The First PlayStation 4 Emulator Is Currently under Development

[Megalith]

The world’s first PlayStation 4 emulator, “Orbital,” is in the works for Windows and Linux. Developer AlexAltea, who began the project four weeks ago, has already provided a dumping tool and working kernel. No commercial games work yet, however.

Do note, however, that this emulator is still not ready for end users. As AlexAltea noted, no binaries are provided, so players must build each of the three components (BIOS, GRUB, QEMU) themselves. Furthermore, configuring the emulator to do something will be hard, as you will need to dump and decrypt the entire PS4 filesystem and sflash, including the kernel.

 

[viivo]

And in just a few short decades, top-end hardware will be able to render nearly 6% of PS4 games at 30FPS.

 

[DukenukemX]

And in just a few short decades, top-end hardware will be able to render nearly 6% of PS4 games at 30FPS.

Or in a few months low end hardware will be able to render games 100% of the PS4 at 60FPS. Remember, the PS4 and Xbox One use X86 CPU's, specifically AMD Jaguar cores. Which means to properly emulate a PS4 you'll need an 8 core or 8 thread CPU of any speed since almost nothing on the Desktop is anywhere nearly as slow as a Jaguar, with a Radeon HD 7850 equivalent or higher. The GPU might need to be more powerful since you're translating whatever the PS4 uses to OpenGL or Vulkan, though Vulkan offers a huge performance boost for emulation.

**EDIT**

After looking at the video I noticed that the emulator is using Virtualbox and QEMU. Basically like how some Android emulators work. Therefore CPU emulation isn't going to cause a huge performance hit.

 

[Stoly]

I'm thinking we'll get working PS4 emulation before we get xbox, xbox360 and saturn emulation.

 

[DukenukemX]

I'm thinking we'll get working PS4 emulation before we get xbox, xbox360 and saturn emulation.

Nintendo emulation > Sony emulation > Microsoft

Also, Saturn emulation has been done. Look at Mednafen Emulator.



Xbox 360 emulation has been done. Look at Xenia.



Nintendo emulation has a higher priority because there's a lot more good games that are exclusive to that machine. Sony is second, and Microsoft is last cause there's very few games on Xbox consoles that aren't already on PC or other consoles. It's not like the Halo series is so great that it demands an emulator.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Has a PS3 emulator (that is good) even come out? (yeah I know... Google it MFer)

 

[DukenukemX]

Has a PS3 emulator (that is good) even come out? (yeah I know... Google it MFer)

RPCS3 works for a lot of games, but not all. Also Vulkan is needed to get 100% stutter free gameplay.

 

[vegeta535]

I'm thinking we'll get working PS4 emulation before we get xbox, xbox360 and saturn emulation.

How hasn't the original xbox been emulated yet? Hardware wise at the time it was pretty close to a traditional PC also. Guess the desire was never there since it was a shit system game wise.

 

[Stoly]

Nintendo emulation > Sony emulation > Microsoft

Also, Saturn emulation has been done. Look at Mednafen Emulator.



Xbox 360 emulation has been done. Look at Xenia.



Nintendo emulation has a higher priority because there's a lot more good games that are exclusive to that machine. Sony is second, and Microsoft is last cause there's very few games on Xbox consoles that aren't already on PC or other consoles. It's not like the Halo series is so great that it demands an emulator.

I know both medafen and Xenia, but both are far from being playable in most cases with many games with graphic and sound glitches. I tried both last weekend and just stopped using them as it was not worth it.

Both are nowhere near the same level as PS2 and dreamcast emulation. Heck even the PS3 emulator looks more mature.

 

[Stoly]

How hasn't the original xbox been emulated yet? Hardware wise at the time it was pretty close to a traditional PC also. Guess the desire was never there since it was a shit system game wise.

Theres has been a couple, can't remember the names, cxbox or something like that. But it really didn't take off.

 

[Stoly]

I think console emulation is making a comeback. There were dozens of emulators that remained stagnant for years, but recenly more have been released for more recent systems.

These are the ones I use for now.
PPSSPP (PSP)
PSXemu (PS1)
Dolphin (Gamecube)
Cemu (Wii/WiiU/Gamecube)
RPCS3 (PS3)
PSCX2 (PS2)
Chankast (Dreamcast)
Project64 (N64)

 

[DukenukemX]

How hasn't the original xbox been emulated yet? Hardware wise at the time it was pretty close to a traditional PC also. Guess the desire was never there since it was a shit system game wise.

Exactly, the system had no original games. Pretty much every game on the Xbox Original was already on PC, PS2, Dreamcast, or GC. So there's no desire to emulate the original Xbox.

 

[acidrain97]

It's amazing how far a person will go to play free games.

 

[odditory]

It's amazing how far a person will go to play free games.

Piracy isn't what motivates the emulator developers. It has more to do with the love of the games, and wanting to break them free of artificial or physical platform or hardware limitations. In a lot of cases it's impossible to play certain games because the console or the game is out of production or print.

I'd love a 60FPS Bloodborne for example, and would pay full retail gladly .. but the option to buy the experience doesn't exist. Emulator may be a way.

 

[travbrad]

Piracy isn't what motivates the emulator developers. It has more to do with the love of the games, and wanting to break them free of artificial or physical platform or hardware limitations. In a lot of cases it's impossible to play certain games because the console or the game is out of production or print.

I'd love a 60FPS Bloodborne for example, and would pay full retail gladly .. but the option to buy the experience doesn't exist. Emulator may be a way.

Yep I know with the PS3 emulator you can run Demon's Souls in much better quality and framerate than you ever could on an actual PS3, provided you have the hardware to do it. Dark Souls 1 and 2 were much better experiences on PC just because of the 60FPS (as opposed to 30FPS at best, and drops as low as 10ish) but Demon's Souls and Bloodborne will likely never come to PC.

60FPS Red Dead Redemption would be great too, but last I checked they didn't have that one fully working in an emulator yet.

 

[Stoly]

Piracy isn't what motivates the emulator developers. It has more to do with the love of the games, and wanting to break them free of artificial or physical platform or hardware limitations. In a lot of cases it's impossible to play certain games because the console or the game is out of production or print.

I'd love a 60FPS Bloodborne for example, and would pay full retail gladly .. but the option to buy the experience doesn't exist. Emulator may be a way.

PS1 games looked great just by adding bilinear filtering back in the day. Now there are dozens of shaders and mods that make them look better than a PS2.
And lets not forget how Zelda looks in 4k with CEMU, lets just say my kid stopped asking for a Switch when he played it @4K.

 

[Goodlookinguy]

Theres has been a couple, can't remember the names, cxbox or something like that. But it really didn't take off.

Cxbx-Reloaded on the other hand is in very active development: https://github.com/Cxbx-Reloaded/Cxbx-Reloaded

I know both medafen and Xenia, but both are far from being playable in most cases with many games with graphic and sound glitches. I tried both last weekend and just stopped using them as it was not worth it.

Both are nowhere near the same level as PS2 and dreamcast emulation. Heck even the PS3 emulator looks more mature.

You may want to try Yabause or uoYabause for Saturn.

 

[sfsuphysics]

60FPS Red Dead Redemption would be great too, but last I checked they didn't have that one fully working in an emulator yet.

Well why don't you just play it on the PC then!!! Ooooh wait, yeah... maybe there's another reason for emulation beyond "free games"

But I love handheld emulation because I like looking at this on a big screen, plus save states are the fucking bomb!

And I won't be a hypocrite, I like free games too, but I don't feel too bad when the monthly sales of games to the people who originally sold them might be somewhere slightly above 0 but well below 1 on average, and fuck those "collectors" who create a secondary market for overpriced antiques them losing sales does not cost the original developer anything.

 

[greenman]

PS4 emulator in extremely early stages means nothing, OP. You do know that many, very many, emulation projects are abandoned... right?

I'm thinking we'll get working PS4 emulation before we get xbox, xbox360 and saturn emulation.

Dude, I play Saturn emulation on my phone. (Yaba Sanshiro)

Xbox is the tough one. I'm fine with this tho, it's still my main set up console. lol

 

[Nolan7689]

Exactly, the system had no original games. Pretty much every game on the Xbox Original was already on PC, PS2, Dreamcast, or GC. So there's no desire to emulate the original Xbox.

Nah not completely true. There were some original titles, just most were nothing worth writing home about like Blood Wake or Grabbed by the Ghoulies. But I can think of some games I’d like to revisit but can’t without an original console. The desire is not strong though.

 

[greenman]

Exactly, the system had no original games. Pretty much every game on the Xbox Original was already on PC, PS2, Dreamcast, or GC. So there's no desire to emulate the original Xbox.

Clearly you never had an Xbox.. It has SEQUALS from dreamcast games. It's the next gen after dreamcast, with much superior hardware. A ton of originals.

Microsoft admits that even they have a hard time emulating the xbox. I'm sure the 360 will get emulated before the original xbox will...

 

[DukenukemX]

Clearly you never had an Xbox.. It has SEQUALS from dreamcast games. It's the next gen after dreamcast, with much superior hardware. A ton of originals.

Microsoft admits that even they have a hard time emulating the xbox. I'm sure the 360 will get emulated before the original xbox will...

Oh yea, I never owned an Xbox to play Halo 2 like a moron and then modded it to run XBMC. That never happened, which is what I kept telling myself. Also what games? Shunmue 2 was on DC. Sonic Adventure 2 was on literally every machine, including PC.

Even if the games were remastered for the Xbox, remember we use emulators which automatically remasters the games. Which makes the GC, PS2, and DC versions better.

 

[greenman]

Oh yea, I never owned an Xbox to play Halo 2 like a moron and then modded it to run XBMC. That never happened, which is what I kept telling myself. Also what games? Shunmue 2 was on DC. Sonic Adventure 2 was on literally every machine, including PC.

Even if the games were remastered for the Xbox, remember we use emulators which automatically remasters the games. Which makes the GC, PS2, and DC versions better.

Oh, you're so smart, you ran a softmod executable...

Yes, there are 93 exclusive xbox games according to wikipedia, after a quick google search you could have done:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Xbox-only_games

Also, Sonic Adventure 2 was a dreamcast game. It never came out on xbox.

 

[tetris42]

Or in a few months low end hardware will be able to render games 100% of the PS4 at 60FPS. Remember, the PS4 and Xbox One use X86 CPU's, specifically AMD Jaguar cores.

Gee, I seem to remember a similar argument for the Xbox, that emulation would be here any minute because it used x86 hardware. Yet here we are 17 years later and you can't play Xbox games on PC. Maybe PS4 emulation will get lucky, maybe it won't. The point is just because it uses x86 hardware means fuckall as to how fast it gets emulated or not. The system has been out 4.5 years, I call that more than a few months.

Oh yea, I never owned an Xbox to play Halo 2 like a moron and then modded it to run XBMC. That never happened, which is what I kept telling myself. Also what games? Shunmue 2 was on DC. Sonic Adventure 2 was on literally every machine, including PC.

Even if the games were remastered for the Xbox, remember we use emulators which automatically remasters the games. Which makes the GC, PS2, and DC versions better.

Oh, so Jet Set Radio Future isn't worth playing because it was an Xbox exclusive? Yeah, everybody hated Jet Set Radio on DC, who would want to play the sequel?

Also, yes, Sonic Adventure 2 came to PC... 11 years after the original. I'm not sure why that's a point of contention.

In any event, between the Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube, the Xbox was the most powerful system. It's entirely possible for multiplatform console exclusives, the Xbox versions could be the highest quality versions for some of them.

I think you're just dumping on the Xbox because it breaks your everything-gets-emulated-on-the-PC narrative pretty badly. If a solid Xbox emulator existed, I bet you'd be singing its praise.