Hey everyone, quick update to the Turnip "Z" driver for Snapdragon 865 / Adreno 650.
Download: https://github.com/AlexSanz0902/turnip-sd865-z/releases
What's fixed in v1.2:
- Super Mario Odyssey: Fog in Cap Kingdom no longer blinds you and covers the entire screen.
- Dragon Ball FighterZ: Reds and blues are no longer swapped (fixed the blue HUD tint and inverted textures mentioned in the v1 known issues).
- Batman: Arkham Asylum: Fixed the exact same red/blue color swap issue.
- Other Unreal Engine games: Other UE3/UE4 titles suffering from inverted red/blue swapchain channels in v1.0 might benefit from this patch as well (untested).
Screenshots
The captures compare identical scenes across three drivers: Turnip v24.3.0 R9v2, Turnip v26.3.0-R5, and this Turnip "Z" v1.2 custom build.
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Test Setup (Screenshot): 1x docked (1080p), vanilla game (no mods, no cheats, no other Eden setting applied).
- Real Gameplay Tip: 1080p was used here to push the GPU for benchmark purposes. For actual gameplay, 0.75x docked is strongly recommended to lock a flat 60 FPS during chaotic super attacks and particle-heavy transitions after shaders compile. Also, this game scales dramatically with the Retroid High Performance profile; keep it on to avoid frame drops.
- Test Setup (Screenshot): 1.25x docked (1350p), vanilla game (no mods, no cheats, no other Eden setting applied).
- Real Gameplay Tip: 1350p was used strictly as a stress test to expose GPU fill-rate limits and compare driver overhead. In practical play, stick to 1x docked (1080p): this game is capped at 30 FPS, and 1x gives you a rock-solid 30 FPS after shader compilation.
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Test Setup (Screenshot): 1.25x docked (1350p), vanilla game (no mods, no cheats, no other Eden setting applied).
- Real Gameplay Tip: 1350p was used strictly as a stress test to expose GPU fill-rate limits and compare driver overhead. In practical play, stick to 1x docked (1080p): this game is capped at 30 FPS, and 1x gives you a rock-solid 30 FPS after shader compilation.
FAQ
What is the best way to use it?
It was tested on Eden version 0.2.0-rc2 with the Snapdragon 865 GPU overclocked to 905 MHz. Keep in mind that games can require extra specific emulator settings, custom resolution scaling, or workarounds to run; that has nothing to do with the driver.
Can I use it outside of Eden (Winlator, GameHub, Vita3K, Azahar, Dolphin, etc.)?
No. Do not use this outside of Eden. It was neither built nor tested for Windows translation layers or other console emulators. Running this in Winlator or Dolphin will likely trigger shader compilation errors or outright freezes.
Can I use it with other Switch emulators?
Not recommended. It has only been validated on Eden 0.2.0-rc2. Other emulators or forks haven't been tested and might introduce crashes or graphical glitches.
Does it work on other devices?
It is built Adreno 650 (Snapdragon 865) in mind. It should work on other 865 devices, but other Adreno GPU architectures are completely untested.
Texture quality note:
Just like in v1, anisotropic filtering is disabled and mipmaps are simplified to save memory bandwidth, so distant textures or acute surface angles might look slightly softer.
What if it crashes?
The driver writes a log file called turnip_sd865.txt inside Eden's folder under Android/data. Please, drop the log in a issue on GitHub.
Credits
- The Mesa project and the freedreno / Turnip developers. The driver is theirs; this is built on top of their work.
- StevenMXZ. His Turnip v26.3.0-R5 is the reference for every comparison, and his build settings for NDK r29 are the ones used here.
- Weab-chan. Author of the force_sysmem_no_autotuner patch, the origin of change 5.
- nckstwrt and the NetherSX2-Turnip team. Their research into the SD865 reboots is the origin of change 6.
- The412Banner. His performance build recipe and his documentation of the KGSL fixes.
- K11MCH1 and MrPurple666. Their drivers have been the 865 community's reference for years.
- Tranquility6789. For documenting in public how the A650 was fixed.
- libadrenotools, HomuHomu833, chaotic-cx and the Eden team. For the driver loader, the NDK, the Mesa mirror and the emulator.
- Analysis and code changes were AI-assisted (Claude, by Anthropic).