An unofficial static recompilation of the Xbox 360 version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005):
a native port, not an emulator.
Play your own copy on Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Steam Frame (SteamOS), Linux and Mac,
and for iPhone and iPad, sideload the experimental IPA or build it yourself.

Download  ·  Quick start  ·  Website  ·  Report a bug

_{What you see in a race, on a 21:9 ultrawide: a wider view, not a stretched one, with the HUD and the mirror where they belong.}

Important

SpeedBreaker is an unofficial fan project by project(u). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Electronic Arts Inc., the Need for Speed brand or Valve Corporation.

No game files are included or distributed. To play, you need your own legally obtained backup (a disc image) of your own Xbox 360 disc of Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005). The in-app installer verifies it and installs it. Please don't ask for, or share, game files or disc images. See the full legal notice.

Contents: What it is · Highlights · Download · Quick start · How to update · Setup by platform · Controls · Settings · Tips · FAQ · What's next · For developers · Credits · License · Legal notice

What is SpeedBreaker?

SpeedBreaker is an unofficial static recompilation of the Xbox 360 version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005): a native port, not an emulator. It runs as an ordinary app on your device (see how it works).

It is built from the Xbox 360 version of the game, not the PC version: it runs the Xbox 360 release's own code, translated ahead of time, and it installs only from the Xbox 360 disc.

You bring the game: SpeedBreaker installs it from a backup of your own disc and checks every file. Then you race, with things the Xbox 360 couldn't do: up to 4K, ultrawide and tall screens, and a settings menu you can open mid-race.

Highlights

• Up to 4K. The 3D scene renders at 1x, 1.5x, 2x or 3x the console's 720p (1.5x is 1080p, 3x is 3840x2160). Auto picks a scale for your screen and device.
• Ultrawide done right. On 21:9 screens the view gets wider instead of stretched, and the HUD and the rear-view mirror stay in place. A 4:3 iPad, a 3:2 screen or the 16:10 screens of the Steam Deck and many Macs show more above and below instead, and fill the screen.
• Up to 60 fps, locked to your 60 Hz display. You can also pick a steady 30 at full game speed, or Auto, which drops to 30 only while a device is hot or can't hold 60.
• The sun glare is back. The low sun glows in open sky and fades behind buildings, as it did on the console.
• The original look: sunlit roads and shadows as on the console, correct colours on Apple devices, proper car paint and mirror reflections, and distant textures that don't shimmer. Anti-aliasing, sharpening and up to 16x anisotropic filtering are also available.
• A guided installer. It finds your disc image, checks that it is the right game, and verifies all 49 files as it copies them. An interrupted install never leaves a broken game.
• Your controller, or the keyboard. Controllers work as an Xbox 360 pad, with hot-plugging and rumble support.
• A settings menu that pauses the game. Open it with F1, Back + Start, or a three-finger tap. Every change applies at once.
• Suspend and resume on iPhone and iPad. Switch away and the game freezes; come back and it carries on where it stopped.
• One-button bug reports. Logs, settings and a screenshot go into one zip file. Nothing is uploaded, and you decide what to send.
• Check for Updates. One press in the settings asks GitHub whether a newer release is out, shows what changed and opens the download page (or shows it as a QR code for your phone). Nothing is checked online unless you press Check for Updates.

21:9 in a race: the wider view and the low sun's glare.	4:3, the shape of an iPad screen, with more picture above and below.
The intro cinematic at 3440x1440.	A pursuit cinematic at 3840x2160.
The settings menu over a paused race.	First run: the installer has found the player's disc image.

_{Screenshots: SpeedBreaker v0.1.2 on a Mac Studio (M4 Max). They are unedited frames from the game's own output, except that the licence plates in the top image and the first race image are blurred. The game content in them belongs to its owners.}

Download

Platform	How to get it	Tested on
Steam Deck and Steam Machine (SteamOS)	Download SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz	Steam Deck OLED (SteamOS 3.9.2). Steam Machine (SteamOS 3.8) on a 3440x1440 ultrawide. The Steam Deck LCD hasn't been tested yet.
Steam Frame (SteamOS, arm64)	Download SpeedBreaker-steamos-arm64.tar.xz	Steam Frame (SteamOS 0.3.0). It plays as a big flat screen in the headset; it is not a VR mode.
Linux (x86-64)	Download the x86-64 SteamOS build, SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz, or build from source	Tested here on SteamOS. Players reported v0.1.1 working on Fedora 44 (GeForce GTX 1080 Ti) and Ubuntu 24.04 (Intel Arc 140T). Other setups: reports welcome.
Mac (Apple silicon)	Download SpeedBreaker-macos.dmg	MacBook Pro (M1 Pro) on macOS 27 and Mac Studio (M4 Max) on macOS 26; macOS 15.6 (Sequoia) in a virtual machine. There is no Intel Mac build.
iPhone and iPad	Sideload the IPA (experimental), SpeedBreaker-<version>-ios.ipa on the release page, or build it yourself with Xcode	iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 18 Pro Max (iOS 27). iPad Pro 12.9-inch (M2, iPadOS 27) with a Backbone Pro. Not on the App Store. Those were Xcode-signed builds: the IPA itself hasn't been installed on a device yet.
Windows	Coming soon
Android	Coming soon

Each link downloads the newest release. Every file and its .sha256 checksum file are on the latest release page. To check a download, put its .sha256 file next to it and run shasum -a 256 -c SpeedBreaker-macos.dmg.sha256 on a Mac, or sha256sum -c SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz.sha256 on SteamOS (with your file's name): it should say OK. What changed in each release is in CHANGELOG.md.

System requirements

• Everyone: a disc image of your own USA (NTSC-U) Xbox 360 disc (see Quick start), about 7.2 GB of free space, and a display running at about 60 Hz.
• Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Linux PCs (the x86-64 SteamOS download): a 64-bit x86 CPU with AVX2 (x86-64-v3): Intel Haswell (2013) or newer, or AMD Excavator, Zen or newer. A Vulkan 1.2 graphics card.
• Steam Frame (the arm64 SteamOS download): SteamOS on the Steam Frame, kept up to date (v0.1.2 needs the September 2026 release or later). The arm64 download is for the Frame only; it hasn't been tested on any other arm64 Linux device.
• Mac: Apple silicon and macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later. The app won't open on older versions of macOS, and there is no Intel Mac build.
• iPhone and iPad: iOS or iPadOS 17 or later, on an A15-class chip or newer (iPhone 13 and later, M-series iPads), and a controller or keyboard. Devices with less memory than the tested ones are untested.

Quick start

1. Back up your own disc. SpeedBreaker supports one version of the game: the USA (NTSC-U, English) Xbox 360 disc. The installer takes a full .iso, a trimmed XISO, or a folder with the extracted disc files. No title update is needed. SpeedBreaker doesn't provide game files or disc images, or link to them.

2. Get SpeedBreaker. Download it for Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Steam Frame (SteamOS), Linux or Mac. On iPhone and iPad you sideload the experimental IPA or build it yourself. Then follow the setup for your platform.

3. Start it and install. On first run, SpeedBreaker looks for your disc image, checks that it is the right game and version, then copies and verifies every file. This takes a few minutes at most. Afterwards you can delete the disc image.

   

4. Race. Your saves and settings are kept apart from the game, so they stay when you update SpeedBreaker or reinstall the game. The settings open with F1, Back + Start on a controller, or a three-finger tap on iPhone and iPad.

How to update

• Mac: drag the new SpeedBreaker into Applications, choose Replace, then allow it once more with Open Anyway (see Mac setup).
• Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Linux: unpack the new download over the old folder (~/Games/SpeedBreaker); your Steam shortcut keeps working.
• Everywhere: your saves, settings and the installed game are kept, and no disc image is needed. Settings > Advanced > Check for Updates says when there's a new release, and so does GitHub's Watch > Custom > Releases.

Setup by platform

Steam Deck and Steam Machine

1. Download and unpack (in Desktop Mode). Download the SteamOS build, SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz. Make a Games folder in your home folder, move the file there, and choose Extract archive here. Or, in Konsole:

   mkdir -p ~/Games && tar -xf ~/Downloads/SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz -C ~/Games

   Keep it on internal storage or on an SD card formatted by SteamOS, and don't use :, ; or $ in the folder names. To update later, unpack the new download over the same folder (How to update).

2. Add it to Steam. Steam > Games > Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library > Browse. Set the file type to All Files and pick ~/Games/SpeedBreaker/speedbreaker.sh, the launcher (the program itself is in lib/). Leave Compatibility (Proton) off: this is a native Linux game.

3. Put your disc image in Downloads, or in the top folder of an SD card. SpeedBreaker also looks in your home folder, Desktop, Documents, Games, USB drives and EmuDeck's Emulation/roms/xbox360. Game Mode only sees SD cards and USB drives formatted by SteamOS; for a card formatted on a PC, copy the image into Downloads first.

4. Install (back in Game Mode). Start SpeedBreaker from your library. It highlights the image it found (Ready to install; with several, pick yours with Up and Down): press A, then A again on Install. Use the images it finds rather than Browse for image..., which may not open in Game Mode. The game goes to the internal storage; to put it on the SD card or in another folder, press Up and pick with Left and Right before Install. Choose a folder... opens a folder picker in Desktop Mode only. From Game Mode, switch to Desktop Mode and choose the folder there, or run ~/Games/SpeedBreaker/speedbreaker.sh --install <image> --dest <folder> from Konsole in Desktop Mode (or over SSH). Use a folder on the internal storage or on a card formatted by SteamOS, or Game Mode won't find the game.

5. Check the screen settings.

   • Steam Deck OLED: set the refresh rate to 60 Hz (Quick Access > Performance). At 90 Hz the game stutters. On any Deck, leave the Framerate Limit off.
   • Docked, or on a Steam Machine: in the shortcut's Properties > General > Game Resolution, choose Native.
   • The picture fills the Deck's 16:10 screen, with a slightly taller view and the HUD kept at 16:9. For the console's 16:9 picture with thin bars above and below, set Settings > Display

     Aspect Ratio to 16:9.

Controls: the Deck's controls work through Steam Input (default Gamepad layout). Settings: hold View (two squares, left of the screen) and press Menu (three lines, right of the screen).

Uninstall: delete ~/Games/SpeedBreaker/, ~/.local/share/speedbreaker/ (this deletes your saves too) and ~/.cache/speedbreaker/, and remove the shortcut from Steam.

Portable mode: to keep everything in the SpeedBreaker folder (saves, settings, logs, shader caches and the installed game), so the whole folder can be moved or copied to another Steam Deck, Steam Machine or Linux PC, make an empty file named portable.txt next to speedbreaker.sh. That starts fresh; to bring your current settings, saves and game along, run ~/Games/SpeedBreaker/speedbreaker.sh --portable on in Konsole instead, and --portable off to go back. Both copy and never delete. The folder's README says more.

Steam Frame

The Steam Frame has its own download. You set it up on the Frame's desktop: open the Desktop app in your Steam library.

1. Download and unpack. Download the Steam Frame build, SpeedBreaker-steamos-arm64.tar.xz, into Downloads (not SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz: that one is for the Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Linux PCs). The Frame's file manager can't unpack it, so open Konsole and run:

   mkdir -p ~/Games && tar -xf ~/Downloads/SpeedBreaker-steamos-arm64.tar.xz -C ~/Games

   This makes ~/Games/SpeedBreaker. Keep it on the Frame's internal storage, and don't use :, ; or $ in the folder names. To update later, unpack the new download over the same folder (How to update).

2. Add it to Steam. In the file manager, open ~/Games/SpeedBreaker, right-click speedbreaker.sh and choose Add to Steam. Or, in Konsole: steamos-add-to-steam ~/Games/SpeedBreaker/speedbreaker.sh. Leave Compatibility (Proton) off: this is a native Linux game.

3. Put your disc image in Downloads. SpeedBreaker also looks in your home folder, Desktop, Documents and Games.

4. Install. Start SpeedBreaker from your Steam library. It highlights the image it found (Ready to install): press A, then A again on Install. Or install from Konsole: ~/Games/SpeedBreaker/speedbreaker.sh --install ~/Downloads/your-image.iso (with your image's name; add --dest <folder> to put the game in a folder of your choice).

SpeedBreaker plays as a big flat screen in the headset. It is not a VR mode.

• Settings: press Menu + View together.
• Frame rate: set Display > Frame Rate to 30 fps for smooth play. In the headset, the VR compositor shares the graphics chip. The game keeps its full speed at 30.
• Uninstall: as on the Steam Deck.

Linux

There's no separate desktop-Linux package yet. Try the x86-64 SteamOS download, SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz, which brings its own runtime libraries and is tested here on SteamOS (players reported v0.1.1 working on Fedora 44 and Ubuntu 24.04), or build from source. Unpack it, put your .iso in your home folder, Downloads, Desktop, Documents or Games (or on a USB drive), and run speedbreaker.sh: always start the game with it, since it picks the libraries the program in lib/ needs (started on its own, the program fails on most systems with a message such as GLIBC_2.44 not found). The game starts in a window; Display > Fullscreen switches to full screen. The installer puts the game in ~/.local/share/speedbreaker/game, or on a drive, or in any folder you pick with Choose a folder... (it needs a file chooser portal or zenity; without one, use --dest, below).

On a laptop with two GPUs, SpeedBreaker uses the dedicated graphics card; with NVIDIA's driver the launcher also turns on PRIME render offload. That hasn't been confirmed on a real two-GPU laptop yet: the log's [video] Vulkan devices: line says which GPU it chose and why, and a report with that line from yours would help. To pick another, start it with NFSMW_GPU=<its number or part of its name>, e.g. NFSMW_GPU=intel %command% in Steam's launch options.

Mac

1. Download and install. Download SpeedBreaker-macos.dmg, open it, and drag SpeedBreaker to your Applications folder.
2. Open it. The app isn't notarized by Apple, so the first time you open it, macOS refuses. Close that message (don't move the app to the Trash), then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about SpeedBreaker, click Open Anyway and confirm. You only need to do this the first time you open a new download. On current macOS, Control-click > Open no longer skips this step.
3. Put your disc image in a Games folder in your home folder (~/Games). That's the only place SpeedBreaker looks by itself, so macOS doesn't have to ask for access to your other folders. For an image anywhere else, use Browse for image....
4. Install. The game goes to ~/Library/Application Support/SpeedBreaker/game, or to an external drive or any other folder if you choose one (Choose a folder..., with the arrows on the To row). An empty folder is used as it is; a folder that already holds files gets a new SpeedBreaker Game folder inside it. For a folder in Desktop, Documents or Downloads, or on an external drive, macOS asks once whether SpeedBreaker may use it: choose Allow. iCloud Drive can't hold the game (nor Desktop and Documents, if your Mac keeps them in iCloud): macOS would upload it and can remove its files from the Mac to save space.

Settings: F1 or Cmd+,, or Back + Start on a controller. The game starts in a window; Display > Fullscreen switches to full screen. SpeedBreaker needs macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later.

iPhone and iPad

SpeedBreaker isn't on the App Store. There are two ways to get it onto your iPhone or iPad:

• Sideload the IPA (experimental). Each release has an IPA, SpeedBreaker-<version>-ios.ipa, on the release page. A sideloading tool such as AltStore signs it with your own Apple Account and installs it. The game asks iOS for more memory than most apps, and a free Apple Account can't give all of it, so with a free account it may not start, or iOS may close it in busy scenes. When iOS refuses the memory, the game says so on screen. The IPA itself hasn't been installed on a device yet (the tested iPhones and iPad ran the same app built and signed with Xcode): read Sideloading the IPA first, and please report how it goes, with your device and tool. Coming from a build you made yourself, the IPA installs as a separate app: install the game again from your disc image, and your saves stay with the old app.
• Build it yourself with Xcode on a Mac, signed with your own Apple developer account: scripts/ios/README.md walks you through it.

Once SpeedBreaker is on your device:

1. Get your disc image onto it. Copy the .iso into Files > On My iPhone (or iPad) > SpeedBreaker, where it is found by itself. Or tap Browse and pick it from anywhere the Files app reaches, such as iCloud Drive or a USB drive. A browsed image is read where it is, not copied first.
2. Install. The game goes into the app's own storage, and is left out of iCloud and computer backups (your saves are still backed up). Afterwards you can delete the disc image.
3. Connect a controller or a keyboard. The game itself doesn't use touch. Pair a Bluetooth controller, such as an Xbox or PlayStation one, or use a Backbone. So far, a Backbone Pro on the iPad is the one tested.

Settings: tap with three fingers, or press Back + Start on the controller (View + Menu on a Backbone). SpeedBreaker runs in landscape, full screen. If you switch away, the game freezes, and it resumes exactly where it stopped. If 60 fps isn't steady on your iPhone, set Display > Frame Rate to 30 fps or Auto.

Controls

SpeedBreaker hands the game an Xbox 360 controller, so a race plays with the game's own Xbox 360 controls. Buttons are matched by position: on a PlayStation controller, Cross is A, Circle is B, Square is X and Triangle is Y.

Xbox 360 control	Controller	Keyboard
Left stick	Left stick	A / D steer (the arrow keys also move it)
Right trigger	Right trigger	W
Left trigger	Left trigger	S
A / B / X / Y	Bottom / right / left / top face button	Space / Backspace / Left Shift / Left Ctrl
LB / RB	Shoulder buttons	Q / E
D-pad	D-pad	Arrow keys
Start	Start / Menu / Options	Enter
Back	Back / View / Create	Esc
Right stick, stick clicks	Same on the controller	C (right stick click)

• One player, one controller: the first one connected is used, and you can plug one in at any time. The keyboard always works as well.
• Because Back + Start opens the settings, the game sees Back a moment late: a tap arrives when you let go, a hold after a quarter of a second.
• There is no button remapping and no mouse control in game.

To open the settings:

Device	Open or close the settings
Keyboard	F1 (on a Mac also Cmd+,)
Xbox-style controller	Back + Start (View + Menu) together
Steam Deck	Hold View, press Menu
Steam Frame	Menu + View together
iPhone and iPad touchscreen	Three-finger tap

Settings

The game pauses while the settings are open. The D-pad (or arrow keys) chooses and changes a row, LB and RB (or Q and E) turn pages, and B (or Esc) closes the menu. On a touchscreen, tap and drag. The mouse works too. Every change applies at once and is saved when you close the menu. Each page has a Reset page button.

All settings and their defaults

Display

Option	Choices	Default
Fullscreen	On / Off	Off: a 1280x720 window you can resize. Always on in SteamOS Game Mode. Not shown on iPhone and iPad, which are always full screen.
V-Sync	On / Off	On. Off can tear, but shows frames sooner.
Frame Rate	Auto / 60 fps / 30 fps	60 fps on most devices. 30 fps keeps the game at full speed. Auto runs at 60, or at a steady 30 while the device is hot or can't hold 60.
Screen Resolution	Full / 75%	Full. iPhone and iPad only: 75% is slightly softer and saves graphics work.
Aspect Ratio	Fill Screen / 16:9	Fill Screen: wider screens get a wider view; 4:3, 3:2 and 16:10 screens (the Steam Deck, many Macs) a taller one. 16:9 always shows the classic picture with bars.

Graphics

Option	Choices	Default
Anti-Aliasing	On / Off	On
Upscaling	Bicubic / Bilinear	Bicubic
Sharpening	0.00 to 1.00	0.30 (0 turns it off)
Anisotropic Filtering	Auto / Off / 2x / 4x / 8x / 16x / Original	Auto: 16x on dedicated graphics cards and M-series iPads, 4x elsewhere. Original uses each texture's own setting, as on the 360.
Mipmaps	On / Off	On, so distant textures don't shimmer
Internal Resolution	Auto / 1x (720p) / 1.5x (1080p) / 2x (1440p) / 3x (2160p)	Auto: enough to cover your screen, within what the device can afford (whole scales only: 1x, 2x, 3x, or 3x2 on an ultrawide). On iPhone and iPad, Auto always picks 1x.

Audio: Master Volume (100%), Mute (Off), and Mute in Background (Off), which silences the game while its window isn't in front.

Input: Stick Deadzone (8%; raise it if the car steers by itself), Trigger Deadzone (2%), and Vibration (On).

Advanced: Asynchronous Shaders (On: an object is skipped for a frame or two while its shader compiles, instead of the game stuttering), Performance Overlay (Off: fps, frame times, and CPU and GPU time per frame), Save Bug Report, and Check for Updates (the only thing that goes online, and only when you press it). The page also shows which build you're running.

Tips for smooth play

• Run your display at 60 Hz. On a Steam Deck OLED, set the refresh rate to 60 Hz and leave Steam's Framerate Limit off.
• Start with Auto. If busy scenes drop below 60, set Internal Resolution one step lower, or let Frame Rate Auto fall back to a steady 30.
• 30 fps is a real option. It's a steady 30 at full game speed, and the smooth choice in the Steam Frame headset.
• Between 1x and 2x, try 1.5x (1080p): much sharper than 1x, with a little over half the pixels of 2x.
• On iPhone and iPad, keep Internal Resolution at Auto (1x). On the tested iPad Pro (M2), 2x is too slow for races. The iPhone 18 Pro Max holds 60 fps at 1.5x, but on a cable it reached iOS's "serious" heat level in about nine minutes (1x did in about six), and Frame Rate Auto then drops to 30. Screen Resolution 75% saves more.
• Docked Deck or Steam Machine: set the shortcut's Game Resolution to Native.
• See what's happening: Settings > Advanced > Performance Overlay.

FAQ and troubleshooting

Does SpeedBreaker include the game? No. No game files are included or distributed. You install the game from your own backup of your own disc, and SpeedBreaker checks it file by file.

Which version of the game do I need? The Xbox 360 USA release (NTSC-U, English). The installer checks your image and tells you if it's a different version. PAL and Japanese discs and re-releases haven't been tested, so expect the installer to refuse them. Games on Demand packages aren't supported, and no title update is used.

Does it work with the PC version of the game? No. SpeedBreaker is built from the Xbox 360 version and installs only from the Xbox 360 USA disc. PC copies of Most Wanted, including the Black Edition, aren't supported.

Is this an emulator? No. It's a static recompilation: the game's Xbox 360 code was translated ahead of time into a native app, so that code runs directly instead of being emulated. SpeedBreaker supplies what the game expects from the Xbox 360: its system software, graphics, audio and controllers.

Can it run above 60 fps? No. 60 fps is the game's own cap.

Can I bring my Xbox 360 saves? No. Xbox 360 saves can't be imported, so your career starts fresh.

The installer refused my image. Why? It always says what to do. The usual causes:

• Another game, or an unsupported version: it isn't the USA disc.
• Truncated image: most often a copy cut off at 4 GB by a FAT32 drive. Copy it again from your own backup, onto a drive that can hold files over 4 GB.
• Not a disc image, a Games on Demand package, or a video-only DVD image.
• Missing or corrupt files: make a new backup from your disc.

My Mac says SpeedBreaker can't be opened. Use Open Anyway in System Settings > Privacy & Security (see Mac setup), again after each update. SpeedBreaker needs macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later on Apple silicon.

The game stutters on my Steam Deck OLED. Set the screen to 60 Hz (see Steam Deck setup).

My laptop runs the game on the slow built-in graphics. Since v0.1.2 SpeedBreaker is meant to pick the dedicated GPU by itself (not yet confirmed on a real two-GPU laptop). If it doesn't, see the [video] Vulkan devices: line in last-run.log, set NFSMW_GPU (see Linux), and please open an issue with that line.

The picture is small or stretched on my TV or monitor in Game Mode. Set the shortcut's Properties > General > Game Resolution to Native.

Can I have the bars back on my Deck? Yes. The game is 16:9 and the Deck's screen 16:10, and since v0.1.1 the picture fills it with a slightly taller view. Set Settings > Display > Aspect Ratio to 16:9 for the console's picture with thin bars above and below.

My SD card or USB drive doesn't show up in Game Mode. Game Mode only sees drives formatted by SteamOS. Copy the image into Downloads from Desktop Mode.

Can I install the game somewhere other than the default folder? Yes. On the installer's last page, choose where it goes on the To row: internal storage, a removable drive, or Choose a folder... for any folder (SteamOS: in Desktop Mode). An empty folder is used as it is; a folder that already holds files gets a new SpeedBreaker Game folder inside it, and the top of a drive gets the drive's own speedbreaker/game (SpeedBreaker/game on a Mac). Or install from a terminal with --dest (see Command-line installer). SpeedBreaker remembers the place; if it's on a drive that isn't connected when the game starts, the installer says so: connect it and start the game again.

The car steers by itself. Raise Settings > Input > Stick Deadzone.

The game ignores my touches on iPhone or iPad. The game needs a controller or a keyboard. Touch only works in SpeedBreaker's own screens; a three-finger tap opens the settings.

Where are my saves, settings and logs?

	Linux and SteamOS	Mac	iPhone and iPad
Saves, settings, logs	~/.local/share/speedbreaker/	~/Library/Application Support/SpeedBreaker/	Inside the app (not shown in the Files app)
Installed game	game/ in that folder, speedbreaker/game on a drive, or the folder you chose	game/ in that folder, SpeedBreaker/game on a drive, or the folder you chose	Inside the app
Shader caches (safe to delete)	~/.cache/speedbreaker/	~/Library/Caches/SpeedBreaker/	Inside the app

Deleting that folder, or deleting the iPhone or iPad app, deletes your saves. A game you installed in a folder of your own stays there until you delete that folder. In portable mode (SteamOS and Linux) all of it is in the SpeedBreaker folder instead: data/, data/game and cache/.

Reporting a bug

1. Open the settings, go to Advanced, and choose Save Bug Report.
2. A notice says where the zip file went: your Desktop (on SteamOS, pick it up in Desktop Mode, or in the Desktop app on a Steam Frame), the SpeedBreaker folder in the Files app on iPhone and iPad, or the data folder above when there is no Desktop. Its name says which version you were running, for example speedbreaker-bug-report-v0.1.3-<date>_<time>.zip.
3. Open an issue, attach the zip, and say what you were doing, what you expected, what happened, and roughly how long into the session it happened.

The zip holds recent logs, any crash and hang reports, your settings, a summary of your system and a screenshot of the last game frame. Paths in your home folder show as ~. If the game crashed, start it again and save a report: the crash report is included. Never attach game files or disc images to an issue. CONTRIBUTING.md says how bug reports and pull requests are handled.

What's next

• Windows: coming soon.
• Android: coming soon.

One more thing… SpeedBreaker: Carbon, coming soon. It's planned, not available yet.

There are no dates and no promises: it's ready when it's ready.

For developers

How it works

SpeedBreaker is a static recompilation. XenonRecomp translates the game's PowerPC code into C++ ahead of time, and that C++ is compiled into a native program for x86-64 or arm64. A runtime written for this project stands in for the Xbox 360: its kernel and system software, its GPU, its XMA audio and its controllers.

• Graphics: a Vulkan renderer that translates the Xenos GPU's commands and shaders. On Mac, iPhone and iPad it runs on Metal through MoltenVK.
• Platform layer: SDL3 for windows, input and audio. The installer, the settings menu and the overlay are drawn with Dear ImGui.
• Audio: XMA decoding done the way the hardware does it, frame by frame, with a patched, decoder-only FFmpeg.
• Resolution: the 3D scene renders at 1x, 1.5x, 2x or 3x; the bloom and haze stay at the original resolution, so the game keeps its colour grade.
• Frame pacing: the game's clock locks to the display's measured refresh (58.5 to 61.5 Hz), one game step per refresh. 30 fps runs two game steps per frame.
• Sun glare: the game measures the sun with occlusion queries; SpeedBreaker counts them on the GPU.

The game's data (cars, city, audio, movies) comes from the player's disc. SpeedBreaker contains no game data or assets.

Command-line installer

The installer also runs from a terminal. On SteamOS and Linux, run it through speedbreaker.sh (~/Games/SpeedBreaker/speedbreaker.sh --install ...); on a Mac, the program is SpeedBreaker.app/Contents/MacOS/SpeedBreaker.

SpeedBreaker --install <image or folder> [--dest <dir>]   # install (into exactly <dir>, if given)
SpeedBreaker --verify <image or folder>                   # check every file without copying
SpeedBreaker --find-images                                # list the disc images it can find
SpeedBreaker --where                                      # show where the game is installed
speedbreaker.sh --portable on|off                         # SteamOS and Linux: portable mode (copies, never deletes)

Without --dest the game goes to the default folder, as from the installer screen. --dest installs into exactly that folder, which must be new, empty or hold a previous install (not a temporary folder kept in memory, such as /tmp on SteamOS); the game remembers it.

Building from source

The repository contains no game code: the build recompiles your own default.xex, from the USA disc. The generated code (ppc/), the game files (game/) and the toolchain (tools/) are ignored by git. Never commit or share them.

The supported executable is 3,936,256 bytes, with SHA-256 aebdf3c14d1e4e4ed2c130d94bc1a0e97bd6d5bf39bdfdef33c3909c9cc4ba4c.

1. Dependencies

• Mac: Xcode's command-line tools, and from Homebrew: brew install llvm lld cmake ninja molten-vk. The libraries the app bundles (SDL3, the Vulkan loader, glslang, SPIRV-Tools and FFmpeg's XMA decoder) are built from their own source releases by scripts/macos/build_deps.sh, for macOS 15 like the release (step 3). Homebrew's bottles of them (brew install sdl3 vulkan-loader vulkan-headers glslang spirv-tools) also work, for an app that runs only on the macOS you build on (step 3).

• SteamOS: build inside an Arch Linux distrobox (podman and distrobox ship with SteamOS). The development launcher, scripts/steamos/speedbreaker.sh, expects the container to be called nfsmw-build:

  distrobox create --yes --name nfsmw-build --image docker.io/library/archlinux:latest \
    --additional-packages "clang lld cmake ninja git python sdl3 vulkan-headers \
      vulkan-icd-loader vulkan-tools glslang spirv-tools mesa vulkan-radeon pkgconf \
      make diffutils patch curl nasm libpulse pipewire pipewire-pulse alsa-lib libdecor"
  distrobox enter nfsmw-build

• Other Linux distributions: your distribution's equivalents of the package list above (Clang 18 or newer). Untested so far. The GPU needs Vulkan 1.2 and BC (DXT) texture support.

• gh, logged in, is optional: it fetches Xenia's instruction tests.

2. Toolchain, your game files, recompilation

From the repository root:

scripts/setup_tools.sh    # XenonRecomp + SpeedBreaker's patches, extract-xiso, FFmpeg's XMA decoder

# Extract your own disc image into game/files and check the executable.
mkdir -p game/files
tools/extract-xiso/build/extract-xiso -d game/files -x /path/to/your-backup.iso
shasum -a 256 game/files/default.xex
# must print aebdf3c14d1e4e4ed2c130d94bc1a0e97bd6d5bf39bdfdef33c3909c9cc4ba4c

# Translate the game's code into C++ (writes ppc/).
mkdir -p ppc
tools/XenonRecomp/build/XenonRecomp/XenonRecomp config/nfsmw.toml tools/XenonRecomp/XenonUtils/ppc_context.h

3. Build

# Linux and SteamOS (on SteamOS, inside the container)
cmake -S . -B build/main -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++

# Mac (Homebrew's LLVM): the libraries for macOS 15, as the release (a few minutes; it downloads
# their source archives and checks each one's SHA-256), then the game against them
scripts/macos/build_deps.sh build/deps
cmake -S . -B build/main -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin/clang \
  -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin/clang++ \
  -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$PWD/build/deps" -DFFMPEG_XMA="$PWD/build/deps/ffmpeg-xma"
# (or, with Homebrew's libraries instead of build_deps.sh, an app for your own macOS only: the
#  same cmake line with -DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=<your macOS, e.g. 26.0> instead of the last
#  two options; make_app.py names the version if it's wrong)

ninja -C build/main SpeedBreaker

Run build/main/runtime/SpeedBreaker from the repository root. With the whole disc extracted in game/files, it plays from there. Otherwise the first-run installer asks for your disc image.

4. Package it (optional)

• Mac app: python3 scripts/macos/make_app.py makes build/app/SpeedBreaker.app, with its libraries, MoltenVK and the license notices inside. It refuses a library built for a newer macOS than the build (and says how to fix it); python3 scripts/macos/check_app.py build/app/SpeedBreaker.app runs the release's checks. Add --dmg for build/app/SpeedBreaker-macos.dmg and its .sha256, laid out like the download on Releases.

• SteamOS bundle (x86-64): inside the container, scripts/steamos/make_bundle.sh makes build/bundle/SpeedBreaker-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz and its .sha256 (plus a copy named by the version, SpeedBreaker-<version>-steamos-x86_64.tar.xz): speedbreaker.sh at the top, the program and its libraries in lib/. Install it as described in Steam Deck setup.

• Steam Frame bundle (arm64): the Steam Frame download on Releases is built on a Frame, and so is your own: the Frame's SteamOS ships clang, CMake, Ninja, glslang and the Vulkan headers, so no container is needed. Build an SDL3 release into ~/deps/sdl3 (with -DSDL_X11_XSCRNSAVER=OFF), and do step 2 on the Frame (another machine's FFmpeg build won't link there). Then:

  cmake -S . -B build/main -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang \
    -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ -DSDL3_DIR=$HOME/deps/sdl3/lib/cmake/SDL3 \
    -DCMAKE_SKIP_BUILD_RPATH=ON
  ninja -C build/main
  scripts/steamos/make_bundle.sh build/main build/bundle

  This makes build/bundle/SpeedBreaker-steamos-arm64.tar.xz and its .sha256 (plus a copy named by the version). -DCMAKE_SKIP_BUILD_RPATH=ON keeps your ~/deps folder out of the program: the bundle brings SDL3 in its own lib/. Install it as described in Steam Frame setup.

• iPhone and iPad: scripts/ios/build_deps.sh builds the iOS libraries, and scripts/ios/build.sh builds, signs and installs the app. The steps, and signing with your own Apple developer account, are in scripts/ios/README.md.

Tests

The unit tests build with -DSB_TESTS=ON added to the cmake line, and ctest --test-dir build/main runs them. tests/run_instr_tests.sh checks the instructions SpeedBreaker's patches add to XenonRecomp. It needs LLVM's llvm-mc and llvm-objdump and ld.lld: on a Mac, Homebrew's llvm and lld; elsewhere, your distribution's (on Arch, the llvm and lld packages; the container above has only lld). LLVM=<bin dir> and LLD=<ld.lld> pick others. So far it has been run on a Mac only. None of the tests needs game files; write_watch_test needs ppc/.

Credits

SpeedBreaker is made by project(u). It stands on the shoulders of a lot of open-source work. Thank you to the hedge-dev team, for XenonRecomp and for the approach Unleashed Recompiled pioneered that this project follows, and to the Xenia project, for a decade of Xbox 360 research.

Project	What SpeedBreaker uses it for	License
XenonRecomp (hedge-dev and contributors)	The PowerPC-to-C++ recompiler. Its XenonUtils (XEX loading) is built into the runtime.	MIT
Unleashed Recompiled (hedge-dev and contributors)	The reference runtime. Parts of the kernel, XAM, memory and threading code are adapted from it.	GPL-3.0-or-later
Xenia (Ben Vanik and Xenia contributors)	GPU register, microcode and Xenos headers are ported from it, and its kernel, XMA and GPU behaviour is the reference throughout.	BSD-3-Clause
freedreno (Rob Clark)	Code inside the ported microcode header	MIT
FFmpeg 7.1.1	XMA decoding: a decoder-only static build with a SpeedBreaker patch	LGPL-2.1-or-later
SDL3	Windows, input, audio, app lifecycle	zlib
Dear ImGui (Omar Cornut)	The installer and settings UI	MIT
Roboto (Google)	The UI font	Apache-2.0
o1heap (Pavel Kirienko)	The guest heap allocator	MIT
glslang and SPIRV-Tools (Khronos)	Shader compilation at runtime	BSD-3-Clause and others; Apache-2.0
MoltenVK and the Vulkan Loader (Khronos)	Vulkan on Mac, iPhone and iPad	Apache-2.0
toml++ (Mark Gillard)	settings.toml	MIT
SIMDe (Evan Nemerson and contributors)	SIMD in the recompiled code	MIT
libmspack (Stuart Caie)	LZX decompression	LGPL-2.1
tiny-AES-c	XEX decryption	Unlicense
TinySHA1 (Saurav Mohapatra)	SHA-1, via XenonUtils	ISC-style
extract-xiso	Developer tool for unpacking disc images (not shipped)	Its own license

The x86-64 SteamOS download also carries glibc and libstdc++ (LGPL-2.1+; GPL-3.0 with the GCC Runtime Library Exception); the Steam Frame download uses the system's. Full license texts are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md and LICENSES/, and every download carries them too: in licenses/ in the SteamOS downloads, in SpeedBreaker.app/Contents/Resources/licenses in the Mac app, with each bundled library's own license, and in SpeedBreaker.app/licenses in the iPhone and iPad IPA. The source code of the LGPL and GPL parts in the downloads (FFmpeg, libmspack, and the x86-64 download's glibc and GCC runtime) is published next to the downloads of each release, as SpeedBreaker-<version>-third-party-source.tar.xz.

License

SpeedBreaker is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version (GPL-3.0-or-later). See COPYING and NOTICE. Third-party components keep their own licenses, listed above.

Copyright (C) 2026 project(u) and SpeedBreaker contributors.

Legal notice

SpeedBreaker is an unofficial, fan-made project by project(u). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Electronic Arts Inc., the Need for Speed brand or Valve Corporation.

"Need for Speed", "Most Wanted" and "Carbon" are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Steam, Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, SteamOS and their logos and icons are trademarks of Valve Corporation. All other trademarks, including Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation, Apple, Mac, macOS, iPhone, iPad, iCloud, Xcode, App Store, Backbone, Vulkan, Linux, Windows, Android, NVIDIA, GeForce, AMD and Intel, belong to their respective owners. They are used here only to describe what SpeedBreaker works with. The game is named only to say which game SpeedBreaker runs; no logos, box art or key art of the game are used. The game content visible in screenshots belongs to its owners.

No game files are included or distributed. SpeedBreaker contains no game data or assets: no textures, models, audio, movies or disc files. To play, you need your own legally obtained backup (a disc image) of your own Xbox 360 disc of Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005). The in-app installer verifies it and installs it.

SpeedBreaker is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, as set out in the GNU General Public License.