DuckStation is an simulator/emulator of the Sony PlayStation(TM) console, focusing on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability. The goal is to be as accurate as possible while maintaining performance suitable for low-end devices. "Hack" options are discouraged, the default configuration should support all playable games with only some of the enhancements having compatibility issues.
A "BIOS" ROM image is required to to start the emulator and to play games. You can use an image from any hardware version or region, although mismatching game regions and BIOS regions may have compatibility issues. A ROM image is not provided with the emulator for legal reasons, you should dump this from your own console using Caetla or other means.
- 2020/11/21: OpenGL ES 2.0 host display support added. You cannot use the hardware renderer with GLES2, it still requires GLES3, but GLES2 GPUs can now use the software renderer.
- 2020/11/21: Threaded renderer for software renderer added. Can result in a significant speed boost depending on the game.
- 2020/11/21: AArch32/armv7 recompiler added. Android and Linux builds will follow after further testing, but for now you can build it yourself.
- 2020/09/30: CPU overclocking is now supported. Use with caution as it will break games and increase system requirements. It can be set globally or per-game.
DuckStation features a fully-featured frontend built using Qt (pictured), as well as a simplified frontend based on SDL and Dear ImGui. An Android version has been started, but is not yet feature complete.
- A CPU faster than a potato. But it needs to be x86_64, AArch32/armv7, or AArch64/ARMv8, otherwise you won't get a recompiler and it'll be slow.
- For the hardware renderers, a GPU capable of OpenGL 3.1/OpenGL ES 3.0/Direct3D 11 Feature Level 10.0 (or Vulkan 1.0) and above. So, basically anything made in the last 10 years or so.
- SDL or XInput compatible game controller (e.g. XB360/XBOne). DualShock 3 users on Windows will need to install the official DualShock 3 drivers included as part of PlayStation Now.
Binaries of DuckStation for Windows x64/ARM64, x86_64 Linux x86_64 (in AppImage format), and Android ARMv8/AArch64 are available via GitHub Releases and are automatically built with every commit/push. Binaries or packages distributed through other sources may be out of date and are not supported by the developer.
**Windows 10 is the only version of Windows supported by the developer.** Windows 7/8 may work, but is not supported. I am aware some users are still using Windows 7, but it is no longer supported by Microsoft and too much effort to get running on modern hardware. Game bugs are unlikely to be affected by the operating system, however performance issues should be verified on Windows 10 before reporting.
- Go to https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/releases/tag/latest, and download the Windows x64 build. This is a zip archive containing the prebuilt binary.
- Alternatively, direct download link: https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/releases/download/latest/duckstation-windows-x64-release.zip
- Extract the archive **to a subdirectory**. The archive has no root subdirectory, so extracting to the current directory will drop a bunch of files in your download directory if you do not extract to a subdirectory.
Once downloaded and extracted, you can launch the Qt frontend from `duckstation-qt-x64-ReleaseLTCG.exe`, or the SDL frontend from `duckstation-sdl-x64-ReleaseLTCG.exe`.
1. Either configure the path to a BIOS image in the settings, or copy one or more PlayStation BIOS images to the bios/ subdirectory. On Windows, by default this will be located in `C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\Documents\DuckStation\bios`. If you don't want to use the Documents directory to save the BIOS/memory cards/etc, you can use portable mode. See [User directory](#user-directories).
**If you get an error about `vcruntime140_1.dll` being missing, you will need to update your Visual C++ runtime.** You can do that from this page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads. Specifically, you want the x64 runtime, which can be downloaded from https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x64.exe.
The Qt frontend includes an automatic update checker. Builds downloaded after 2020/08/07 will automatically check for updates each time the emulator starts, this can be disabled in Settings. Alternatively, you can force an update check by clicking `Help->Check for Updates`.
Prebuilt binaries for 64-bit Linux distros are available for download in the AppImage format. However, these binaries may be incompatible with older Linux distros (e.g. Ubuntu distros earlier than 18.04.4 LTS) due to older distros not providing newer versions of the C/C++ standard libraries required by the AppImage binaries.
**Linux users are encouraged to build from source when possible and optionally create their own AppImages for features such as desktop integration if desired.**
To download:
- Go to https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/releases/tag/latest, and download either `duckstation-qt-x64.AppImage` or `duckstation-sdl-x64.AppImage` for your desired frontend. Keep in mind that keyboard/controller bindings are currently not customizable through the SDL frontend and should be customized through the Qt frontend instead.
- Run `chmod a+x` on the downloaded AppImage -- following this step, the AppImage can be run like a typical executable.
- Optionally use a program such as [appimaged](https://github.com/AppImage/appimaged) or [AppImageLauncher](https://github.com/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher) for desktop integration. [AppImageUpdate](https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageUpdate) can be used alongside appimaged to easily update your DuckStation AppImage.
- Go to https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/releases/tag/latest, and download the Mac build. This is a zip archive containing the prebuilt binary.
- Alternatively, direct download link: https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/releases/download/latest/duckstation-mac-release.zip
- Extract the zip archive. If you're using Safari, apparently this happens automatically. This will give you DuckStation.app.
- Right click DuckStation.app, and click Open. As the package is not signed (Mac certificates are expensive), you must do this the first time you open it. Subsequent runs can be done by double-clicking.
macOS support is considered experimental and not actively supported by the developer; the builds are provided here as a courtesy. Please feel free to submit issues, but it may be some time before
they are investigated.
**macOS builds do not support automatic updates yet.** If there is sufficient demand, this may be something I will consider.
A prebuilt APK is now available for Android. However, please keep in mind that the Android version does not contain all features present in the desktop version yet. You will need a device with armv7 (32-bit ARM) or AArch64 (64-bit ARM). 64-bit is preferred, the requirements are higher for 32-bit, you'll probably want at least a 1.5GHz CPU.
- User directory is currently hardcoded to `<external storage path>/duckstation`. This is usually `/storage/emulated/0` or `/sdcard`'. So BIOS files go in `/sdcard/duckstation/bios`.
PlayStation game discs do not contain title information. For game titles, we use the redump.org database cross-referenced with the game's executable code.
This database can be manually downloaded and added as `cache/redump.dat`, or automatically downloaded by going into the `Game List Settings` in the Qt Frontend,
By default, DuckStation will emulate the region check present in the CD-ROM controller of the console. This means that when the region of the console does not match the disc, it will refuse to boot, giving a "Please insert PlayStation CD-ROM" message. DuckStation supports automatic detection disc regions, and if you set the console region to auto-detect as well, this should never be a problem.
If you wish to use auto-detection, you do not need to change the BIOS path each time you switch regions. Simply place the BIOS images for the other regions in the **same directory** as the configured image. This will probably be in the `bios/` subdirectory. Then set the console region to "Auto-Detect", and everything should work fine. The console/log will tell you if you are missing the image for the disc's region.
Some users have been confused by the "BIOS Path" option, the reason it is a path and not a directory is so that an unknown BIOS revision can be used/tested.
Alternatively, the region checking can be disabled in the console options tab. This is the only way to play unlicensed games or homebrew which does not supply a correct region string on the disc, aside from using fastboot which skips the check entirely.
Mismatching the disc and console regions with the check disabled is supported, but may break games if they are patching the BIOS and expecting specific content.
A number of PAL region games use LibCrypt protection, requiring additional CD subchannel information to run properly. For these games, make sure that the CD image and its corresponding SBI (.sbi) file have the same name and are placed in the same directory. DuckStation will automatically load the SBI file when it is found next to the CD image.
1. Clone the repository. Submodules aren't necessary, there is only one and it is only used for Windows.
2. Create a build directory, either in-tree or elsewhere.
3. Run cmake to configure the build system. Assuming a build subdirectory of `build-release`, `cd build-release && cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -GNinja ..`.
4. Compile the source code. For the example above, run `ninja`.
2. Create a build directory, either in-tree or elsewhere, e.g. `mkdir build-release`, `cd build-release`.
3. Run cmake to configure the build system: `cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DQt5_DIR=/usr/local/opt/qt/lib/cmake/Qt5 ..`. You may need to tweak `Qt5_DIR` depending on your system.
4. Compile the source code: `make`. Use `make -jN` where `N` is the number of CPU cores in your system for a faster build.
So, if you were using Linux, you would place your BIOS images in `~/.local/share/duckstation/bios`. This directory will be created upon running DuckStation
for the first time.
If you wish to use a "portable" build, where the user directory is the same as where the executable is located, create an empty file named `portable.txt`
in the same directory as the DuckStation executable.
Keyboard bindings in the SDL frontend are currently not customizable in the frontend itself. You should use the Qt frontend to set up your key/controller bindings first.
DuckStation uses the SDL2 GameController API for input handling which requires controller devices to have known input mappings.
SDL2 provides an embedded database of recognised controllers in its own source code, however it is rather small and thus limited in practice.
There is an officially endorsed [community sourced database](https://github.com/gabomdq/SDL_GameControllerDB) that can be used to support a much broader range of game controllers in DuckStation.
If your controller is not recognized by DuckStation but can be found in the community database above, just download a recent copy of the `gamecontrollerdb.txt` database file and place it in your [User directory](#user-directories). Your controller should now be recognized by DuckStation.
Alternatively, you can also create your own custom controller mappings from scratch easily using readily available tools. See the referenced community database repository for more information.
Using a mappings database is specially useful when using non-XInput game controllers with DuckStation.
DuckStation is available as a libretro core, which can be loaded into a frontend such as RetroArch. It supports most features of the full frontend, within the constraints and limitations of being a libretro core.
To build on Linux, follow the same instructions as for a normal build, but for cmake use `cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_LIBRETRO_CORE=ON ..`. The shared library will be named `duckstation_libretro.so` in the current directory.
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"PlayStation" and "PSX" are registered trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited. This project is not affiliated in any way with Sony Interactive Entertainment.
