shadPS4 Moves To Version 0.18.0 "UltraPersona" And Fixes Major Freezes
The team behind shadPS4, the open-source PlayStation 4 emulator available for Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD, released version 0.18.0 of the software on 18 August 2026, nicknamed "UltraPersona". It follows 0.17.0, the "Garbage Collector's Edition" released in late July, which formalised the integration of the shadNet networking system and ZArchive support.
Reliability is the focus of version 0.18.0
The bulk of the work this time went into stability. Kernel event flags have been completely rewritten, which fixes the freezes encountered in Shadow of the Colossus among others. On the GPU side, several fixes address shadows in the Persona games as well as certain effects in inFAMOUS and Gravity Rush 2, and the audio hangs occurring when shutting the emulator down have been resolved. AvPlayer can now be loaded in low-level emulation, provided the libSceAvPlayer.sprx modules are supplied, while NpTus support rounds out the networking side, with shadNet's authorisation problems fixed along the way. Experimental protection against red zone issues on 12th generation Intel processors under Windows also makes an appearance.
The gains from the previous version remain in place. shadNet aims to replicate Sony's online features (player identities, friend lists, invitations, lobbies, matchmaking) without a PlayStation Network account, while ZArchive compresses an entire game into a single file rather than hundreds of separate ones, which considerably simplifies storage management. Playing a multiplayer title online is still not possible at this stage, with the team saying work continues on that front.
Players wanting to try this version can download shadPS4 0.18.0 directly from its GitHub releases page, and follow the official quickstart guide for initial setup and game dumping. Since the project moves quickly, it is worth checking the releases page to confirm 0.18.0 is still the latest available version; this was verified on 1 September 2026.
Source: shadPS4 on GitHub