PC5 1.8.5

PC5 opens with a startup sound chosen on consoles where 1.8.2 closed at once, and the startup sound gets a volume of its own. Also a smoother library, older 32-bit games that crashed in kernelbase.dll at startup, CPU sharing, and a game's own pointer reaching the far side of the screen in a 4:3 game.

Install

From PC5 1.8.2 that opens: Settings › System › Update now, or Update now when PC5 asks as it opens. From 1.8.0 or 1.8.1: Settings › Updates › Update now. PC5 restarts by itself when the update is installed.

From PC5 1.8.2 that closes at once with error CE-108255-1 (1.8.3 and 1.8.4, now withdrawn, did the same), either:

• update by hand (below), or
• open /data/prospero-win/pc5/settings.txt on the console (FTP, for example), change the startup_sound = … line to startup_sound = off (add the line if it isn't there), open PC5 and update from it. Choose a sound again afterwards in Settings › System › Startup sound if you want one.

By hand:

1. Download PPSA11018.zip and unzip it.
2. Replace the PPSA11018 folder on the console with the new one, the way you add homebrew. Your games, saves and settings stay where they are.
3. Start PC5. Options › About PC5 shows 1.8.5.

Updating from PC5 1.7.0: it closes at the end of the update instead of restarting, and the console then shows error CE-108255-1. The update is installed all the same: open PC5 again.

What's new

• PC5 opens with a startup sound chosen: on some consoles (one on system software 9.60 among them), 1.8.2 closed as soon as it started, every time, with error CE-108255-1, unless the startup sound was off. Before playing the sound it asked the console's system for its Controller Speaker Volume. PC5 no longer asks the system for any volume: it plays the sound as 1.8.1 did, at the volume set in PC5.
• Startup sound volume: a new row under Settings › System › Startup sound, from 10 to 100 % (100 % by default), shown while a sound is chosen. Changing it plays the sound at the new volume. The console's Controller Speaker Volume no longer changes the startup sound.
• A smoother library: moving through the covers takes about half the work it did in 1.8.2. The backdrop and the covers are drawn on four threads, a game's background is made ready on a thread of its own and shown once it is, and covers load one a frame while you move.
• A game's own pointer reaches the far side of the screen: in a game shown smaller than the screen (a 4:3 game with Aspect ratio kept, for example), PC5's pointer stopped at the edge of the picture, and a game that moves a pointer of its own by the mouse's motion stopped short of its right or bottom side. The motion now carries on at the edge, as a mouse held against the screen's edge does on a PC.
• Older 32-bit games that crashed in kernelbase.dll at startup: a 32-bit game that loads the CPU's FS register itself (which holds where its thread's data is) got the wrong address and crashed at its next use of it, with a page fault at an address like FF81C098. The right address is now put back and the game carries on. PC5's log notes the first time it happens, for a report.
• Games that look for Windows' 16-bit support: the console can't run 16-bit code, and a game that looked up one of its functions closed before showing anything. The lookup now fails as on 64-bit Windows, and the game carries on.
• CPU sharing: △ › Graphics › CPU sharing gives a game's threads turns on the CPUs, as on a PC. The console runs each of them on a CPU of its own until it waits, so a game that keeps more threads busy than its 13 CPUs can stop for seconds at a time, and carry on after a while or after the PS button. Turn it on for such a game. Off by default. See Graphics.
• The console's firmware in logs and reports: PC5 reads it from the console's own system, so a report names the firmware Settings › System › System Software shows. The number homebrew tools can change is noted beside it when the two differ.
• Logs and debugging on the wiki: where the logs are, a more detailed log for one game with the lines most often asked for, and starting a game with another way of drawing, in one place.
• Everything in 1.8.2 is unchanged: the library's new look with the covers on a mirrored floor, Settings › System, picture sources that can each be turned off, Java games and games started from a batch file.

Which games run

See the game compatibility list, made from players' reports. Got a game running? Add it: the form takes a minute.

Reporting a problem

Please report problems as an issue on GitHub, not in ProsperoStore's comments, and attach the game's zip from /data/prospero-win/logs/ (issue-…zip, or the game's newest log-…zip when nothing crashed). △ on PC5's crash message opens the form for you. Say which PC5 version you use (Options › About PC5) and what happened. Without the log the cause can't be found. If an update from PC5 fails, the message says why; turn on Settings › System › Keep all logs, try again and attach PC5's own log. See Logs and debugging for what an issue may ask for.

Not supported

Games that need a store's launcher or client running (Steam, EA app, Ubisoft Connect, Rockstar Games Launcher), anti-cheat, and games that need kernel drivers. .NET programs that mix .NET and C++ (C++/CLI). 16-bit Windows and DOS programs. Recording or saving video from inside a game. Frame generation for DirectDraw games, games drawn without 3D, and HDR output. Changing a game's controller mode, resolution or aspect ratio while it runs. DRM protected. PC5 installed as a package (.pkg) can't update itself: it updates from a folder only.

Licence

PC5's own code is under the GNU LGPL 2.1 or later. The app as a whole is under the GPL 3.0 or later, because it includes the PS5 boilerplate's startup code and libc.prx; its source is PPSA11018-sources.tar.xz. Videos and sound use FFmpeg (LGPL 2.1 or later), Frame generation uses ps5-framegen (GPL 3.0 or later, its shaders from AMD FSR3 under MIT), home screen tiles use the PS5 Forwarder Format (GPL 3.0 or later), Report on GitHub's QR codes use Project Nayuki's QR Code generator (MIT), DXVK (zlib licence) is built with PC5's patches, RADV (MIT) is built with PC5's patch for Aspect ratio, and VKD3D-Proton (LGPL 2.1 or later) is built with PC5's patch for feature level 12_0. .NET uses Wine Mono (MIT, its parts under their own licences); its source is wine-mono-11.3.0-src.tar.xz. The fonts are Liberation (SIL Open Font License 1.1) and Droid Sans Fallback (Apache 2.0). Wine patches from PS5_MihawkOS by mihawk-99, a logging patch from NFS Black Box by lavavex and the movie, sound and controller fixes by SuperLeiyan are under the LGPL 2.1 or later (SuperLeiyan's DXVK fix under zlib); FAudio's resampler fix, as prospero-win backports it, is under zlib. Credits are in README.md and NOTICE.md.