PS5 RetroArch 🎮

Native RetroArch for jailbroken PlayStation 5 consoles, rendering through PS5_Vulkan's port of Mesa's RADV Vulkan driver.

Maintained by Mihawk. Based on RetroArch / libretro, with a native PS5 application foundation derived from ProsperoLight.

Important

Piracy is not condoned. This project ships no games, no BIOS files, no console firmware and no decryption keys, and never will. Use only legally obtained backups of games you own, made yourself from your own discs, cartridges or digital purchases, and BIOS or firmware files dumped from hardware you own. Requests for, or links to, games, BIOS files, firmware or keys are not welcome in this project's issues or discussions.

PlayStation 3 (RPCS3) is not in any release. RPCS3 is licensed GPL-2.0-only and this port is GPL-3.0-or-later: the two cannot be distributed together as one program. Its source is public, and you must compile it yourself from source for your own console (see PlayStation 3 (RPCS3): build it yourself). Do not share or redistribute the binaries you build.

The title launches as a homebrew title, presents XMB through RetroArch's Vulkan video driver, and runs fifteen native libretro cores in its releases, six of them (PSP, GameCube/Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo 3DS) rendering on the PS5's GPU. A sixteenth, RPCS3 (PlayStation 3), is available only as source that you build yourself. Input, stereo audio, configuration persistence and content browsing have been verified on a console. This is an active development project; the tested paths below do not imply complete core compatibility or Vulkan conformance.

Latest release: v0.5.7-alpha.5 (a new 4K launcher background; otherwise v0.5.6-alpha.5) — see its release notes and every release. v0.5.0-alpha.5 was the first release on RADV; v0.4.0-alpha.4 was the last on ps5vk, the project's first driver.

Table of contents

• Current status
• Available cores
• Graphics and native runtime
• Roadmap
• Build from source
• Install and file locations
• WebUI
• Testing and troubleshooting
• Documentation
• Authors and acknowledgements
• License and third-party terms

Current status

Feature	Status
Native title startup and Quit	✅ Working, including splash dismissal and clean native exit
Vulkan video output	✅ Menu and software-core frames presented through RADV, Mesa's Vulkan driver, linked into the title (PS5_Vulkan's port, reporting Vulkan 1.4). ps5vk remains a build option
XMB	✅ Default menu, with icons, fonts and background rendering
RGUI	✅ Alternative menu
Native controller input	✅ Buttons, left-stick menu navigation and button/axis binding capture
Controller feedback	Core rumble drives synthesized DualSense haptics, with ordinary rumble fallback if the haptic path fails. Native streaming verified; physical feel awaits confirmation. Inspired by PR #6.
Native audio	✅ audio_ps5 stereo PCM output, audible channel test and buffering diagnostics
Filesystem and configuration	✅ Directory browsing, configuration loading/saving and FTP-writable application folders
Core loading	✅ Native shared-core loader, official .info discovery and recovery from rejected loads
Content loading	✅ Tested games and archives with the cores below. Load Content opens two roots: INTERNAL, the title's folder, and EXTERNAL, the console's /mnt, where USB drives and extended storage mount. The title's sandbox hides /mnt for now, so EXTERNAL is empty
Colour and menu transitions	✅ Corrected pixel uploads; Quick Menu/Close Content/next-game transitions I verified on the console
Hardware-rendered cores	✅ PPSSPP, Dolphin, LRPS2, Beetle PSX HW, Mupen64Plus-Next (ParaLLEl-RDP) and Azahar render on RADV through their Vulkan renderers, with JITs where they have them, at up to 18× internal resolution; PPSSPP's MSAA renders, with the save-state caveat below
Shader cache	✅ RADV keeps compiled pipelines in radv-shader-cache/: a game's next start reads them back instead of compiling
Save states and fast-forward	✅ Save/load states (including --entryslot) and fast-forward, tested with PPSSPP and mGBA
120 Hz output	✅ 120 Hz by default where the display offers it; the refresh is measured, and a display that stays at 60 Hz gets 60 Hz
Stability	✅ On RADV (v0.5.6-alpha.5): every core in the release with its game through boot, the menu opened and closed twice, Close Content and a reload, at full speed before and after, with no crash (Beetle Saturn without a BIOS, so up to its BIOS check); earlier releases also passed a 10-minute PPSSPP soak with 25 menu toggles
CPU video fallback	✅ video_ps5 remains registered and selectable
Development diagnostics	✅ retroarch.log, startup/GPU trace, kernel captures and optional buffered frame timing

The v0.5.6-alpha.5 checks recorded no crash and no kernel fatal signal, and full-speed audio once each game had booted. These results apply to the tested games, not every possible workload; the release notes list them, and committed evidence holds earlier captures.

Available cores

The title build includes these cores and their official metadata. FCEUmm, mGBA, Snes9x, FBNeo, Genesis Plus GX, Beetle Saturn, VICE, MAME and DeSmuME render emulated games in software; RetroArch uploads their frames and presents them through Vulkan. PPSSPP, Dolphin, LRPS2, Beetle PSX HW, Mupen64Plus-Next and Azahar render on the GPU through RADV, with their Vulkan renderers.

The frontend now supplies balanced defaults for a 4K display. Internal rendering can be below 4K to leave GPU and memory headroom; RetroArch presents the result at the display resolution. These are starting settings, not a guarantee that every game runs at full speed. The console results in the table below describe previous tests, including the former showcase settings.

Core	Balanced internal resolution	Anti-aliasing
PPSSPP	6× (2880×1632)	8× MSAA
Dolphin	4×	Core default (no MSAA)
LRPS2	4× (~1440p)	Core default
Beetle PSX HW	8×	MSAA off (1×)
Mupen64Plus-Next	4× (unchanged)	Core default
Azahar	6× (2400×1440 top screen)	Core default
DeSmuME	4× (1024×768 per screen)	Core default

FCEUmm, mGBA, Snes9x, Genesis Plus GX, FBNeo, Beetle Saturn and VICE retain native rendering, scaled by RetroArch for the display. MAME uses its 4K target for vector games and native rendering for raster games. Renderer, JIT, filtering and accuracy options are unchanged. Higher resolutions remain selectable per game. RPCS3's separate source-only profile is unchanged.

Saved core, content-directory and game options take precedence over these new defaults. On an existing install, use Quick Menu → Core Options → Manage Core Options → Reset Core Options, then save the appropriate core/game options and Close Content, then reload. Reset Core Options resets all options for that core; to keep other custom settings, change only the resolution and MSAA entries listed above and save them instead. An existing game or directory override must also be updated if it supplies those values.

God of War: Chains of Olympus (PPSSPP): a user on firmware 5.02 reported an intro crash at 10× and working play at 6×. Their logs show 10× geometry, 8× MSAA pipelines and a null-pointer fault. The default now uses 6× with 8× MSAA, selected after the console save-state checks below; turning MSAA off leaves additional memory headroom.

The Ghost of Sparta save-state reproduction now reports the actual failure: Vulkan runs out of device memory at 10× with 8× MSAA. The new build checks image and view creation, reclaims retired GPU allocations and retries once. On the console, the first load recovered; an unrecoverable allocation after the second load closed content and returned to the frontend without the old null-image fault. This makes memory exhaustion recoverable; it does not make 10×/8× a recommended configuration.

The same state passed three loads and one save/load round trip at both 6× with MSAA off and 6× with 8× MSAA, each in an 80-second run with normal exit. The owner-selected default is now 6× with 8× MSAA; MSAA off remains a lower-cost option for demanding games. These tests cover one affected state, not every game, the original reporter's firmware 5.02 console, or a long soak. See the memory recovery test record.

Core	Systems covered by the core	Console verification in this port
FCEUmm	NES / Famicom	✅ Gameplay, audio and input; subsequent shared menu-transition fixes verified. Evidence
mGBA	Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance	✅ GB/GBC/GBA loading, corrected colours and clean menu/next-game transitions. Evidence
Snes9x	SNES / Super Famicom	✅ Tested gameplay, colours, audio/input and menu transitions; not every special chip or video mode. Evidence
FinalBurn Neo	Supported arcade boards, including Neo Geo and Sega System 16/32	✅ Tested arcade games using both native 32-bit and converted 16-bit output; not every board or ROM set. Evidence
Genesis Plus GX	Mega Drive / Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000, Sega CD	✅ Genesis gameplay and clean transitions, which I confirmed on the console. Other Sega systems and disc/BIOS paths still need separate acceptance. Evidence
PPSSPP v1.20.4	PlayStation Portable	✅ Tested games at 10× internal resolution (4800×2720), 16× anisotropy: correct picture, full speed at 120 Hz, save states, fast-forward, and closing and reopening games. MSAA renders on RADV (it needs render pass 2, which ps5vk lacked).
Dolphin 2609	GameCube, Wii	✅ GameCube and Wii games tested for up to an hour of play, with the JIT and fast memory, save states and closing and reopening games. One tested game still slows to about 76–85% at some transitions (see the release notes).
LRPS2 (PCSX2)	PlayStation 2	✅ Tested games at 6× internal resolution on the Vulkan hardware renderer, full speed, with multi-threaded VU1 and save states. Needs your own BIOS in system/pcsx2/bios/.
Beetle PSX HW	PlayStation	✅ 16× internal resolution on the Vulkan renderer, 32-bit colour, PGXP (no wobbling polygons), full speed, and closing and reopening the game. The disc image is read into memory at load. It runs with its built-in OpenBIOS; your own BIOS (scph5501.bin and the others its metadata lists) in system/ is used when present.
Mupen64Plus-Next	Nintendo 64	✅ ParaLLEl-RDP at 4× upscaling (the default since v0.5.6-alpha.5; 8× stays an option) and ParaLLEl-RSP, both JITs on: 59.9 fps with clean audio in the tested game, and closing and reopening it. A new upscaling factor takes effect when the game is started again (Close Content, then load it).
Beetle Saturn	Sega Saturn	⚠️ Loads, then needs your own BIOS in system/: mpr-17933.bin (US/EU) or sega_101.bin (JP). Without it the game refuses to load and the menu stays usable. Gameplay not yet tested.
VICE x64sc	Commodore 64	✅ A .d64 disk game at full speed, and closing and reopening it.
MAME 0.289	Arcade	✅ A tested game from a 0.289 non-merged set, BIOS in the same folder: full speed, and closing and reopening it. Raster games render at their native size and are scaled on the GPU. Vector games are drawn at 4K by MAME's alternate renderer (not yet tested on the console). Sets must match 0.289.
DeSmuME	Nintendo DS	✅ 5× (1280×960) with the JIT and eight rasterizer threads, full speed, and closing and reopening the game. 6× measured 93–95%.
Azahar	Nintendo 3DS	✅ 18× internal resolution (the most Azahar offers) on Vulkan, with asynchronous shader compilation and the JIT, full speed after boot, and closing and reopening the game. Decrypted games only.
RPCS3 (my fork)	PlayStation 3	⚠️ Not in any release: build it yourself from source (how; its licence, see License and third-party terms). On my console build: 4K at 60 fps in gameplay in one tested game, and 4K held at 30 fps in another (a game with only an "Unlock FPS" patch runs it with RPCS3's frame limit at 30 by default, the "Frame-rate patches" option), steady where the emulation keeps up, with its busiest scenes still at 24–27 fps. Needs your own PS3 system software (PS3UPDAT.PUP in system/RPCS3/) and your own games; a PSN purchase installs with its .rap licence file.

None of the games I tested with is provided. Use only legally obtained backups of games you own, and BIOS files dumped from your own hardware: piracy is not condoned.

Use FBNeo for Sega System 16/32 arcade sets, rather than Genesis Plus GX. FBNeo needs compatible arcade sets and receives its ZIP/7z archives intact. Archive support and BIOS requirements vary by core.

Core binaries must be built for this native pipeline and SDK. A desktop .so or a core from a different PS5 RetroArch distribution is not automatically compatible. No games or BIOS files are bundled.

Graphics and native runtime

Software core → video callback → RetroArch Vulkan video driver
                                → RADV, linked into the title → PS5 display
XMB / RGUI ──────────────────────┘
Hardware cores (PPSSPP, Dolphin, LRPS2, Beetle PSX HW,
Mupen64Plus-Next, Azahar) → Vulkan through RetroArch's HW context → RADV

PS5_Vulkan, which I also maintain, is the separate GPU-driver project used here. Since v0.5.0-alpha.5 the title links its port of RADV: Mesa's Vulkan driver and ACO compiler, unchanged but where the console differs, over a PS5 winsys, built from my Mesa fork PS5_Mesa; v0.5.6-alpha.5 links its revision 0b2d6d1. It reports Vulkan 1.4, and its conformance is that project's milestone: the full Khronos CTS runs on the console, and its second full run ended with no failure. Up to v0.4.0-alpha.4 the title linked ps5vk, the project's first driver, which PS5_VULKAN_DRIVER=ps5vk still builds.

The driver is linked into the title. Updating a driver checkout does not update the linked code: rebuild and redeploy the RetroArch title against the intended driver artifacts. A libvulkan.so.1 left in the title folder by an earlier release is ps5vk's and is not used.

This repository supplies the frontend/platform integration, native audio and input backends, core loader, build scripts and console validation. Core-side pixel adapters preserve the renderer's buffers while matching the frontend's upload format. The CPU video backend remains available as a fallback; the current default is video_driver = "vulkan", menu_driver = "xmb".

PPSSPP's JIT runs: its code memory is mapped read-write and then made executable, and its fast-memory fault handler reads the console's own signal context layout. The port builds PPSSPP v1.20.4 with one patch (patches/ppsspp/ps5-port.patch) and FFmpeg 3.0.2 for game videos. It starts with the frontend's balanced defaults (6× internal resolution, 8× MSAA), retaining 16× anisotropy, auto max-quality filtering, hardware transform, software skinning, no frameskip and no speed hacks. The core's older one-time profile migration still sets an existing PPSSPP.opt aside as PPSSPP.opt.before-ps5-profile if its v1 marker is absent; this update does not repeat that migration. The native loader has explicit limits, including no TLS or general exception-unwind registration, and it waits for a core's threads to finish before unmapping the core.

The CPU heap and Vulkan allocations use the same console direct-memory pool. The heap commits memory on demand; each core does not receive a separate 11.65 GiB allowance. SDK f674976 replaces busy allocator waits with sleeping waits and exposes the pool's free space and largest contiguous block. This avoids consuming a CPU while another thread owns an allocator lock; it does not promise a particular frame-rate increase.

PPSSPP uses that shared-pool snapshot to trim unused textures and temporary framebuffers under pressure. It keeps recent textures and guest framebuffer contents, waits for submitted work before reclaiming retired GPU objects, and retries a failed framebuffer allocation once. If image or image-view creation still fails, it requests a controlled content shutdown with an explanation instead of passing a missing image to the driver. Internal resolution and MSAA are not silently changed. trace.txt records CPU heap use, GPU allocations, free space, largest free block and allocation results around state loads and these failures; an unavailable measurement is explicitly marked unknown.

Roadmap

✅ = verified for the stated scope. ❌ = pending implementation or acceptance in this port, even if upstream RetroArch already offers the feature.

Frontend and platform

• ✅ Native startup and clean exit.
• ✅ GPU presentation through PS5_Vulkan; selectable CPU fallback.
• ✅ XMB, with RGUI retained.
• ✅ Native input, analog menu navigation and remapping.
• ✅ Native stereo audio and buffering diagnostics.
• ✅ Filesystem browsing, configuration persistence and content loading.
• ✅ Native core loading, metadata and failed-load recovery.
• ❌ Save RAM and save-state persistence verified across restarts and core changes.
• ❌ Core-option persistence and per-game/per-core overrides fully validated.
• ❌ BIOS/system-file coverage, disc swapping and multi-disc acceptance tests.
• ❌ RetroAchievements and netplay; RetroArch’s netplay and achievement networking remain disabled; the separate local WebUI service is available.
• ❌ User Slang shader presets and multipass effects validated on PS5_Vulkan.
• ✅ 120 Hz output where the display offers it, with a 60 Hz fallback chosen by measuring the refresh.
• ❌ No core losing speed while a shader compiles. On RADV (Alpha 5), PPSSPP's compiles on its own threads no longer cost it speed, and a game's second start reads its pipelines from the cache; Dolphin's first start of a game still compiles its ubershaders at a cost (see the release notes).
• ✅ Save states and fast-forward, including PPSSPP.
• ❌ 4K output/upscaling, VRR and HDR validated in this application.
• ❌ Low-latency features, runahead and sustained per-core performance measurements.
• ❌ Broader compatibility testing and release qualification.

Cores

Status	Core / milestone
✅	FCEUmm — NES
✅	mGBA — GB / GBC / GBA
✅	Snes9x — SNES
✅	FBNeo — tested arcade games
✅	Genesis Plus GX — tested Genesis gameplay
❌	Beetle PCE — PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16, SuperGrafx and CD; next proposed addition
❌	Stella — Atari 2600; candidate
❌	PicoDrive — add Sega 32X coverage; candidate
✅	MAME 0.289 — arcade; tested games only
✅	Beetle PSX HW — PlayStation, Vulkan renderer at 16×
✅	Mupen64Plus-Next — Nintendo 64, ParaLLEl-RDP at 4× (8× selectable)
🚧	Beetle Saturn — Sega Saturn; needs a gameplay test with a BIOS
✅	VICE x64sc — Commodore 64
✅	DeSmuME — Nintendo DS at 5×
✅	Azahar — Nintendo 3DS, Vulkan at 18×
❌	EXTERNAL storage (USB, extended storage) readable from inside the title's sandbox
✅	PPSSPP — PSP, Vulkan rendering and JIT; tested games only
✅	PPSSPP MSAA — render pass 2 and depth/stencil resolve, on RADV
✅	Dolphin — GameCube and Wii, Vulkan rendering and JIT; tested games, long play and the enhancement profiles
✅	LRPS2 — PlayStation 2, Vulkan hardware renderer at 4K; tested games only
🚧	LRPS2 — upstream PCSX2's newer renderer fixes, 8× internal resolution and texture replacement
🚧	RPCS3 — PlayStation 3 at 4K; source only, never in a release (build it yourself); the busiest scenes of a 30 fps game still below 30

Future entries are development targets, not a promised release order. Hardware rendering introduces new Vulkan requirements beyond presenting software frames; PPSSPP was the first core to exercise them, and six cores do now.

Build from source

The current build uses Linux host tools and the project's cached public PS5 SDK. Start with bash tools/doctor.sh for host-tool checks. You also need curl, patch, pkg-config, ELF utilities such as readelf, and working host C/C++ compilers with sanitizer support for the tests. The target scripts currently use /usr/bin/clang through the SDK wrappers.

Prepare and build PS5_Vulkan following its own instructions, normally as a sibling directory:

workspace/
├── PS5_RetroArch/
├── PS5_Vulkan/       # The RADV release archive, its link recipe and dependencies
├── PS5_Mesa/         # My Mesa fork, which PS5_Vulkan builds RADV from
└── PS5_PayloadSDK/   # My payload SDK fork and its platform layer, at a pinned revision

The cores that needed changes for the console build from my forks of them (PS5_LRPS2, PS5_BeetlePSX, PS5_Mupen64Plus, PS5_BeetleSaturn, PS5_VICE, PS5_MAME, PS5_DeSmuME, PS5_Azahar with PS5_Dynarmic, and, for builds you make yourself, PS5_RPCS3 with PS5_LLVM), each pinned by revision in its build script. The script uses the sibling checkout when there is one, and github.com/mihawk-99/<fork> otherwise.

The title build consumes PS5_Vulkan's RADV release archive (tools/build-radv.sh release there, built from PS5_Mesa at the revision it pins) and links it with that project's tools/radv-link.sh; it does not build the driver for you. PS5_VULKAN_DRIVER=ps5vk links ps5vk's driver, Vulkan runtime and shader-compiler archives instead, and RADV_ARCHIVE names another RADV archive. PS5_VULKAN_DIR can select an alternative checkout for the build; some host tests currently require the sibling layout above. Driver dependencies and setup requirements are documented in the driver repository.

From the RetroArch repository root:

make deps
export PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK="$PWD/.deps/native/ps5-payload-sdk"
export PS5_CLANG=/usr/bin/clang
bash tools/fetch-retroarch.sh
bash tools/build-title.sh     # Create the artifacts inspected by the host tests
bash tools/verify.sh

The five gates are format → unit → build → integration → evidence. The build pins RetroArch 1.22.2, fetches core sources/metadata with checked hashes, builds the frontend and all sixteen cores, and stages the native title in dist/PPSA99169/ (a release build, PS5_RELEASE_TAG set, leaves RPCS3 out). The initial dependency/source fetch requires network access.

For an already configured checkout:

bash tools/build-title.sh     # Build/stage the frontend and all shipped cores
make genesis-plus-gx         # Build and ABI-check one core only
# Other core targets: fceumm, mgba, snes9x, fbneo
bash tools/build-ppsspp.sh   # The larger cores have scripts of their own:
                             # build-ppsspp.sh, build-dolphin.sh, build-lrps2.sh,
                             # build-beetle-psx.sh, build-mupen64plus.sh,
                             # build-beetle-saturn.sh, build-vice.sh,
                             # build-mame.sh, build-desmume.sh, build-azahar.sh,
                             # build-rpcs3.sh (your own builds only)

When adding or updating a core, rebuild the title too: the frontend's native import table and build identity depend on the shipped core binaries. Source patches live in patches/; fetched and generated trees stay in ignored vendor/, .deps/, build/ and dist/ directories.

PlayStation 3 (RPCS3): build it yourself

No release of this title carries RPCS3, and none will while its licence stands as it does: RPCS3 is GPL-2.0-only, and the title it runs in is GPL-3.0-or-later (this port's runtime is linked into the core, and the core runs against the title's GPL-3.0 platform code), so the two cannot be handed out together as one program. What is public is the source: my fork PS5_RPCS3 and this repository's build scripts. If you want RPCS3, you must compile it yourself, for your own console:

bash tools/build-title.sh     # a development build: the frontend and every core, RPCS3 included

Leave PS5_RELEASE_TAG unset: a release build (PS5_RELEASE_TAG=...) leaves RPCS3 out, and tools/check-notices.py --release refuses a title with any RPCS3 file in it. Build the whole title, not the core alone: the title's native import table is made from the cores it is built with, so a release title cannot load an RPCS3 core built on its own. tools/build-rpcs3.sh builds only the core (from PS5_RPCS3, with LLVM from my fork PS5_LLVM, at their pinned revisions), for work on it.

Keep what you build for your own console: do not share, upload or redistribute the binaries you build. RPCS3 needs your own copy of the PS3 system software (PS3UPDAT.PUP, from Sony's official PS3 system software update page) in system/RPCS3/, where it installs on the first start, and your own games: a disc you own, dumped yourself, or a PSN purchase with its .rap licence file. Piracy is not condoned.

Install and file locations

The verified deployment is a homebrew title folder, not a retail package. Copy the complete dist/PPSA99169/ tree to the title location used by your configured homebrew launcher. The current validation setup uses /data/homebrew/PPSA99169/. This project does not install a jailbreak or launcher.

/app0 is the running application's mount point. Over FTP, use the corresponding title folder instead:

Purpose	Under /data/homebrew/PPSA99169/	In RetroArch
Native cores	cores/	/app0/cores/
Core metadata	info/, with compatibility copies in cores/	/app0/info/
Games	content/	/app0/content/
BIOS/system data	system/	/app0/system/
PS2 BIOS (your own dump)	system/pcsx2/bios/	/app0/system/pcsx2/bios/
PS3 system software, RPCS3's drives (your own build only)	system/RPCS3/	/app0/system/RPCS3/
Live configuration	config/retroarch.cfg	/app0/config/retroarch.cfg
Save RAM	savefiles/	/app0/savefiles/
Save states	savestates/	/app0/savestates/
RADV shader cache	radv-shader-cache/	/app0/radv-shader-cache/

RADV creates radv-shader-cache/ itself, open to FTP like the other folders; deleting it only makes the next start compile again. ps5vk-shader-cache/ and sce_module/libvulkan.so.1, left by releases up to v0.4.0-alpha.4, are not used since v0.5.0-alpha.5 and can be deleted.

Everything you put in content/ and system/ must be your own legally obtained backups: games you own, and BIOS or firmware dumped from hardware you own. Piracy is not condoned.

For FBNeo, use system/fbneo/ for its system files. Genesis Plus GX's Sega CD BIOS filenames belong in the configured system/ root, as listed by its metadata.

The application creates its managed writable folders and seeds live settings only when no live configuration exists. Ordinary scripted updates preserve user content and saved settings. Existing settings can therefore keep RGUI selected even though XMB is the packaged default. Back up user files before any clean removal; --clean removes the entire title folder.

tools/deploy-title.py publishes a built dist/PPSA99169/ over FTP and reads every file back; console details belong in the ignored .env, based on .env.example.

WebUI

Start RetroArch, then open http://<console-IP>:6769 in a browser on the same network. The WebUI starts automatically and stops when RetroArch exits. It uses local HTML, CSS, JavaScript, fonts and artwork; only the GitHub release check needs internet access. This feature is in the source build and will be included in the next release.

• Overview: release status, release notes, upload destination, recent transfers and quick settings. Published builds compare their tag against this repository’s releases, including alpha releases. Development builds identify themselves without claiming to be up to date. “View repository” opens GitHub; updates are not installed automatically.
• Content: browse the title’s content/ folder, create subfolders, upload files by dropping them or choosing Browse files, and download existing files. Uploads stream to storage, support cancellation, and refuse existing names. The per-file limit is 64 GiB. Free space is not reported on PS5 because its compatibility API does not provide a measured value.
• Transfers: progress and results from the current browser session. Downloads are handled by the browser’s download manager.
• Settings: volume, rumble strength, scaling, vertical sync, automatic states, advanced settings visibility and the console menu. Saved changes apply the next time RetroArch starts. WebUI light/dark appearance applies immediately and is remembered only in that browser.

Browser changes are saved separately in config/webui.cfg; explicitly supplied launch overrides take precedence. Uploads are confined to content/, and the service does not expose arbitrary console paths. This is a local-network HTTP service without a login: use it on a trusted network and do not forward port 6769 to the internet.

The purple layout and discreet creator portrait are made for this project. The HTTP transport uses GNU libmicrohttpd, following ps5-payload-dev/websrv.

Testing and troubleshooting

A successful build proves neither gameplay nor correct rendering. Core acceptance includes native loading, gameplay, colour checks, audio/input, Quick Menu → Close Content, and loading another game. I record my own visual confirmation on the console alongside the logs; a camera can miss refresh-synchronous flicker.

Before each release every core in it runs its game on the console: boot, the menu opened and closed twice, Close Content and a reload, with its frame rate, audio and a screenshot checked before and after. The release notes give the results; they are the tested games, not a core's upstream feature list.

For reports, include the core, game-file format, relevant settings, reproduction steps and whether the application was closed manually. Preserve retroarch.log and trace.txt before reopening: the frontend log is replaced on a new launch. The test tools retain kernel captures in ignored klog/. Redact private paths, console addresses and credentials before sharing logs.

Old gpu-buffers-*.bin, gpu-stages-*.bin and gpu-tables-*.bin files are temporary rendering diagnostics from earlier investigations. They are not required runtime assets and can be removed. Keep the normal development logs when reporting bugs.

Documentation

Each release's notes on the Releases page are the public record of what changed, what was tested and what is known not to work. The committed evidence holds machine-readable captures and their expected results. My design notes, logs and procedures are kept locally and are not published.

Authors and acknowledgements

This port builds on substantial upstream and PS5 homebrew work. Credits below identify project authors and teams; their repositories retain the full contributor lists and original notices.

Frontend, platform and graphics

Project / author	Contribution
Mihawk — PS5_RetroArch, PS5_Vulkan, PS5_Mesa, PS5_PayloadSDK	This native RetroArch port and core integration; the PS5 Vulkan drivers (the RADV port and ps5vk); the Mesa fork with the PS5 winsys; the payload SDK fork and its platform layer; the PS5 forks of the cores below
RetroArch / libretro contributors	Frontend, libretro API, menus, video pipeline and shared libraries
BlackBearReloaded — ProsperoLight	Project starting point and reference for native PS5 input and audio integration
BlackBearReloaded — PS5 Native App Boilerplate	Underlying native title tooling, ELF/FSELF conversion and runtime-shim foundation
John Törnblom and ps5-payload-dev contributors	Public PS5 Payload SDK, toolchain and API stubs; PacBrew ports infrastructure
John Törnblom / ps5-payload-dev — websrv	Reference for per-core fetch/build/stage scripts; this port uses a separate native title pipeline
BlackBearReloaded — ps5-opengl	Shader-compiler and graphics foundations consumed by PS5_Vulkan; not the active RetroArch video backend
Mesa contributors	RADV, the Vulkan driver the title renders through, with its ACO compiler, NIR, the Vulkan runtime and utilities
Khronos Group	Vulkan API headers and specification
RetroArch assets contributors and the M+ Fonts project	Packaged XMB assets and font; original notices retained
LLVM / Clang contributors, zlib authors Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler	Compilation and compression tooling

Emulator cores

Core	Authors / maintainers credited by upstream
FCEUmm	FCEU Team, CaH4e3 and contributors
mGBA	endrift and contributors
Snes9x	Snes9x Team and contributors
FinalBurn Neo	Team FBNeo and contributors
Genesis Plus GX	Charles MacDonald, Eke-Eke and contributors
PPSSPP	Henrik Rydgård and contributors
Dolphin, libretro/dolphin	Dolphin Emulator Project and contributors; libretro core maintainers
PCSX2, LRPS2	PCSX2 Dev Team and contributors; libretro LRPS2 maintainers
Beetle PSX HW, Beetle Saturn	The Mednafen authors and contributors; libretro Beetle maintainers
Mupen64Plus-Next	Mupen64Plus team and contributors; libretro core maintainers; ParaLLEl-RDP and ParaLLEl-RSP by Hans-Kristian Arntzen (Themaister) and contributors
VICE	The VICE Team and contributors; libretro core maintainers
MAME	MAMEdev and contributors
DeSmuME	DeSmuME team and contributors
Azahar, Dynarmic	Azahar contributors, building on Citra; Dynarmic by merryhime and contributors
RPCS3	RPCS3 Team and contributors
libretro core-info	Metadata maintainers and contributors

License and third-party terms

This repository's own code is GPL-3.0-or-later (LICENSE). Most source files carry a copyright and SPDX notice; the ones that do not (for example src/memory_ps5.cpp and the build scripts in tools/) are under the same licence. Code inherited from BlackBearReloaded's ps5-native-app-boilerplate and ProsperoLight is Copyright (C) 2026 BlackBearReloaded, GPL-3.0-or-later. The title's sce_module/libc.prx is generated by this repository (runtime/).

Every built title folder carries LEGAL.txt (the legal notice above) and licenses/: the licence texts each part requires, and components.json, which ties every executable file to the source revision it was built from (tooling/notices/components.json). Each release also carries the source archives of everything in it. Releases up to v0.5.0-alpha.5 were published without licenses/.

RPCS3 is licensed GPL-2.0-only, which is incompatible with this port's GPL-3.0-or-later. For that reason no release of this title contains RPCS3 or any of its files, and you must compile it yourself from source if you want it (see PlayStation 3 (RPCS3): build it yourself); the binaries you build are for your own console only.

The cores keep their own licences, and they differ:

Licence	Cores
GPL-2.0-or-later	FCEUmm, PPSSPP, Dolphin, Beetle PSX HW, Beetle Saturn, Mupen64Plus-Next (with MIT and LGPL parts), VICE, DeSmuME, Azahar (Dynarmic is 0BSD), MAME (as a whole; many files BSD-3-Clause)
GPL-3.0-or-later	LRPS2 (PCSX2)
GPL-2.0-only	RPCS3: not in any release; compile it yourself from source. Its source is public and it builds with this repository, but it cannot be distributed together with this port's GPL-3.0 code
MPL-2.0	mGBA
Non-commercial licences	Snes9x, FinalBurn Neo, Genesis Plus GX: they may not be sold or used commercially, and FBNeo's forbids asking for donations for a project that uses its code

Assets and fonts keep their licences too: the XMB theme is CC-BY-4.0 with the M+ font licence, PPSSPP's fonts are OFL-1.1, and Dolphin's Sys files carry theirs. The launcher backgrounds (sce_sys/pic0.dds, pic1.dds) are drawn by tools/make-title-art.py, under this repository's licence.

No games, BIOS files, firmware or keys are included, and piracy is not condoned. Use only legally obtained backups of games you own and system files dumped from hardware you own.

This is an independent homebrew project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, the Khronos Group or the libretro project. PlayStation and PS5 are Sony trademarks. Vulkan is a registered trademark of the Khronos Group Inc.; the RADV port this title uses is not a Khronos-conformant product (see PS5_Vulkan). RetroArch is the libretro project's name and logo, used here to name the frontend this port is built from.