That being said, you may now expect games to use 2GB to 4GB of RAM on average, rather than double that! As a result, emulation should in general not exceed Switch’s 4GB of dedicated RAM, with the exception of games that eat memory for other purposes (for example, GPU, audio, and OS emulation may still push the emulator beyond this). With the new VMM implementation, we now more accurately implement and respect Switch’s memory layout. Here is a more comprehensive before and after memory comparison for many popular Switch games in yuzu: This could result in run-away host memory allocations that were never actually possible on a real Switch. In short, this old implementation would arbitrarily allocate and map host (your PC) memory on the fly, without respecting the guest (Nintendo Switch) memory layout.

Citra’s approach has served us well in getting the emulator working, but it was really designed for a much simpler system that did not scale to the needs of Switch. Previously, yuzu used a rather simplified approach to the VMM, based on Citra 3DS Emulator. This is a part of the emulator that uses High Level Emulation (HLE) to replicate functionality of the Switch’s 'Horizon' Operating System. This was accomplished by rewriting yuzu’s Virtual Memory Manager (VMM), the software component that allocates, maps, and frees memory that Switch games use. On average, you can expect this new release of yuzu to use 50% less RAM! Over the past 2 months, we’ve been quietly rewriting all of yuzu’s memory management code, and today we’re ready to share that with our Patrons in yuzu Early Access. Especially with regards to memory usage, you may know that it’s not terribly uncommon for yuzu to eat up 8GB, 16GB, or even more RAM. Today, we have a particularly major change for you: We’ve heard over and over again that some of our users have had problems with game stability and performance. Hey Patrons! We hope that you’re all healthy, staying safe, and finding interesting things to do while stuck at home! With our extra time indoors, and your generosity toward yuzu, several of us have been able to work on the project full time! And with that, we’ve got some pretty exciting updates for you to enjoy this weekend!

Use yuzu emulator without a switch