shadPS4's new update fixes PS4 cutscenes and Intel CPU crashes

The open-source PlayStation 4 emulator shadPS4 has released version 0.18.0, adding workarounds for modern Intel processors and fixing broken cutscenes across multiple games. Developer George Moralis published the update today for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Moralis is not new to the emulation scene. Operating under the handle "shadow", he co-founded the PlayStation 2 emulator PCSX2. He started shadPS4 in late 2023 to tackle Sony's eighth-generation console. The project gained massive traction in 2024 when it managed to boot FromSoftware's Bloodborne, a game Sony has stubbornly kept off PC.

Intel chips get a red zone fix

The 0.18.0 update, codenamed "UltraPersona", targets a specific crash issue on recent hardware. It includes an experimental "red zone" protection patch for 12th-generation and newer Intel CPUs running on Windows. PC players with modern Intel processors have struggled with emulator stability, and this patch attempts to bypass those architecture-specific crashes.

It also addresses shadNet authorization bugs that cropped up in the previous 0.17.0 release.

Shadow of the Colossus reaches the menu

The emulator now handles AvPlayer modules using low-level emulation. This means pre-rendered video files finally play correctly instead of breaking or crashing the software. Many PS4 games rely on AvPlayer for their opening cinematics and story sequences.

Emulators typically use high-level emulation to approximate how a console's operating system handles tasks. Low-level emulation is more demanding because it simulates the actual hardware behavior. By shifting AvPlayer to low-level emulation, shadPS4 bypasses the need to perfectly guess how the PS4 decodes video, relying instead on the original system logic to do the heavy lifting.

A rewrite of the kernel event flags has improved stability for several exclusives. Shadow of the Colossus can now reliably boot into its menus. The update also ships with GPU rendering fixes specifically aimed at the Persona series, inFAMOUS, and Gravity Rush 2. Gravity Rush 2 is an important target, as it remains stranded on the PS4 without a native PC port.

The x86 illusion

The PS4 uses a standard x86-64 processor. On paper, this sounds like it should be easier to emulate on a PC than the PlayStation 3 and its notorious Cell processor. The reality is more complicated. The difficulty lies in translating Sony's proprietary graphics APIs, kernel functions, and system modules to work with Windows and Linux environments.

Bloodborne remains the primary benchmark for the project. Released in 2015, the action RPG never received a PC port or a 60 frames-per-second patch for newer PlayStation hardware. The emulation community watches every shadPS4 update closely to see how it affects performance in Yharnam. The 0.18.0 release does not magically make the entire PS4 library playable overnight, but it knocks out several major roadblocks.