PPSSPP - mdeguzis/RetroRig GitHub Wiki

Table of Contents

About

PlayStation Portable Simulator Suitable for Playing Portably (PPSSPP) is a free PSP video game console emulator for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, BlackBerry 10 and Symbian with an increased focus on speed and portability. It was first released to the public on November 1, 2012, licensed under the GNU GPLv2 or later. The PPSSPP project was created by Henrik Rydgård, one of the co-founders of the Dolphin emulator.

In order for this emulator to function properly, I had to integrate SDL support by compiling this from source with that component set, and a few others. No Ubuntu PPA seemed to give me this, but if I find one, or get around to making a .deb package or start a PPA, I will update the installer. Because this emulator is modular, I can literally paste the build folder on some other systems, and it functions just fine. Hats off to the developers for how they designed it.

PSSPP can run your PSP games on your PC in full HD resolution, and play them on Android too. It can even upscale textures that would otherwise be too blurry as they were made for the small screen of the original PSP.

Configuration File Locations

The configuraiton files for this component are located at:

/home/your_user/.retrorig/.config/ppsspp/PSP/SYSTEM

Running Games under PPSSPP

PPSSPP (say that five times fast) launches with some parameters that are often hard to find, so I will disclose the ones I use here, in sections below, or useful ones I find as well. For the curious, you can check out the PCMain.cpp (A CPP file includes the definitions from any header which it includes (because CPP and header file together become a single 'translation unit'). The main binary file is symlinked into a common directory under /usr/bin/PPSSPPSDL

Within XBMC, this binary call is executed:

/usr/bin/PPSSPPSDL --fullscreen --escape-exit %ROM%

This means the game launches in full-screen, and pressing the main controller button (if applicable), such as the Xbox Guide button, will exit the game. If you want to have the menu functionality back in-game, simply remove the --escape-exit portion from

$HOME/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/script.games.rom.collection.browser/config.xml

Editing the Gamepad Controls

Currently, the PS Button / Xbox Guide button will exit the emulator, due to the use of the --escape-exit option being use in Rom Collection Browser. If you wish to edit the controls, hit the context menu button, hit the X button for the 360 Controller, Square for PS3 Controller, or C on the keyboard. Choose "Edit ROM Collection," and navigate to "Launch options." Remove the --escape-exit option for the PSP system. You can now make use of the menu. I didn't think anyone would be messing with these controls, due to the close adherence to the controller layouts already.

Default Graphics Settings

By default, PPSSPP has rather low graphical settings, so it can still run on crumby hardware. I have largely kept these settings to an extent. To modify these settings for RetroRig (until they are built into the settings menu), perform the following when not in ROM Collection Browser or RetroRig itself:

nano ~/.retrorig/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/script.games.rom.collection.browser/config.xml

Locate the line:

<emulatorParams>--fullscreen --escape-exit "%ROM%"</emulatorParams>

Simply remove --escape-exit and relaunch RetroRig / ROM Collection Browser. Hitting the hotkey assigned to your gamepad will now open the PPSSPP menu where you can update the graphics settings. The best guide I have found thus far is the Beginner's Guide on the PPSSPP forums. There you will find some very good recommended settings.

Once you have your settings configured, you can re-insert the --escape-exit once you exit RetroRig.

By default, my implementation of PPSSPP includes these key settings:

  • Mode: Buffered rendering
  • Frameskipping: off
  • Prevent FTP from exceeding 60: ON
  • Fullscreen: ON
  • Rendering Resolution: 1x PSP
  • Upscale level: Auto
  • Upscale type: xBRZ
  • Anisotropic filtering: OFF
  • Texture filtering: Auto

Of course, all settings are up for debate, and if you have any trouble, or would like any defaults changed, please let me know via an Issue ticket.

Current Bugs/Troubleshooting

Below is a listing of current bugs, quirks, or otherwise odd issues that currently affect the current PSP emulator (PPSSPP). Please submit an issue ticket if your problem falls outside of what is listed here.

PPSSPP interface button mappings reported incorrectly

There is a rather odd bug in the current build RetroRig uses for its PSP emulator (PPSSPP v.0.9.8-1406-gd040b98). PS3 DS3 Sixaxis (USB) Controls are reported incorrectly in the settings screen but function fine if you launch and play a game. This is all well and good within RetroRig when you are just playing a game, but if you wish to exit RetroRig and configure anything, you must use the mouse, as PPSSPP interprets the incorrect mappings, rather than their actual event code you pressed prior.

This is a reported issue that you can track on hrydgard/ppsspp

Additional Reading