30fdd8d6ed
* [ShaderCompiler] Extract the backend-neutral shader compiler project Move the Gen5 (gfx10) microcode decoder, the scalar evaluator, the shader IR, and the metadata reader out of SharpEmu.Libs/Agc into a new SharpEmu.ShaderCompiler project — the half of shader compilation every codegen backend (SPIR-V today; MSL and DXIL later) consumes. Types go public: they are the contract now. Nothing in the project may depend on a host graphics API; the SPIR-V-specific artifact types (Gen5SpirvShader, Gen5SpirvStage) stay beside the emitter in Libs. Three couplings surfaced by the move, each resolved at the right depth: GuestDrawKind was defined inside VulkanVideoPresenter despite being a guest-domain, decoder-produced concept — it moves to the shared project; the evaluator's one HLE dependency (the tracked-libc-heap read fallback) becomes an injectable hook that a Libs module initializer installs before any caller can reach the evaluator; and the inline- constant table is promoted to a shared Gen5InlineConstants so backends cannot drift on constant semantics (the SPIR-V translator now delegates to it). The ShaderDump tool drops its reflection over the moved types in favor of direct typed calls; only the SPIR-V emitter, still internal to Libs until it moves to its own backend project, is reached via reflection. Verified by a clean solution build, the existing test suite, and a full ShaderDump conformance run. * [ShaderCompiler] Move the SPIR-V emitter into SharpEmu.ShaderCompiler.Vulkan Gen5SpirvTranslator (with its ALU partial), SpirvModuleBuilder, SpirvFixedShaders, and the Gen5SpirvShader/Gen5SpirvStage artifact types move whole from SharpEmu.Libs/Agc into the first per-backend codegen project. Notably it needs no Vulkan bindings reference: emitters produce bytes from the shared IR; renderers own graphics APIs. Types go public as the backend's contract; AgcExports and the presenter consume them exactly as before. The ShaderDump tool drops its last reflection: with both halves of the pipeline public it drives decode and all three emit entry points with direct typed calls, retiring the PadWithDefaults invoke shim — and it no longer references SharpEmu.Libs at all, making the conformance tool emulator-independent by design. Verified by a clean solution build, the test suite, a full ShaderDump conformance run, and a locked-mode restore under the pinned SDK. * [Gpu] Extract the guest-GPU backend seam (IGuestGpuBackend) The AGC/VideoOut/SystemService export layers now reach the renderer through IGuestGpuBackend via GuestGpu.Current (mirroring HostPlatform), instead of calling VulkanVideoPresenter statics. The Vulkan backend is a thin adapter over the existing presenter, so the extraction stays mechanical; only the adapter and the presenter itself reference the presenter now. The types crossing the seam move to Gpu/GuestGpuTypes.cs and drop their Vulkan prefixes, which an audit showed were misnomers: every field is a neutral primitive or a raw guest value (guest addresses, format and number-type codes, CB_BLEND register bitfields, verbatim sampler descriptor dwords). The one genuine Vulkan value in the old surface — the Silk.NET Format inside VulkanRenderTargetFormat, which callers never read — stops crossing: TryDecodeRenderTargetFormat is replaced at the seam by TryGetRenderTargetOutputKind, which surfaces only the Gen5PixelOutputKind callers actually consume, keeping native formats a backend-internal concern. ToVulkanSampler in AgcExports is renamed ToGuestSampler to match what it always produced. Seam rules are documented on the interface: no host-API value crosses, and submission stays coarse-grained with synchronization internal to backends. Interim exception, resolved next: shader parameters are still SPIR-V blobs. * [Gpu] Move shader compilation behind the guest-GPU backend The seam's interim exception is gone: AgcExports no longer calls Gen5SpirvTranslator or handles SPIR-V bytes. IGuestGpuBackend gains the three TryCompile entry points, which take the backend-neutral (Gen5ShaderState, Gen5ShaderEvaluation) contract plus the flat per-role resource-slot bases a multi-stage draw needs, and return opaque IGuestCompiledShader handles that only the producing backend can submit — the Vulkan backend wraps its SPIR-V in VulkanCompiledGuestShader and rejects foreign handles loudly. Draw and dispatch submissions take handles instead of byte arrays; the shader caches in AgcExports store handles. IGuestCompiledShader.Payload exposes the backend-defined compiled bytes for exactly two callers: the diagnostics dump and the size trace — documented as never-interpret. The unused _pixelSpirvCache is deleted. With this, a Metal or DX12 backend plugs in by implementing IGuestGpuBackend with its own codegen; nothing in the export layers knows which shader format exists. Verified by a clean solution build, the test suite, and a full ShaderDump conformance run under the pinned SDK. * [Gpu] Fix rename collateral from the seam extraction Address review findings: a doc comment picked up the mechanical VulkanVideoPresenter -> GuestGpu.Current rewrite and ended up naming members that do not exist on the interface, and CreateVulkanIndexBuffer kept its Vulkan prefix while every sibling factory was de-Vulkanized — it produces the neutral GuestIndexBuffer, so it is CreateGuestIndexBuffer. * [Gpu] Label diagnostics dumps with the backend's payload extension Address the review's altitude finding on DumpSpirv: the dump helper's IR-disassembly half is backend-neutral and stays put, but writing the opaque payload to a hardcoded .spv interpreted bytes the seam says never to interpret. IGuestCompiledShader now declares its payload's file extension, and the renamed DumpCompiledShader takes the handle and writes honestly-labeled dumps whichever backend produced them. * [Gpu] Make the shader-cache hit path allocation-free and lock-free Every translated draw built its cache key with a LINQ Select feeding string.Join plus one interpolated string per render target — steady per-draw allocation whether or not the shaders were already cached. The output layout is now packed exactly into a ulong (guest slot in 6 bits + output kind in 2 bits per target, host locations being the byte positions, target count in the key beside it), and the Gen5PixelOutputBinding array is only materialized on a cache miss, where compilation dwarfs it. The graphics/compute shader caches switch from Dictionary guarded by _submitTraceGate to ConcurrentDictionary, making the per-draw and per-dispatch hit paths lock-free and decoupling them from the tracing gate they coincidentally shared. And the seam-shaped render-target list is built once when a translated draw is created instead of a Select/ToArray per submission of a cached draw. * [Gpu] Replace LINQ with explicit loops in code this branch introduced Project rule going forward: no LINQ — it allocates enumerators, closures, and delegates, and this codebase is GC-pause-sensitive. The pixel-output and guest-render-target array builds and the ShaderDump store-PC collection become plain loops; pre-existing LINQ elsewhere is left for changes that already touch those lines. * [ShaderCompiler] Suppress CA2255 on the evaluator hook installer The analyzer coverage that arrived with the rebase flags ModuleInitializer in library code; this is the rule's intended advanced scenario — the hook must be installed before any code path can reach the evaluator, and every such path enters through this assembly — so suppress with that justification rather than weaken the guarantee to a static constructor's lazier timing. * [Gpu] Resolve rebase artifacts onto main Dedupe the System.Collections.Concurrent using in AgcExports that the rebase merge duplicated (main and this branch each added it), and regenerate the lock files for the new shader-compiler projects and SharpEmu.Libs against main's current package graph so --locked-mode restore matches at the branch tip. * [CI] Comment per-platform build artifact links on PRs Adds a workflow_run workflow that, after "Build and Release" finishes a pull-request build, posts (and keeps updated in place) a single PR comment linking the Windows, Linux, and macOS artifacts from that run. It runs via workflow_run rather than in the build workflow because PRs from forks build with a read-only token that cannot comment; the follow-on run executes in the base-repo context with write access and without checking out fork code. GitHub only triggers workflow_run from the default branch, so this takes effect once merged to main.
SharpEmu
An experimental PlayStation 5 emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS.
Join our Discord for development updates, compatibility discussions, support, and community chat.
Note
SharpEmu supports Windows x64, Linux x64, and macOS x64. Apple Silicon Macs can run the macOS x64 build through Rosetta 2.
Warning
SharpEmu is an experimental PS5 emulator developed from scratch in C#. The current focus is on accuracy and infrastructure setup rather than game-specific compatibility.
Info
SharpEmu is an emulator project currently in its early stages of development.
This project is developed purely for research and educational purposes. There are no commercial goals associated with it. We enjoy learning about system architecture and reverse engineering.
SharpEmu focuses exclusively on the PlayStation 5.
Our goal is not to emulate PS4 games, as there is already an excellent emulator dedicated to that platform: ShadPS4.
Status
The emulator can currently load the eboot.bin of real games, execute native CPU instructions, and partially handle kernel-related functionality. However, several critical components are still missing.
Current capabilities include:
- Loading
eboot.binand.elffiles - Executing native CPU instructions
- Reading basic game metadata (title, version, etc.)
- Loading system modules (
prx/sys_module) - Partial support for some kernel functions
FiberandAMPRexports- PlayGo scenarios
- Initial loading game files
- Shader/resource submits and AGC initial
- Video outputs in some games
Some games have reached like sceVideoOut and AGC stages.
SharpEmu supports Windows, Linux, and macOS hosts. Video output uses Vulkan on Windows and Linux, and MoltenVK on macOS. Platform support is still experimental, so compatibility and performance vary by game, operating system, and GPU driver.
Using
Download the release archive for your operating system, extract it, and launch
SharpEmu with the path to a legally obtained game's eboot.bin.
Windows PowerShell:
.\SharpEmu.exe "C:\path\to\game\eboot.bin" 2>&1 |
Tee-Object -FilePath "SharpEmu.log"
Linux and macOS:
chmod +x ./SharpEmu
./SharpEmu "/path/to/game/eboot.bin" 2>&1 |
tee SharpEmu.log
A Vulkan-capable GPU and current graphics driver are required. The macOS release includes the MoltenVK Vulkan implementation.
Games Tested
-
Demon's Souls Remake
- Demon's Souls [PPSA01341]
- Demon's Souls is now video loop. Shaders are ready to be converted to SPIR-V/Vulkan. We are continuing our work on this.
-
Poppy Playtime Chapter 1
-
SILENT HILL: The Short Message
-
Dreaming Sarah
- Dreaming Sarah [PPSA02929]
- Real texture rendering for this game;
Important
This project does not support or condone piracy.
All games used during development and testing are dumped from consoles that we personally own.
Users are expected to use legally obtained copies of their games.
Build
- Install the .NET SDK version specified in
global.json. - Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/par274/sharpemu.git - Open the solution file (
SharpEmu.slnx) in VSCode. - Build the project:
dotnet buildordotnet publish - Build artifacts will be located in the
artifactsdirectory.
Disclaimer
SharpEmu is an experimental emulator intended for research and educational purposes.
This project does not contain any copyrighted system firmware, game data, or proprietary PlayStation assets.
Special Thanks
The following projects were extremely helpful during development:
-
ShadPS4
Helped with understanding the basic architecture of the PlayStation 4. -
Kyty
One of the few PS5 emulator projects available and very useful for studying native code execution. -
Ryujinx
Provided valuable references for filesystem handling and low-level C# implementation patterns.
License
Contributing
Before opening an issue or pull request, please read our contribution guidelines:
The guide covers:
- Coding style and formatting
- AI-assisted contributions
- Pull request expectations
- Testing guidelines
- Legal and reverse engineering policy