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RPCS3

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RPCS3
Original author(s)DH, Hykem, AlexAlta
Developer(s)(RPCS3 TEAM) Nekotekina, kd-11, elad335, jarveson, Megamouse, hcorion, scribam, ruipin, isJuhn, Galciv, Numan[1]
Initial releaseMay 23, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-05-23)
Stable release
None
Preview release
v0.0.32-16834 Alpha / August 16, 2024; 2 months ago (2024-08-16)[2]
Repositorygithub.com/rpcs3/rpcs3/
Written inC++, GLSL and C
Operating systemWindows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD
Platformx86-64, ARM64
Available inEnglish
TypeVideo game console emulator
LicenseGNU General Public License version 2.0
Websiterpcs3.net

RPCS3 is a free and open-source emulator and debugger for the Sony PlayStation 3 that runs on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and macOS operating systems, allowing PlayStation 3 games and software to be played and debugged on a personal computer. It is being developed in the C++ programming language targeting x86-64 and ARM64[a] CPUs featuring OpenGL and Vulkan as backend renderers.

As of August 2024, nearly 70% of PlayStation 3 games have been classified as "playable", meaning that a significant portion of the native library can be played from start to finish without any major problems.[3]

Development

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Despite the general idea that the complexity of the PlayStation 3's Cell architecture would prevent it from being emulated,[4] RPCS3 released on May 23, 2011, by programmers DH and Hykem as a working emulator.[5] The developers initially hosted the project on Google Code and eventually moved it to GitHub on August 27, 2013. The emulator was first able to successfully run simple homebrew projects in September 2011[6] and got its first public release in June 2012 as v0.0.0.2.[7]

On February 9, 2017, RPCS3 received its first implementation of a PPE thread scheduler, enhancing its emulation of the many-core Cell microprocessor.[8] On February 16, 2017, RPCS3 gained the ability to install official PlayStation 3 firmware directly to its core file system.[9] In May 2017, it was reported that the implementation of the Vulkan graphics API had shown some performance improvements approaching 400%, pushing several games into "playable" status.[10]

In July 2022, the developers of RPCS3 implemented save states into the emulator. This feature had previously been considered infeasible due to technical limitations.[11]

In September 2024, a build of RPCS3 native to the ARM64 CPU architecture for macOS devices with Apple silicon system-on-chip was released on GitHub.[12]

Requirements

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As of late 2024, the OS requirements are:

  • Windows: 10 or later.
  • macOS: Monterey (12.0) or later.
  • Linux: 5.4 or later.
  • FreeBSD: 13.3 or later.

Prior to this, the requirements for Mac and PC were lower at macOS 11.6 or later and Windows 7 or later, respectively. The PC must have at least 4 GB of RAM, 8 GB recommended, an x86-64 CPU and a GPU supporting one of the supported graphics APIs: OpenGL 4.3 or greater, or Vulkan, the latter being recommended. Additional support for SIMD CPU instruction sets such as AVX-2 and AVX-512 is also recommended for best performance. Apart from the game itself to be run, the emulator requires the PlayStation 3's firmware, which can be downloaded from Sony's official website.[13]

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RPCS3 received significant media attention in April 2017 for its ability to emulate Persona 5, achieving playability prior to the game's Western release date.[14][15][16][17] In September 2017, Persona developer Atlus issued a DMCA takedown notice against RPCS3's Patreon page. The action was motivated by the Patreon page making frequent mentions on the emulator's progress on emulating Persona 5. The demand, however, was settled by only removing all Persona 5 references from the page.[18][19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Contributors to RPCS3/rpcs3". GitHub.
  2. ^ "Downloads". rpcs3.net. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  3. ^ wololo (August 5, 2024). "RPCS3 (PS3 Emulator) 0.0.32 gets improved CPU detection + countless improvements". Wololo.net. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  4. ^ Usher, William (March 8, 2014). "PS3 Emulator Can Now Run Commercial Games". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  5. ^ "rpcs3 r1 Google Code". May 23, 2011. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014 – via Google Code.
  6. ^ "rpcs3 r28 on Google Code". May 23, 2011. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012 – via Google Code.
  7. ^ "rpcs3 tag 0.0.0.2". June 1, 2012. Archived from the original on January 6, 2013 – via Google Code.
  8. ^ "Pull request #2349 - [WIP] PPU scheduler". Retrieved March 3, 2017 – via GitHub.
  9. ^ "PS3UPDAT.PUP installer (#2386) · RPCS3/rpcs3@458dbbd". Retrieved March 3, 2017 – via GitHub.
  10. ^ Donnell, Peter (May 22, 2017). "RPCS3 Gets Performance Boost with Vulkan API". Eteknix. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019.
  11. ^ Bailey, Dustin (August 4, 2022). "PS3 emulator RPCS3 finally adds save states". GamesRadar. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  12. ^ RPCS3/rpcs3-binaries-mac-arm64, RPCS3, September 25, 2024, retrieved September 25, 2024
  13. ^ "Quickstart". RPCS3. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  14. ^ Prescott, Shaun (April 3, 2017). "Persona 5 is playable on PC with this PS3 emulator". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017.
  15. ^ Plunkett, Luke (April 4, 2017). "Here's Persona 5 'Running' On A PC". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 23, 2018.
  16. ^ Becht, Eli (April 5, 2017). "'Persona 5' Running on PC Emulation". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018.
  17. ^ Grubb, Jeff (April 3, 2017). "Persona 5 is up and running on one of the PC's PlayStation 3 emulators". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on June 23, 2018.
  18. ^ Moon, Mariella (September 27, 2017). "Atlus tried to take down a PS3 emulator advertising 'Persona 5'". Engadget. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017.
  19. ^ Orland, Kyle (September 27, 2017). "Atlus wants to cut off a PS3 emulator because it runs Persona 5". ArsTechnica. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017.

Notes

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  1. ^ For macOS devices.
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