doukutsu-rs

A reimplementation of the Cave Story (Doukutsu Monogatari) engine with many quality-of-life improvements. It lets you enjoy the 2004 indie classic like a modern game, with support for the original freeware, Cave Story+, and Nintendo Switch data files.

Join the Discord server

• Get stable/beta builds from

  • get.doukutsu.rs
  • GitHub Releases
  • Flatpak (Linux only)

• Get nightly builds (has latest fixes and improvements) from

  • get.doukutsu.rs
  • nightly.link

  Permalinks to latest builds from master branch:

  • Windows (64-bit)
  • Windows (32-bit)
  • macOS (Intel, 64-bit, 10.14+)
  • macOS (Apple M1, 11.0+)
  • Linux (64-bit)
  • Android (armv7/arm64/x86)

[!NOTE] macOS note: If you get a "doukutsu-rs" can't be opened message, right-click doukutsu-rs.app and click open.

[!NOTE] If you get issues with Epic Games Store version, scroll down for instructions.

Data files

In order to work doukutsu-rs needs to be paired with supported data files. This repository does not contain any data files.

doukutsu-rs works fine with freeware data files or NXEngine(-evo) or from a supported copy of Cave Story+.

How to set up data files on Android

If your phone has an app called "Files":

1. Launch this app.
2. Press ☰ on the top left corner.
3. Tap on "doukutsu-rs game data".
4. Copy your game data files to the opened folder.

If your phone does not have this app:

1. Install the "Material Files" app from Hai Zhang and launch it(Google Play | F-Droid | Github Releases).
2. Press ☰ on the top left corner.
3. Press "+ Add storage".
4. In the window that pops up, press "External storage".
5. Press ☰ on the top left corner.
6. Tap on "doukutsu-rs game data".
7. Press the large blue button at the bottom labelled "USE THIS FOLDER".
8. Then click on ☰ in the top left corner again and open.
9. Tap on "files" above "+ Add storage".
10. Copy your game data files to the opened folder.

Supported game editions and data file acquisition guides

Freeware

doukutsu-rs works out of the box when it's placed in the same directory as the original Doukutsu.exe executable. On the initial startup, doukutsu-rs will automatically extract the additional resources that are embedded in the vanilla game into the data directory. Until that is done, both doukutsu-rs and the vanilla executable have to exist in the directory.

Example root directory

Cave Story+

doukutsu-rs can be used as drop-in replacement for CaveStory+.exe (instructions for Mac are in the "Steam release (Win/Mac/Linux)" section). No modifications to game files are needed.

Remastered version (first released in 2017 on Switch)

[!NOTE] This version is incompatible with saves from the original version.

Interchanging the save files may result in spawning in wrong locations, softlocks, graphical glitches, or other issues.

Steam (2026) - not yet supported

See https://github.com/doukutsu-rs/doukutsu-rs/issues/365 for status.

Nintendo Switch

Extract the data folder (contained in romfs) from your console using tool such as nxdumptool.

Important notes:

• doukutsu-rs doesn't rely on the original ROM or executable, you just need the data files, go to RomFS options menu to just extract the files to SD card so you don't need to do any extra steps.
• Ensure you're dumping the files with update included (Use update/DLC option), as 1.0 isn't supported.

Nintendo Switch homebrew port specific info

If you're running the homebrew port (drshorizon.nro) on your Switch, you can avoid the dumping step, doukutsu-rs will automatically detect and mount the data files if you run it over Cave Story+ in Title Override mode (hold R while starting CS+ and launch d-rs from hbmenu).

You can put your own data files in /switch/doukutsu-rs/data directory on SD Card, which will be overlayed over RomFS if you run it in setup described above.

Original version (first released in 2011 on Steam) - expand for instructions

Steam release (Win/Mac/Linux)

The data folder is in the same place across all platforms.

If you want to use doukutsu-rs as a substitute for Mac version of Cave Story+ (which at moment of writing doesn't work on 10.15+ anymore), do the following:

1. Find the doukutsu-rs executable:
   • In stables, nightly, and CI builds, it's in doukutsu-rs.app/Contents/MacOS/doukutsu-rs
   • In your own builds, it's in target/(release|debug)/doukutsu-rs
2. Open Steam Library, select Cave Story+, press the Manage button (gear icon) and select Properties...
3. Select Local Files and press Browse....
4. Open the Cave Story+.app bundle and navigate to Contents/MacOS directory.
5. Rename the Cave Story+ executable to something else or delete it.
6. Copy the doukutsu-rs executable and rename it to Cave Story+.
7. Launch the game from Steam and enjoy!

[!WARNING] EPIC GAMES STORE VERSION WARNING

Nicalis for some reason ships a stray opengl32.dll DLL from Windows 7 with the Epic Games Store copies of Cave Story+.

However as the game is 32-bit and the dll is 64-bit it has no effect on the original version, but as it's a core Windows DLL and doukutsu-rs ships 64-bit builds and uses OpenGL, it's makes the game crash on startup.

The fix is to simply delete opengl32.dll, as it's not used anyway.

Epic Games Store

Check your default installation directory.

GOG

Check your default installation directory.

Humble Bundle

The archive from Humble Bundle contains the necessary data folder, in the same folder as CaveStory+.exe.

WiiWare

1. Dump Your WiiWare .wad
2. Extract and decompress the data folder Example of a valid uncompressed data folder

Controls

Same controls as the default for freeware and Cave Story+ keyboard.

To change, use the control customization menu or edit doukutsu-rs\data\settings.json within your user directory.

	P1	P2
Movement	← ↑ ↓ →	, L . /
Jump	Z	B
Shoot	X	N
Cycle Weapon	A and S	G and H
Inventory / Skip cutscene	Q	T
Map	W	Y
Strafe	LShift	RShift

• Alt + Enter - Toggle Fullscreen
• F2 (While paused) - Quick Restart

Screenshots

Freeware

Original CS+

Remastered CS+

Credits

• Studio Pixel/Nicalis for Cave Story
• AppleHair - icon redesign for all platforms(crabsue-icon).
• @Daedily - brand artwork (Icon / Banner / Server), screenshots for this guide.
• ggez - parts of it are used in crate::framework, notably the VFS code.
• Clownacy - widescreen camera code.
• LunarLambda for organism - used as basis for our Organya playback engine.
• Zoroyoshi - k12x10 font we use as built-in font.