PSXS5 2.2.0: SwanStation as a third emulator, games from USB drives, a smooth boot intro, and a long list of fixes from testers.
SwanStation
- A third emulator (Settings → System → Emulator): SwanStation, libretro's fork of DuckStation, drawing with Vulkan and running its fast CPU recompiler. Your settings (internal resolution, PGXP, true colour, anti-aliasing, texture filtering, fast CD loading, widescreen, overclock...) apply to it too, and it uses the same memory card as the other emulators, so your saves follow you. Thanks to darkxex's SwanStationPS5 port, which PSXS5 builds on.
- Save states say which emulator made them. Each emulator has its own state format; loading a state made by another one now tells you which, instead of calling the slot empty.
Games on USB drives
- Games are found in
PSXS5/,PSXS5/games/ordata/PSXS5/games/on any USB drive or extended storage, in every format PSXS5 reads (CHD, CUE/BIN, PBP, ISO, IMG, MDF, CCD, M3U). - The BIOS is taken from
PSXS5/biosordata/PSXS5/bioson the drive when the console'sbiosfolder has none.
New options
- Run-ahead (1 or 2 frames): less input lag.
- NeGcon analog gas and brake on R2 / L2 for NeGcon racing games, and the touchpad as a PlayStation Mouse for mouse games.
- PS1 startup intro: the white Sony screen and the PlayStation logo, as on the real console.
- Disc launch animation: the disc slides out of its case and spins up when a game starts (it can be switched off).
- Sharpening, true colour (32-bit, no dot pattern), smooth video colours for FMV, and faster screen effects (Beetle).
- RetroAchievements sign-in from the phone page. Your password goes to retroachievements.org only; PSXS5 keeps the sign-in token.
- Settings tabs across the top, switched with L1 / R1.
Fixes
- The boot intro and screen effects show properly with Beetle. The white Sony screen froze and jumped between old pictures, and effects drawn straight to the screen (Final Fantasy VII's battle swirl) didn't show.
- No more stall when a game switches video modes (the white Sony screen to the PlayStation logo, menus to gameplay): Beetle's renderer was rebuilt each time, for seconds at high internal resolutions.
- Effects compile once. Beetle's shader cache is saved, so a new effect only stutters the first time it's seen.
- Save states work in Final Fantasy VII and other big games: rewind now keeps Beetle's real state size (about 4 MB, not 16 MB), which left too little memory to save.
- No black screen while a game loads: the disc keeps spinning with "Loading...".
- Fast CD loading no longer breaks video sound: the disc is read at normal speed while a video plays.
- Disc changes register: the lid stays open for a moment, so games like Final Fantasy IX notice the new disc.
- Supersampling is done by PSXS5 at the screen's resolution (it flickered before).
- Resume no longer presses Cross in the game.
- Gran Turismo and other stick games start in analog mode with Beetle, and stay analog when an older save state is loaded.
- CHD, MDF and CCD games get their serial, so region and covers work. Covers can also be found by name when a disc's serial is unknown, and every downloaded cover is listed in the cover picker.
- Multi-disc games lying loose in the games folder are one game on the shelf. A playlist made on a PC is ignored when its discs aren't beside it.
PC tool (tools/psxs5_sync.py)
- Every disc of a multi-disc game is copied, whether the discs lie loose or sit in one folder (or archive) per disc.
- Progress within each file, and the copy speed.
- The working folder is
PSXS5_readybeside your games (same drive, so games are linked rather than copied), and disc images are removed from it once uploaded. - It no longer assumes a drive letter.
Updating
From 2.1.1 or later: Settings → About → Check for updates. From 2.0: install by FTP once (copy the PPSA97510 folder to /data/homebrew/), as its updater can't start new versions.