The ShadPS4 Emulator has undergone significant improvements since its initial release, enabling users to play PS4 exclusives like Bloodborne on PC (with online features coming in the future). Among the other exclusives that haven't been released on PC is the Gravity Rush series, but a new update of the GR2fork of the emulator, focused on improving the emulation of Gravity Rush 2, is changing this by further enhancing performance and introducing support for Gravity Rush Remastered.
"Added support for Gravity Rush Remastered. Added toggles for br cache and lru cache for fixing flickering or other graphical anomalies in either game if encountered," the official update notes shared on the Gravity Rush subreddit also confirmed. Previously, the game was somewhat playable, but the many glitches made it a really unpleasant experience.
The new ShadPS4 GR2fork 3.0 update also introduces initial Steam Deck support, with a preset in the launcher settings that automatically selects the best settings for the hardware. Needless to say, this is huge, as before, users had to tweak their settings for an optimal experience. With the preset, the emulator gets closer to a true plug-and-play experience for playing Gravity Rush 2 on the go.
Rounding up the new features of the GR2fork 3.0 update are the aforementioned performance improvements up to 30%, Intel-specific performance patches, crash hotfixes, and support from 540p up to 8K in resolution patches. The full update notes can be found below:
- Dual Core GPUComm Redesign: Refactored gpucomm thread from a monolithic design to a dual core design to ease single threaded bottleneck (30% performance boost).
- CPU Affinity Logic: Added cpu affinity logic to pin and isolate gpucomm threads to specific cores to get the best single core performance possible.
- Reduced Power Draw: Decreased cpu power draw by around 20% by using idle-detection + sleep for the GpuComm dispatcher loop.
- Intel Performance Patches: Added Intel-specific performance patches in cpu_patches by relocating the illegal-instruction traps firing in the GR2 eboot.bin.
- Core Detection: Added Intel P+E core detection when gpucomm pinning occurs so P cores are favored over E cores.
- Stability Hotfixes: Added more crash hotfixes across gameplay from texture bombs.
- Silent Crash Fixes: Patched errors in imgui code that was causing silent crashes and automatic window exits.
- Diagnostics: Added more rigorous diagnostics to crashes in crash handler.
- Custom GR2Launcher: Created custom GR2Launcher to work with GR2fork that adds many exclusive settings and features for easy access in the gui without ever having to touch a config file.
- Steam Deck Preset: Added steam deck preset in launcher settings to automatically choose the best settings for its hardware.
- Resolution Patches: Added support from 540p up to 8K in resolution patches.
- Gravity Rush Remastered Support: Added support for Gravity Rush Remastered. Added toggles for br cache and lru cache for fixing flickering or other graphical anomalies in either game if encountered.
- Controller Fix: Merged the double controller input detection fix from the mainline build.
- Input Mapping Settings: Added many more input mapping settings in GR2Launcher so that touchpad swipes can be emulated and mapped to any button whether it be on touchscreen, touchpad, controller, or keyboard, which is important for switching between different shifting styles.
The ShadPS4 GR2fork can be downloaded from its official GitHub page.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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