PlayStation 5 emulators

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PlayStation 5
Ps5.png
Developer Sony
Type Home video game console
Generation Ninth generation
Release date 2020
Predecessor PlayStation 4 (Pro)
Emulated

The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced in 2018 as the successor to the PlayStation 4, the PS5 was released by Sony on November 12, 2020, in most countries.

The platform launched in two varieties: a base model with an Ultra HD Blu-ray-compatible optical disc drive that retailed for $499 and a Digital Edition lacking this drive that retailed for $399, serving as a lower-cost variant for consumers who prefer to buy games through digital download.

It uses a custom 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor running at 3.5GHz, supported by 16GB/256-bit GDDR6 Ram, with 512MB of DDR4 RAM (used as SSD controller cache). It is also the first PlayStation console to use an SSD for storage.

The console’s architecture is very similar to that of a PS4, so a PS4 emulator may support PS5 in the future, similar to how Dolphin supports Wii while originally being a GameCube emulator.

Rumors swirl around a potential mid-generation revision of the PlayStation 5 (probably PlayStation 5 Pro), similar to previous console generation.

Emulators

THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO EMULATORS FOR THIS DEVICE THAT CAN RUN COMMERCIAL GAMES AND/OR SOFTWARE.

Compatibility layers (...)

THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO EMULATORS FOR THIS DEVICE THAT CAN RUN COMMERCIAL GAMES AND/OR SOFTWARE.

Name Platform(s) Latest Version Hardware features
and peripherals
Enhancements FLOSS Active Recommended
PC / x86
Kyty Windows git

Comparisons

Compatibility layers
Kyty
A compatibility layer for the PS4 and PS5 by InoriRus, the creator of Short Waves. It was in the early stages of development. Can boot some lightweight PS4 games and PS5 homebrews with graphical output.

Enhancements

Name Emulator name
(N/A)
Graphics Resizable Internal Resolution
Texture Replacement
Ultrawide hack
Widescreen already supported on PlayStation 5 system.
But there is no support by system for render games in other ratios such as ultrawide 21:9 or super ultrawide 32:9.
Ray-tracing
(DXR, VRT and MRT)
Ray-tracing already supported on PlayStation 5.
But there are ways to improve path-tracing implementation even further like increasing ray length or more rays per light source etc.
Pre-rendering AA
(MSAA, SSAA)
Super-resolution techniques
(DLSS, XeSS and FSR 2+)
FSR 3 is already supported on PlayStation 5.
Rumors suggest the upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro revision most likely include support for a new super-resolution technique called PSSR.
RTX Remix Implementing RTX Remix technology in an emulator is unfortunately quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future.
Performance Overclock
Internal Framerate Hack
Frame generation technologies
(LSFG, DLSS-G, ExtraSS and AFMF)
AFMF is (technically) already supported on PlayStation 5.
Rendering latency reduction technologies
(LatencyFleX, Reflex and Anti-Lag+)
While most emulators offer frame pacing or framebuffer latency control options, implementing rendering latency reduction technologies isn't currently feasible. This is likely doesn't offer enough benefit to justify the development effort.
Post-Processing Post-rendering AA
(FXAA, TXAA and MLAA/SMAA)
Post-rendering scaling
(Sharp bilinear, Lanczos and FSR 1)
FSR 3 is already supported on PlayStation 5.
Filters
AI-powered filter compatible
(Freestyle)
Shader Chain
Inverse tone mapping compatible PlayStation 5 system already supports HDR in some games.
TAS features Macros/Scripts/Lua
Rewind
Fast-Forward/Turbo Speed
Savestates
Movie recording/playback
Controls Mouse Injector Compatible
Input lag-mitigating technique
Quality of life Streamable compression format
Built-in Graphics mod editor/manager
Built-in Cheat Manager
Per-Game Profiles
Command Line Options
Built-in Custom resolution/CRTSwitchRes
For using this on Windows OS you need CRT Emudriver.
Another option is using EDID editor tool such as "Custom Resolution Utility".
N/A
Eighth gen home consoles and beyond only have digital video output anyway.
Big Picture Mode
Misc RetroAchievements
EmuVR support Exclusive to libretro cores. So there is no support at the moment.
Free Look
Free Look is a enhancement feature that allows manipulation of the in-game camera.
While freecam would be technically possible, it will require per-game patches.
Said patches would require a significant amount of time to reverse the game's engine, which means that only someone talented with enough dedication to a single game could do it.
Debug Features


Hardware features and peripherals

Hardware features Emulator name
(N/A)
System software Home screen and apps
Trophies
Backwards
compatibility
PlayStation 2 emulation
(incl. PS2 Classics)
PlayStation emulation
(incl. PSOne Classics)
PSP emulation for Digital PSP titles
PlayStation 4
PlayStation Network
Tempest Engine 3D audio technology
Adaptive triggers
Controller's haptic feedback
Controller's speaker support
Microphone support
Motion controls
Touchpad
Light Bar
DS Edge's Back Buttons mapping
Ultra HD Blu-ray drive
PS4 Save File Transfer
Peripherals
Controller DualSense
DualShock 4
WebCam PlayStation Camera
HD Camera
Motion PlayStation VR2
PlayStation VR
PlayStation Move
Aim Controller
Remote Control
Pulse 3D wireless headset
Rock Band peripherals

Home screen and apps

psdevwiki: PlayStation 5 system software section
Wikipedia: List of PlayStation applications

PlayStation Home Menu is a graphical user interface developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. You can launch various applications from this interface as well.

  • No emulator supports this at the moment.

Trophies

PSNProfiles: PlayStation 5 Trophies

Trophies are PlayStation Network awards presented to players for completing specific tasks in a game. The feature is present in most PlayStation 3 games, and all PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games.[1] Trophies shouldn't be confused with RetroAchievements.

Ultra HD Blu-ray drive

PlayStation 4(Pro) and PlayStation 5 consoles supports Blu-ray Disc Video and DVD-Video but only PlayStation 5 supports 4K Ultra HD. However it does not have the capability to play VCDs, additionally, the format is not supported by the consoles system software.

See this dedicated page for more information about home media playback support for emulation softwares.
See Ripping_games.
Also see psdevwiki: multimedia support

Emulation issues

Due to the PS5's x86 architecture and FreeBSD-based operating system, emulators for the device will, by and large, be very unconventional. Despite the x86's instruction set being huge[1], a trait that would typically lead to years of development time by emulators, it opens the ability for pre-existing hypervisors to do the heavy lifting, eliminating the need for a recompiler. There is also, as of this time, little to no documentation on the GPU used in the PS5's APU, and it will require a complete re-implementation by emulator developers.

In recent years many PlayStation 5 exclusive titles are now being ported to PC with enhancements, so similar to PlayStation 4 (Pro), Xbox One (X|S) and Xbox Series X|S situations this could lead to a decreased interest in development. Having said that, there are still considerable amount of games exclusive to those consoles, this includes games for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S that haven't been ported and titles lacking enhanced/next-gen update for PC. See List of notable ports#External_links section for all of those games.

Fake emulators

Because most people don't understand how emulation works, scammers try and take advantage of this by making fake emulators for malicious purposes. The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 has seen its fair share of scams, the most notable and persistent of which being PCSX4. The scheme is very elaborate and clever, with a website designed to mimic RPCS3's while using a similar naming scheme as PCSX and PCSX2 (both of which are legitimate). The site uses aggressive search engine optimization (SEO), meaning it's one of the top results for "PS4 emulator" or "PS5 emulator" on Google. Two things invalidate PCSX4's legitimacy:

  • The obstruction of the download behind endless surveys. Emulator development nowadays gets its funding from Patreon or Google Play.
  • It is fairly easy to fake a PS4 (and even PS5) emulator by taking the open-source Chiaki Remote Play client, which works by streaming games from an actual PS4, and modifying the GUI to display fake hardware usage stats alongside the game. If its claims of running any PS4 game in 4K at 60FPS with little to no issues were true, there would certainly be news articles about it, just like there were for Cemu.

Reverse engineering PlayStation 5

See these resources for reverse engineering PlayStation 5;

General
Graphics
Reversing
PlayStation 5 specific
CPU
  • N/A
GPU
  • N/A
Misc

External links

  • x86 instruction listings