KytyPS5 is a free and open-source PlayStation 5 emulator written in C++ for Windows. It is based on a heavily modified version of Kyty. The project is in an early stage of development, so compatibility is limited and behavior may change significantly between builds.

Important

KytyPS5 is not affiliated with Sony Interactive Entertainment or PlayStation. The project does not distribute games or copyrighted system software. Use only game files that you have obtained legally.

Current Status

KytyPS5 can boot 2D games and a selection of 3D games, including titles built with Unreal Engine 4/5, Unity, and custom engines. No external low-level emulation modules are currently required.

Development is focused on compatibility and boot reliability.

Linux support is planned, but Windows is the only supported platform at this time.

Bugs and Issues

The project is in an early stage, so please be mindful when opening new issues. Expect crashes, graphical glitches, low compatibility, and poor performance.

Screenshots

Disgaea 6	Dreaming Sarah
Minecraft Legends	SILENT HILL: The Short Message

Contributing

Testing games and submitting detailed bug reports are useful ways to contribute. Search existing issues first, then use the Game Emulation Bug Report template and attach the complete log file.

Code contributions should be focused, build successfully on Windows, and include relevant tests where practical. Because KytyPS5 is still evolving quickly, consider opening an issue before starting a large change.

Developer Information

The PS5 graphics architecture is based on AMD RDNA 2. Use AMD's RDNA 2 Instruction Set Architecture Reference Guide (document 70648) as the primary instruction-encoding reference when working on shader decoding and recompilation.

Important areas of the codebase:

src/graphics/shader/recompiler — instruction decoding, intermediate representation, control flow, resource tracking, and SPIR-V emission
src/graphics/guest_gpu — PS5 (Prospero) GPU formats and command processing
src/graphics/host_gpu — Vulkan host backend and resource management
tests — focused memory, shader, and resource-tracking regression tests

The renderer targets Vulkan 1.3. Keep shader changes aligned with both the RDNA 2 ISA semantics and the Vulkan/SPIR-V validation rules.

Building

System requirements

Windows 10 version 1803
A 64-bit x86 processor
A Vulkan 1.3-capable GPU with current drivers

Build requirements

Git
CMake 3.12 or newer
Ninja
Visual Studio 2022 or Build Tools 2022 with the Desktop development with C++ workload and C++ Clang tools for Windows component
Qt 6 for MSVC 2022 64-bit, including Concurrent, Network, and Widgets
Vulkan SDK 1.3 or newer

The Microsoft C++ compiler (cl.exe) is not supported; use clang-cl.

Open an x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for Visual Studio 2022 (or the equivalent Developer PowerShell), change to the repository root, and initialize the dependencies:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Configure the project. Replace the Qt path with the version installed on your system:

cmake -S src -B _Build/windows -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang-cl -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang-cl -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="C:/Qt/6.x.x/msvc2022_64"

Build the launcher and stage a runnable installation:

cmake --build _Build/windows --target launcher
cmake --install _Build/windows --prefix _Build/windows/install

The finished application and its runtime dependencies will be placed in _Build/windows/install.

Visual Studio Code

A ready-made Visual Studio Code setup is included in .vscode. It configures CMake Tools to build the project with Ninja and clang-cl and provides launch profiles for both launcher.exe and kyty_emulator.exe.

Before using it:

Install the CMake Tools and C/C++ extensions in Visual Studio Code.
Update CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH in .vscode/settings.json to point to your Qt 6 MSVC installation.
Update the --game path in .vscode/launch.json for the Debug kyty_emulator profile.
Open the repository in an x64 Visual Studio developer environment, configure the CMake project, and select a launch profile from Run and Debug.

Running

Update your graphics driver before reporting rendering problems.

To use the graphical launcher:

.\_Build\windows\install\launcher.exe

On first launch, add one or more game folders in the global settings. The launcher searches those folders recursively for game directories containing eboot.bin. Select a detected game and run it from the game list.

The emulator can also be started directly with a legally obtained game directory or ELF file:

.\_Build\windows\install\kyty_emulator.exe --game "D:\Games\ExampleGame"

Run kyty_emulator.exe --help to see the available graphics, logging, validation, profiling, and debugging options.

AI Use

AI tools may be used for research, reverse engineering, and development assistance. Contributors must fully understand, review, and test all code they submit and remain responsible for its correctness. Repository communication, including pull-request descriptions, code comments, and issue comments, must come from the human contributor rather than an autonomous AI agent.

Pull requests that include AI-assisted or AI-generated work should disclose the scope of the AI involvement and describe the human review and testing performed before submission. Unverified or untested generated changes may be closed without review.

License

KytyPS5 is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPL-2.0-only).

This project is based on the original Kyty, which was released under the MIT License. Kyty's original copyright and license notice are preserved in LICENSES/Kyty-MIT.txt. Third-party components remain subject to the licenses included with those components.

Special Thanks

InoriRus/Kyty — KytyPS5 is based on a heavily modified version of the original Kyty project.
shadps4-emu/shadPS4 — reference for memory-model understanding and the AVPlayer implementation.