Compatibility & roadmap
Current F0–F5 engineering status in v0.3.0, what works in-game on 1.0.0 and 3.2.0, and what remains on the roadmap to full playability.
- Lifted functions: 180,061
- NVN 2 calls: 700
- First-scene shaders: 4,820
- Roadmap: Issue #10
Six-phase engineering roadmap (v0.3.0)
Tracked in README.md, docs/bananza-plan.md and Roadmap Issue #10:
| Phase | State | Upstream Milestone Details |
|---|---|---|
| F0 CPU | Complete | main and sdk (180,061 functions) lift with zero unsupported instructions. ARMv8.3 pointer authentication and LDAPR added; differential tests against Unicorn pass; Switch 2 guest ticks run at 31.25 MHz (#25). |
| F1 OS | Complete | Boots on TotK Recomp’s Horizon host adapted for Switch 2 differences: RomFS reader, save data, stereo audio (20s left-channel bug fixed in v0.2.0), and SDL3 controller input. |
| F2 NVN 2 | Complete | 700 NVN 2 entry points answered and the main game loop runs. 51 new Switch 2 command-buffer calls (mesh shaders, VRS, DLSS, push constants) are accepted; deferred push constants and mode calls are recorded (#6, #15). |
| F3 Shaders | Complete | All 4,820 Ampere shader stages of the first 3D scene pass through Eglantine’s Ampere-to-Maxwell lowering and TotK Recomp’s SPIR-V translator (including 1D image atomics, packed halves, and portable geometry passthrough). |
| F4 Vulkan | Complete | Title screen, mode select, VP9 guide movies, and the tutorial cave 3D scene render with ASTC GPU compute decoding (#38), HDR10 (#150) and temporal DLSS. |
| F5 Playable | In progress | Plays through the tutorial, cutscene and first stage (Ingot Isle Cave-In, Lagoon Layer, Hilltop Layer, sublayer 200+). Open: black destructible terrain geometry stage (#45), NVIDIA light-quad skip (#9, #62), AMD device-lost faults (#3, #204), and open-area replay optimization. |
Subsystem & hardware compatibility matrix
| Subsystem / Platform | Status | Technical Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base 1.0.0 & Update 3.2.0 (v458752) | Supported | Both build from .nup or ExeFS/RomFS. 3.2.0 supports temporal DLSS, native HDR10, 4K render targets (#152) and smash radial-blur release (#159). |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs (Windows & Linux) | Primary target | Verified on RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 4090, RTX 3070 Ti Laptop and RTX 3070. Includes #9 light-quad skip and #75 tutorial cutscene workaround on by default. |
| AMD Radeon GPUs (Windows Adrenalin & Linux RADV) | Experimental | Map cyan wedges (#125) and bloom NaN bands (#132) fixed; RX 6700 reached sublayer 200 (#207), RX 9070 XT tested in hills (#211), but RX 6600 / RX 5600 XT / RX 580 still hit device-lost faults (#193, #198, #204, #206). |
| 4K, Ultrawide (21:9 / 32:9) & HDR10 | Added in v0.3.0 | Dynamic render-target pool (#152), 3840x1600 & 5120x2160 presets (#168), and native Bananza HDR10 via DKB_HDR_NATIVE=1 (#150). |
| Add-on content (DLC) reader | Experimental | aoc-<n> folder reader verified against synthetic and real packs (v0.2.0), but in-game DLC activation is still under investigation (#183). |
| macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon) | Preview | Builds and reaches mode select via MoltenVK; host graphics routed through GfxBackend (#179) for an upcoming native Metal backend (#151). |
How the static recompilation pipeline works
DKB Recomp splits work between an offline build phase on your PC and a native runtime phase (docs/architecture.md and docs/bananza-shaders.md):
- Offline at build time: Your dumped
mainandsdkARM64 binaries pass through the lifter (recomp/gen.py) to emit C source code, which Clang compiles into a native executable (dkb.exeordkb). - Runtime OS & NVN 2: The native executable talks directly to the Horizon host (threads, RomFS files, audio, SDL3 input) and the NVN 2 frontend (
runtime/nvn_*), which records commands for the Vulkan backend (orGfxBackend). - Shader lowering pipeline: Switch 2 Ampere shaders pass through Eglantine lowering (Ampere → Maxwell,
runtime/third_party/eglantine/) and the Translator (tools/xlate) into standard SPIR-V modules consumed by Vulkan.
Controllers for DKB Recomp
DKB Recomp recommends a gamepad on Windows, Linux and macOS via its SDL3 Horizon host, with dedicated Controller and Mouse & Keyboard settings tabs plus Bananza action descriptions. These controllers pair cleanly on PC:
| Controller | Best For in DKB Recomp | Hardware Advantage | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| GameSir Cyclone 2 | Tunnel punching & 3D camera control | TMR sticks, Hall linear/microswitch triggers, 1000 Hz wireless dongle | View on Amazon |
| 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless | Desktop Windows & Linux setup | Zero-drift TMR sticks, charging dock, Switch/XInput mode switch | View on Amazon |
| Sony DualSense | Low-latency USB & SDL3 prompts | Responsive face buttons, crisp D-pad, native SDL3 HID support | View on Amazon |
| Xbox Wireless Controller | Plug-and-play Windows 10/11 | Native Windows XInput & Linux xpadneo pairing with zero setup | View on Amazon |
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Common questions
Why is the destructible terrain black or missing in some paths?
Donkey Kong Bananza relies on NVN 2 geometry shader stages and unrecorded command-buffer calls for destructible terrain (#6, #45). Ordinary and portable geometry shader translation sits behind experimental contracts (#49–#58), and Metal on macOS lacks geometry shaders until a vertex-stage replacement is finished.
How far have testers played in the current build?
On an RTX 5060 Ti, a hand-played run completed the title screen, tutorial cave, cutscene and first stage (Ingot Isle Cave-In), while community testers have reached the Lagoon Layer, Hilltop Layer (#126, #209, #211), Sublayer 200 (#194, #207), the racing level (#183), and Glacier / Snow World Layer 500 (#196, #197).