shadPS4 v0.20.0: networking rewritten and online play arrives with shadNet

The PS4 emulator shadPS4 released version 0.20.0 on 14 October 2026, codenamed “Dead Or Stephen 5 - The Comeback”. The update follows the first stable release of shadNet (0.1.0), the project's online service, and so brings early online play to some titles.

On the library side, the sceNet networking layer was rewritten with support for P2P, a monotonic network clock and pthread barriers, along with new sceGnm functions and a fix for analog stick smoothing. The core gets CPU patches for macOS and Linux, POSIX API additions and a NpHandler shutdown fix.

Rendering, shaders and interface

The video core gains renderer and texture/buffer cache optimisations, emulation of zero/one min/max blend factors and tile tables expanded up to 2048x2048. The shader compiler handles NaNs, early fragment testing, fp64 detection and the IMAGE_GATHER4_C_L instruction better. The interface now scans folders recursively in Big Picture mode, always loads the CJK font and shows the new shadNet notifications. A pre-release build dated 28 October already exists for the curious.

The release is available on the v0.20.0 release page (Windows, Linux, macOS), but the easiest route is the QtLauncher and its version manager. The official quick start is in the project wiki, and we are also publishing a step-by-step beginner tutorial. Reminder: the emulator is still in development, and you must use your own games and system files dumped from your PS4.

Source: GitHub shadPS4