Sony - PlayStation Vita (Vita3K)¶

Background¶

A port of Vita3K, the experimental PlayStation Vita emulator, to libretro. It is built on current upstream Vita3K and on danprice142's libretro port, and reports upstream's version. Which games work is the same as in standalone Vita3K; see its compatibility list.

The core is built for Linux (x86_64, arm64), Windows (x64) and Android (arm64-v8a, x86_64).

The Vita3K core has been authored by

Vita3K Team
danprice142
WizzardSK

The Vita3K core is licensed under

GPLv2

A summary of the licenses behind RetroArch and its cores can be found here.

Requirements¶

A 64-bit CPU and a GPU with Vulkan 1.1 support. The core renders on RetroArch's own Vulkan device, so set RetroArch's video driver to vulkan. The Backend Renderer core option also offers OpenGL, which needs the glcore video driver.

BIOS¶

The core needs the PS Vita system software (firmware), which is not included with it. Download the packages from PlayStation's website and put them in a vita3k folder in RetroArch's system directory. The core installs them the first time it starts.

Filename	Description	md5sum
PSP2UPDAT.PUP	PS Vita system firmware - Required	-
PSP2UPDAT_PREINST.PUP	PS Vita firmware preinstalled package - Required	-
PSP2UPDAT_FONT.PUP	PS Vita firmware fonts - Optional	-

The preinstalled and font packages are also accepted under the names they are downloaded with, preinst_fresh.pup and font_fresh.pup.

The core also needs its own data files: the data and shaders-builtin folders that come with the core's release go in system/vita3k/ too.

Extensions¶

Content that can be loaded by the Vita3K core have the following file extensions:

.vpk
.zip
.pkg
.bin

A game is loaded as a .vpk or .zip archive, or from a game folder through its eboot.bin. It is installed into system/vita3k/ the first time it is started, and started from there afterwards.

A .pkg (a game, its update or its DLC) needs its license next to it: <name>.zrif, <name>.rif, work.bin or <CONTENT_ID>.rif. The Game PKG core option chooses whether a game's PKG is run straight from the file or installed first.

Features¶

Frontend-level settings or features that the Vita3K core respects.

Feature	Supported
Restart	✔
Screenshots	✔
Saves	✕
States	✕
Rewind	✕
Netplay	✕
Core Options	✔
Memory Monitoring (achievements)	✕
RetroArch Cheats	✕
Native Cheats	✕
Controls	✔
Remapping	✔
Multi-Mouse	✕
Rumble	✕
Sensors	✔
Camera	✕
Location	✕
Subsystem	✕
Softpatching	✕
Disk Control	✕
Username	✕
Language	✕
Crop Overscan	✕
LEDs	✕

Games save to the emulated console's memory card under system/vita3k/ux0/, not to RetroArch save files. Save states are not supported.

Directories¶

The Vita3K core's library name is 'Vita3K'.

Frontend's System directory

vita3k/PSP2UPDAT.PUP, vita3k/PSP2UPDAT_PREINST.PUP, vita3k/PSP2UPDAT_FONT.PUP (firmware packages)
vita3k/data/, vita3k/shaders-builtin/ (the core's data files)
vita3k/ux0/ (the emulated memory card: installed games, updates, DLC and saves)

Core options¶

The Vita3K core has the following option(s) that can be tweaked from the core options menu. The default setting is bolded.

GPU¶

Backend Renderer [vita3k_backend_renderer] (Vulkan|OpenGL)

Select the graphics backend. Vulkan is recommended.
Internal Resolution Multiplier [vita3k_resolution_multiplier] (1x (960x544)|2x (1920x1088)|3x (2880x1632)|4x (3840x2176))

Multiplier for the internal rendering resolution (960x544 base).
Screen Filter [vita3k_screen_filter] (Bilinear|Nearest|Bicubic|FXAA|FSR)

Post-processing filter applied to the rendered frame.
Anisotropic Filtering [vita3k_anisotropic_filtering] (1x (Off)|2x|4x|8x|16x)

Level of anisotropic texture filtering.
V-Sync [vita3k_v_sync] (ON|OFF)

Enable or disable vertical sync.
Async Pipeline Compilation [vita3k_async_pipeline] (ON|OFF)

Compile shader pipelines asynchronously to reduce stuttering.
Memory Mapping [vita3k_memory_mapping] (OFF|Double Buffer|External Host|Page Table|Native Buffer)

GPU memory mapping method. Higher methods improve performance but require GPU support.
High Accuracy Rendering [vita3k_high_accuracy] (OFF|ON)

Enable more accurate but slower rendering techniques.
Surface Sync [vita3k_surface_sync] (Enabled (more accurate)|Disabled (faster))

GPU memory optimization. May improve performance by 20-40%.

CPU¶

CPU Optimizations (Dynarmic JIT) [vita3k_cpu_opt] (ON|OFF)

Enable Dynarmic JIT for faster CPU emulation.

System¶

Game PKG [vita3k_pkg_mode] (Run Without Installing|Install)

How a game's PKG is run. Run Without Installing: the game starts in seconds, and a file is decrypted from the PKG the first time the game reads it, into the system folder; it is all removed when the game is closed. Install: the whole game is decrypted and installed into ux0/app the first time, as Vita3K does, which takes as long as the game is big and uses its size on disk. A game installed already runs from its installation either way. Updates and DLC are always installed.
PS TV Mode [vita3k_pstv_mode] (OFF|ON)

Emulate a PlayStation TV instead of a PS Vita.
Modules Mode [vita3k_modules_mode] (Automatic|Auto & Manual|Manual)

How system modules are loaded. Automatic is recommended.
FPS Hack (30 to 60) [vita3k_fps_hack] (OFF|ON)

Attempt to run 30fps-locked games at 60fps. May cause issues.
Confirm Button [vita3k_sys_button] (Circle|Cross)

Which button is used for confirm actions.
File Loading Delay [vita3k_file_loading_delay] (0 ms|5 ms|10 ms|15 ms|20 ms|25 ms|30 ms)

Delay in milliseconds for file loading. Helps with timing-sensitive games.

Audio¶

Audio Volume [vita3k_audio_volume] (0%|10%|20%|30%|40%|50%|60%|70%|80%|90%|100%)

Master audio volume level.
NGS Audio Engine [vita3k_ngs_enable] (ON|OFF)

Enable the NGS audio engine for enhanced audio.

Network¶

PSN Signed In [vita3k_psn_signed_in] (OFF|ON)

Pretend to be signed in to PSN. Required by some games.

Controllers¶

The PS Vita's own controls are on RetroArch's first port; ports two to four are the extra controllers of PS TV Mode. The touchscreen follows the frontend's pointer (mouse or touchscreen): it touches the front screen, or the rear touch pad while L2 is held. The motion sensors use the frontend's accelerometer and gyroscope where the device has them.

Joypad¶

RetroPad Inputs	PS Vita
	Cross
	Circle
	Square
	Triangle
	Select
	Start
	D-Pad Up
	D-Pad Down
	D-Pad Left
	D-Pad Right
	L
	R
	L2 (PS TV mode)
	R2 (PS TV mode)
	L3 (PS TV mode)
	R3 (PS TV mode)
	Left stick
	Right stick