How to install Def Jam Recomp

Def Jam Recompiled, the PC app, sets up, plays, updates and repairs the game. It holds no game files: it checks your own copy and builds the game on your computer. The Android port is installed differently and is covered at the end. This guide follows the project’s install guide for v1.1.1.

Before you start

• A supported system: Windows x64, a Mac with Apple Silicon, or x86-64 Linux including the Steam Deck. See requirements.
• About 12 GiB of working space plus the size of your copy and 1 GiB; up to 15 GiB more for Upscaled Original Textures.
• Your own USA Xbox copy as a disc image (ISO/XISO) or an extracted folder.
• The package for your system from the download page, with its SHA-256 checked.

Check your copy first

The app verifies your copy against the project’s supported dump manifest before it builds anything, and refuses copies that do not match. You can check the most telling file yourself: drop the default.xbe from your extracted folder into the SHA-256 checker, which knows the expected value.

Install on Windows

1. Download DefJamRecompiled-1.1.1-windows-x64.exe (66.2 MB) and compare its SHA-256 with 01c1a179ae2582ffd198b4a1fac2214687b98df0cfec2e2c37d7306702d56b5e.
2. Open it. The app is not code-signed yet: if SmartScreen appears, choose More info, then Run anyway.
3. Choose where to keep the app. The default is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\DefJamRecompiled. Nothing is added to the Start menu or the desktop.
4. Choose your copy: Choose disc image or Choose extracted folder.
5. Choose your experience: Modern (widescreen, 2× = 960p, MSAA 2×, 16× anisotropic filtering) or Original (4:3, 1× = 480p, MSAA 2×). Either can be changed later.
6. Review and start: optionally tick Upscaled Original Textures, check the locations and free space, and tick the Build Tools install if offered. Then Set up game.
7. When the build finishes, press Play. Use Add to Steam beside it for a library entry with artwork.

Install on macOS

1. Download DefJamRecompiled-1.1.1-macos-arm64.zip (71.6 MB) and check it with shasum -a 256.
2. Unzip it and open Def Jam Recompiled. You can keep the app wherever you like.
3. macOS blocks it the first time: choose Done (not Move to Trash), then open System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway. This is needed once.
4. If Apple’s Command Line Tools are missing, the app tells you how to install them, or run xcode-select --install in Terminal.
5. Follow the same three setup steps as on Windows, then press Play. Steam integration is not available on macOS.

Install on Linux and Steam Deck

1. Download DefJamRecompiled-1.1.1-linux-x86_64.AppImage (204.5 MB).
2. Make it executable. On the Steam Deck in Desktop Mode: right-click it in Dolphin → Properties → Permissions → Allow executing file as program. In a terminal: chmod +x.
3. Open it and choose where to keep it (default ~/Applications, where it copies itself as DefJamRecompiled.AppImage).
4. Do the three setup steps; on the Deck, choose your copy in Desktop Mode, because it opens a system file picker.
5. Press Add to Steam (Steam closes for this, so the app asks first), then play from Gaming Mode. More on the Steam Deck page.

Install on Android

1. Download Def-Jam-v1.4-FG.apk (16.4 MB) from the Android port’s releases and install it.
2. Copy the complete extracted contents of your own disc to Internal storage/DefJamFFNY/game/, so that default.xbe sits directly in game, or use the launcher’s built-in extractor.
3. Open the launcher: it must show Game found. Start at internal resolution 1x.

Details, folder tree and phone fixes: Def Jam Android native port.

Where the game and saves go

Defaults; Change locations in the last setup step moves them. The same settings are stored in settings.ini in the data folder.

Updates, repair and uninstall

• Updates: the app checks GitHub for a newer stable release when it starts (at most every twelve hours), and Check for updates on Home checks at once. Beta releases are never offered. When the game is older than the app, choose Update game: it rebuilds from your copy in about three to ten minutes, keeps saves, settings and mods, and the previous version stays playable until the new build is ready.
• Repair or rebuild: under Help. Repair rebuilds missing files of this version; Rebuild builds from nothing. Saves and settings are kept.
• Uninstall: under Help. The data folder stays unless you tick “Also delete the data folder”, and even then saves and settings are first copied to Documents.
• If setup stops, it says why and offers Try again, Change setup options and Open log; an installed game stays playable.

Other ways to install

The README also lists RecompLauncher and Quiver as places to get the game set up. The older DefJamSetup installers remain on releases before 1.1.0, and manual source builds are documented in the repository (docs/build-and-play.md for Windows, docs/build-macos-linux.md for macOS and Linux).