RPCS3 for Xbox 0.1.34.77 (Beta, proof of concept)

This is a proof of concept. An unofficial, experimental port of the RPCS3 PlayStation 3 emulator to Xbox Series X|S as a UWP app in Developer Mode. It is not made or supported by the RPCS3 team, so please don't ask them for help with it. Expect crashes, slow games and rough edges.

The port is about 99% vibecoded: written with AI assistance, steered and checked with my previous programming knowledge. :)

New in 0.1.34.77: fix for games with boot music

• Fixed: games that play music on their start screen (for example Snakeball, NPJA00022) crashed the app right when they started, with "Verification failed" in the log. They start normally now, just without that boot music. Games with a boot video are fixed the same way.
• This affects all games with boot music, not just one title.

Still in from 0.1.34.76: optional log sending to the developer (you're asked on first start, change it any time in Settings > Send logs to the developer). Details: Privacy and log sending.

Updating from an earlier version: install the new .appx over it (no uninstall needed, your settings stay).

What works

What doesn't (yet)

• GTA V, Watch Dogs, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare: they boot, but aren't playable (single-digit fps or out of memory).
• Big games are mostly limited by the CPU: the emulated PPU main thread is the bottleneck (Portal 2 can't reach a flat 30 fps), and a UWP game app only gets 5 GB of RAM.
• The first start of the XMB or a game compiles its code and shaders and can take several minutes. Later starts use the cache on the USB drive.
• Online play (RPCN) can be set up in Settings but is barely tested.
• Most PS3 games are untested. Your results may differ.

What you need

• An Xbox Series X|S in Developer Mode, and a PC on the same network for the Device Portal
• A USB drive or external hard drive connected to the Xbox. The emulated PS3 hard drive, games and caches live there, and the app refuses games without one.
• Your own PS3 firmware (PS3UPDAT.PUP, 4.93 tested) and your own games

Install

1. Download RPCS3Xbox-0.1.34.77.appx and Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.appx below.
2. Open the Device Portal in a browser on your PC (https://<your-xbox-ip>:11443/), go to Home > Add, choose RPCS3Xbox-0.1.34.77.appx, and on the next page add Microsoft.UI.Xaml.2.8.appx as a dependency. Then install.
3. In Dev Home on the Xbox, highlight RPCS3 Xbox (Beta), press View, choose View details and set App type: Game. This gives the app 5 GB of RAM instead of 1 GB.
4. Plug in the USB drive and start the app. Put PS3UPDAT.PUP in the root of the drive (or in PS3/UPDATE/) and install it from the Install tab.
5. Put games on the USB drive: game folders (with PS3_GAME inside) or .iso files in GAMES/, PS3ISO/ or the root, and .pkg/.rap files in PKG/ or the root. Press Y in the menu to look again, then start the XMB or a game from the Games tab.

Controls

Help wanted

Pull requests are very welcome, and so are compatibility reports: if you try a game, open an issue with the game's name and title ID, what happened (fps, crashes, glitches) and the app version.

Credits and license

Based on RPCS3 (GPL-2.0). All emulation credit goes to the RPCS3 team and contributors. Graphics run on Mesa's Dozen driver (Vulkan on D3D12) with Microsoft's DXIL signer, and the menu uses Microsoft WinUI 2. The full source is in this repository under the same GPL-2.0 license.

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