🔖 GUIDE INDEX
Last Updated:
❄️⛄January 2026
HOW TO PLAY BLOODBORNE ON PC
📑 GUIDE INDEX :
I structured the guide into 4 chapters for easy orientation
You can access each chapter via the links below, or the document’s TABS, that should be on the upper left of the page.
February 2026 EDIT:
I’m going to take advantage of this guide’s popularity to share this message.
Mainstream media and the U.S. government is involved in an active coverup of the world’s biggest and most disgusting scandal.
This affects EVERYONE.
Our leaders, our governments, our media institutions, our fucking wars…
Reading the Epstein files is like gaining Insight.
Many people are waking up to a horrible reality, and I think it’s important for everybody to be as informed as possible about what's going on.
This is worse than any Eldritch fantasy horror tale FromSoft could cook up.
And it’s fucking real.
Epstein didn’t kill himself .
The world is run by an elite of zionist pedophilic billionaires that eat children.
They hunt them.
Rape them.
Get them pregnant.
Then kill them.
And so, so much worse…
Yes, this is real.
And the CIA / FBI have been covering it up for 2 fucking decades.
Visit r/Epstein if you don’t believe me.
Plenty of posts like this one (Warning: NSFW, Graphic)
I_cannot_believe_what_im_reading/
Fuck Israel.
Fuck Billionaires.
Fuck Trump.
Fuck Hollywood.
Fuck (most) U.S. politicians.
Fuck Western Zionist-owned media.
This cannot continue.
I encourage everyone to :
- Spread the word
- Keep attention and accountability high.
This is NOT a “left vs. right” issue.
We need a fucking revolution holy shit these people are actual demons
Most U.S. Politicians are bought and silenced by AIPAC ( aka Israel)
Speak up, inform yourself and demand accountability from Governments and Media.
These people are committing crimes against humanity and need to be held accountable.
Thanks for reading
Now back to the Bloodborne guide 👇:
1. 📋 F.A.Q.
2. 📁 HOW TO INSTALL
3. 🩹🔨 PATCHES AND MODS (optional)
4. ⁉️💾 HELP / SAVE FILES
Back to the r/shadps4 thread
📋 1. FAQ
🔙 Back to INDEX
1
F.A.Q.
🫡 WHY DID YOU WRITE THIS GUIDE?
I want to make installing Bloodborne on PC easy
I see a lot of people having trouble setting this game up, and I know many of you aren't tech savvy, so I tried to write this guide AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE. I also wanted to be thorough.
I want as many people as possible to enjoy this masterpiece of a game on PC, where it can truly shine.
💻 SHOULD I PLAY ON PC OR PS4/5?
Emulating on PC is by far the best way to experience the game.
You get:
✅ higher resolutions ( up to 4K and Ultrawide)
✅ much better framerates ( up to 60 FPS)
✅ all types of mods ( greatly improve gameplay, graphics and more )
⌛ HOW HARD/LONG IS IT TO SETUP?
It's pretty easy,
If you already have the required game files, in 15 minutes, you're good to go.
⬇️ WHERE CAN I FIND THE REQUIRED GAME FILES?
You’ll need the GOTY Edition of the game in .pkg format
Piracy links aren't permitted here, sadly.
Maybe look or ask around…
🌐 DOES ONLINE MULTIPLAYER WORK?
Online Multiplayer is being worked on
💾 WHERE ARE THE SAVE FILES ?
I have a full 💥HELP and SAVES section at the end of this guide.
⌨️🖱️CAN I PLAY WITH MOUSE AND KEYBOARD?
Yes.
Newer versions of shadps4 support it out of the box, but there are also mods and apps for that might work better.
❌ HOW DOES IT RUN ON SONY CONSOLES?
It’s a dumpster fire.
Bloodborne originally ran at 1080p 30fps on the original Sony Consoles. but has MAJOR ISSUES :
- bad framerate ( drops to 25 FPS)
- inconsistent frametimes ( aka microstutters)
- noticeable input lag as a result of unstable/low framerate
✅ DOES IT RUN BETTER ON PC ?
Yes.
With Shadps4 PATCHES🩹, we can play it at :
- Locked 30 FPS with fixed frametimes
- Up to 60 FPS by uncapping the framerate
You can also set a custom FPS cap like 40FPS or 50FPS with apps like Rivatuner)
🥔 HOW WILL IT RUN ON MY PC ?
Shadps4 emulation is not that heavy.
This game is from 2015, and (almost) ran on a 2013 console.
A 500$ laptop from 2021+ should be able to run it, at least at a locked 30 fps.
🥔 HOW CAN I IMPROVE PERFORMANCE ?
You can do many things to increase fps :
- Lowering the game resolution with 🩹PATCHES
- Installing 🛠️ PERFORMANCE MODS
- Trying OLDER OR CUSTOM BUILDS of shadps4
- Check out the various tips covered in the newest ▶️DIGITAL FOUNDRY VIDEO
- Try this new Light Grid Patch
Look out for tips about improving performance marked by the POTATO PC🥔 Emoji throughout.
💥 I’M HAVING ISSUES…
I gotchu fam.
Use the 💥HELP and SAVES section at the very end of this guide to solve common issues.
📂 2. HOW TO INSTALL
2
HOW TO INSTALL
🗃️ REQUIRED FILES
To get started, you only need 3 things :
- Main Game file . pkg
- 1.09 Update file . pkg
- BBLauncher app ( Click under "Releases" on the right > Choose the correct .zip for your OS)
⚠️ This guide will use Bloodborne GOTY Edition, as it is includes DLC. Using the Base version may also be incompatible with mods or patches.
⚠️ If you have issues with BBLauncher, you can try extracting with ShadPS4 Plus
🗃️ UNPACKING THE GAME FILES
We need to UNPACK the .pkg files. Once unpacked, shadps4 will be able to read and play them.
- Create a new folder called 📁Unpacked BB (wherever you want on your PC )
- Open BBLauncher > PKG Extractor
- "Select PKG to extract" -> Browse for the Bloodborne.pkg
- "Select game output folder" -> Browse for the 📁Unpacked BB folder
- Click Extract ( Process takes ~ 10 Minutes)
- Repeat with 1.09 Update.pkg (much faster)
⚠️ DO NOT DELETE the .pkg files afterward, and instead move them somewhere safe. If you ever have issues with crashes, the best way to "Fresh Reinstall" is to do this unpacking process from scratch.
⚠️ Sometimes the extraction produces a bad dump, and the game will crash on bootup when playing. In case that happens, delete the extracted files, and try extracting again.
🗃️ SHADPS4 BUILDS
WHAT ARE SHADPS4 BUILDS?
Shadps4 emulator has LOTS of different versions ( builds)
A build is essentially a specific version of the emulator
- Usually it is a folder with the emulator .exe inside
- There is no One-fits-all solution for the best sps4 build
- I suggest downloading and trying a few different builds until one is running well enough.
- 🥔 Newer builds have more features, but MIGHT PERFORM WORSE. Sometimes it's better to stay on lower, older versions.
- 🥔 Custom, community-made builds are usually very performant, but can't be downloaded via launchers.
⚠️ Each build is in is their own folder.
⚠️ All SPS4 builds will automatically share some files, settings and saves that are in
📁 %appdata% / roaming / shadps4
In order for the emulator to work, you have to Install Visual C++ Redistributables. ( Most gamers probably already have this installed.)
HOW TO DOWNLOAD BUILDS
You have 3 OPTIONS for downloading SPS4 builds., you can use any of these .
My preferred method is 🟥 BBLauncher.
I recommend trying it out, and in case you have issues, try the other ones.
OPTION A - through the Official 🔷QT Launcher
Until November 2025, You could download each LOCAL shadps4 emulator build directly ( A .zip, containing the specific shadps4 build folder).
Now , Shadsp4 has switched release method : a QT Launcher with a VERSION MANAGER, a handy page that allows you to download, add, remove, update and launch different shadps4 builds.
🔷 Get it here: ShadPS4 Qt launcher
🔷 HOW TO DOWNLOAD BUILDS with QT Launcher:
- Download and extract, the launch QT Launcher
- Click "Version Manager"
- You can select the folder where your builds wil be downloaded (optional)
- Select a build to Download
- Select the build you'll launch from the drop down menu above "Version Manager"
🔷 Once you have downloaded a build, we need to tell our launcher where our game files are :
- Settings > Paths
- Choose the 📁 "Unpacked Bloodborne" ( Or wherever you extracted the .pkg to) /CUSA03173 folder )
OPTION B - with the handy 🟥 BBLauncher app
🟥 WHY BBL IS THE BEST
BBL is an amazing, community-made app.
Essentially a simplified interface for sps4.
It gives us quick access to important settings and additional functions:
- BBlauncher is the same app we used for unpacking. ( You should already have it )
- It is NOT needed, but recommended
- By using it, you (almost) never have to go into shadps4 settings or use the sps4 QT Launcher.
- BBlauncher has integrated a VERSION MANAGER inside it.
🟥 HOW TO DOWNLOAD BUILDS with BBLauncher
- Open BB Launcher
- Click the "Manage Builds" button
- You can select the folder where your builds will be downloaded (optional)
- Select a build and hit Download
🟥 Once you have downloaded a build, we need to tell BB launcher where our game files are :
- Click Browse under “Bloodborne Install folder”
- Choose the 📁 "Unpacked Bloodborne" ( Or wherever you extracted the .pkg to) /CUSA03173 folder )
OPTION C - by downloading 📁 local builds directly
The way Shadps4 was released until November 2025.
- Local Builds can be manually downloaded from your browser and used, no launcher required.
- Basically folders with the emulator .exe and some settings They are complete, individual instances of the emulator.
- 🥔The community sometimes takes the offical builds and modifies them to run better. ( "Custom Builds") Sometimes we want to try a specific build that's not on the Launchers, so we can download it as a zip file instead.
- They can also be manually added to a launcher's build list for convenience.
- 🥔Older Shadps4 builds have different Update channels that may perform better. You can change the update channel in Settings > General.
Here are some sources for local builds:
📁OFFICIAL version of the emulator. -
( You can also choose older versions on the website as some older versions ( like 0.8 or 0.6) might run better than newer ones.)
UPDATE CHANNELS :
-Release , Stable but probably slower
-Nightly 🥔, better performance and compatibility
📁Diegolix29 Custom Build - Very popular and performant, but a bit unstable/ have memory leaks. Try if main build isn't running well)
UPDATE CHANNELS :
-Prtbb , extra particles and snowflakes on cainhurst
-Nightly 🥔, if u are ok without particles
-Full souls 🥔, better for steam deck or rog ally
📁Embarrassed_Fact9883 Custom Build - Has a few conveniently integrated hacks/fixes.
UPDATE CHANNELS :
-Release 6.1 🥔, Old but performs very well
-Nightly 9.1, more up to date
⚔️ SETUP SLAUGHTERED!!⚔️
YOU CAN NOW PLAY THE GAME!!
- Connect and configure your Controller 🎮
- Boot it up and play through the intro sequence
❌ IF YOU ARE HAVING ISSUES…
skip to the 4. 💥 HELP section at the end of this guide.
✅IF IT LOADS IN GAME…
Let’s make our game even better!
We can now apply 3. 🔨 PATCHES AND MODS
Patches take like 5 minutes.
Mods require a bit more time and effort, but are worth it, and you can always add them later anyway.
⚒️ 3. PATCHES and MODS
3
PATCHES AND MODS
🩹 INTRO TO PATCHES
Patches are like Cheats, they only alter some code within the game.
Patches can :
✅ change resolution
✅ change fps
✅ more useful stuff
HOW TO GET AND ACTIVATE PATCHES
- Open ⭐BBLauncher > Patches ( or Open 🟦sPS4 > Right Click the game > Cheats/Patches > Patches tab)
- Select GoldHEN Repository > Download Patches > Select the new "BB. xml" Patch file
- A list of patches will appear
- Check the ones you want
- Hit Save
⚠️ If you have issues with the GoldHEN repository, remove it and try the Shadps4 rep instead.
🩹 RECOMMENDED PATCHES
🩹 SKIP INTRO - Skip the annoying slow intro logos
🩹 30 FPS FRAMETIME FIX - Fixes the bad Frametime (ONLY if you plan on playing at capped 30fps)
🩹 60 FPS - Uncaps FPS beyond 30
🩹🥔 TASKSPLIT - Better performance for free, no downside.
🩹🥔 RESOLUTION PATCHES (4K, 2K, 720p, 540p, 480p) - if your PC sucks, lower the resolution. Has a huge impact on performance!!!
🩹 INCREASE GRAPHICS HEAP SIZES ( needed for resolutions above 1080p) ( and also go in Settings >Experimental tab > set "isDevKitmode" to on). People also suggest setting the Vblank Divider to 4.
🩹🥔 LIGHT GRID - PERFORMANCE PATCH ( This NEW patch apparently boosts performance - choose the resolution that matches your monitor’s resolution)
- Light Grid Patch Youtube tutorial
🛠️ INTRO TO MODS
Mods are essentially community-made folders, containing files and code that can be added or replace the original game files.
Mods can :
✅ fix bugs/crashes
✅ improve performance 🥔
✅ improve gameplay
✅ improve graphics
✅ add content to the game
⬇️ IN APP MOD DOWNLOADER
The BB launcher app has also recently integrated a Mod Downloader that lets you download some mods directly within the app
⛔ We won’t be using it. ⛔
This can be useful for some people, I recommend trying it if you're experienced and know what you're doing.
I will explain the classic, tried and true method of downloading the mods yourself through your browser.
🛠️ HOW TO INSTALL MODS
🤩 WHY USE BBLAUNCHER ?
It is by far the easiest and most intuitive way to install and activate mods.
⭐ Simple shortcut to MODS folder
⭐ Easily activate/deactivate mods
⭐ Alerts you when 2 mods are conflicting
⏬ 1/3 - WHERE TO DOWNLOAD MODS
I made a separate document containing all the best mods I could find, and instructions on how to download them:
Chompky Honk’s 📃Recommended BLOODBORNE MODS
📁 2/3 - MOVE MODS TO BBLAUNCHER FOLDER
- Open 🟪BB Launcher.exe
- Select the "MODS" Folder Icon (Windows Explorer will open the "Mods" folder)
- Extract your mod folder here
Example :
📁 Bloodborne stuff \ BBLauncher \ Mods \ Vertex Explosion fix
💡3/3 - HOW TO ACTIVATE MODS
- Open 🟪BB Launcher.exe
- Select "Mod Manager"
- Click on Desired Mod > Activate Mod
⚠️ This process applies for most mods, but always read mod instructions page.
⚠️ I recommend renaming the mod folder once extracted, as many mods have unintuitive names.
⬇️ Next Section: 💥HELP and SAVES section
❓ 4. HELP and SAVES
🔙 Back to INDEX
4
HELP AND SAVES
💥 THE BEST WAY TO SOLVE ANY ISSUE YOU MAY HAVE
THE BEST WAY TO FIND A SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM IS TO …
🔎LOOK FOR IT!
Chances are somebody else has already had your same problem and made a post about it, and some helpful chap replied with the solution.
Search results now include a Reddit AI summary, which can also help.
Your best bet is always using key words in the search bar to find a previous post on the
r/shadps4 or r/BloodbornePC subs.
👇I also listed some very common issues below.👇
💥 COMMON ISSUES
🛠️ VERTEX EXPLOSION MOD FIX
This is the big one.
The one that most people have.
It solves issues with character creation, and people’s faces exploding into polygons all over the screen.
As of January 2026, we can only fix it:
- via a MOD FIX called VERTEX EXPLOSION FIX
- Via a setting in the latest versions of sps4., but it has a high performance cost!
Go to the 3. 🔨PATCHES AND MODS section of the guide, skip to the mod section to learn how to install mods.
🛠️ OTHER ISSUES with MOD FIXES
Some very specific issues can only be fixed with a MOD :
- CRASHES ON INTEL CPU
- WEIRD LIGHTING/TEXTURE ISSUES
- GAME CRASHES WHEN HITTING ENEMIES
- GAME IS STUCK AFTER/BEFORE CUTSCENE
Go to the 3. 🔨PATCHES AND MODS of the guide to learn how to install mods.
If you have other issues, keep reading below.
COMMON ISSUES
Here's some other common issues ( and solutions) :
- GAME CRASHES AFTER PLAYING A WHILE -> Probably a memory leak issue, try changing shaps4 builds
- GAME CRASHES WHEN USING HIGH RESOLUTIONS PATCHES -> You need to tweak a few settings, visit the 🩹PATCHES section of this guide.
- SOUND DOESN'T WORK -> Use the BBlauncher > BBL Settings > check the 60 fps Sound fix or try 🛠️Sound MOD fix
If you still have issues, keep reading below.
MY GAME WAS RUNNING FINE, BUT NOW CRASHING!
If the game was running before and now it's not, this usually happens because we mess around too much with builds, patches and mods, and something probably started conflicting with something else.
- Download and try another build of the emulator
If no other builds work, maybe a patch or mod is messing with our game.:
When having issues with patches and mods, it’s often down to 1 thing malfunctioning.. We want to deactivate everything.
Did you recently apply mods?
- Deactivate all mods ( BBLauncher > Mod Manager )
Did you recently apply patches?
- Turn off all patches and try booting.
- Try switching Patch Repository in Patches window ( GoldHEN or Shadps4)
If that works, turn patches and mods on one at a time, and figure out which one is causing the game to crash.
If none of these work, keep reading below.
MY GAME IS CRASHING!
If the game is just not booting, try :
- Download and try another build of the emulator
- Try switching Patch Repository in Patches window ( GoldHEN or Shadps4)
- Try deactivating all Mods and Patches
Did you do these steps correctly?
- Did you install Visual C++ Redistributables? It is required for the emulator to work.
- Are you using the GOTY version of Bloodborne? Using other versions may have compatibility issues.
- Did the 1.09 Update .pkg file install correctly? Does the game say 1.09 in shadps4 QT launcher?
If the game still doesn't load, try :
- Update internal GPU drivers in your GPU app ( Then reboot your PC )
- Delete your save files ( see 💾SAVES section below )
- Delete all shared Emulator files - located in 📁 %appdata%/roaming/shadps4
If none of these work, try maybe your game files are corrupted. See below.
💥 CORRUPTED GAME FILES
Maybe our game files are just corrupted.
This can happen
- if the .pkg extraction went bad
- when fiddling with mods
This should be your last resort, but is actually pretty common.
We'll have to do the process from scratch :
Your saves are safe in a separate shadps4 folder, so don't worry.
- Delete all game files inside your "Unpacked Bloodborne" folder
- Re - unpack the full game .PKG
💾 WHERE CAN I FIND BLOODBORNE'S SAVE?
🔍 WHERE DOES SPS4 SAVE GAMES ?
The default location of savedata folder is in
📁 C / Windows / User / %appdata% / roaming / shadps4 / user / savedata
It can be changed to whatever folder you like.
The emulator will automatically create a "1" folder in the chosen save folder, and insert individual game folders (CUSAxxxx folders) inside.
Every game has a unique CUSAxxxx folder, matching the game’s SERIAL NUMBER. The folder structure will be :
📁 chosensavefolder / 1 / CUSAxxxxx
🩸 WHERE IS MY BLOODBORNE SAVE?
CUSA03173 is Bloodborne GOTY Edition's Serial Number .
The save files of Bloodborne are in the
📁 CUSA03173 / SPRJ0005 Folder
⚠️ Some newer sps4 versions have a bug and save to the 📁CUSA00207 folder instead. ( see section below)
⚡ QUICK ACCESS TO GAME SAVE FOLDER
On a local build or QT Launcher, you can easily access any game's CUSAxxxx folder by :
- Open SPS4 Build
- Right Click the game icon
- Open Folder > Savedata
💾 SHADPS4 ISN'T LOADING MY SAVE ANYMORE!!!
🐞 THE SAVE BUG
Old and New versions of Shadps4 read and save to differently named folders.
Don't panic, your save is probably still there.
This is a bug that started in v 0.9.0, and hopefully gets patched in later versions.
You probably switched/updated build, so now it's using a different folder.
- OLD SPS4 BUILDS ( up to 0.9 ) save to 📁CUSA03173 folder.
- NEWER BUILDS ( 0.9 + ) save to 📁CUSA00207 folder.
🔄️ HOW TO RESTORE YOUR SAVE
All we need to do is move the correct SPRJ005 save folder in whatever CUSA folder our emulator is reading.
Here's how to restore your save:
- Create a copy of both 📁CUSA03173 and 📁CUSA00207 somewhere safe. (If there's only one, back that one up) (IF you have both, it's because you created a new game with the most recent emulator.)
- These folders will each have a save folder inside called 📁SPRJ0005
- One of these 📁SPRJ0005 contains your correct save.
- Figure out which by copy-pasting one at the time into whatever folder your desired Shadps4 version is loading, and launching the game.
Done!
( OPTIONAL STEP)
- Each time you switch between old and new builds of Sps4, you want to copy and paste your current SPRJ0005 folder into both CUSA03173 and CUSA00207, so whatever emulator you're using, it'll read the same, correct save file.
💾 BACKING UP YOUR SAVES
You often want to create backups of the savedata or individual CUSAxxxx folders before doing changes like moving files, deleting builds, doing emulator updates or mod installs.
- Just copy/paste your game's CUSAxxxx folder somewhere safe
- To remind you what save that is, I usually insert the CUSAxxxx folder in a new folder, and name the folder with something like 📁 "just beat Vicar Amelia" or something.
- I even keep different save points in a 📁"BB Saves" folder, just in case the most recent one should break.
⁉️ I NEED MORE SUPPORT...
If you already :
- Scoured the 2 subs for your issue using key words
- Used the HELP Section of this guide
.. and still couldn't solve your issue, you can try :
A) Checking out the comments in the:
- r/BloodbornePC Guide post
- On this post below
B ) You can make a post asking for help here:
- r/BloodbornePC sub
- r/Shadps4 sub
- Shadps4 Discord ( There's a bloodborne-specific thread)
C) Leave a comment on my reddit guide, and I or someone else might try to point you to a solution.