PS5_RetroArch-v3.0.0-beta-3

PS5 RetroArch 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, BIOS files, console firmware or decryption keys are included, and they never will be.
• Use only legally obtained backups of games you own, made yourself from your own discs, cartridges or digital purchases.
• Use only BIOS and firmware files dumped from hardware you own.
• Requests for, or links to, games, BIOS files, firmware or keys are not welcome in this project's issues or discussions.

Thank you

This beta carries the work of three contributors. Each pull request was reviewed, fitted to the port and played on a Base PS5 before it was taken.

Contributor	What they brought
Martin Pham @MartinPham	Home screen forwarders (#34): the --rom, --core and --exit-after-game launch options that start one game straight from a home screen tile. Game Forwarder is built on them.
Jorge Feitosa @jorgemakerdev	SwanStation (#54), with platform work adapted from AngelXex's SwanStation­PS5. melonDS DS with the DualSense microphone and the touchpad stylus (#53, #52). Retro­Achievements for FLAC CHDs (#50).
Marco Tundo @BuffMcBigHuge	Frame Generation pacing (#62): with Frame Generation off, each game frame is shown exactly once, and turning it on or off takes effect at once.

Your games, one tile away. Two more cores. Frames paced to your display.

At a glance

What's new	What it brings
Game Forwarder	Any game from your library as a home screen tile of its own, with its picture and name.
SwanStation	A second PlayStation core, drawing with Vulkan.
melonDS DS	A second Nintendo DS core: your DualSense is its microphone, its touchpad the stylus.
Frame Generation	Paced to your display: full speed on 60 Hz outputs, and each frame shown once when it is off.
Retro­Achievements	Now with CHD discs whose audio is compressed with FLAC.
Your library	Content folders take ES-DE's system names, and archived cartridge games are found.

In this release

Game Forwarder · SwanStation · melonDS DS · Frame Generation · RetroAchievements · Your library

Played on a Base PS5 · Upgrading · Source and credits

Game Forwarder. Your games, on the home screen.

Make a home screen tile for any game in your library, right from the WebUI. Each tile is a small title of its own: open it and RetroArch starts straight into that game, with the core you chose.

1. Open Game Forwarder in the WebUI and choose New tile.
2. Choose the system, each listed with its console, then the game.
3. Set the name the home screen shows and the core; the game's own core is chosen for you.
4. Choose the picture: box art, 3D box, logo, cartridge or disc, screenshot, title screen or fan art. Fill the square or fit the picture inside it, and add the system's icon in the bottom right corner if you like.
5. Choose Create tile, then close RetroArch. Your tile appears on the home screen.

• Close RetroArch when the game ends, or carry on in your frontend afterwards: each tile keeps your choice.
• Edit or delete a tile at any time. A new name or picture, and a deleted tile, reach the home screen a few seconds after RetroArch closes.
• Games in your content folder or on a USB or extended storage drive can have a tile.
• Tiles need ShadowMountPlus 1.7 or later, with its API on (its default). The page says so when ShadowMountPlus does not answer.

Forwarders made with other tools work too: they start PS5 RetroArch with --rom <file>, --core <core> and --exit-after-game, as the README describes.

SwanStation, a second PlayStation core

SwanStation joins Beetle PSX HW, which stays the PlayStation default. It draws with Vulkan on the same GPU device as RetroArch, and its recompiler runs natively on the PS5. Choose it for a game or a whole playlist from RetroArch's menu; its options are in the WebUI's Settings, under its core profile.

It reads the same BIOS files as Beetle PSX HW, from system/. Use only a BIOS dumped from a PlayStation you own.

melonDS DS, with your DualSense as its microphone

melonDS DS joins DeSmuME, which stays the Nintendo DS default.

• The touchpad is the stylus, as it is in DeSmuME.
• Your DualSense is the microphone. RetroArch now reads the controller's microphone for any core that asks for one. melonDS DS listens only while its microphone button is held, and a muted DualSense sends silence.
• Turn the microphone off for every core in RetroArch's Settings → Audio → Microphone.

Frame Generation, paced to your display

• Full speed on 60 Hz outputs. In v2.0.0-beta-2, a TV or monitor without 120 Hz showed each picture twice, so games ran at half speed with broken sound. RetroArch now times the display's real refresh rate when it starts: on a 60 Hz output a 120 fps target becomes 60, and a 30 fps game still gets a frame made between its own. 120 Hz and VRR displays keep 120.
• Off means off. With Frame Generation turned off, each game frame is shown exactly once, whatever it was set to before.
• On and off take effect at once. Switching Frame Generation in the menus restarts the video output for a moment, as changing the Target Framerate already did.

RetroAchievements for FLAC-compressed discs

chdman compresses CD audio with FLAC by default. RetroArch can now open those CHD images itself to compute a disc's RetroAchievements hash. Before, the core played them, but the hash failed and achievements stayed off for those games.

Your library, in EmulationStation's layout

• Content folders take ES-DE's system names, such as content/psx, content/ps2 and content/snes, so content/ is laid out as EmulationStation expects.
• Folders from earlier builds are renamed for you on the first start, or merged when nothing clashes. Your playlists, per-folder overrides, core options, shader presets and remaps follow them. Folders you named yourself stay as they are.
• Archived cartridge games are found for the Mega Drive, Master System, SG-1000, Game Gear, 32X, PC Engine and SuperGrafx, even though their cores also run disc systems.
• EmulationStation shows your games from its very first start. On a fresh install it used to stay empty until the second.
• Add Game puts each game in its system's ES-DE folder.

Played on a Base PS5

Everything below ran on a Base PS5 from this series' builds.

Upgrading from v2.0.0-beta-2

1. Back up your existing title folder, especially configuration, saves, states, system files, content and any custom media.
2. Merge the complete PPSA99169 folder from the beta package into your installation, keeping your own files and configuration.
3. Fully close and reopen PS5 RetroArch. The first start renames your content folders to ES-DE's names; your playlists and per-folder settings follow.
4. For Game Forwarder, load ShadowMountPlus 1.7 or later before opening the WebUI's Game Forwarder page.

No games, BIOS files, console firmware, or decryption keys are supplied. Use only legally obtained backups of games you own and system files dumped from hardware you own.

Source, licences, and credits

Changes since v2.0.0-beta-2. Release source; component source links and exact revisions are included in licenses/components.json. SwanStation and melonDS DS are built from their own repositories at pinned revisions, under the GPL-3.0.

Snes9x, FinalBurn Neo, Genesis Plus GX, PicoDrive, Opera, and the Alekfull NX theme carry non-commercial restrictions. This distribution may not be sold, and this release carries no donation link. The package's licenses/ directory records component licences and exact source revisions. RPCS3 is not included.

Thank you to AngelXex, whose SwanStationPS5 the SwanStation port's platform work is adapted from; to drakmor for ShadowMountPlus, which puts Game Forwarder's tiles on the home screen; to the SwanStation, melonDS and melonDS DS developers; to the tester whose v2.0.0-beta-2 logs found the 60 Hz slowdown; and to the RetroArch/libretro community, emulator and ES-DE developers, PS5 homebrew contributors, and everyone testing and reporting issues. Interface icons come from Microsoft Fluent Color; system artwork from the Linear ES-DE theme.

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