TL;DR
- Sony PlayStation 4 emulator ShadPS4 has reached v0.15.0, and the developer suggests users stick to it, as the next release will introduce breaking changes.
- The number of playable games on shadPS4 has jumped from 33 to 109 in just a year, with Windows and Linux seeing the most progress.
- Version 0.15.0 delivers rendering and stability fixes that improve the performance on games like Bloodborne, Driveclub, and The Last Guardian.
shadPS4 is currently one of the most important PlayStation 4 emulators on the market, primarily because it has achieved major technical breakthroughs that were previously deemed difficult and many years away. We’ve been tracking shadPS4’s progress over the months, and it’s been impressive how much the emulator has grown. The latest shadPS4 v0.15.0 update has just been released and includes various fixes that impact games like The Last Guardian, Driveclub, and others.
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shadPS4’s v0.15.0 release can be considered a milestone, as the developer suggests users stick with it for a while since v0.15.1 will introduce breaking changes. The release notes are quite technical, but notable changes include missing hotkeys now being automatically added to the global input config, and signal emulation has been improved.
shadPS4’s compatibility page now lists a good 109 games as playable (through various releases over the months), a big jump from the 33 we spotted last year. Another 181 land into the game, up from the 81 last year. The situation has also massively improved on Linux, with 119 games playable, while macOS is still fairly behind with 11. The status of an Android port is currently unknown.
As for games, Bloodborne is considered the gold standard for this emulator, as it is said to be highly playable at 60 fps on higher-end hardware like an RTX 4060 with mods.
v0.15.0 improves readback handling, which fixes a few visual bugs in this game, and also improves game mechanics in The Last Guardian. This release also improves color grading and rendering stability for Driveclub. Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris has also reached playable status on Windows with this update.
Do note that enabling “Precise” in “Readback Mode” will fix graphical bugs at the cost of performance, while “Relaxed” would give you better performance but may cause flickering or missing textures. Further, emulating the PS4’s GPU is CPU-intensive, so you’ll want high-end computer hardware for a playable experience, and you should still expect bugs and glitches. Still, the progress here remains commendable.
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