F-Zero X VR on Steam Frame
This branch adds a native VR mode to G-Diffuser, the F-Zero X PC port by Zorkats and its contributors. It runs on Steam Frame as a Linux ARM64 app with OpenXR and OpenGL through Zink. The VR path is optional; the flat-screen game remains available.
EXPERIMENTAL. I made this for personal use, and it's still a work in progress. Bring your own game data.
Want to play on Steam Frame? Download the prebuilt standalone package from the v0.1.0 prerelease; no compiler is needed. You still need your own supported US F-Zero X ROM, translated Expansion Kit disk image and supported 64DD IPL ROM.
Race in stereo from a chase view or from inside your machine. Cockpit options include a cabin or roof seat, dashboard readouts, and a rear-view mirror. The flat menus stay on a panel in front of you, with controller navigation and a laser pointer for selection.
Frame controls
Right B switches between cockpit and chase views. Hold Menu + View for half a second to open the VR settings menu. The left stick and D-pad navigate menus; use the right-hand laser and trigger to point and click. Hold View for one second to recenter direction and position while keeping the height anchor; hold it for three seconds to recenter and set height again.
The VR menu includes world scale, camera, HUD, haptics and display settings. The default resolution scale is 1.25× the runtime's recommended eye size; with the Frame's 1728×1728 recommendation this produces 2160×2160 eye images. The app requests 120 Hz when available, while SteamVR's per-app setting determines the actual display rate. Set the title's display rate in SteamVR's per-app settings.
Game data
Playing the documented Frame build needs your own US revision 0 F-Zero X ROM, the translated 64DD Expansion Kit disk image, and a supported 64DD IPL ROM. The default build refuses Japanese-region game data. The game extracts its runtime data locally. This repository does not include Nintendo ROMs, disk images, IPL files or generated game assets. See the saved G-Diffuser README for the original project's data policy and general features.
Build and install
The Steam Frame build and install guide covers ARM64 Docker builds from Linux, macOS, or Windows through WSL2, the ROM/disk/firmware inputs, package output, first installation and Steam launch. It distinguishes the standalone Linux ARM64 Frame package from desktop and Windows builds.
The application builds without game data. A fresh ARM64 OpenXR build, all 293 VR checks, ABI checks and ROM-free package assembly passed. See PR0 build details and the changelog.
See docs/VR_ARCHITECTURE.md for the current VR implementation and controls. Sections 1–3 retain earlier M0 design and device notes; section 4 and the current-behavior sections near the end describe the implemented path.
G-Diffuser is maintained by Zorkats and contributors and builds on inspectredc/fzerox and Kenix3/libultraship. The original README, including general platform/build information and the game's license policy, is preserved at docs/README_UPSTREAM.md.
Credits and licenses
The MIT license covers original G-Diffuser code and documentation. Components retain their own terms in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. These licenses don't grant rights to Nintendo's game, ROM, disk, IPL or generated assets.