nefariousjosiah/WWE-SVR2009-RECOMP v0.6 on GitHub

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 running natively on Windows, and on Linux and the Steam Deck through Proton: the game's code recompiled for PC, with a native renderer. 60 fps, up to 4K; 720p at 60 fps on the Steam Deck. Matches load in about 20 seconds.

v0.6: a massive performance update, and a new renderer as the default

Direct3D 12 is now the default renderer on Windows. The game now has two renderers. svr2009.exe draws with Direct3D 12, and on the Steam Deck and Linux it starts svr2009_vulkan.exe (Vulkan) by itself, so Deck players don't need to change anything. You can switch in the settings menu (F1, Back + Start, or Share + Options on PlayStation) under Graphics API: Auto, Direct3D 12 or Vulkan. If one doesn't suit your graphics card, try the other. If a PC can't start Direct3D 12 at all, the game falls back to Vulkan by itself.

Everything that made SvR 2010 run at a steady 60 on lower-end PCs, now in 2009:

Far less work per frame. The graphics driver's work runs on its own thread, and textures, geometry and shader settings are only sent again when they change. The crowd, drawn in thousands of small pieces, used to cost the most on slower processors, especially in entrances.
No first-time stutters. Every shader variant is prepared when the game is built (1,196 of them), and the graphics pipelines the game uses are compiled in the background while each scene loads, not in the middle of an entrance. The download includes the pipelines a full play session uses.
New setting: CPU priority. High lets the game go first when other programs (browser, recording, downloads) want the processor too. It helps on busy or weak PCs.
Laptops: Auto resolution renders at 720p on built-in graphics (Intel UHD / Iris Xe, the Radeon in Ryzen laptops), so they hold 60. Laptops with two graphics chips now run the game on their dedicated graphics card.
The settings menu shows what Auto picked, for example Auto (1440p) or Auto (Direct3D 12).
game.log is now always written next to svr2009.exe, even when the game is started from Steam or another folder.

Your settings are kept, including Cutscenes and Controllers (every controller on player 1 by default; Separate players for local multiplayer).

Updating: on v0.5 or newer, open the settings menu, go down to Update and press A (Cross) twice; your saves are kept and backed up first. On v0.4 or older, download the zip below and extract it over your folder (your .iso, userdata and dlc stay where they are).

You need your own copy of the game: a disc image (.iso, about 7.3 GB) of your own SvR 2009 disc, USA / Europe release. None of the disc's files are in this download, and this project does not condone piracy.

Download

SVR2009-NATIVE.zip under Assets below (not Source code, which is the developer source).

Windows

Extract the zip into a folder of its own (for example C:\Games\SVR2009-NATIVE).
Copy your .iso into that folder, next to svr2009.exe.
Run svr2009.exe (if Windows warns, More info > Run anyway). The game finds the disc image by itself and starts.

Linux / Steam Deck (Proton)

Extract the zip, copy your .iso into that folder next to svr2009.exe (and any DLC into its dlc folder), add svr2009.exe to Steam as a non-Steam game with Proton Experimental, and start it (from Game Mode on the Deck). Step by step: README.