Split-screen for PC games that never had it.
Nucleus Co-op runs one copy of the game for each player, gives every controller its own window and tiles the windows on your screen. Free and open source.
From couch to split-screen in three steps
No mods to hunt down and no config files. Handlers written by the community do the hard part for each game.
Pick a game
Nucleus finds the games installed on your PC and matches them with handlers from the hub.
Everyone presses a button to join
Each controller, keyboard or mouse claims the next free screen. Drag players around for a different seat.
Launch
Nucleus opens one copy per player, connects them together and arranges the windows into a split screen.
Trending on the hub
See all games
Find your kind of night
Zombie co-op
Hold the line together.Left 4 Dead 2 · Call of Duty: Black Ops II · World War Z: Aftermath · Dying Light10 games
Survival & crafting
Build a base, share the night.Minecraft · Valheim · Terraria · Don't Starve Together9 games
Seamless co-op
Hard games are better with a friend.Elden Ring · Dark Souls III · Dark Souls: Remastered · Hollow Knight7 games
Shooters
Classic local deathmatch nights.Halo: The Master Chief Collection · Borderlands 2 · Call of Duty: Black Ops · Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 28 games
Party chaos
Loud, short, ridiculous.Peak · Lethal Company · Content Warning · RV There Yet?7 games
Missing a game?
Handler writers take requests. Tell them what you want to play and how many of you there are.
Request it on DiscordMade by players
Every handler is a small script written by someone who wanted to play a game with a friend. These are the people behind most of them.
What Nucleus does when you press Launch
One copy per player
The game runs several times from a single installation. Each copy gets its own save folder and settings, so nobody overwrites anybody.
Every device goes to one window
Controllers, keyboards and mice are routed to their player's copy only, even when the game expects a single input.
Windows tiled on your screens
Copies are resized and placed into a split layout across one or several monitors, for up to 32 players.
Copies find each other
LAN and network emulation let the copies see one another as if they were on separate PCs, so the game's own co-op does the rest.
One thing Nucleus can't do: add multiplayer to a game that has none. The game must already support LAN, online or modded multiplayer.
Questions people ask first
All questionsIs it free?
Yes. Nucleus Co-op and every handler on the hub are free. The project is open source under GPL-3.0 and run by volunteers: no account, no ads, no catch. Read more
Do I need several copies of the game?
No. Nucleus Co-op runs one copy per player from a single installation. A few online games still need one account per player, and their handler notes say so. Read more
Does it work with Steam and Epic games?
Yes. Most handlers are made for the Steam version of a game, and Nucleus finds the games installed through Steam and Epic by itself. Xbox app and Game Pass versions are not supported. Read more
Can every player use a keyboard and mouse?
On games whose handler supports it, yes: Nucleus gives each keyboard and mouse to its own player. Each game page says which inputs work. Read more
What PC do I need?
A 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 PC that runs the game comfortably, with memory for one copy per player. As a rule of thumb, plan for the game’s recommended specs plus half again per extra player. Read more
Nucleus Co-op 2.4.2
Free for Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit. Unzip it and play: no installer, no account.
Download for WindowsNucleus Co-op 3.0 is in beta. The new interface comes with the next release.
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
- The game installed once, from Steam or another store
- One controller, or keyboard and mouse, per player
- Something wrong? Troubleshooting
- handler downloads
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- games
- 889
- members
- 3,584