shadPS4
| Bloodborne by From Software | Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Future Tone by SEGA |
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| Yakuza 0 by SEGA | DRIVECLUB™ by Evolution Studios |
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General information
shadPS4 is an early PlayStation 4 emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS written in C++.
Important
This is the emulator core, which does not include a GUI. If you just want to use the emulator as an end user, download the QtLauncher instead.
If you encounter problems or have doubts, do not hesitate to look at the Quickstart.
To verify that a game works, you can look at shadPS4 Game Compatibility.
To discuss shadPS4 development, suggest ideas or to ask for help, join our Discord server.
To get the latest news, go to our X (Twitter) or our website.
You can donate to the project via our Kofi page.
Status
Important
shadPS4 is early in development, don't expect a flawless experience.
Currently, the emulator can successfully run games like Bloodborne, Dark Souls Remastered, Red Dead Redemption, and many other games.
Why
This project began for fun. Given our limited free time, it may take some time before shadPS4 can run more complex games, but we're committed to making small, regular updates.
Building
Docker
For building shadPS4 in a containerized environment using Docker and VSCode, check the instructions here:
Docker Build Instructions
Windows
Check the build instructions for Windows.
Linux
Check the build instructions for Linux.
macOS
Check the build instructions for macOS.
Important
macOS users need at least macOS 26.0 to run shadPS4. Intel Macs are not supported.
Usage examples
Important
For a user-friendly GUI, download the QtLauncher.
To get the list of all available commands and also a more detailed description of what each command does, please refer to the --help flag's output.
Below is a list of commonly used command patterns:
shadPS4 CUSA00001 # Searches for a game folder called CUSA00001 in the list of game install folders, and boots it. shadPS4 --fullscreen true --config-clean CUSA00001 # the game argument is always the last one, shadPS4 -g CUSA00001 --fullscreen true --config-clean # ...unless manually specified otherwise. shadPS4 /path/to/game.elf # Boots a PS4 ELF file directly. Useful if you want to boot an executable that is not named eboot.bin. shadPS4 CUSA00001 -- -flag1 -flag2 # Passes '-flag1' and '-flag2' to the game executable in argv.
Debugging and reporting issues
For more information on how to test, debug and report issues with the emulator or games, read the Debugging documentation.
Keyboard and Mouse Mappings
Note
Some keyboards may also require you to hold the Fn key to use the F* keys. Mac users should use the Command key instead of Control, and need to use Command+F11 for full screen to avoid conflicting with system key bindings.
| Button | Function |
|---|---|
| F10 | FPS Counter |
| Ctrl+F10 | Video Debug Info |
| F11 | Fullscreen |
| F12 | Trigger RenderDoc Capture (or game-only screenshot if RenderDoc is unavailable) |
| Alt+F12 | Capture screenshot including HUD/dialog overlays |
Note
Xbox and DualShock controllers work out of the box.
| Controller button | Keyboard equivalent |
|---|---|
| LEFT AXIS UP | W |
| LEFT AXIS DOWN | S |
| LEFT AXIS LEFT | A |
| LEFT AXIS RIGHT | D |
| RIGHT AXIS UP | I |
| RIGHT AXIS DOWN | K |
| RIGHT AXIS LEFT | J |
| RIGHT AXIS RIGHT | L |
| TRIANGLE | Numpad 8 or C |
| CIRCLE | Numpad 6 or B |
| CROSS | Numpad 2 or N |
| SQUARE | Numpad 4 or V |
| PAD UP | UP |
| PAD DOWN | DOWN |
| PAD LEFT | LEFT |
| PAD RIGHT | RIGHT |
| OPTIONS | RETURN |
| BACK BUTTON / TOUCH PAD | SPACE |
| L1 | Q |
| R1 | U |
| L2 | E |
| R2 | O |
| L3 | X |
| R3 | M |
Keyboard and mouse inputs can be customized in the settings menu by clicking the Controller button, and further details and help on controls are also found there. Custom bindings are saved per-game. Inputs support up to three keys per binding, mouse buttons, mouse movement mapped to joystick input, and more.
Firmware files
shadPS4 can load some PlayStation 4 firmware files.
The following firmware modules are supported and must be placed in shadPS4's sys_modules folder.
| Modules | Modules | Modules | Modules |
|---|---|---|---|
| libSceAt9Enc.sprx | libSceAudiodec.sprx | libSceAudiodecCpu.sprx | libSceAudiodecCpuDdp.sprx |
| libSceAudiodecCpuDtsHdLbr.sprx | libSceAudiodecCpuHevag.sprx | libSceAudiodecCpuM4aac.sprx | libSceAvPlayer.sprx |
| libSceAvPlayerStreaming.sprx | libSceBeisobmf.sprx | libSceBemp2sys.sprx | libSceCesCs.sprx |
| libSceFont.sprx | libSceFontFt.sprx | libSceFreeTypeOl.sprx | libSceFreeTypeOptOl.sprx |
| libSceFreeTypeOt.sprx | libSceJpegDec.sprx | libSceJpegEnc.sprx | libSceJson.sprx |
| libSceJson2.sprx | libSceLibcInternal.sprx | libSceNgs2.sprx | libScePngEnc.sprx |
| libScePsmKitSystem.sprx | libSceRtc.sprx | libSceRudp.sprx | libSceSystemGesture.sprx |
| libSceUlt.sprx | libSceWkFontConfig.sprx | libSceXml.sprx | libSceDepth.sprx |
| libScePadTracker.sprx | libSceMoveTracker.sprx |
Caution
The above modules are required to run the games properly and must be dumped from your legally owned PlayStation 4 console.
Main team
Logo is done by Xphalnos
Contributing
If you want to contribute, please read the CONTRIBUTING.md file.
Open a PR and we'll check it :)
Special Thanks
A few noteworthy teams/projects who've helped us along the way are:
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Panda3DS: A multiplatform 3DS emulator from our co-author wheremyfoodat. They have been incredibly helpful in understanding and solving problems that came up from natively executing the x64 code of PS4 binaries
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fpPS4: The fpPS4 team has assisted massively with understanding some of the more complex parts of the PS4 operating system and libraries, by helping with reverse engineering work and research.
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yuzu: Our shader compiler has been designed with yuzu's Hades compiler as a blueprint. This allowed us to focus on the challenges of emulating a modern AMD GPU while having a high-quality optimizing shader compiler implementation as a base.
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felix86: A new x86-64 → RISC-V Linux userspace emulator
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emudev.org: A network of people interested in the documentation, emulation, simulation and re-implementation of hardware near extinction . Belongs to my friend skmp and me (shadow) also a member of it