Quickstart: running Bloodborne on ShadPS4

~ By Gilles and Reimu and SanderzenHD

In this guide we’re going to be installing Bloodborne retail and apply modifications to the game files to fix issues and optimize performance.

Since the emulator is in its early stages and highly experimental, we cannot guarantee that it will work on your hardware. When it does, crashes and severe glitches are to be expected.

Prerequisites:

  • Jailbroken PS4 (in order to dump the game and acquire system modules)
            Details about jailbreaking your PS4 or dumping games are not provided.

  • Bloodborne 1.0 retail .pkg
                Can be both the Standard and Game of the Year edition.
  • Bloodborne 1.09 update .pkg
                Can be both the Standard and Game of the Year edition.

The 1.0 retail .pkg and 1.09 update .pkg must be the same TitleID (CUSAXXXX)!

  • VRAM and RAM Requirements

                       VRAM

Some places in the game can suddenly use up a lot of VRAM, and can easily crash graphics cards with 8 GB of memory. Thus it is recommended to look at the ground if you notice a particular area is suddenly crashing your game, or to ensure your graphics card has plenty of memory, preferably at least 12 GB.

RAM

The emulator still have some memory leaking issues this mean that after a long time of playing Bloodborn you wil begin to experience stutters (mostly right after dying or warping) and in the end the game wil crash. So we recommend at least 16 GB with ram but preferably 32 GB.

At the time of writing, there seem to be more issues with AMD GPU’s in general. The drivers below can display in-game graphics, but still the game still crashes: https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RAD-WIN-AFMF2-TECH-Preview.html 

The Guide:

1. Download the latest ShadPS4 build from Foul-Tarnished

Make sure you are logged into GitHub. Download the latest:

 

2. Unzip the archive and run ShadPS4 for the first time.

The emulator will ask you to create a game folder. We recommend just creating a folder called “games” in the ShadPS4 folder. (If the emulator don`t wanna open please install/reinstall VC++ )

3. PS4 system modules (optional, not provided)

It is highly recommended to obtain some system modules from your jailbroken PS4. I’m gonna write how to do this later, for now just follow Modded Warfare’s easy to follow tutorial: https://youtu.be/cb6X20XwNhQ?si=Vg0nGb00DYw3xK4M&t=143 
(do not follow his instructions on how to download ShadPS4!)

  • libSceNgs2.sprx
  • libSceLibcInternal.sprx
  • libSceDiscMap.sprx (probably better not to add this one for now)
  • libSceRtc.sprx
  • libSceJpegEnc.sprx
  • libSceJson2.sprx
  • libSceJson.sprx
  • libSceFiber.sprx
  • libSceUlt.sprx

4. Install the Bloodborne retail .pkg first, then install the 1.09 update .pkg

In your ShadPS4 games folder, a folder named CUSA00900, CUSA00207, CUSA03173, CUSA00208 or CUSA01363 will appear. This is the installation folder where you can find the game files which we’ll be modifying in this guide.

5. Installing patches (highly recommended)

Right click the game in ShadPS4 and select Cheats / Patches, click Patches.

At the bottom of the screen, select ShadPS4 repository and click Download patches.

Now you can select the patches you want to apply. The following patches are up to personal preference, although highly recommended.

Skip Intro
Saves plenty of time when booting, skipping the “Sony, Japan Studios, Fromsoftware” title screens, as the emulator is known to frequently crash at the moment.

Disable Chromatic Aberration
Disables an effect that makes the colors around the edges of the screen intentionally not align properly.

Disable Motion Blur
Disables an effect that makes objects in motion appear blurry. Based on preference, you might want to keep it enabled for low frame rates like 30 FPS, however, in the emulator’s current state, it doesn’t look very good, and should be disabled in all scenarios.

60 FPS Fix (With Deltatime) (if you have a lot of RAM)
If you wish to run the game at 60 FPS. We recommend leaving Vsync enabled at this frame rate.

60 FPS Fix (With Deltatime) + Disable VSync (if you have a tremendous amount of RAM)
Run the game at uncapped FPS. If you wanna go above 60 FPS, you will have to also change the Vblank Divider option in ShadPS4’s Settings to 4.

Resolution patches
By default, Bloodborne runs at 1080p. There was already a 720p patch available for use on actual PS4 hardware. Thanks to xzy, other resolutions like 1440p, ultrawide and 1280x900 (Steam Deck) are now available through patches. We also recommend the Bloodborne Pc emu Rainbow-Blackness fix by GazuNeveS

 (If you are going for stability, apply the 720p patch or no resolution patch at all)

Save your selected patches and enjoy the game!

6. Essential fixes/troubleshooting

Please note that these tweaks remove sounds, effects, assets… from the game in order to prevent crashes or improve performance, so make backups of your original files.

Fix yellow lighting glitches + increase FPS

  1. Delete the point lights to improve performance and graphical glitches by installing the FPS boost maps by fromsoftserve. If you just want the pointlights removed, but want the rest of the game unchanged, skip copying the "mapstudio" folder from the FPS boost maps.
  2. Reduce the point lights Alternatively you could use Reduce Map Light intensity by Aster. This wil not remove the pointlights but reduce them.
  3. Disable de SFX (like fire, blood) by moving all files in
    ShadPS4/games/CUSAXXXXX/dvdroot_ps4/sfx to a separate folder.

Fix black/grey screen when loading into the game

There are two ways to try to fix this:

a. Keeping drawparams
(this keeps the games original post processing at the cost performance)

  1. Make sure RivaTuner Statistics Server  is disabled.
  2. If you are using a resolution patch, you should also install the grey screen fix by fromsoftserve.

b. Removing drawparams
(looks worse but performs better)

  1. Move all files in ShadPS4/games/CUSAXXXXX/dvdroot_ps4/param/drawparam to a separate folder except these: default.gparam.dcx and default_drawparam.gparambnd.dcx.

Fix crash when enemy attacks + increase FPS

  1. Disable de SFX (like fire, blood) by moving all files in
    ShadPS4/games/CUSAXXXXX/dvdroot_ps4/sfx to a separate folder.
  2. Disable the sounds by moving all files in
    ShadPS4/games/CUSAXXXXX/dvdroot_ps4/sound to a separate folder except these:
  • sprj_mixer.fev
  • sprj_multich.mch
  • sprj_multimix.mix
  • sprj_multirpc.rpc

Crash when dying/warping (probably not needed anymore)

Update your build or perform the following to fix your save if you crash right after loading:

  1. Temporarily move/rename dvdroot_ps4\mtd\allmaterialbnd.mtdbnd.dcx
  2. Boot the game. You will see nothing. just wait a few seconds.
  3. Restore dvdroot_ps4\mtd\allmaterialbnd.mtdbnd.dcx
  4. Reboot the game, you will now have reawakened instead of crashing upon death.

7. Updating to the newest emulator version

  1. Download the newest emulator build
  2. Move the user folder from your old emulator folder to the new emulator folder (this wil transfer your sys_modules and save files)
  3. (optional) if you have reahsde installed be sure to move the reshade folder and the reshade files from your old emulator folder to the new emulator folder