leolobato/playden-ps5 v0.7.0

Playden for PS5 0.7.0

on GitHub

Playden now downloads its runtime kit by itself on the first start, so installing it is one folder copy. Games keep the controller when you open the PS5 overlay, Stray plays with default settings, uninstalls show in the Queue, and Game settings are grouped by topic. Steam demos now show in the Library, and you can opt into beta versions.

Downloads

Updating from 0.6.0: Playden offers the update the next time it starts, or from Settings › About › Playden updates › Check now. It updates the app and the kit together (a 469 MB download). Make sure console storage has at least 8 GB free first (PS5 Settings › Storage). Your sign-in, games, saves and Game settings are kept. Bottles need no Recreate bottle: prepared games update their runtime the next time you press Play.

Updating from 0.5.0 or older: update to 0.6.0 first (see its notes), then let Playden update itself to 0.7.0.

New install: 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

• The runtime kit downloads by itself. When no kit is installed, or it is older than the one this version was made for, Playden offers to download it from GitHub, also before you sign in. It shows on the Queue screen and in Settings › About › Runtime kit, and games can be prepared as soon as it is in place, without a restart. A newer kit you installed yourself is kept.
• Beta updates. Settings › Updates › Beta updates (off by default) offers test versions before their stable release. Betas can have new bugs. Turning it off keeps an installed beta until a newer stable version is out; updates never go back to an older version. Release notes and Playden updates moved to the new Updates section too.
• Uninstalls in the Queue. Uninstalls run one at a time, in the order you asked, and the Queue tab lists them: the one at work, those waiting, finished ones and any that stopped, with the reason. Uninstall selected in Installed games closes the list and points you to the Queue.
• Game settings grouped by topic. The sheet lists rows under Game, Display, Controls and Sound, then Compatibility and Advanced. Resolution, Refresh rate and Frame limit sit together on the first screen. The pointer, dead zone, rumble, invert and wheel rows moved to a Controller tuning submenu next to Button mapping. 120 Hz output is now Refresh rate (60 Hz · 120 Hz). Your saved settings are unchanged.
• Pixel shaders. Game settings › Pixel shaders runs a game's pixel shaders in Wave32 (the new default) or Wave64. Some wave64 shaders never finish on the PS5 and freeze the console; a 10-game test found no difference in wave32 except that Stray stopped freezing. With kit 0.13, wave32 is also the driver's own default.
• Steam demos in your account now show in the Library, with a Demo badge on their tiles (#60, partly: shared games are still missing). Sort and filters › Demos hides them.
• A setup started with an earlier kit (the kit changed while a game was being prepared) now offers Recreate bottle on its page and in the Queue, instead of a Try again that failed every time. Maintenance › Update runtime says the same. Saves and settings are kept.

Fixed

• Games lost the controller after PS or Create (#62). While the PS5 overlay has the DualSense, the game now sees the controller connected with nothing pressed, and gets it back when the overlay closes. A DualSense that turns off now disconnects the game's controller, and turning it on reconnects it, as on Windows. Unreal Engine 4 games such as Stray paused and never found the controller again before this (#103).
• Stray froze the console when a save loaded (#103). It now plays with default settings (wave32 pixel shaders, above).
• Downloads stayed at 0% in mainland China, where Steam lists only plain-HTTP content servers. Playden now uses them when no HTTPS server is listed; the downloaded files are still encrypted and checked (#104).
• "No supported native title variant is available" when preparing a game (#28, #127). This almost always meant ShadowMountPlus had stopped answering, not that every title was in use. The message now names the cause: ShadowMountPlus isn't answering (load it again), the check couldn't tell (open Logs), or every title the kit offers is really in use (uninstall a game). A ShadowMountPlus game with an unusual title ID, such as a homebrew or a backup, no longer blocks new games. The logs now record what each check said, which helps with reports.
• Installing the kit by hand failed with permission or missing-file errors (#99, #120). Playden now downloads and installs the kit itself (above).
• Uninstalls could hang when a game's drive was not connected or Steam Cloud refused a sync. They now stop with the reason, and the next uninstall goes on.
• A game that stopped after a start from the Home screen was reported as "A game" when Playden opened next. The message now names the game.
• The uninstall dialogs say Steam Cloud saves are synced first only when Settings › Library › Sync Cloud saves automatically is on.
• Building from source works again: two dependencies lost their original repositories, and Playden now fetches copies that keep the pinned versions.

What works

See the compatibility list. New since 0.6.0:

• Works: Arco Demo, Ballionaire (#122), Bread & Fred Demo, Broforce (#107), ChainStaff Demo, Darkenstein 3D, Darkwood (#93), DoDonPachi Resurrection Reignite Demo, Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok Demo, GUNTOUCHABLES (#124), Keylocker (#125), Metal: Hellsinger (#113), Mouthwashing, MR. RECORDS Demo, Resident Evil 4 (imported, with mods, #105), to a T Demo, Ultros Demo, Urban Jungle (#123). Stray now works with default settings.
• Partial: Counter-Strike: Source (offline play; #24).
• Broken: BeamNG.drive (its interface needs to start helper programs, #23), Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster Demo, DRAGON QUEST XI S Demo, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (#110), KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX- (#96), Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (#91), MoonLess, Order of the Sinking Star (#95), SpeedRunners (#94), Tameshi, The Evil Within (#90), The Evil Within 2 (#92), The Riftbreaker (#112), Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Demo, Wizard101 (#101). Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Demo is stopped by its copy protection (Denuvo).
• Refused: CrossCode (NW.js, #102). NW.js games are being worked on for a later version (#114).

Test reports are welcome, including for games that work.

Known issues

• Online play doesn't work. Games find no servers or say Steam is offline (#115).
• Games that start another program don't start, such as launchers, pre-launchers and games whose interface is a built-in browser (BeamNG.drive). The runtime can't start a second program yet (#52).
• Some Direct3D 12 games say the GPU is not supported, even with Direct3D 12 = vkd3d-proton (#118).
• Some games stop at start before drawing a frame (#117), or because of unaligned shared sections in their program (#116).
• With a USB mouse, the view barely turns left or right in some games, such as Hitman 2 (#119).
• Games that use Windows.Gaming.Input don't notice a disconnected controller (#106).
• VRR at 120 Hz: for 120 Hz output, turn off the PS5's VRR › Apply to Unsupported Games (#98).

Thanks

• @Auztiin, @jcsepulvedar, @TodorPenchev, @RichEdd, @Sly777, @kernelpanicz, @Cevap05, @MaZau70, @jmed2 and @JaspreetDev for their test reports, and everyone else who sent one.
• @Auztiin for the Stray report (#103) that led to the controller and pixel shader fixes, @khinda1390 for the detailed overlay report (#62), and @DrKoneko for asking for demos (#60).
• @CAOMUREVIVE for the download report from China and its workaround (#104).
• @Auztiin (#99) and @strickb2 (#120) for the kit install reports that the first-start download now answers.