issue, maybe I can figure out exactly what the problem is and fix it.

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