PPSSPP

Overview

PPSSPP is an emulator for the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). An emulator is a program that imitates a game console, so that games made for that console can run on another device such as a computer or a phone. PPSSPP was created in 2012 by Henrik Rydgard and is free and open source.

It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iPhone and iPad. It plays most of the PSP library, and it can draw the games at a much higher resolution than the small PSP screen could, so they look sharper than on the original console.

It is also one of the easiest emulators to set up: it does not need any BIOS file (explained below). You install it, point it at your games, and play. This guide explains every step for people who have never used an emulator.

Key words explained

• UMD: the small disc format the PSP used for its games. A UMD cannot be read by a normal computer.

• Game image (ISO): a single file that is an exact copy of a game disc. PPSSPP plays these files. Making this copy from your own disc is called dumping.

• CSO and CHD: compressed versions of an ISO. They take less space on your drive and PPSSPP can play them directly, without unpacking them first.

• PBP and EBOOT: the format of games that were downloaded from the PlayStation Store instead of being sold on a disc.

• BIOS: the small program stored inside a console that starts it up and gives games basic services. Many emulators need a copy of it. PPSSPP does not: it imitates it itself.

• Memory Stick (memstick): the memory card of the PSP, where saves were stored. PPSSPP uses an ordinary folder on your device to play that role.

• Backend (renderer): the way the program talks to your graphics card to draw the picture. Vulkan, OpenGL, Direct3D 11 and Metal are different ones. Some work better on some devices.

• Rendering resolution: how many pixels the game is drawn with. The PSP screen is 480 x 272 pixels. PPSSPP lets you draw at 2 times, 3 times, 4 times and more that size.

• Frame rate: how many pictures per second are shown. PSP games usually aim for 30 or 60.

• Save state: a snapshot of the whole game at one exact moment that you can come back to. It is not the same as the game's own save (see Saves).

• Hotkey: a key or button that triggers an emulator action, such as fast-forward, instead of a game action.

• Portable install: a copy of the program that keeps everything in its own folder, so you can move it or put it on a USB drive.

System requirements

PPSSPP is light. The official recommendations are short:

• Windows: almost any PC made in the last 15 years runs it well. Keep your graphics drivers up to date. A graphics driver is the software that lets Windows use your graphics card.

• macOS: any Mac with an M1 chip or newer works fine. It also works on many Intel Macs, but there are problems with Radeon graphics cards on Mac.

• Android: almost any recent phone works.

• iPhone and iPad: a recent iOS or iPadOS version.

To check your own device: on Windows, open Settings > System > About to see your processor and memory. On Android, open Settings > About phone. Once PPSSPP is installed, Settings > Tools > System information shows your processor and graphics driver. If a game is slow, the answer is almost always to lower the rendering resolution, not to change hardware.

What you need

• PPSSPP itself, from the official download page (see Installation).

• Your own games, as game images. PPSSPP cannot play a disc directly from a drive. You must make a copy of the game from a UMD you own, or from your own PSP. The official guide to dumping UMD games explains how. Do not use game files from other people or other sources: they are often broken, and they may be illegal.

• No BIOS and no firmware are needed to play PSP games. PPSSPP imitates the PSP's operating system itself. (Optionally, newer builds can use a real PSP firmware to show the original system fonts and the PSP main menu. This is not needed for normal play.)

• A controller, which is optional. On a computer you can use the keyboard. On a phone there are touch buttons on the screen, but a controller is more comfortable.

Installation

• Windows: go to the official download page and pick the installer (a normal setup program) or the ZIP file (a portable install: unzip it where you want and run it). Run the 64-bit program, PPSSPPWindows64.exe, unless your computer is 32-bit. On a Windows ARM computer, take the ARM64 build.

• macOS: download the .dmg file from the same page, open it, and drag the app to the Applications folder.

• Linux: the download page offers a Flatpak package and an AppImage (a single file you can run directly once you allow it to run).

• Android: install it from Google Play like any other app. An APK file is also on the download page.

• iPhone and iPad: install it from the App Store.

PPSSPP Gold is the same emulator with a gold icon. Buying it is only a way to support the developer. The free version has the same features.

How to know it worked: PPSSPP opens on a home screen with the tabs Recent, Games, Homebrew & Demos and others.

First setup

The default settings are fine for most people. You only need to tell PPSSPP where your games are, and where to keep your saves.

1. Put your game files in one folder on your device, for example a folder named PSP Games.

2. On Android 11 or newer, PPSSPP asks you to choose or create a folder for PSP data when it starts (also at Settings > System > PSP Memory Stick > Memory Stick folder). Choose Create or choose a PSP folder, go to the root of your storage and create a folder named PSP there. This folder acts as the Memory Stick and will hold your saves. Your game files can stay anywhere else.

3. Open the Games tab, browse to your games folder, and open it. Games appear as icons.

4. Tap or click a game to start it. A first start can take a moment.

How to know it worked: the game's intro plays and the game reacts to controls. If the screen is black or PPSSPP closes, see Common problems.

Adding your games

• Games tab: browse to the folder that holds your game files. PPSSPP shows an icon for each game it recognises.

• Run the file as it is. Do not extract an ISO into a folder of files: most games need the single disc file.

• Compressed formats: CSO and CHD files can be played directly. CSO is the oldest and most tested. CHD compresses a little better.

• To check that a file is a good copy, press and hold (or right-click) the game, then choose Calculate CRC. A CRC is a number computed from the file contents. PPSSPP shows a green notice if it matches a known good copy. If not, the file may still work, but a bad copy is a common cause of crashes.

• Games downloaded from the PlayStation Store and homebrew programs (programs made by fans) belong in the PSP/GAME folder inside your Memory Stick folder.

Controls

A controller mapping is the list that says which physical key or button does which PSP button. Open it with Settings > Controls > Control mapping.

1. Plug in or pair your controller first (Bluetooth works on phones). Xbox and PlayStation controllers work on most devices. On Windows, controllers that support XInput (the standard Xbox controller interface) are set up automatically.

2. Open Settings > Controls > Control mapping.

3. Choose a PSP button in the list, then press the key or controller button you want for it.

4. Repeat for the buttons you want to change. The PSP has a D-pad, Cross, Circle, Square, Triangle, L, R, Start, Select and one small analog stick, mapped to your left stick.

On a phone or tablet, turn on the on-screen touch controls in Settings > Controls. To move or resize the buttons, use Edit touch control layout: hold a button, drag it where you want, then tap Back to save. The same screen has options for button opacity and for hiding the buttons after a few seconds when you use a controller.

Extra actions can also be mapped in Control mapping. Fast-forward runs the game as fast as possible, which is useful to skip long cutscenes. Analog limiter lets you push the stick only halfway when you use keyboard keys. Rapid fire repeats the PSP buttons while held. Pause opens the pause menu; the Esc key does the same on a computer.

The PSP has no second analog stick. A right stick is only useful in the few games that have a patch for camera control.

Graphics and performance settings

Open these from Settings > Graphics (from the pause menu you can also open settings while a game runs). Most options can stay at their defaults. These are the ones worth knowing.

• Backend: the way the picture is drawn, as explained above. Vulkan is the recommended choice on most devices. On Windows, Direct3D 11 is a fast and very compatible alternative. OpenGL is the compatibility option, mainly for Android. Metal is for Mac and iOS in newer versions. If a game shows glitches or a black screen, try another backend and restart PPSSPP.

• Device: if you have several graphics cards, pick the fastest one.

• Rendering resolution: a multiplier of the PSP's 480 x 272 picture. 1x is original. 4x is about 1080p (full HD) and 8x is about 4K. Higher is sharper but needs more power. Use 1x or 2x on a modest phone, 3x on a recent phone, 4x or more on a computer. A few games show thin lines in menus at higher resolutions; this cannot always be fixed.

• Anti-aliasing (MSAA): smooths jagged edges. Only in the Vulkan backend (and in Metal on newer versions). Use 4x if your graphics card can handle it.

• Anisotropic filtering: sharpens textures seen at a shallow angle, such as a road ahead. It costs almost no performance, so setting it to the maximum is fine.

• Texture filtering: Auto follows what the game asks for and is the safe choice. Auto Max Quality gives a smoother look in the distance in many 3D games. Use plain Auto if you see strange artifacts.

• Texture scaling: makes low-detail textures look smoother with an upscaling filter. It is costly and not good with every art style. Keep it off on phones. If you use it, try the GPU texture upscaler on Vulkan, and do not go beyond 4x.

• VSync: waits for the screen to refresh before showing a new picture, to avoid a tearing line across the image. Leave it on unless you want the lowest delay.

• Frame skipping: skips drawing some pictures to save power, but makes the game look less smooth. Keep it off. As a last resort on a very slow device, set it to 1 or 2.

• Speedhacks: a group of options that trade correctness for speed. They often break the picture. Turn them all off, and only try them if a game is too slow.

• Replace textures: lets PPSSPP load texture packs made by fans for some games. See the official texture pack guide.

Names in the Graphics menu change slightly between versions. A few of the options above are removed in newer builds, so you may not see all of them.

The official recommended settings page gives short presets for powerful devices, weak devices and low delay.

Per-game settings: if one game needs different settings, pause it and choose Create game config. Settings changed after that only apply to that game. A small gear icon appears on its icon. Choose Delete game config to go back to the global settings.

Saves

There are two kinds of saves, and it is important to know the difference.

• In-game save: the game's own save feature, using its menu. It is written to the Memory Stick folder, like on a real PSP. These files work between all versions of PPSSPP.

• Save state: a snapshot of the entire emulated console at one moment, made from the pause menu with Save state, and restored with Load state. You can have several slots. A save state lets you save anywhere, even where the game does not allow it. But states from a newer version of PPSSPP often do not load in an older one, and a bug fixed later can stay inside an old state.

Advice: use the game's own save as your main save, and save states as a convenience.

Where files are stored: all of it is inside the Memory Stick folder. In-game saves are in PSP/SAVEDATA and save states are in PSP/PPSSPP_STATE. To open that folder on Windows or macOS, choose File > Open Memory Stick. On other systems, use Settings > System > PSP Memory Stick > Show Memory Stick folder. Usual places:

• Windows, ZIP install: a folder named memstick next to the program.

• Windows, installer: the PPSSPP folder inside your Documents folder, when the program cannot write next to itself.

• macOS and Linux: ~/.config/ppsspp.

• Android: the PSP folder you chose at the first start.

To back up your progress, copy the whole PSP folder somewhere safe. The official pages on Android storage and Windows storage explain how to move it.

Saves in PSP/SAVEDATA are in a folder per save, named with the game's ID (for example ULUS12345 followed by a number). Different regions of the same game use different IDs, so a save from a European copy will usually not load in a US copy.

Updating

New versions come out two or three times a year. Before updating, make a normal in-game save and back up your PSP folder.

• Android and iPhone: the store updates the app. If you installed an APK by hand, install the new APK over the old one.

• Windows installer: run the new installer.

• Windows ZIP: unzip the new version over the old folder, or copy the old memstick folder into the new one.

• macOS: download the new .dmg and install it over the old app.

Your saves are not touched. See the official update guide for details.

Extras

• Achievements: RetroAchievements gives goals and leaderboards made by a volunteer community. Create an account on its website, then enter the same username and password in Settings > Tools > RetroAchievements. Hardcore mode disables save states and slow motion, as explained in the official guide.

• Cheats: enable cheats in Settings > System, then use Cheats in the pause menu. Cheats can make a game crash. See the cheats guide.

• Multiplayer: PSP games had local wireless play (ad hoc). Enable networking in Settings > Networking, choose a nickname and a server, and everyone must use the same server. See the multiplayer quickstart.

Common problems

• Black screen or the game does not start: the cause is often a bad game file, an ISO extracted into a folder, a speedhack, or a graphics driver issue. Run the ISO file itself, use Calculate CRC, turn off all Speedhacks, and try another backend. Update your graphics drivers.

• PPSSPP will not start at all on Windows: update your graphics drivers and install the latest version over the old one. If it still fails, open memstick/PSP/SYSTEM/ppsspp.ini in a text editor and set GraphicsBackend to 0 (OpenGL) or 2 (Direct3D 11).

• The picture looks wrong (missing effects, wrong characters, thin lines): first reset the settings with Settings > System > Restore PPSSPP's settings to default. Turn off Speedhacks, such as Skip buffer effects and Lazy texture caching. A thin line in menus often comes from a rendering resolution above 1x.

• The game is slow: lower the rendering resolution, turn off texture scaling, and close other apps. Use frame skipping only as a last resort.

• PPSSPP crashes: reset the settings, turn off cheats and networking, then Fast memory, then a changed CPU clock, and check the game file with Calculate CRC.

• A save will not load: check that you are using the right Memory Stick folder and the right game region. Some games lock their saves to the device's network address (MAC address), which can be changed in the Networking settings.

• On Android you cannot pick a folder: the system folder picker may be missing, which is common on Android TV. See the official page on folder picking problems.

• Windows says a file such as MFPlat.dll is missing: in Windows Settings > System > Optional features, add the Media Feature Pack.

• A controller on Android does not work: some accessibility options and apps that draw over other apps can interfere. Turn them off to test.

More help is on the official troubleshooting page and in the FAQ.

Going further

• Documentation from the PPSSPP team

• Compatibility list to check how well a game runs

• Settings explained page by page

• Source code and issue tracker

Other options: RetroArch with the PPSSPP core, for people who already use RetroArch, or Lemuroid on Android, which is simpler but has fewer settings.