Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Improved

A mod for Skylanders Spyro's Adventure on PC that adds better support for the game on Linux and Windows

Important

This mod modifies game memory and may lead to instability or crashes. Use at your own risk!

Disclaimer: For some features I relied heavily on AI, since I do not yet have the necessary knowledge to implement those myself.

Features

• Linux support for the Portal of Power
• WinUSB support for the Portal of Power on Windows (the game can now use the same drivers as emulators like Cemu, RPCS3, ...)
• Windowed & borderless windowed mode on Windows
• Custom resolution support
• VSync toggle
• FPS cap
• Anisotropic filtering (up to 16x)

Configuration

• after launching the game with the mod installed for the first time, a ssa_impr_mod.ini file will be generated in the game directory
• open this file with a text editor to configure the mod settings

Available settings

• Windowed: set to 1 to launch the game in windowed mode, or 0 for fullscreen (default: 1)
• Borderless: set to 1 to launch the game in borderless windowed mode, or 0 for normal windowed mode (Windowed needs to be set to 1) (default: 1)
• ResolutionW: set the horizontal resolution of the game, set to 0 to use the desktop resolution (default: 0)
• ResolutionH: set the vertical resolution of the game, set to 0 to use the desktop resolution (default: 0)
• VSync: set to 1 to enable VSync, or 0 to disable it (default: 1)
• FpsCap: set the maximum FPS the game can run at, set to 0 for unlimited FPS (default: 0)
• Anisotropy: set the level of anisotropic filtering (default: 8 | valid values: 1 (off), 2, 4, 8, 16)
• TextureSharpness: set the sharpness of textures (default: 15 | valid values: 0 (off) to 20 (max))

Installation

SecuROMLoader

While technically not required for this mod, it is recommended to download the latest version of SecuROMLoader.

1. Download the latest release from the Releases
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file
3. Move only the version.dll file from the extracted folder to your Skylanders Spyro's Adventure installation directory (where Skylanders.exe is located)
   • e.g. C:/Program Files (x86)/Activision/Skylanders Spyro's Adventure(TM)

Windows

1. Download the latest release from the Releases
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file
3. You will find a folder named SSA Improved containing 2 folders (Windows & Linux), this README.md and a license file
4. Open the Windows folder. You will find the following files:
   • xinput1_3.dll
   • version.json
5. Move all the files mentioned above to your Skylanders Spyro's Adventure installation directory (where Skylanders.exe is located)
   • e.g. C:/Program Files (x86)/Activision/Skylanders Spyro's Adventure(TM)
6. Done🎉 Run the game as administrator at least once to allow the mod to create necessary files and folders

Linux / Steam Deck

Note: you need to have Python installed on your system (most Linux distributions come with Python pre-installed)

1. Download the latest release from the Releases
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file
3. You will find a folder named SSA Improved containing 2 folders (Windows & Linux), this README.md and a license file
4. Open the Linux folder. You will find the following files:
   • xinput1_3.dll
   • portal_launch.sh
   • portal_proxy.py
   • version.json
5. Move all the files mentioned above to your Skylanders Spyro's Adventure installation directory (where Skylanders.exe is located)
6. Inside your Skylanders Spyro's Adventure installation directory make portal_launch.sh executable
   • Steam Deck: right-click the file in the file manager → Properties → Permissions tab → check Allow executing file as program → click OK
7. add Skylanders Spyro's Adventure to Steam
   • Steam Deck: right-click on Skylanders.exe in the file manager → Add to Steam
8. use Proton 10.0-4 as the compatibility tool for the game (or any other, the mentioned version is confirmed working)
9. add ./portal_launch.sh %command% to your launch options for Skylanders Spyro's Adventure in Steam
10. Done🎉 You can now launch the game from Steam

Credits

• Developed by jacee

Building

Cloning the Repository

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/j4ceee/ssa-improved.git
cd ssa-improved

Building with CLion

1. Open the project folder in CLion
2. CLion will automatically detect the CMake configuration and set up the project
3. Configure your CMake profile (if needed):
   • Build type: Release (or Debug for development)
   • Toolchain: Visual Studio
   • Generator: Visual Studio 17 2022
4. In the toolbar, select your CMake profile (e.g., Release-Visual Studio)
5. Select the build target xinput1_3
6. Click the Build button
7. The compiled DLL will be located in cmake-build-<config>/out/<config>/xinput1_3.dll and copied to the Skylanders Spyro's Adventure directory as specified in the CMakeLists.txt

Build Types:

• Debug: Includes extra logging and debugging symbols (larger file size, slower)
• Release: Optimized build for normal use (smaller, faster)

Note: The CMakeLists.txt includes a post-build command that copies the DLL to:

C:/Program Files (x86)/Activision/Skylanders Spyro's Adventure(TM)/

If your game is installed elsewhere, modify line 134 in CMakeLists.txt accordingly.

Building with Command Line (CMake)

1. Create a build directory

   mkdir build
   

2. Configure for Release build

   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -B .\build\ -G "Visual Studio 17 2022"
   

   ...or for Debug build

   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -B .\build\ -G "Visual Studio 17 2022"
   

3. Build

   cmake --build build --config Release
   

The compiled DLL will be in build/out/Release/ or build/out/Debug/