shadPS4

Overview

shadPS4 is an emulator for the PlayStation 4. An emulator is a program that imitates a console, so that games made for that console can run on your computer. shadPS4 is free, open source, written in C++, and runs on Windows, Linux and macOS.

It started in 2024 and is still at an early stage. Some games, such as Bloodborne, are reported to run, but many others do not start or show serious problems. Development is fast, so a game that fails today may work in a few weeks. The project itself warns not to expect a flawless experience.

shadPS4 is meant for curious and patient people. It is not the easiest first emulator: you must prepare files taken from your own PS4, and you should check that your game works before you spend time on it.

Key words explained

• Emulator: a program that behaves like a console so that its games run on another device.

• Dump: a copy of your own game or console files, made on your own PS4 and moved to your computer. Games, updates and extra files must be dumped from the console and games you own.

• Firmware modules: small system libraries that come with the PS4's system software. Games call them to play videos, show text, decode audio and so on. shadPS4 reimplements many of them itself, but some games work better when the real ones, dumped from your own PS4, are placed next to the emulator.

• Vulkan: a way for a program to talk to your graphics card. shadPS4 needs a graphics card and drivers that support it.

• Drivers: the software from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel that lets your system use the graphics card properly.

• Shader: a small program run by the graphics card to draw the picture. The first time a game needs a shader, it must be prepared, which can make the game freeze for a moment. This is called shader compilation stutter and fades as the game goes on.

• Game ID (also called serial): the code of a PS4 game, written CUSA followed by five digits, for example CUSA00001. shadPS4 uses it to find and name game folders.

• Trophies: the PS4's achievements. shadPS4 can unlock them as you play.

• Nightly: a test version published often, with the newest fixes and sometimes new bugs. The stable version is published less often and is more careful.

• Patch (in shadPS4): a small community fix that changes how a given game runs, for example to remove a frame rate limit. Not to be confused with a game update from the PS4.

System requirements

These are the official minimum requirements from the quickstart guide.

• Processor: at least 4 cores and 6 threads, above 2.5 GHz, supporting the x86-64-v3 level. In practice that means Intel Haswell generation or newer, or AMD Excavator generation or newer. On a Mac, an Apple chip (M1 or newer) is used through Rosetta 2.

• Graphics card: at least 2 GB of video memory (VRAM), and Vulkan 1.3 with the VK_KHR_swapchain and VK_KHR_push_descriptor extensions.

• Memory (RAM): 8 GB or more.

• System: Windows 10 or newer, Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, or macOS (the official pages do not agree on the minimum version, so check the quickstart guide for the current one).

• Disk space: PS4 games are large, often tens of gigabytes each.

How to check your computer: on Windows, press the Windows key, type dxdiag and press Enter. The System tab shows the processor and memory, the Display tab shows the graphics card. For Vulkan support, look up your graphics card model on its maker's website, or update the drivers, which brings Vulkan with them on any recent card. Intel and AMD list the supported processor generation on their sites.

The official guide also advises updating the drivers of every graphics card in the computer, including the integrated one, because an outdated driver can interfere even when that card is not used.

What you need

• The shadPS4 QtLauncher: the official program with a window and menus, which downloads and starts the emulator for you. The plain emulator downloads are command-line only and meant for advanced users.

• Up-to-date graphics drivers (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel).

• Your games, dumped from your own PS4, each in a folder named after its game ID. Without games, the emulator has nothing to run.

• Firmware modules dumped from your own PS4 (recommended, and required by some games), to be placed in the sys_modules folder.

• Optionally, the fonts and the trophy key from your own PS4, for correct text in some games and for trophies.

• A controller (optional). Xbox and DualShock pads work without setup. A keyboard also works.

shadPS4 does not provide games, firmware modules or keys, and this sheet will not tell you where to get them. The official quickstart guide explains how the project expects you to dump them from your own console.

Installation

The launcher is a small program. It then downloads the emulator itself, in the version you choose. Do not put shadPS4 or any of its folders in a place that needs administrator rights (for example Program Files on Windows): the official guide warns this can cause strange problems or stop it from running.

1. Open the QtLauncher releases page.

2. Under Assets, download the file whose name contains your system: win64, linux or macos.

3. Extract the archive to a folder of your choice. An archive (zip) is a compressed folder, extracting it means unpacking it.

4. Windows only: install the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x64) first. It is a set of Microsoft files that many programs need, and without it Windows reports a missing DLL. Then run shadPS4QtLauncher.exe.

5. Linux: start shadPS4QtLauncher-qt.AppImage from the extracted folder. If it does not start, mark the file as executable in its properties.

6. macOS: when a window says that shadPS4QtLauncher was not opened, click Done. Open the Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message saying the launcher was blocked, click Open Anyway, then confirm with your password or fingerprint. macOS does this for any program that does not come from its store.

7. In the launcher, click Version manager at the top right. If the list looks old, click Refresh List.

8. Pick a version, click Yes, wait for the download, then click OK and close the window. Stable is the careful choice. Nightly has the newest fixes.

You can download several versions. The version number at the top right, above the Version manager button, lets you switch between them. This is handy if a new version breaks a game that worked.

First setup

On first start the launcher shows the folder where it looks for your games. You can find and change it later in Settings, Paths tab. The Paths tab can hold several game folders.

1. Open Settings and check the General tab: Emulator language is the language of the menus, Console language is the language the games use (English is used if a game does not have yours).

2. Check the Graphics tab. If you have two graphics chips, such as an integrated one and a dedicated card, choose the dedicated card or leave the choice on automatic. The window size here only changes the window, not the game's own resolution.

3. Optional, General tab: tick Display Compatibility Data (and Update compatibility Database on Startup) to see in your game list how well each game is known to run.

4. Optional: set the update channel (Release or Nightly) and whether the launcher checks for updates at startup.

5. Leave the Debug tab, the Logger options, vBlank Divider and the Advanced graphics options alone: the official guide says not to change them unless you know what you are doing.

Adding your games

Each game has to be a folder on your computer, named with its game ID, such as CUSA00001. Game updates go in a separate folder named with the same ID followed by -patch, such as CUSA00001-patch. Extra content (DLC) has its own folder as described in the official quickstart.

1. Dump your game from your own PS4 as explained in the official quickstart guide, and make sure the folder name has the right format.

2. Copy the folder into the game installation directory shown in Settings > Paths, or add the folder where your dump already is with the add button of the Paths tab.

3. The game should then appear in the launcher's list, with its icon. You can switch between list view and grid view and change the icon size in Settings.

4. If a game has an update, copy the -patch folder to the same place. The list then shows the installed update version.

Firmware modules go in the sys_modules folder. To find it, right-click a game, choose Open Folder > Open Log Folder, then go up to the parent folder: sys_modules sits next to the other user folders. The same parent folder holds the fonts folder and the licenses folder. The project explains in the quickstart which files to copy there.

How to know it worked: the game appears in the list. If it does not, check the folder name and that its parent folder is added in the Paths tab.

Running a game

1. Double-click the game in the list, or right-click it and start it.

2. A window opens with the game. The first launch can be slow and stutter because shaders are being prepared. It improves as you play.

3. Press F11 to switch to full screen, and F10 to show the frame rate counter. The frame rate, in frames per second (fps), is how many images the game draws each second. Console games usually aim at 30 or 60.

Before you launch, look at the game's entry in the compatibility list. It tells you whether the game is known to boot, to run, or to be broken.

Controls

Xbox and DualShock controllers work without setup: plug them in before starting the game. Without a pad, the keyboard is mapped like this by default.

• Left stick: W A S D. Right stick: I J K L.

• Cross: N or numpad 2. Circle: B or numpad 6. Square: V or numpad 4. Triangle: C or numpad 8.

• Directional pad: arrow keys.

• L1: Q. R1: U. L2: E. R2: O. L3: X. R3: M.

• Options: Enter. Touchpad or back button: Space.

To change them, open Settings and click the Controller button. A mapping is the link between a button of the console and a key or button on your device. Each binding can take up to three keys, mouse buttons, or mouse movement acting as a stick. Custom bindings are saved per game, so each game can have its own.

• F10: show the frame rate counter.

• Ctrl+F10: show video debug info.

• F11: full screen. On a Mac, use Command+F11.

• F12: take a game-only screenshot if RenderDoc, a developer tool, is not available. Alt+F12: screenshot that includes overlays such as dialog boxes.

• On some keyboards you must hold the Fn key to use the F keys. On a Mac, use Command instead of Ctrl.

Settings that matter

shadPS4 has few options to tune, and the project advises against touching the advanced ones. These are the ones worth knowing.

• Graphics tab, GPU: which graphics card runs the games. Choose the dedicated card, or automatic. Change it if the game is slow because it runs on the integrated chip.

• Enable fullscreen (General tab): starts every game in full screen. Turn it on if you always play that way.

• Enable Separate Update folder (General tab): keeps the base game and its update apart so one does not overwrite the other. Useful for testing a game both with and without its update.

• Show splash (General tab): displays an image of the game at launch. The official guide advises leaving it off.

• Username (General tab): the PS4 account name that some games may show.

• Cursor (Input tab): controls whether and when the mouse pointer is shown over the game.

• Disable Trophy Pop-ups (General tab, GUI Settings): trophies are still unlocked, but the pop-up is hidden. To see your trophies, right-click a game and open Trophy Viewer.

• Play title Music (General tab): plays the game's music when you select it in the list, with its own volume slider.

Cheats and patches: right-click a game to find the cheats and patches tabs. Choose a source repository, click Download Cheats or Download Patches, tick what you want, then start the game. Patches can fix a specific game. The project does not give support to anyone using cheats, patches or mods, so turn them off before reporting a problem.

Saves

An in-game save is the save the game itself makes, as on the real console. shadPS4 stores them in the user folder, in user/savedata/1/ followed by the game ID. The user folder sits next to the emulator files. You can find it from the launcher by right-clicking a game and choosing Open Folder, then going up from the log folder.

shadPS4 has no save states (a snapshot of the whole emulator at any moment) in the official documentation, so rely on the game's own save points.

Back up the savedata folder regularly: copy it somewhere else. An early-stage emulator can crash at a bad time and damage a save. To move your saves to another computer, copy the same folder.

Only the last log is kept, in user/log/shad_log.txt. Keep a copy right after a crash if you want to report it.

Updating

• Emulator: open Version manager in the launcher and download the newest version. Settings can also check for updates by itself, on every release or every nightly.

• Launcher: download the new release from the QtLauncher releases page and extract it over a new folder.

• Keep an older version around: new versions sometimes fix a game and break another.

• Check the compatibility list after each update, because games change status often.

Common problems

• The launcher does not start on Windows, a DLL is missing: the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is not installed. Install the x64 version from the link above and try again.

• Nothing works or strange errors right at the start: the program may be in a protected folder. Move it to a simple folder such as one in your Documents or on another drive, and avoid Program Files.

• The game does not appear in the list: the folder is not named with the game ID, or its parent folder is not listed in Settings > Paths. Fix the name or add the folder.

• The game starts then closes, or shows a black window: the game may not be supported yet, or a firmware module is missing. Check its compatibility entry, update the emulator, and make sure your graphics drivers are up to date and support Vulkan 1.3.

• No text, or text boxes appear empty: the fonts from your own PS4 may be missing. The quickstart guide explains how the fonts folder is used.

• Game freezes for a moment on new scenes: shaders are being prepared. It goes away as you play.

• The game runs on the wrong graphics chip and is slow: choose the right card in Settings > Graphics.

• A macOS message says the launcher was blocked: use Privacy & Security > Open Anyway as described in the installation section.

• A crash after you changed advanced options: put the options back to their defaults. The project advises against changing the Debug and Advanced settings.

For other problems, ask on the project's Discord server, linked from the official site, and keep the log file ready.

Going further

• Official website

• Quickstart guide

• Wiki, settings guide

• Wiki, FAQ

• Game compatibility list

• Emulator on GitHub

• QtLauncher downloads