How to Install XC2 Recomp on Windows & Linux

What you need before starting XC2-Setup

XC2-Setup includes zero Nintendo game data or code derived from the game. Before launching the installer, prepare the following files dumped from your own Nintendo Switch console, along with a machine meeting the system requirements (Windows 10+ or Linux 6.7+ with glibc 2.34, AVX2 CPU, Vulkan 1.3 GPU with VK_EXT_external_memory_host, and ~25 GiB free disk space during setup):

Step-by-step installation (GUI & CLI)

1. Unpack the setup archive: On Windows, download XC2-Setup-0.1.12-windows.zip and unpack it to any folder. On Linux or Steam Deck, download XC2-Setup-0.1.12-linux.AppImage and mark it executable (chmod +x XC2-Setup-0.1.12-linux.AppImage).
2. Start the setup window: Run XC2-Setup.exe on Windows (if SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway) or launch the AppImage on Linux. The GUI supports English and Russian automatically.
3. Select your inputs: Pick your legally dumped base game archive, the matching 3.0.1 (US/EU) or 3.0.0 (JP) update package, any optional add-on content packages (1 through 6 and pack 99), your console decryption key file, the game language, and your target install folder.
4. Press Start and wait once: On a 24-core PC, a full first install with Base + Update 3.0.1 + all 7 add-on packs completes in about 8 minutes. If cancelled or interrupted, re-running on the same folder resumes from the last completed step recorded in xc2-install.json.
5. Launch the native executable: Play xc2.exe (Windows) or xc2 (Linux) directly from the install folder. You can delete the unpacked setup archive and source game packages once installation finishes.

For automated or headless setups, you can also run the installer CLI directly:

# Windows headless CLI
python\python.exe -m installer --base <base_file> --update <update_file> --keys <keys_file> --dlc <dlc_1> ... --lang en-US --dest "C:\Games\XC2"

# Linux AppImage headless CLI
./XC2-Setup-0.1.12-linux.AppImage -m installer --base <base_file> --update <update_file> --keys <keys_file> --lang en-US --dest ~/Games/xc2

Inside the 7-stage XC2-Setup build pipeline

When you click Start, installer/steps.py executes seven deterministic stages and logs JSON progress events:

Portable install folder layout & fast updates

The finished install folder is completely self-contained and portable (fixed in v0.1.12 so both profile/ and flight/ resolve inside the install directory):

<install folder>/
  xc2.exe, SDL3.dll, libopus-0.dll, xc2_xlate.exe
  amd_fidelityfx_loader_vk.dll, amd_fidelityfx_upscaler_vk.dll, amd_fidelityfx_framegeneration_vk.dll
  xc2.ini                       # User settings (language, fps_limit, output_res, fsr3, binds, mods)
  exefs/, romfs/                # Extracted & merged 3.0.1 data (RomFS ~13 GiB)
  aoc/<index>/                  # Extracted add-on content RomFS (~4.6 GiB for all 7 packs)
  prompts/                      # Redrawn Xbox, PlayStation & Keyboard button prompt assets
  profile/                      # Portable save files
  mods/                         # Optional RomFS, ExeFS & cheat mods
  logs/                         # xc2.log (last run) and xc2.1.log .. xc2.4.log
  shader-cache/, mesa-cache/    # Translated shader and pipeline caches
  build-cache/objects/          # ~2 GiB object cache for fast incremental updates
  xc2-install.json              # Build ledger (region, version, input hashes, completed steps)

Updating to a newer XC2 Recomp release: Unpack the new setup release, open XC2-Setup.exe (it remembers your last paths in %LOCALAPPDATA%\XC2 Recomp\launcher.json on Windows or ~/.config/xc2-recomp/launcher.json on Linux), keep the same install folder selected, and press Start. Because romfs/, aoc/, and build-cache/objects/ are already present, the update skips extraction and only recompiles changed C chunks before relinking xc2.exe. Your saves in profile/ and settings in xc2.ini are preserved.