The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess PC port Dusklight 2.0 brings modding

21 Sep 2026 at 7:57 am UTC
By Liam Squires-Hand

More retro Nintendo goodies for you with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess reimplementation Dusklight version 2.0 bringing major new features.

What's the point of the project? Their aim is to be as accurate as possible to the original while also providing new options, enhancements, and tools to customize your experience. And, of course, making it run on modern systems like Linux. You do need to supply your own copy of the game for it to work.

A big 2.0 release brings with it the likes of: mod support, an in-game mod browser, their own built-in randomizer, alongside more polish, performance improvements and much more. They even have a new video out for it:

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Mods and built-in mods

• Added: Mod support! Install gameplay mods, asset replacements, and texture packs as .dusk bundles, and manage them from the Mods menu. (Modders: check out our modding documentation!).
• Added: An in-game mod browser: search for mods, view information and screenshots, and download and install without leaving Dusklight.
• Added: Mod update checks, release notes, and a quick way to update all mods.
• Added: Drag and drop .dusk mods onto the Dusklight window to install them.
• Added: Enable, disable, and reload mods in-game, with dependency handling and per-mod settings and logs.
• Added: Built-in Dusklight Randomizer, our own randomizer with seed generation, settings presets, shareable
  permalinks, and more.
  • Customize which items are shuffled, including shop items, NPC gifts, Golden Bugs, Poe Souls, Hidden Skills, and dungeon keys.
  • Randomize entrances to dungeons, boss rooms, caves, interiors, and overworld areas.
  • Choose starting equipment, skip the prologue and other sequences, and customize the requirements for reaching Hyrule Castle.
  • Detailed randomizer spoiler logs to help when you get stuck, with in-game export options for logs and seed data.
• Added: Built-in Cosmetics mod: customize Link's outfits, hair and equipment, Wolf Link, Epona, Midna, and HUD colors.

For mod creators

• Added: Asset-only mods: replace disc files, individual files inside .arc archives, and textures without writing code or repacking an entire game archive.
• Added: Powerful native C++ mods with direct access to game code and built-in mod services. Use hooks on game functions to add or change nearly anything.
• Added: Luau script mods for simpler UI, settings, and configurable asset replacements, without requiring native mod builds.
• Added: Versioned services and dependencies, allowing mods to be compatible across Dusklight versions and even provide features for other mods to build on.
• Added: A standalone mod SDK and project template, with easy builds for all supported platforms. (Quick start).
• Added: Custom game modes, with separate save files and control over starting and loading a game.
• Added: Custom actors, stage edits, player spawns, and item rewards for gameplay mods.
• Added: Custom dialogue and message flows, including new choices, events, full-color text, and gradients.
• Added: Custom mod windows, dialogs, controls, notifications, and interface themes.
• Added: Audio replacement APIs for sound effects, instrument samples, and streamed music. (audio API, JAudio documentation).
• Added: Direct GPU rendering and custom camera support for mods, including rendering to separate windows.
• Added: Native file pickers, persistent storage, and networking services for mods.

Disc support and saves

• Added: Japanese GameCube disc support. (#2227).
• Added: Wii disc support, including North American revisions 0 and 2, Japanese, and PAL releases. Dusklight now works with all retail GameCube and Wii discs except the Korean Wii release. (#2296, #2376).
• Added: Save Manager: import and export saves, create and restore backups, and manage saved mod data. Available from Settings before launching the game. (#2457, #725)
  • .dusksave exports mod data alongside the game save. The Save Manager also supports .gci and .raw files, and drag-and-drop imports.
• Fixed: Save timestamps drifting after device sleep, and playtime advancing while the game is backgrounded or focus paused. (#2304).
• Fixed: Incorrect save timestamps during daylight saving time. (Aurora #229, #1077).
• Fixed: Various memory card corruption bugs with both .gci and .raw.

Polish

• Added: Variable delta time for smoother menus, text boxes, HUD animations, cursors, fades, and transitions at higher framerates. (#2431, #2439, #2455).
• Added: Interpolation for more weather and particle effects, the minimap player arrow, aiming reticles, butterflies, bees, and ropes in Ordon Village and the ranch. (#2394, #2397, #2431).
• Fixed: Grass and other effects appearing out of sync with the camera when interpolation is enabled. (#2394).
• Fixed: Zoras' underwater glow and Epona's stirrups with interpolation enabled. (#2394).
• Fixed: Bloom and fog changing too quickly between areas at higher framerates. (#2191, #2144).
• Fixed: Lock-on indicators interpolating between unrelated targets. (#2431).
• Fixed: Minimap border pulsing during the wagon escort and Shadow Beast encounters. (#2421).
• Added: Allow replacing Ganondorf's cape tearing textures. (#2145).
• Added: Allow replacing minimap textures. (#2303).
• Fixed: THP (movie) decoding accuracy and playback. (#2386).

Performance and platform support

• Added: More performance improvements, including asynchronous GX FIFO processing. (Aurora cc65b5303f, Aurora ecd2902ade).
• Added: Streaming texture replacements and improved caching. Eliminates load hitching with HD texture packs. (Aurora 2620df6591, Aurora 7af8deffdd).
• Fixed: Performance drops when adjusting graphics settings. (#2365).
• Fixed: Vulkan initialization on some Adreno devices, including reported Snapdragon 680/685 devices with Adreno 610 GPUs. (Aurora #247).
• Fixed: Vulkan library discovery in Nix builds. (#2124).

Audio

• Added: 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound output. (#2384).
• Added: 48 kHz audio rendering and output (originally 32 kHz). (#2436).
• Added: Separate "Main Music Volume" setting. (#2408).
• Changed: Audio output mode is now selected in Dusklight's settings, alongside the stereo and surround options. (#2384).
• Fixed: Incorrect audio buffering affecting Wolf Link's howling pitch. (#2312).
• Fixed: Audio corruption with looping streamed audio. (1bae8a5e6a).

Controls, interface, and quality of life

• Added: "Faster Scene Transitions" option to reduce the wait when moving between areas. (#2147, #1199, #1740).
• Added: Options to disable letterboxing during gameplay, cutscenes, or both. (#2333, #1369).
• Added: Optional aiming reticle for the Bow and Slingshot. (#2290, #2376, #2186).
• Added: "Easy Quick Spin (R+B)" cheat. (#2194).
• Added: "Always Greatspin" can now require learning the skill first, while allowing it at any health. (#2308).
• Added: "UI Scale" setting for Dusklight's menus, separate from the in-game HUD scale. (#2326).
• Added: "Touch Targeting" options: Hybrid, Hold, and Switch. Hybrid targeting lets you tap to lock onto a target or double-tap to hold L when no target is available. (f81d25b425).
• Added: Return to the Dusklight menu on Reset. (#2230).
• Added: New shader compilation progress display. (277538bb81).
• Added: "Button Fishing" now supports casting from the canoe in the Fishing Pond. (#2226).
• Fixed: Gyro and joystick input can be used together again while aiming in first person. (#2164).
• Fixed: Mouse cursor appearing during gameplay when using mouse-based gyro controls, including on Steam Deck. (#2163, #2091).
• Fixed: Disabling mouse/touch input in menus also disabled normal touch controls. (#2152).
• Fixed: Mouse and touch menu clicks selecting unintended items after dragging between targets. (2d4e69466b).
• Fixed: D-Pad and Rupee HUD scaling now applies immediately and preserves spacing next to the minimap. (#2192, #2120).
• Fixed: Incorrect map cursors, map icons, touch aiming, and free-camera controls in Mirror Mode. (#2149, #2175, #979, #2086, #2158).
• Fixed: More signs and dialogue giving the wrong directions in Mirror Mode. (#2108).
• Fixed: "Can Transform Anywhere" now also works when talking to Midna directly. (#2259, #2233).
• Fixed: Quick Transform incorrectly working while walking underwater. (#2346).
• Fixed: "Instant Death" sometimes increasing health instead of killing Link, including fall damage and King Bulblin attacks. (#2363, #1552, #1563).
• Fixed: Graphics Backend setting not displaying the active backend correctly. (#2295).

Speedrunning and tools

• Changed: Speedrun Mode is a separate game mode selected from the launch menu, with its own saves. (#2230, #2368).
• Fixed: Speedrun Mode could enable disallowed cheats after restarting; tools and timer reset handling have also been fixed. (#2173, #2368, #2154).
• Fixed: Pause and map screens now capture the correct non-interpolated game frame, matching the item-wheel behavior for frame-buffering tricks. (#2293).
• Fixed: A displacement clip in Kakariko Village did not match console behavior. (Aurora #244, #2324).
• Added: Command console (/) with developer commands; type help to see available commands. (#1962).
• Added: Expanded debug tools menu with teleport controls and a trigger viewer. (#1962).
• Added: Command-line options to launch directly into a save or stage for testing. (#2150).
• Changed: Hold right-click to look around with the mouse in the debug fly camera. (#2353).
• Fixed: Texture dumping, including palette textures. (Aurora #235).

They also released a quick follow-up v2.0.1 to fix up some bugs, and noted there's already plenty of people making mods for it.

🌐 External Sources: GitHub - dusklight - v2.0.0 Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com. Tags: Native Linux, Adventure, New Release, Open Source, Reimplementation, Retro 11 Likes Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:Lossless Scaling Frame Generation on Linux lsfg-vk moves away from GitHub, changes license due to AI slop forksGhostship - the Super Mario 64 PC port from Harbour Masters gets Vulkan, post-processing, a web player and moreGZDoom successor UZDoom 5.0 is officially out nowCult-classic horror point-and-click adventure Sanitarium returns as Sanitarium Enhanced All posts need to follow our rules. Please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Readers can also email us for any issues or concerns.