Is There a Tears of the Kingdom 60 FPS Mod? – Answered

Mods for Nintendo Switch games have been more common nowadays with so many releases that people like to mess around with. Six years after its release, Breath of the Wild still holds the crown as a prime example with various mods for Wii U/Switch emulators. So it’s natural that its successor would also hop on a similar boat right after its release. You’re at least curious about the existence of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mods already. You wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t.

Mods are the way people have found to turn around Switch’s own limitations, as even though it’s a current-gen console, the portable is still running its games capped at 30 FPS instead of the usual 60. So, is there a Tears of the Kingdom 60 FPS mod?

Does Tears of the Kingdom Have a 60 FPS Mod?

Let’s cut to the chase. Yes, there are already higher frame rate mods for the game available. No, you shouldn’t be looking for a way to use them. At least just not yet. And the reason goes way further than simply “piracy bad”, as those mods might not be exactly what you’re looking for.

The game was unofficially leaked way before its actual release date, so it’s not unusual that modders could make something like that by now. But they’re still not perfect since the game was not intended to run on 60 FPS in the first place.

You might look for those mods and eventually find them (no links will be provided here, obviously), but the game eventually runs into some problems such as extreme slow-motion when your framerate drops for any reason (using certain actions, various elements on the screen, etc.) and pre-rendered cutscenes running at double speed (remember, they were rendered with half FPS in mind).

Related: All Special Controls in Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK) Listed

The Switch is the only current-gen console still running its games capped at 30 FPS instead of the usual 60. The console is technically capable of doing better, but modding a Switch not only goes against Nintendo’s ToS and can get you banned, but it’s also dangerous to the hardware if you’re not careful, so people usually mod their games on PCs using emulators.

Problems are still a thing on emulators, though. The game thinks it’s still running at 30 FPS despite being on 60, so it won’t be a real “max resolution” experience and might only make the game run even worse at times. It might be better not to run any mods in your game for now as they’re still in their early stages. They might eventually deliver a better experience for the game, but not right now as it was just released.