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aPS3e Shader Patch Edition — unofficial interim build (issue #121 fix)

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@mercurious mercurious released this 11 Jun 16:32
shader-patch-1
4b4e12f

aPS3e "Shader Patch Edition" — unofficial interim build

⚠️ UNOFFICIAL community build — not by the aPS3e maintainer. Built from this fork's vk-pipeline-cache branch (commit 4b4e12f5, based on upstream main4 dev branch). This release retires the day upstream ships the fix. Report problems with THIS build here on the fork — not to upstream.

What it fixes

Upstream issue aenu1/aps3e#121: the long "Compiling shaders" pass on every launch. Root cause: aPS3e never persisted a VkPipelineCache, so the GPU driver recompiled every pipeline from scratch each boot. This build saves the driver's compiled-pipeline cache per title and reloads it on the next launch — after one warm-up boot per game, the compile phase shrinks dramatically.

  • The cache is saved right after the startup compile burst (not only at exit), so it survives games that crash mid-session.
  • Verified on-device: test game cold boot writes a ~94 MB cache; warm relaunch loads it and the compile pass zips by. Field-tested across multiple days of sessions (cache grows incrementally and self-invalidates correctly when graphics settings change).

What it is NOT

  • Not a fix for in-game crash/stability issues — only launch-time recompilation.
  • Not an official release. Upstream credit: aenu1/aps3e (the Android port) and RPCS3 (the emulator). The patch has been offered upstream (issue #121 / PR #122).

Tested on

Snapdragon 865 (SM8250) / Adreno 650 / Retroid Pocket Flip 2 / Android 13 / Turnip 26.1.2. Other arm64 devices should work (the base is upstream main4, newer than release 2.39) but are untested.

Install

Standard sideload. This APK is signed with a different key than upstream releases — Android will require uninstalling the upstream aPS3e first (back up your game data; on-device data under Android/data/aenu.aps3e is removed on uninstall unless you relocate it first).

SHA256: 8d6aaf1d6534c1d66e73a3d46264a0a127a9a76d48543f828c1119a13dc96926

Source & license

Complete corresponding source: branch vk-pipeline-cache at commit 4b4e12f5 (the patch is 5 files; see the commit). This build, like the RPCS3 core it embeds, is distributed under the GNU GPL v2.0; modifications are marked in the commit history.

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