RPCS3 - Two Years of Major PS3 Emulation Improvements!

It's certainly been awhile since our last Major Improvements video, in this new showcase we go over some of the more notable changes to RPCS3 over the last two years. However we cannot cover everything and many other notable features such as savestates, or a myriad of games that became playable were not shown. We hope that by showing the date each game improved we can re-assure our audience that despite no videos being released our developers have continued to deliver consistent updates to RPCS3.
This video was mainly delayed due to our video editor being busy, and stepping down from producing future videos. We hope to have new members of our community helping produce future videos without as much of a delay, however we cannot make any promises. Please follow the update changelog within RPCS3's updater, and/or our GitHub and Twitter pages for more frequent updates.
As always, ensure you check out our compatibility list rpcs3.net/compatibility to see if the game you want to play is listed as Playable, and click on the name of the game to be taken to our Wiki page where we list any required settings.
Support Nekotekina & kd-11 on Patreon: / nekotekina
Join our Discord server and keep up with future updates: discord.me/RPCS3
Read the quick start guide on how to get started: rpcs3.net/quickstart
Edited by: Asinine
Recorded By:
Asinine - Gran Turismo 5, Infamous, Killzone 2, Demon's Souls, God of War 3, Fuse, Killzone 3, Midnight Club LA, Ratchet & Clank ACiT, Dante's Inferno, Transformers, Deadpool, Mass Effect, CoD Black Ops, F.E.A.R, Spiderman Web of Shadows, Uncharted 3, Retro/Grade, Split/Second, Polar Panic, Star Wars Force Unleashed, Hundred Witch Knight,
Ordinary205 - Need for Speed Most Wanted, Need for Speed Rivals, Battlefield 3
MarioSonic2987 - Grand Theft Auto V
kd-11 - Tokyo Jungle
Yurinator - Sniper Elite 3, Wall-E
Flexby (R5 3600) - Metal Gear Solid 4
0:00 - Gran Turismo 5
1:45 - Metal Gear Solid 4
1:55 - inFamous
2:05 - Killzone 2
2:15 - Demon's Souls
2:50 - God of War 3
3:00 - Fuse
3:32 - Killzone 3
3:41 - Midnight Club: Los Angeles
3:53 - Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
4:46 - Dante's Inferno
4:57 - Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
5:09 - Deadpool
5:21 - Mass Effect
5:33 - Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
5:40 - Tokyo Jungle
5:48 - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
5:56 - F.E.A.R
6:05 - Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
6:13 - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
6:46 - Retro/Grade
7:01 - Split/Second
7:13 - Polar Panic
7:21 - Sniper Elite 3
7:45 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
7:56 - The Witch and the Hundred Knight
8:05 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted
8:13 - Need for Speed: Rivals
8:30 - Battlefield 3
8:37 - Grand Theft Auto V
8:47 - Up!
9:00 - WALL-E
9:10 - Ending Note

[@LoStraniero91]

When back then people said "PS3 was impossible to emulate", in 2024 now we have what I can safely call the most amazing emulator of all the time. Emulating PS3 is no easy feat, we have to really give the RPCS3 developers a huge thanks for making this truth!

[@078910147]

PS4 was impossible to emulate=)

[@shreyas__]

​@@078910147ps3 was said to be impossible to emulate because of cell. ps4 doesnt have any hard to emulate tech like that

[@BiscuitXL]

Get it working on a phone like the ps1 and ps2 emulators and ill be even more impressed. 😉

[@JoeHoeDoesSomething]

@@BiscuitXL Now that's going to be impossible, I can believe an Apple silicon ipad

[@dotmbarricade3424]

​​@@BiscuitXLphones are pretty weak for that. They can't even emulate og xbox

[@Podexus23]

MGS4 is playable now. Finished it yesterday. Great work, thank you guys.

[@snakeshepard9761]

@@GIide it's a mostly 60 or high 50s situation if your CPU is good enough, however since I've still a GTX 1070 I play it at 1440p since at 4k when there's a lot of physics involved (ex.: make a grenade explode near a lot of NPCs, easily replicable in the training range) there's some audio crackling.

[@tatsumaru12345]

Any major settings for mgs4 you think are required? Last time I tried a couple years ago, it'd keep crashing after you find Meryl.

[@homerthompson416]

@@snakeshepard9761 What's good enough on cpu? I have an i5-12400F which I read is supposed to be pretty decent for RPCS3, but my gpu is AMD (RX 6700 XT) and I know Nvidia usually gets all the love from emulator developers. Any chance that kind of setup with 32GB DDR4-3200 is enough to run 1440p60 for MGS4? Bought the game when I bought a PS3 for the first time in 2017 but never got around to playing it lol and now if I could get 60fps on PC no way I'm playing it sub 30 on PS3.

[@patek2385]

@@snakeshepard9761You meant 30*

[@Skrenja]

It's been playable for a while. I beat the whole game a while back using my 12900k.

[@jnackmclain]

It wasn't shown in this video but I really want to highlight Rock Band 3 and the improvements RPCS3 has made in the last two years. The Game runs incredibly even at high vblanks making it one of the best ways to play Rock Band 3. A dedicated community of players use RPCS3 and online has even been revived thanks in part to how great the game runs in RPCS3. As well, MIDI controller support for Pro Guitar, Pro Keys, and Drums have made their way in making it the gold standard for controller compatibility. Don't sleep on Rock Band 3 in RPCS3, it's almost perfect (barring instrument teleportation issues)

[@kaijuchomps4411]

[please fix the instrument teleporation issues if u see this ]

[@ELSTINKO.]

And hair teleporting lmao

[@psychedeliqueee]

Can i play this using a normal (PS5) controller? Or do i need the guitar controller/drums/etc?

[@kamild_]

And on topic of rhythm games, DJ Hero is also best played on RPCS3 right now

[@kaijuchomps4411]

Yes!@@psychedeliqueee You actually can play it with a gamepad after recent commits by @jnackmclain~ Just grab the nightlies. Theres pad remapping and it supports the fortnite festival style gameplay too.

[@den2606]

GT5 looks absolutely stunning on an emulator for being such an old game at this point

[@Kiyuja]

the PS3 / XBOX 360 era is actually amazing for emulation as the games were already designed for HD resolution but held back by the hardware of the time. Outside of texture res and AA these games often look like we'd expect from a modern game, except for stuff like AO I guess. The models are relatively high poly and effects like bloom were pretty competent. Many games look great even if you just increase output res and nothing else.

[@whiskytangofoxtrot_]

@@Kiyuja gt3 on ps2 is another great one that just by upping res looks like a good game now

[@h1tzzYT]

@@Kiyuja they do indeed, however early ps3 tittles had still somewhat dated ps2 graphics, understandably but still, only mid-late ps3 games indeed started to look great

[@pakiller786]

its also playable on net play gt5

[@WHITE_HAT_H4CKER]

Looks better than ps3

[@wotanmituns33]

The Ultimate Playstation 3 experience is upon us. Thanks to the RPCS3 team effort! What a wonderful achievement this emulator is, it just keeps getting better!

[@SirCaco]

It's good to see some positive stuff around emulation. We've been going through a rough patch lately.

[@TimmyTurner421]

Rough patch? How so?

[@RegularNobody]

@@TimmyTurner421 Yuzu and Citra being taken down

[@anonamatron]

@@TimmyTurner421 Nintendo is being a butthole.

[@corentinesummers8259]

Just wait until there's news about Sony suing this time

[@RegularNobody]

@@corentinesummers8259 let's hope not, they're usually not as litigious as Nintendo. But in the off chance they do, it's a good thing I already made backups of all my emulators, source code included.

[@MyGamingLibrary_07]

They have come long way Since 2011 can't believe this is were we are now 😮😮😮

[@capoeragames2081]

It's insane how far you guys come, i remember this emulator barely could render skate 3 or even get past the the last of us window without crash or extremely glitchy, i'm just glad i''m alive to witness all of it.

[@fearlesswee5036]

Awesome to see how far PS3 emulation has come, particularly with how notoriously hard it was to develop games for, let alone emulate.

[@Bruno-cb5gk]

yeah, I remember people saying we'll get PS4 emulation before PS3 because of its architecture.

[@MasteR-Moo]

Congrats on the 100k subs. Keep up the great work.

[@GamerzPro1231]

You guys are truly the best of the best. Thanks for all you do

[@GhettoPCbuilds]

The ps3 was a very difficult console to code games for. What they’ve been able to do on the emulator is a culmination of multiple efforts. We could only dream of this 10 years ago.

[@Delta_Kream]

I will never be able to thank you enough for bringing back my childhood games. Congrats on the improvements and keep on going!

[@darkl3ad3r]

A decade ago, I never imagined a working PS3 emulator would even be possible. Yet thanks to the work of a dedicated and skilled few, here we are. Great work guys and thank you for your incredible work.

[@2psah2]

My heart goes out to you. You guys are special.

[@k1rb0i]

y'all have done amazing progress, props to everyone behind the scenes.

[@Kiyuja]

such an important video! For me Midnight Club is always the benchmark to see how far we've come. It still requires workarounds on my 5800X3D + 4070Super but its awesome to see the amazing progress. The team is on such a nice track right now, you love to see it!

[@jdmnissan]

ia the performance comparable to the one shown in the vid? I have the same specs so i wonder

[@Kiyuja]

@@jdmnissan you can get everything from 14-60 FPS (higher than 30 requires increased vblank). The problem is the inconsistency. I bet having a CPU with AVX 512 would make it a lot smoother. The delta time patch also helps. I am mostly around mid 20-30 tho.

[@regardsyou8237]

​@@Kiyujahow would a 12900hx 24 core laptop do on midnight club?

[@Kiyuja]

depends...if it supports AVX 512 you might be golden, otherwise you will be bottlenecked by thermals and clock speed of your CPU. The game generally is kind of a worry child for RPCS3 but you may get away with ok-ish 30FPS@@regardsyou8237

[@takashimatta]

Every video from RPCS3 showcasing improvements is a very enjoyable video to watch. Thank you to every single people who’ve helped developed RPCS3 until it has become what it is today! Amazing emulator!

[@Tr1Angel]

Games shouldn't be forgotten or be dead. Emulators the one of things that keeps you playing in games that was released decades ago. Amazing work, guys!

[@Butterscotch_de_cone]

Finally new major improvement keep going guys 🎉

[@tamoghnapal6619]

Recently finished the emulated version of GTA V on RPCS3. The fact that the emulator can emulate a game near perfectly which pushed the PS3 to it's limits is more than amazing. I had no issues other than a few minor graphical glitches. Also I think I had only one hard crash in the entire playthrough.

[@ravajbains8672]

You guys are legends... thanks to all the team for your time and dedication

[@itsserjuuu]

Now this. This is epic, ty for your hard work for now more over 10 years. Keep up the awesome work!!

[@humnaset]

I've been using various emulators since 2005 (PS1, NES, SNES, Genesis, etc) and experienced the improvements of PCSX2 and RPCS3 over the years. Currently I'm playing CSI on PCSX2 and Gran Turismo 5 on RPCS3. Thank you so much to the developers of both emulators for all the hard work and dedication

[@AsKiimov]

Thank you guys for bringing my childhood back. Literally i cannot describe how amazing the work you guys are making.

[@drakedarkstar5422]

Totally no rush with what you're doing, guys! If the result is this level of quality its worth the wait.

[@silverwah]

Thank you guys a ton for what you do. ❤

[@TeaserGames001]

Congrats for this work 👏

[@BrianJones-wk8cx]

Great work, as always, team! Looking forward to continued progress on my personal favorites in the MLB The Show series, the on-field and crowd artifacting are still game-breaking for me, but love how all my old PS 3 collection work so remarkably well (with all the wonderful enhancements emulation allows)! Thank you!!!

[@SantiagoSantiago]

Thanks for keeping PS3 games alive!

[@WHITE_HAT_H4CKER]

PS3 games dead

[@hamzaodt3515]

​@@WHITE_HAT_H4CKERlol as an Xbox fan , I played God of war on ps3 in 2015 and I am playing it now at 60fps 2k without any problem, and it is still looking better than 50% of our Exclusive titles on Xbox

[@WHITE_HAT_H4CKER]

@@hamzaodt3515 no lol Gears of Wars, Halo 3, Forza horizon 2, Ninja Gaiden > all ps3 games

[@hamzaodt3515]

@@WHITE_HAT_H4CKER God Of War series in General from GOW2 until Ragnarok is better than 60% of our exclusive titles , even better than Halo 5 , no one literally mentions Halo these days , so sad.

[@WHITE_HAT_H4CKER]

@@hamzaodt3515 I was talking about 360 and ps3

[@ytmB4HyU4kUq]

Great job guys! Thanks for all your hard work and contributions to this on-going project.

[@NoobProMaster01]

You guys are the best! You guys deserve more subs and attention from every gamers who love PS3 games. 😍

[@falconeagle3655]

You guys have been rocking the emulator community the most. Unfortunately you don't get as much donation love.

[@HockeyPlayer323]

Nuts how I just started to mod my PS3 this weekend and this video releases... Can't wait for more updates!!

[@El.Duder-ino]

SImply incredible, thank u folks 4 all of your effort!

[@buenogoodlive]

Thank you guys so much! Your work is greatly appreciated

[@DiabolicCrusher]

Thanks for all your hard work, so much great games got preserved and will be able to be played even after pretty much all PS3's will break down eventually. Finally been able to play through Infamous 1 and 2 not so long ago too, ran smooth as butter minus the smoke effect glitching up in the first game.

[@Tumatutuma]

If you don't mind me asking, how many FPS did Infamous 2 show on your system?

[@DiabolicCrusher]

@@Tumatutuma There were some drops, but otherwise it did run at 60, it still runs surprisingly more stable than the first game. I ran it on ryzen 7 7700x and 16GB DDR5 RAM, doubt GPU plays that much of a part in it though.

[@Tumatutuma]

@@DiabolicCrusherThanks for the info. I guess my Intel Core i5 12400F is really weak since my version runs at 27-45 frames (mostly around 30).

[@Manic_Panic]

​@@Tumatutuma Infamous 1 and 2 ran at 30fps with occasional drops during explosions so if you can run it higher than that not only is it playable but also superior to original hardware.

[@Tumatutuma]

@@Manic_PanicYep, I'm aware of that. I finished both Infamous installments on PS3 so I can see the difference. But I must admit that Killzone 2/3 had MUCH better performance compared to original hardware and I expected the same with Infamous.

[@reezwave]

Sorry for changing the mood, I just hope that this beloved emulator didn't end up like Yuzu. The amount of work you guys have put into is beyond incredible. Thank you for everything, I may not be using rpcs3 a lot nowadays, but back then I remember finishing persona 5 and it's just one of the best gaming moment in my life. Planning to finish mgs4 and rdr too if I got the time.

[@theworln.n4892]

Dont worry, sony is not like N, actually they are working with a team to do a emulator for ps5 of ps2, so yeah.

[@reezwave]

@@theworln.n4892 thank goodness then

[@SuperVALERock]

Plus the PS3 isn't on shelves, so it isn't hurting their profits in any way

[@glungusgongus]

​@@theworln.n4892Complete bs. Sony is the reason theres is so much law regarding emulation

[@glungusgongus]

​@@SuperVALERockPs3 games are on shelves but keep lying to yourself

[@aluizioedypoalbuquerque1089]

Amazing, congratulations and thank you for your everything 👏🏻

[@pedromallol6498]

Thanks for this update video. It's good to see something positive being show for a change in the emulation scene.

[@davidbalcar1226]

Wow just wow the improvements have been epic the last 2 years. Can't wait to see what the next 2 years bring! Big shout out to all the dev's working this.

[@aninfinitemindofmusicandreams]

Absolutely love the work you guys have done. Been an RPCS3 user since 2017. Being able to play Demon's Souls at 4k with 60fps or Killzone 2 and 3 at 4k is just incredible.

[@brodamgs]

Yeah. But You need a beefy CPU to do that ;) On my R75800x3D it still runs like shit.

[@aninfinitemindofmusicandreams]

@@brodamgs I run these games with the above resolutions with my i7 12700H laptop CPU

[@marfg12345]

@@brodamgs AMDead poojeet CPUs suck at emulation.

[@pakiller786]

@@brodamgs i get good performance on linux with my 5800x and you probably using wrong settings

[@brodamgs]

@@pakiller786 maybe it depends on the title?

[@TheLastBrandon]

This is truly amazing! Fantastic work! Thank you for preserving this great console generation. You guys are real heroes!

[@Panzer_Poodle]

This is amazing! Thank you for all your hard work

[@jonathanalexanderrodriguez5313]

Muchas gracias por su tiempo & esfuerzo en traernos estas mejoras a la PC Raza Maestra!

[@meherenow793]

THIS is what emulation is meant for; so many amazing games seemingly lost to time are back for good.

[@armanroxy1491]

You guys are amazing I hope you continue improving the emulator and come up with new and great projects 👍

[@freext8871]

Thank you for all the work you have done! You are the best :D!

[@rafaelgaldinodealmeida3272]

Thanks RPCS3 ❤❤❤

[@keefwins04]

hey just letting you guys know love the work but this new update auto forces to check for updates on startup causing everyone’s emulator to freeze, fixes when we go offline, wondering if you could add another quick update with an option to disable a check for auto updates ?

[@alonsohernandez4345]

Amazing work, guys. Thanks a lot for your contribution to the community.

[@stevolus2701]

Wow well done my guys. Truelly amazing work. Thank you

[@kaijuchomps4411]

Surprised you guys arent showing off Rock Band 3 or Rock Band 2 to be honest? Even without the Deluxe mods, RPCS3 is the best way to play either of those games right now.

[@damsen978]

As the video says. This is nothing new, it's only a retrospective of the biggest improvements over the last 2 years. So don't be misguided if you think this is a new major update to the emulator.

[@dans1370]

ño

[@Ghost-pb4ts]

"Two Years of" gave that away but thanks for the notice, internet is full of dum dums nowadays

[@damsen978]

@@Ghost-pb4tsThat's why i'm explaining it exactly, for them.

[@EmuGamesMaster]

Fantastic news and amazing work by all involved 👏

[@khan9025]

Can you create android port of rpcs3😊

[@JoeHoeDoesSomething]

It wont work

[@sean8102]

No android phone would be able to run it. You actually need a pretty decent gaming PC because of the huge overhead of emulation. It is open source though, if you or anyone else wanted to try. I would be surpried if you could get it to launch, and if you did get more than a few FPS.

[@TheGeekPunkGamer]

Congrats on all the improvements. Great to see emulation making strides.

[@jimmysoncookland5446]

Well done. Thank you for all your work!

[@ozanozkirmizi47]

You have no idea how much we love you. Thank you so much...

[@itzdcx7991]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK 😊

[@bigzin_apeleum]

Thank you everyone for your effort, you are really doing an excellent job :)

[@deltasixtwo]

You've made a tremendous job! Thank you!

[@DuhVirus]

Love the work you guys are doing to preserve games I would never able to experience otherwise

[@superdarkshadow]

Amazing work as always. Deeply impressive.

[@abdelrhmanelgendy6895]

THank you guys for the hard work

[@Capt.Umber_Raina]

You guys are truly amazing

[@iNubpwn3r]

I love you guys. You keep ps3 game library alive. Legends. Thank you for hard work.

[@antonymurray1976]

Excellent work team you guys do an amazing job

[@TheShoe1990]

This is awesome! Great work, guys! ❤

[@GrimmReinhardt]

glad that ppl recognising importance of your work ! Grand job guys !

[@AZZOMY2010]

Thank you so much for your hard work ❤

[@Pircla]

Thanks a lot for the work you are doing !

[@AndrewZaidan1997]

Amazing progress I've been using the emulator for years and love it!

[@1RacerXer]

Thank you for all your hard work! 😎🤘

[@oPtiMuMpRiCe]

You are simply : Legends ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@dylan44865]

thank you for all of your efforts 👏👏

[@Wizzkidwas]

Always looking forward to seeing this enulator progress even further I've got a few games I'd like to play that aren't quite ready for the emulator yet, but i have complete in the dev team that they will achieve near total compatability

[@dylansandoval9841]

Freakin insane! Thank you for all the hard work and doing more for preservation than Sony ever could. Yall deserve the best 🙌

[@teksaucee]

Insane work that you guys did 👌👌

[@Vandreic]

Thank you for doing this! 💎

[@ATomRileyA]

Doing gods work, love all the updates so great to be able to play GT5 so well.

[@sieke10]

Thank you guys 🎉🎉🎉❤

[@nathanddrews]

To date, one of the few emulator projects I have donated money to. Thank you for your work.

[@mirabelcreator2552]

Theme of Laura at the end was great! Thanks for this update, so many good games available now!

[@abdou.the.heretic]

Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to replay some old memories ❤

[@theworln.n4892]

Im here since 2019 following all the progess, congrats guys :) u all are amazing

[@TGAProMKM]

good much respect to you guys please keep on improving....

[@Re-PhantomZero]

Thank you for the hard work.

[@streamingvideo6654]

This is 100% awesome! Thank you, RPCS3 Team! More power!

[@bassetblida2889]

Great work, thank you all.

[@sean8102]

Crazy impressive. Major props to everyone involved.

[@ionamygdalon2263]

Amazing progress 😁 Well done !!! !!!

[@breadcrumbs85]

Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard and made this emulator a reality. I have been able to re-visit so many games that were on the shelf gathering dust because I was too scared to use my one remaining (of 3) consoles to play them. Being able to see how much detail we couldnt appreciate by bumping the res up has been a real experience. The PS3 really was ahead of its time, maybe a little too ahead seeing as it was a so complicated. Amazing achievement. Thank you.

[@avalon59]

Thank you rpcs3 team for all the hard work ❤

[@onewingedangel1993]

Amazing progress!

[@kelownatechkid]

Really incredible work. Thanks to all contributors and maintainers, especially kd-11!!

[@elvinchipsmonks1942]

Amazing job!!! No words!!

[@hadoramon1112]

You guys are amazing!!!!

[@ysensei587]

You guys are magic....thanks

[@ferisetia9938]

Well done guys ! and thank you