TheTurtle a5d307ee7a shader_recompiler: Implement support for base vertex/instance in indirect draws (#5028)
* shader_recompiler: Add base vertex and base instance attributes

* shader_recompiler: Emit prologue after parsing entire shader

It is needed to know if a fetch shader exists and if it has base vertex/instance add

* liverpool: Consolidate scope marker usage into a single helper

Its a lot less noise

* shader_recompiler: Implement support for base vertex/instance for indirect draws

A normal indexed draw has 3 main parameters other the number of indices; firstIndex, vertexOffset and firstInstance
Of those firstIndex is already provided by PM4 draw packet and simply offsets the index buffer base address.

The other parameters, at least on GCN are implemented in software, the driver can put those values somewhere in user data and fetch shader will add them to the vgpr of the vertex/instance index respectively.
The emulator already supports this, by parsing the fetch program, finding any such additions, which user data register is used and applying the parameters to the draw itself.
Note that in these cases the final vertex/instance index the shader sees is biased by these values, which is consistent with the provided gl_VertexIndex and gl_InstanceID vulkan builtins

Indirect draws work similarly but since the vertexOffset and firstInstance are in GPU modified buffers, the command processor can optionally copy them to a user data of the PM4 packets choosing.
To emulate this, add the packet provided offset into the shader runtime state and optionally set those registers to the vulkan builtins, overwritting the user data load before them.
Additionally since the vertex/instance index builtins have to optionally be unbiased because the hardware only provides unbiased values. This wasnt an issue with normal draws because the act of discovering a base offset
to either builtin implied the index was biased, but now its not guaranteed as such. An indirect draw might not have a fetch shader at all and manually add the base vertex/instance itself, where in that case the base would be added twice
2026-09-14 11:37:43 +03:00
2026-09-03 15:40:23 +03:00
2026-09-03 15:40:23 +03:00
2026-08-19 13:32:57 +02:00
2022-10-24 12:48:38 +03:00



shadPS4

Bloodborne by From Software Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Future Tone by SEGA
Bloodborne screenshot Project DIVA screenshot
Yakuza 0 by SEGA DRIVECLUB™ by Evolution Studios
Yakuza screenshot DRIVECLUB screenshot

General information

shadPS4 is an early PlayStation 4 emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS written in C++.

Important

This is the emulator core, which does not include a GUI. If you just want to use the emulator as an end user, download the QtLauncher instead.

If you encounter problems or have doubts, do not hesitate to look at the Quickstart.
To verify that a game works, you can look at shadPS4 Game Compatibility.
To discuss shadPS4 development, suggest ideas or to ask for help, join our Discord server.
To get the latest news, go to our X (Twitter) or our website.
You can donate to the project via our Kofi page.

Status

Important

shadPS4 is early in development, don't expect a flawless experience.

Currently, the emulator can successfully run games like Bloodborne, Dark Souls Remastered, Red Dead Redemption, and many other games.

Why

This project began for fun. Given our limited free time, it may take some time before shadPS4 can run more complex games, but we're committed to making small, regular updates.

Building

Docker

For building shadPS4 in a containerized environment using Docker and VSCode, check the instructions here:
Docker Build Instructions

Windows

Check the build instructions for Windows.

Linux

Check the build instructions for Linux.

macOS

Check the build instructions for macOS.

Important

macOS users need at least macOS 26.0 to run shadPS4. Intel Macs are not supported.

Usage examples

Important

For a user-friendly GUI, download the QtLauncher.

To get the list of all available commands and also a more detailed description of what each command does, please refer to the --help flag's output.

Below is a list of commonly used command patterns:

shadPS4 CUSA00001 # Searches for a game folder called CUSA00001 in the list of game install folders, and boots it.
shadPS4 --fullscreen true --config-clean CUSA00001    # the game argument is always the last one,
shadPS4 -g CUSA00001 --fullscreen true --config-clean # ...unless manually specified otherwise.
shadPS4 /path/to/game.elf # Boots a PS4 ELF file directly. Useful if you want to boot an executable that is not named eboot.bin.
shadPS4 CUSA00001 -- -flag1 -flag2 # Passes '-flag1' and '-flag2' to the game executable in argv.

Debugging and reporting issues

For more information on how to test, debug and report issues with the emulator or games, read the Debugging documentation.

Keyboard and Mouse Mappings

Note

Some keyboards may also require you to hold the Fn key to use the F* keys. Mac users should use the Command key instead of Control, and need to use Command+F11 for full screen to avoid conflicting with system key bindings.

Button Function
F10 FPS Counter
Ctrl+F10 Video Debug Info
F11 Fullscreen
F12 Trigger RenderDoc Capture (or game-only screenshot if RenderDoc is unavailable)
Alt+F12 Capture screenshot including HUD/dialog overlays

Note

Xbox and DualShock controllers work out of the box.

Controller button Keyboard equivalent
LEFT AXIS UP W
LEFT AXIS DOWN S
LEFT AXIS LEFT A
LEFT AXIS RIGHT D
RIGHT AXIS UP I
RIGHT AXIS DOWN K
RIGHT AXIS LEFT J
RIGHT AXIS RIGHT L
TRIANGLE Numpad 8 or C
CIRCLE Numpad 6 or B
CROSS Numpad 2 or N
SQUARE Numpad 4 or V
PAD UP UP
PAD DOWN DOWN
PAD LEFT LEFT
PAD RIGHT RIGHT
OPTIONS RETURN
BACK BUTTON / TOUCH PAD SPACE
L1 Q
R1 U
L2 E
R2 O
L3 X
R3 M

Keyboard and mouse inputs can be customized in the settings menu by clicking the Controller button, and further details and help on controls are also found there. Custom bindings are saved per-game. Inputs support up to three keys per binding, mouse buttons, mouse movement mapped to joystick input, and more.

Firmware files

shadPS4 can load some PlayStation 4 firmware files. The following firmware modules are supported and must be placed in shadPS4's sys_modules folder.

Modules Modules Modules Modules
libSceAt9Enc.sprx libSceAudiodec.sprx libSceAudiodecCpu.sprx libSceAudiodecCpuDdp.sprx
libSceAudiodecCpuDtsHdLbr.sprx libSceAudiodecCpuHevag.sprx libSceAudiodecCpuM4aac.sprx libSceAvPlayer.sprx
libSceAvPlayerStreaming.sprx libSceBeisobmf.sprx libSceBemp2sys.sprx libSceCesCs.sprx
libSceFont.sprx libSceFontFt.sprx libSceFreeTypeOl.sprx libSceFreeTypeOptOl.sprx
libSceFreeTypeOt.sprx libSceJpegDec.sprx libSceJpegEnc.sprx libSceJson.sprx
libSceJson2.sprx libSceLibcInternal.sprx libSceNgs2.sprx libScePngEnc.sprx
libScePsmKitSystem.sprx libSceRtc.sprx libSceRudp.sprx libSceSystemGesture.sprx
libSceUlt.sprx libSceWkFontConfig.sprx libSceXml.sprx libSceDepth.sprx
libScePadTracker.sprx libSceMoveTracker.sprx

Caution

The above modules are required to run the games properly and must be dumped from your legally owned PlayStation 4 console.

Main team

Logo is done by Xphalnos

Contributing

If you want to contribute, please read the CONTRIBUTING.md file.
Open a PR and we'll check it :)

Special Thanks

A few noteworthy teams/projects who've helped us along the way are:

  • Panda3DS: A multiplatform 3DS emulator from our co-author wheremyfoodat. They have been incredibly helpful in understanding and solving problems that came up from natively executing the x64 code of PS4 binaries

  • fpPS4: The fpPS4 team has assisted massively with understanding some of the more complex parts of the PS4 operating system and libraries, by helping with reverse engineering work and research.

  • yuzu: Our shader compiler has been designed with yuzu's Hades compiler as a blueprint. This allowed us to focus on the challenges of emulating a modern AMD GPU while having a high-quality optimizing shader compiler implementation as a base.

  • felix86: A new x86-64 → RISC-V Linux userspace emulator

  • emudev.org: A network of people interested in the documentation, emulation, simulation and re-implementation of hardware near extinction . Belongs to my friend skmp and me (shadow) also a member of it

License

Languages
C++ 98.3%
C 1%
CMake 0.4%
SourcePawn 0.2%