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[IbizaPocholo]

With the announcement of Sony pulling back from PC ports of their single player games, its unlikely that many classic exclusive PS4 games will ever leave the hardware, but thanks to incredible advancements in PS4 Emulation over the past few years, ShadPS4 - the premier PS4 emulator - is slowly but getting into game with many AAA exclusive titles, and in some instances offering playable experiences. We take a look at the latest development with PS4 emulation on PC, showcasing various games. This video covers the progress of PS4 on PC with a look at the incredible advancements in PS4 emulation technology

• (00:00–00:44) PlayStation 4 emulation has become more important recently, especially after reports that some PlayStation single-player exclusives may remain locked to consoles instead of getting PC ports. This makes the shadPS4 emulator increasingly relevant for playing those titles on PC.
• (00:44–01:12) Over the last 4 months, shadPS4 has seen major improvements in compatibility and performance, with several previously unplayable games now reaching "in-game" status or becoming partially playable.
• (01:39–02:47) God of War III Remastered runs surprisingly well on the emulator at around 60 FPS, though visual issues (lighting and bloom) still exist. While RPCS3 remains the best way to play the PS3 version today, shadPS4 may eventually become the definitive PC method.
• (03:08–04:34) The racing game Driveclub is now playable on PC through the emulator. Despite graphical glitches (like sky textures), gameplay works well and demonstrates strong progress for PS4 emulation.
• (04:55–05:35) Some users may encounter launch issues with Driveclub, but updating emulator modules and installing patch version 1.28 fixes freezes at the title screen.
• (05:35–07:26) The Last Guardian runs on shadPS4 with higher resolution and a 60 FPS patch, but the game is not fully playable yet due to crashes early in the story (e.g., when entering water).
• (08:07–09:27) Gravity Rush Remastered is reportedly fully playable from start to finish, with occasional crashes. Gravity Rush 2 can now reach gameplay sections in newer emulator builds.
• (09:49–11:04) The horror demo P.T. can now launch and enter gameplay in the emulator for the first time, though severe graphical glitches make it mostly unplayable.
• (11:04–12:07) Overall compatibility growth has been rapid, and the emulator already allows several formerly PS4-exclusive games to run on PC. Continued development and nightly updates suggest even better compatibility in the coming months.

 

[Gonzito]

Modders are great people

 

[Ellis]

Needs improvements to the shader compilation for me to seriously look at it as an alternative to just playing them on PS5. Great to see steady progress though.

 

[Bojji]

Needs improvements to the shader compilation for me to seriously look at it as an alternative to just playing them on PS5. Great to see steady progress though.

You can't really avoid shader compilation on emulators. There are of course better and worse ways of doing it.

I remember first time seeing it with dolphin or something...

 

[IbizaPocholo]

I talk a lot about why retro gaming is making a comeback on the channel...but obviously we all play modern games as well...and ShadPS4 just got a big update with ShadPS4 0.15.0, giving us better PS4 emulation all around! Because PS4 emulators do exist (I am sure you knew that but...ya know)

 

[Gitaroo]

anyone able to get nvidia smooth motion to work with this?

 

[Holammer]

ShadPS4 emulating Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled will be big, not Bloodborne big, but it'll make some waves, another game denied to the PC crowd.
Switch version works great, at 240fps even, but they absolutely butchered the graphics.

There's still time for Activision to release it on PC before ShadPS4 runs it! That or a remake with Crash's new visual style.

 

[Moondoggy]

Bloodbourne on PC, get you some GAF.

 

[Kadve]

Love how everyone (including the devs themselves) keeps calling this thing an Emulator when it's not one. It's a PS4 combability layer for Windows. Similar to the one that lets you run 32 Bit applications on 64 Bit windows. Or Wine and Proton on Linux.

 

[Kataploom]

Love how everyone (including the devs themselves) keeps calling this thing an Emulator when it's not one. It's a PS4 combability layer for Windows. Similar to the one that lets you run 32 Bit applications on 64 Bit windows. Or Wine and Proton on Linux.

Wait WHAT?! Is it? I thought emulating a PS4 would be easy because of x86, but not this easy

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Bloodbourne on PC, get you some GAF.

Some of us keep getting some. I cleared out RE9, finally. I think I will go through Bloodborne again at 3440 by 1440p ultrawide, 60FPS. It looks really good now at days and very stable!!

 

[Moondoggy]

Some of us keep getting some. I cleared out RE9, finally. I think I will go through Bloodborne again at 3440 by 1440p ultrawide, 60FPS. It looks really good now at days and very stable!!

Do you have the dynamic lighting turned on, looks so good.

 

[daninthemix]

Any eta on ShadPS5?

 

[The Mad Draklor]

I wonder how the Vanillaware games run on ShadPS4.

 

[Holammer]

I wonder how the Vanillaware games run on ShadPS4.

I tried Odin Sphere Leiftharasir & 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. They seemed to work flawlessly with about 1h of testing each.
GrimGrimoire OnceMore & Dragon's Crown Pro are listed as playable, but I haven't personally tried them.

Unicorn Overlord starts but is prone to crashing afaik.

 

[nkarafo]

Love how everyone (including the devs themselves) keeps calling this thing an Emulator when it's not one. It's a PS4 combability layer for Windows. Similar to the one that lets you run 32 Bit applications on 64 Bit windows. Or Wine and Proton on Linux.

Source?

 

[raul3d]

Source?

It is incorrect. Here is an explanation how shadPS4 works:
https://github.com/shadps4-emu/shadPS4/issues/1512#issuecomment-2491802808

 

[Kadve]

Source?

It is incorrect. Here is an explanation how shadPS4 works:
https://github.com/shadps4-emu/shadPS4/issues/1512#issuecomment-2491802808

Ok, it's something of a hybrid.

We don't emulate the CPU - any guest code is executed natively, which is why the emulator is currently only available for x86 CPUs (excluding ARM Mac computers with the Rosetta recompiler).
We act as a compatibility layer by doing a reimplementation of the system libraries.
We're also an emulator since the GPU has to be fully emulated. The GPU is the only portion of the PS4's hardware that is emulated.