mihawk-99/PS5_MihawkOS v5.0.0-alpha-5

PS5_MihawkOS-v5.0.0-alpha-5

on GitHub

MihawkOS is a passion project, not a piracy project.

It exists so you can play the games you own on the console you own.

• Piracy is not condoned.
• No games, saves, keys, firmware or exploits are included, and they never will be.
• Use only games and programs you have the right to run: your own copies, bought or installed by you.
• Requests for, or links to, games, keys, firmware or exploits are not welcome in this project's issues or discussions.

Bigger games with Steam open. Limits made for your console. Clear answers instead of crashes.

The fifth alpha of MihawkOS, the homebrew title that runs Windows games on a PS5 from a desktop of their own,
Mihawk OS. It is still experimental.

At a glance

What's new
Big games with Steam open. Steam's built-in browser now pauses while you play, freeing room on the console. Resident Evil 3's demo runs through Steam on a standard PS5.
Memory limits made for your console. MihawkOS recognises your model and real firmware and sets its limits from them: original and Slim PS5s below 12.00 get far more room than before.
A warning, then a clean close, instead of a crash. When the console runs short, you are warned first; if a game still runs it out, MihawkOS closes the game cleanly and brings you back to the launcher.
A payload checklist at start. MihawkOS checks that the official payload set is loaded, and says exactly what to load or close.
Fixes for the problems you reported: the black screen after restoring Steam, games crashing when they go fullscreen, errno 92 after an update, and Steam closing before its sign-in screen.
Installers start their programs faster.

In this release

Steam and big games · Memory made for your console · Payload checklist · Fixes

Played on the console · Known limits · Installing or updating · Source and credits

Big games with Steam open

The console keeps a fixed number of page tables, the records it uses to track memory. Steam's built-in browser alone
used more than half of what Steam needed, and a large game could not start beside it.

• Steam's browser pauses while you play. When a game from your Steam library starts, MihawkOS pauses Steam's
  browser; when the game ends, the browser comes back and Big Picture returns as it was. This works for every game in
  your Steam library, with no list to maintain.
• What it frees: on a PS5 Pro with a game running, page tables in use fell from about 6,100 to about 4,910.
• Steam keeps working while it is paused: it stays signed in, the game stays licensed, and cloud saves are written
  when the game ends.
• Already set up Steam? Your Steam entry gets the new rule automatically; nothing to redo.
• Resident Evil 3: Raccoon City Demo, through Steam:
  • Standard PS5 (13.60): it plays without crashing, with some hitches.
  • PS5 Pro (10.01): five minutes in game at about 23-46 frames a second, at least 4,909 page tables left free.

Memory made for your console

Volunteers on original, Slim and Pro consoles, from firmware 5.50 to 13.60, ran a memory test that found where each
console starts to struggle. Thank you to everyone who did. MihawkOS now uses those results:

• It recognises your console: original, Slim or Pro, and the firmware actually installed, even when your tools
  report a different version.

• Limits per console:

  Console	A warning appears at	Alpha 4 stopped at
  Original or Slim, firmware 12.00 and later	about 1,750 MiB	1,800 MiB
  Original or Slim, below 12.00	about 1,650 MiB	990 MiB
  PS5 Pro, any firmware	about 850 MiB (and a clean stop at 950 MiB)	990 or 1,800 MiB

• A warning first, a clean close last. Past the warning, an original or Slim console starts to swap; the game gets
  slower but keeps going. MihawkOS closes it cleanly, back to the launcher, only when the game stalls or new programs
  start much slower.

• A safety net for the page tables. If they run low, the game is closed cleanly before the console runs out,
  instead of a crash.

• Know what your payloads cost. The launcher shows how much memory your payloads used in your last session, and
  says when closing them would free room.

A payload checklist at start

Most problems testers sent came from a different set of payloads. MihawkOS now opens only with the official set, and
shows a checklist page that says what to load or close:

ShadowMountPlus 1.7beta6 and later already include the fix that lets the WebUI's home-screen tiles keep working, so no
extra tool is needed for it.

Fixes

Reported by players:

• No more black screen after restoring Steam's window.
• Games no longer crash when they switch to fullscreen. The Binding of Isaac, which asks for a picture one pixel
  wider than the screen, now plays its intro and runs at about 61 frames a second.
• errno 92 after an update: if your console still holds an older Windows runtime, MihawkOS now notices on every
  start, however you launch it, and offers to install the right one, instead of failing with errno 92. The helper that
  starts Windows programs now ships inside the app folder, so it always matches your MihawkOS.
• Steam closing before its sign-in screen: a Windows setup whose first install never finished could not see the
  network, so Steam gave up after 30 seconds. MihawkOS now finishes that install itself on the next start.
• Resident Evil 3 finds your DualSense on its own, without choosing a controller in the launcher first.
• Every log names its build: the app, the runtime and the helper, so a report shows at a glance what it was.

Faster:

• Installers and launchers start their programs faster: a helper is ready in 0.03 s instead of 0.2 s, and its
  Windows parts load in 0.37 s instead of 0.59 s.

Closer to Windows: Wine's own test suite, run on the console and compared with a PC: 1,410 of 1,708 test files
match (1,337 in Alpha 4). Among the fixes it found: Direct3D 9 games leave fullscreen as on Windows and keep the
mouse inside the screen, soft shadows draw correctly in older games, games that share textures between processes no
longer crash, and video playback in games is fixed.

Played on the console

This release's build, the full test battery of 104 cases (the release differs from the tested build only by its version label, which the wallpaper shows):

• Standard PS5, firmware 13.60: 102 of 104 passed, the other two skipped by a test-network setting (alpha5-base-2026-10-29-04). Resident Evil 3 through Steam then played on it with no crash.
• PS5 Pro, firmware 10.01: 102 of 104 passed, the same two skipped (alpha5-pro-2026-10-29-04).

On the way there, on a PS5 Pro (firmware 10.01) and a standard PS5 (firmware 13.60):

Not shown on the console: MihawkOS on an original or Slim console below firmware 13.60, or on a Pro other than
10.01; the memory limits on firmware 6.xx to 9.xx (they use the "below 12.00" values); a full Resident Evil 3 session
past the demo's opening.

Known limits

• Steam Big Picture is a little less smooth than in Alpha 4 on a standard PS5. Alpha 4 ran Steam's browser as
  several processes on firmware 12.00 and later; that used up the console's page tables and could crash it with a
  game open. It now runs as one process on every console: slower frames while scrolling went from 7 in Alpha 4 to
  about 66 (Alpha 3 had 162).
• The kstuff version is shown but not checked. The PS5 does not let MihawkOS ask kstuff its version; the checklist
  only sees that it is running. Please use Kstuff Lite 1.11 Beta or later.
• Restart the PS5 now and then. Each MihawkOS start uses a little of the console's page tables that comes back only
  with a restart, and pipe memory runs out after very many program starts. MihawkOS says Restart the PS5 when that
  happens.
• Firmware 6.xx to 9.xx: no volunteer has measured these yet; they use the "below 12.00" limits.
• The PS5 Pro has less memory for Windows programs, warning at about 850 MiB.
• Translations still need a native speaker's review. The Mihawk 11 desktop stays in English.
• The per-boot setup is yours: your payloads after every cold boot. Never use rest mode.
• Not supported: kernel drivers and anti-cheat, so many online games with anti-cheat will not run.

Installing or updating

Before you start: load the official payload set listed in the checklist, and close any other payload.

New install: copy PPSA99170 to /data/homebrew/, wait about 45 seconds, and open MihawkOS from the home screen.
The guided setup installs the runtime from a USB drive or over FTP. The README
has every step.

Updating from v4.0.0-alpha-4:

1. Back up your saves, for example from the WebUI's Saves page, or over FTP from
   /data/ps5proton/prefixes/mihawk/drive_c/users/Mihawk/.
2. Replace the PPSA99170 folder in /data/homebrew/ with the new one.
3. Open MihawkOS from its own icon. It sees that the runtime is older and offers to install the new one from the
   USB pieces or over FTP.
4. Restart the PS5, load your payloads, and open MihawkOS.

Your prefix, your games in C:\Games, Steam and your settings are kept.

No games, saves, keys or firmware are supplied. Use only games and programs you have the right to run.

Source, licences and credits

Changes since v4.0.0-alpha-4. Release source: the
complete corresponding source is the repository at that tag, with every patch MihawkOS applies to an upstream project
and the build scripts that pin every other input by revision or SHA-256. MihawkOS is free software under the GNU
General Public License v3.0 or later; each component keeps its own licence, listed with its pin in NOTICE.md, and
every licence text ships with the binaries.

Thank you to the volunteers who ran the memory tests on their consoles, from firmware 5.50 to 13.60, which set this
release's limits; to the testers who sent their logs, which found the stale runtime behind errno 92 and Steam's
missing network service; to drakmor for ShadowMountPlus; to mpereiraesaa for prospero-win and the Lapy
daemon's port, with Arksama / Team PHU; to the Wine, Proton, GE-Proton, DXVK, VKD3D-Proton and
Mesa developers; and to the PS5 homebrew scene.

MihawkOS is an independent hobby project, not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Sony Interactive
Entertainment, Microsoft, Valve, Capcom or any game publisher. PlayStation, PS5 and DualSense are trademarks of Sony
Interactive Entertainment Inc.; Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation; Steam and Proton are trademarks of
Valve Corporation. You are responsible for having the right to the programs you run, and for whether modifying your
console is lawful where you live (LEGAL.md).

Ready to get started? Available releases · Installation guide · Source and credits