leolobato/playden-ps5 v0.10.0-beta.2

Playden for PS5 0.10.0-beta.2

on GitHub

Project Zomboid now plays: it no longer quits about 20 seconds after it starts. USB games also keep starting from PS5 Home after your drives change places, with no need to open Playden first. A new Runtimes tab updates many games at once, and Playden asks once after a new runtime kit. The web page gets a Files tab for a game's saves and files. New runtime kit 0.19 brings the USB drive search, NW.js games, better rumble, and fixes for Prototype and The Evil Within.

Most of what's here hasn't had much testing yet, so please tell me how it goes.

Downloads

Getting the beta (from 0.7.0 or newer): turn on Settings › Updates › Beta updates, then Check now. Playden updates the app and runtime kit 0.19 (473 MB). Make sure console storage has at least 8 GB free first (PS5 Settings › Storage). Your sign-in, games, saves and Game settings are kept.

After the update: Playden asks once whether to update your games to the new runtime kit, and says how many. This takes about 30 seconds per game and downloads nothing from Steam. If you choose Later, they stay on the Runtimes tab of Manage installed games, and Play updates a game's runtime kit first. Until then, games keep running on their old kit from PS5 Home.

Updating from 0.6.0 or older: update to 0.8.0 first (see its notes), then turn on Beta updates.

New install: unzip playden-ps5-0.10.0-beta.2.zip into a folder of its own and copy the FAKE77031 folder to /data/homebrew/ (see the README). On its first start Playden offers to download the runtime kit; you can sign in while it downloads.

What's new

• Project Zomboid plays. It used to quit about 20 seconds after it started, because it watched more folders than a PS5 title can keep open. It now plays with the controller, saves and reloads, and works from a USB drive. Press Play in Playden once so it gets its fix. (#194)
• USB games follow your drives. After a game's runtime kit update, it finds its drive when it starts, so swapped drives no longer show "Drive disconnected". This works from PS5 Home with Playden closed. With the drive unplugged, the game waits and continues when you plug it back in. Games on an older kit still work: Playden fixes them in the background when it starts. (#620)
• Runtimes tab. Settings › Storage › Manage installed games has a new Runtimes tab that updates many games at once, shows them in Queue, and stops before console storage drops below 8 GB. After a new runtime kit, Playden asks once whether to update your games. (#401)
• Choose whether to start after an update. When Play has to update a game's runtime kit first, Playden asks whether to start it once it's ready.
• Files tab on the web page. Settings › Web access now lets you browse each game's saves and folders from a browser: download, upload whole folders, replace, restore, delete, and edit text files, including UTF-16. You pair the browser with a code shown on the TV. Uploads are about as fast as FTP.
• Choose your DLC. The install sheet has a DLC picker, and a game offers launch options for the DLC you installed.
• Play with detailed logs. Game actions has a new choice that collects more detail for a test report.
• All eight USB drive slots work for imports, installs and folder repair. A drive with an EFI partition could put your games on a slot Playden didn't look at.
• Better icons for small program icons. New PS5 Home tiles show the icon sharply over a blurred backdrop, not on a floppy. Games already set up keep their icon for now.

Not tested on a console yet: a game on two USB drives at once, and a USB-to-USB move interrupted by swapping drives. Tell me how it goes.

New in runtime kit 0.19 (prospero-win)

• USB drive search and a wait screen. The title finds a USB game's drive itself. (#620)
• NW.js games start, 64-bit and 32-bit, including RPG Maker MV and MZ games. (#114)
• DualSense rumble feels right. Short pulses stay felt, weak rumble is a little stronger, and L2 and R2 no longer vibrate with it. (#283)
• Drive letters and free space. Games get a proper drive list and the real free space, which Prototype's first start needs. (#575)
• The pointer stays on the picture in games that set a display mode, such as Spider-Man 2 at 1024x768. (#626)
• The Evil Within no longer hangs at its legal screen. (#116)

Fixed

• The Evil Within 2 Demo closed at once, because it installed without files it borrows from its game. (#116)
• An update could stop at Restart Playden with no message after a hand install. The app's folders now stay movable. (#466)
• A new install could show CE-107750-0 when an FTP copy lost the execute bit. The app now ships with it, and the install steps say what to do after an FTP copy. (#590)
• Deleting a game's program folder made every later settings change fail, with the game showing as Interrupted. You can now choose another program.
• "Needs PhysX" went back to Ready after a restart. It now stays, and says which version is missing. Play installs a game's PhysX package even without a script.
• Preparing a game could fail when its install script gave a plain value and a language value of the same name. Language values from install scripts now apply.
• Imported games could show "Steam game N" on PS5 Home. New imports are named before they register.
• Removing or copying an imported game now waits while it's running or being set up, instead of going ahead.
• Steam account IDs and other personal details no longer appear in shared logs.

Games to test

These games should work now, or better than before. Please try them and say how it goes on the linked issue, or open a test report if there's none.

• Project Zomboid: should keep running past the first 20 seconds. (#194)
• Any game on a USB drive: update it to the new runtime kit, swap your drives, and start it from PS5 Home. (#620)
• Prototype and Prototype 2: should get past the crash at start. Prototype is checked; Prototype 2 isn't. (#575)
• The Evil Within: should get past its legal screen. (#116)
• Look Outside, Alabaster Dawn, Game Dev Tycoon and other NW.js games: should start. (#114, #586)
• Spider-Man 2 and other games with a mouse pointer under a display mode: the pointer should reach the whole picture. (#626)
• Games with rumble: should feel better. (#283)

Known issues

• Online play doesn't work. Games find no servers or say Steam is offline (#115).
• OMORI opens a black window, and CrossCode crashes at start (#114).
• The Evil Within 2 still returns to the console at start (#623).
• Icons and names of games already set up don't change on PS5 Home, such as "Steam game N" on an imported game (#622).
• TowerFall Ascension stays on a black screen at start.
• Games whose launcher must keep running don't start, such as FINAL FANTASY VII (2013) and games that need the EA app, the Rockstar Games Launcher (Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption) or Ubisoft Connect (the Far Cry games). Neither do games whose interface is drawn by a helper program (#52).
• A controller that joins while a game runs isn't seen by games that use Windows.Gaming.Input and only look when they start.
• Some Direct3D 12 games still don't run (#118):
  • CONTROL Resonant draws no 3D geometry (#201).
  • Order of the Sinking Star plays its tutorial, then the next map never loads (#211).
  • Assetto Corsa EVO finds no suitable graphics adapter (#199).
• Some games stop at start before drawing a frame (#117).
• VRR at 120 Hz: for 120 Hz output, turn off the PS5's VRR › Apply to Unsupported Games (#98).

Thanks

• @huhubibi3D for the rumble report (#283).
• @EpicKitten, @Vladdddon, @evoluketion, @houseofkeb, @ChRoNbOx, @fleurc, @heterostasis, @Ulyssezz, @hackcr1258 and @shehbajdhillon for their many test reports, and everyone else who sent one.