The Simpsons Game Recompiled Nearly Halved Its Steam Deck GPU Time in One Update

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2026-09-29 · News and analysis

Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Learn more.

Most Xbox 360 recompilation projects treat the Steam Deck as a nice side effect. Someone tries it, it mostly works, and the developer says that is good to hear.

The Simpsons Game Recompiled does not work that way. Its own status table lists the Steam Deck as "Playable, and the main test platform," with Windows described as the less tested one. That is backwards from almost everything else in this scene, and it shows in what the project spends its time on.

Version 0.0.6.0 landed on 29 September 2026, and it is the biggest update the project has shipped. The headline is a GPU frame time that came down by nearly half on Deck hardware.

The Short Version

What it is: a native PC port of The Simpsons Game from the Xbox 360, made by static recompilation
Version: 0.0.6.0, released 29 September 2026
Toolchain: the game's PowerPC code translated ahead of time to C++ for x86-64, running on the ReXGlue runtime, which is derived from Xenia
Platforms: Linux, Steam Deck and Windows. The Steam Deck is the project's main test platform
Android: listed as planned, not available
The performance number: GPU time on a captured Steam Deck gameplay frame dropped from 14.6ms to 8.1ms
Renderer: the native renderer is now the default, with the accurate EDRAM emulation path still selectable
Frame rate: 60 FPS gameplay, with menus, the title screen and loading screens restored to their original 30 FPS
New build variants: -NoAVX2 packages for CPUs older than roughly 2013
What you supply: your own Xbox 360 ISO of the game, around 5GB installed
ARM handhelds: no build, and none today

The Performance Number, With the Caveat

The release notes state that GPU time on a captured gameplay frame dropped from 14.6ms to 8.1ms on the Steam Deck.

That is a big improvement, and it is worth understanding what it does and does not tell you.

To hold 60 FPS you have roughly 16.7ms per frame for everything. A GPU sitting at 14.6ms of that was leaving almost nothing spare, which is exactly the shape of a game that mostly holds its target and then falls apart when something busy happens on screen. Cutting it to 8.1ms roughly doubles the headroom.

Now the caveat. This is one captured frame, chosen by the developer, not a benchmark run and not an average across a level. It is a legitimate way to report a rendering optimisation and it is not a claim about your frame rate. Frame time also is not frame rate, and the CPU side has its own work to do.

Nobody has published independent Deck numbers for this version, ourselves included.

Where the Speed Came From

Three changes did most of it, and the first one is the interesting one.

The native renderer is now the default. The Xbox 360 had a block of fast memory called EDRAM that games rendered into, and a faithful port has to reproduce how that behaved. The accurate way is to emulate EDRAM in the pixel shader, which is correct and expensive. The native path draws into the GPU's own render targets instead, which is how a modern PC game would do it. That path existed before. This release made it the default and made it accurate enough to be the default. The EDRAM path is still there in the Renderer setting if something looks wrong.

Render target resolves happen in one pass. They now write straight into the textures that sample them, and the project cut a lot of EDRAM emulation copies around screen clears and multisampled surfaces.

The vblank fix. With VSync off, the port was firing guest vblank interrupts at 1000 Hz regardless of your actual refresh rate. That has been tied to the configured refresh rate instead, which the notes say cut GPU load specifically in menus.

There is also a CPU side win that matters more on a handheld than the number suggests. Threads waiting on several game events were polling instead of sleeping, and the audio thread alone was using about half a CPU core. It now uses under 5%. On a Deck, CPU power you are not burning is power the GPU gets instead, so this shows up as GPU headroom too.

Finally, the driver pipeline cache is now saved between runs, so the shader compilation stutter you get in a first session does not repeat every launch.

The Crashes and Glitches That Got Fixed

This release closed several things that would have stopped you playing outright.

The AMD crash is gone. The port was crashing right after the first cutscene or on the first level load on AMD graphics cards under Windows, on both Vulkan and Direct3D 12. The cause was character draws reading GPU memory with nothing behind it.

Characters stopped disappearing. Character meshes missing an optional vertex stream are now drawn safely on every GPU, the Steam Deck included. Those were the same bad draws behind the AMD crash.

Audio crackle is fixed. The game is now asked for audio at the steady rate the Xbox 360 hardware used, rather than in bursts that made it hand back silent frames.

Washed out character colours are fixed on the native renderer, by keeping 10-bit render targets at full precision.

Menus run at 30 FPS again. They were running at 60, which made menu navigation twice as fast as intended and made the title screen stutter. Gameplay still runs at 60.

FXAA works under Vulkan on Linux and Steam Deck, and new installs turn it on by default. The game's cel-shaded outlines are jagged without it and it costs very little.

The NoAVX2 Build, and Whether You Need It

This release added a second download for each platform, ending in -NoAVX2.

AVX2 is a CPU instruction set extension that arrived with Intel's Haswell generation and AMD's Excavator, so roughly 2013 onward. The standard packages require it, and on a CPU without it the game does not start at all. It fails with error 0xc0000142, which is an unhelpful message that tells you nothing about the real cause.

If you are on a Steam Deck, a ROG Ally, a Legion Go or any current Windows handheld, you have AVX2 and you want the standard build. The NoAVX2 packages are for older desktops and laptops.

The launcher detects which one your CPU needs and its updater installs the right package, so this mostly takes care of itself.

Known Issues Worth Knowing Before You Start

The project is upfront about these, and two of them will affect how you play.

Do not push the frame rate above 60. The game's own frame scheduler tops out at 60 FPS, so higher settings add no frames and make frame pacing worse. The project recommends 60.

There is one specific place to drop to 30. At 60 FPS some scripted sequences misbehave, and the named example is random deaths at the dam in "Lisa the Tree Hugger." Switch to 30 for that section and switch back after.

The "Instant character pop-in" patch is still experimental and the notes say it is no longer needed.

A few other things landed that are quality of life rather than fixes. There is a new "Always show subtitles" setting that works from the first cutscene of a new game. The launcher can start the game without showing its own window, using Play.sh --play on Linux or simpsons-launcher.exe --play on Windows, which is what you want for a custom Steam shortcut. And the Windows launcher was rebuilt to cut down on false antivirus detections, which is a recurring headache across this whole category.

What You Need to Play

The requirements are ordinary, which is the point of a recompiled port.

Your own copy of The Simpsons Game for Xbox 360, as an ISO. The USA release is the main target. The European release boots and plays but has had less testing.
About 5GB of free disk space for the installed game data.
A 64-bit x86 CPU. Standard build needs AVX2, NoAVX2 build if not.

The launcher handles installation from your ISO, manages settings and save backups, adds the game to Steam, and updates itself. On Linux and Steam Deck you extract the archive and run Play.sh. On Windows you run simpsons-launcher.exe.

As always here, the project ships no game content. You provide the files from a disc you own.

Check Steam Deck OLED Price on Amazon

Why There Is No Android Build

The project's status table lists Android as planned. There is no build today.

That is the usual story for this category and the reason is architectural, not a matter of effort or interest. The recompiled game code is compiled for x86-64. Android handhelds are ARM64. Those are different instruction sets and a build for one does not run on the other, so an ARM target is separate work that has to be written, tested and maintained.

Our recompiled games on Android guide covers which systems have actually crossed that line and which have not. Notably, one project just did: a decompilation of the original Xbox Halo now ships a native Android build, which we cover in Halo: Combat Evolved on Android handhelds. That is the exception, not the rule, and nothing equivalent exists for the Xbox 360 yet.

If you want this game on ARM hardware today, there is no route. Not Xenia, which has no Android build worth using for this, and not a translation layer, which gives back the performance the port exists to provide.

Where This Sits in the Xbox 360 Scene

The Simpsons Game joins a list that keeps growing. It runs on ReXGlue, the same runtime behind Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Fable 2 and Spider-Man: Edge of Time, and our ReXGlue explainer covers how that runtime works.

It fits the pattern that decides which games get ports. The Simpsons Game never had a PC release. It is stuck on seventh generation consoles, it is a licensed title so a remaster is unlikely, and it is exactly the kind of game that quietly disappears. That preservation pressure is what attracts this work, far more than popularity does.

The full running list is in our Xbox 360 recompiled games list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does The Simpsons Game Recompiled run well on Steam Deck?

The Deck is the project's own main test platform, and version 0.0.6.0 cut GPU time on a captured gameplay frame from 14.6ms to 8.1ms. That is the developer's figure from one frame, not a benchmark, and nobody has published independent Deck numbers. It is the platform the project optimises for first, which is unusual in this category.

What changed in version 0.0.6.0?

The native renderer became the default, render target resolves were collapsed into one pass, and the vblank rate was tied to your refresh rate instead of running at 1000 Hz. It also fixed an AMD GPU crash after the first cutscene, disappearing character models, audio crackle, washed out colours, and menus running at double speed. FXAA now works under Vulkan on Linux and Steam Deck.

Why does the game fail to start with error 0xc0000142?

Your CPU does not have AVX2, which the standard build requires. AVX2 arrived around 2013 with Intel Haswell and AMD Excavator. Download the package ending in -NoAVX2 instead. The launcher detects which one you need.

Can I run The Simpsons Game Recompiled on an Android handheld?

No. The project lists Android as planned and there is no build. The recompiled code targets x86-64 and Android handhelds are ARM64, which is a separate build target rather than a setting.

Should I set the frame rate above 60?

No. The game's frame scheduler tops out at 60 FPS, so higher settings add no frames and make pacing less even. The project recommends 60, with one exception: drop to 30 for the dam section in "Lisa the Tree Hugger," where 60 FPS can cause random deaths.

Do I need the original Xbox 360 game?

Yes. You supply an ISO of your own copy and the launcher installs from it. The USA release is the main target and the European release boots with less testing. The project ships no game content.

Is this an emulator?

No. The game's PowerPC code was translated to C++ and compiled for x86-64 ahead of time, so it runs directly on your CPU. The ReXGlue runtime, derived from Xenia, provides the Xbox 360's kernel, audio, input and graphics layers around it.

Is The Simpsons Game Recompiled finished?

No. It is at version 0.0.6.0 and the version number is honest about that. The game boots, plays its videos, saves and loads, and runs its levels, with a published known issues list.

Version details and performance figures reflect the project's own release notes for 0.0.6.0, published September 29, 2026, and will change as the project develops. The port requires game files from a copy you legally own.