The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launched last Friday on Nintendo Switch, garnering widespread critical acclaim and breaking new sales records in the United Kingdom.
However, as with all Nintendo Switch game releases, it is also playable on PC via emulators like Yuzu and Ryujinx, enabling much higher resolution and frame rate than possible on the handheld/home console hybrid.
Moreover, several Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom PC mods have already appeared to improve various aspects of the game, from fixing unsupported aspect ratios to expanding the field of view, gameplay, UI, and quality of life.
In this article, we'll list the best Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom PC mods currently available to enhance your experience.
Graphics and other Technical Enhancements
Visual Fixes was one of the first Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom PC mods to pop up. It is critical to improving the game's graphics since it disables the dynamic resolution scaling and FXAA while also increasing shadow resolution and LOD quality.
As shown in our previous article, Ray Tracing can be injected into the game via ReShade with great results. While that user didn't share the preset yet (though that may happen soon), it was based on a custom version of Breath of the Wild's REVO ReShade 6.0, available on Nexus Mods for download. As a reminder, you'd still need to get the RTGI shader separately by subscribing to Marty's Patreon. There are also other ReShade presets made specifically for this game by Kuurama, SlidlyElegant, and FySer, though these don't include ray tracing.
While not technically a mod, a simple tweak enables the built-in AutoHDR Windows functionality to work with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. All you need to do is rename Yuzu or Ryujinx's folders and .exe files to Cemu (yes, like the Wii U emulator). NVIDIA users also have to ensure that the Vulkan/OpenGL present method setting in the Control Panel (under Manage 3D Settings) is set to Prefer layered on DXGI Swapchain. Voilà, you can now enjoy increased brightness and highlights, provided you've got an HDR-compatible display.
The game's frame rate is locked to 30 FPS by default, but several Frame Rate mods now allow playing at dynamic 60 FPS and even support higher frame rates during cutscenes. They are bundled in a package available on GBATemp.
Any Aspect Ratio by fayaz does what the title suggests, allowing compatibility with different aspect ratios than the default 16:9, including Steam Deck's 16:10, Ultrawide and Super Ultrawide (21:9 and 32:9, and many more.
As covered yesterday, a Field of View and over the shoulder camera mod was released by Silentverge to provide an expanded view of Link's surroundings.
Another Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom PC mod called Increased Camera Sensitivity seeks to increase the player's camera speed movement. Made by Tallgeese IV, it comes with three available presets that add 2/4/6 to the default value of the game's presets (Very Low, Low, Normal, High, and Very High).
Gameplay, User Interface, Quality of Life
One of the main gameplay innovations of the latest Zelda game is the addition of the Zonai devices. These are vehicles that Link can use to travel the world of Hyrule, including flying to the Sky Islands. However, they cannot be used for a long time unless you get HylianLZ's Zonai Devices Last Longer mod, which bumps the duration of these vehicles by many, many times.
Just like in Breath of the Wild, gear durability is still a feature in this sequel. However, many would love increased durability. Thankfully, there are Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom PC mods that offer exactly that, such as:
- Unbreakable Equipment (can select either all equipment or specific types of gear)
- Double Durability
If you feel that Link runs too slowly, the SpeedUp - Faster Running mod makes him always run as if using the level 3 Hasty Elixir, that is to say, at 130% speed. Do note that the stamina usage is unchanged.
Similarly, Waikuteru's Faster Teleport mod significantly decreases the animation time before and after teleporting, making fast travel far quicker.
Players who love cooking in Zelda may be interested in the 100% Critical Cooking mod by Karlos_007. If you don't have enough Korok Seeds to spare, this Korok Seed Expansion mod reduces the cost to just one.
If you'd like to avoid the loot box-like wheel of fortune that comes with amiibo chests, the Guaranteed amiibo Items mod is a must.
Last but not least, several User Interface mods change the game's layout to display proper icons for DualSense/DualShock (which natively supports gyro aiming, by the way), Xbox, and Steam Deck.
Given the game's popularity, it is likely that the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom PC modding scene will thrive as much or even more than Breath of the Wild. Stay tuned for more recommendations.
