Help:Default Settings

Below is the default configuration for the emulator. Not all options mentioned below are mandatory. For example, options such as Resolution Scale and Anisotropic Filter can be increased if your graphics card can handle the additional load whereas Lower SPU Thread Priority should be used with weaker CPUs. For best performance, read the description for each option carefully and also refer to the specific configurations mentioned for each game page.

CPU configuration

Setting	Default Option	Description
PPU decoder	LLVM Recompiler	LLVM Recompiler: Recompiles the game's executable once before running it for the first time. By far the fastest option and should always be used. Should you face compatibility issues, fall back to one of the Interpreters and retry. Interpreter (fast): The fastest interpreter. Trades accuracy for speed, and it very rarely breaks games even in comparison to the precise option. Try this if PPU LLVM Recompiler fails. Interpreter (precise): The most accurate Interpreter, but very slow to play games with. You may try this as a last resort if you encounter odd bugs or crashes.
SPU decoder	ASMJIT Recompiler	LLVM Recompiler: Fastest option with very good compatibility. Recompiles the game's SPU LLVM cache before running which adds extra start-up time. If you experience issues, use the ASMJIT Recompiler. ASMJIT Recompiler: Fast option with very good compatibility. Interpreter (fast): Slower than the SPU ASMJIT Recompiler but significantly faster than Interpreter (precise). Games rarely need this option. Interpreter (precise): Extremely slow but may fix broken graphics in some games.
Preferred SPU threads	Auto	Some SPU stages are sensitive to race conditions and allowing a limited number at a time helps alleviate performance stalls. Setting this to a smaller value might improve performance and reduce stuttering in some games. Leave this on auto if performance is negatively affected when setting a small value.
Firmware settings	Load liblv2.sprx only	Load liblv2.sprx only: Closely emulates how games can load and unload system module files on a real PlayStation 3. Automatically load required libraries: Automatically selects the LLE libraries to load. While this option works fine in most cases, liblv2 is the preferred option. Manually load selected libraries: Allows the user to manually choose the LLE libraries to load. If unsure, don't use this option. Nothing will work if you use this incorrectly. Load automatic and manual selection: Automatically selects the LLE libraries to load and allows the user to choose additional libraries manually. If unsure, don't use this option.
Enable thread scheduler	On	Allows the emulator to manually schedule physical cores to run specific tasks on, instead of letting the OS handle it. Very useful for AMD Ryzen systems on Windows, where it can give huge performance gains. Not recommended for Linux as the OS schedules the physical cores better on its own. No effect on Intel CPUs.
Lower SPU thread priority	Off	Runs SPU threads with lower priority than PPU threads. Usually faster on an i3 or i5, possibly slower or no difference on an i7 or Ryzen.
Enable SPU loop detection	On	Try to detect loop conditions in SPU kernels and use them as scheduling hints. Improves performance and reduces CPU usage. May cause severe audio stuttering in rare cases.
SPU cache	On	Should normally stay enabled. Disable this if the cache becomes too large. Disabling it does not remove the existing cache.
Accurate xfloat	Off	Fixes bugs in various games at the cost of performance. This setting is only applied when SPU LLVM is active.
SPU block size	Safe	This option controls the SPU analyser, particularly the size of compiled units. Mega and Giga modes may improve performance by tying smaller units together, decreasing the number of compiled units but increasing their size. Use the Safe mode for maximum compatibility.
TSX instructions	Enabled	Enable usage of TSX instructions. Needs to be forced on some Haswell or Broadwell CPUs. Forcing this on older Hardware can lead to system instability, use it with caution.

GPU configuration

Setting	Default Option	Description
Renderer	OpenGL	Vulkan is the fastest renderer while OpenGL is the most accurate renderer. If unsure, use Vulkan. Should you have any compatibility issues when using Vulkan, fall back to OpenGL. DirectX 12 is deprecated and should never be used.
Graphics device	NA	On multi GPU systems select which GPU to use in RPCS3 when using Vulkan or DirectX 12. This is not needed when using OpenGL.
Aspect ratio	16:9	Leave this on 16:9 unless you have a 4:3 monitor. Auto also works well, especially if you use a resolution that is not 720p.
Framelimit	Off	Most games have an inbuilt framelimit and adding RPCS3's limiter on-top of that will only hurt performance even if you're well below reaching the cap. Off is the best option as it performs faster. Only use framelimiter if a game runs too fast without it. Some games will crash if the framerate is too high. If that happens, set value to anything other than Off.
Anisotropic filter	Automatic	Higher values increase sharpness of textures on sloped surfaces at the cost of GPU resources. Setting it to 16x provides the best quality and can be done on any modern GPU. However, some games (such as Unreal Engine titles) may have visual artifacts. In such cases, set it to Automatic to allow games to use their own inbuilt filtering methods. There's not much reason to use a value below 16x as it will only look worse with the same performance and compatibility issues in certain games.
Anti-aliasing	NA	Doesn't exist (yet).
Default resolution	1280x720	In most case, do not change resolution in settings, leave it at 1280x720. Any other setting may result in compatibility issues and performance decrease. If you wish to try setting the resolution higher to 1920x1080, you MUST check the compatible resolutions for the game from the game list to ensure that it can support such a resolution. Forcing such resolution on games that do not support it will result in significant issues. Using resolutions lower than 1280x720 will not improve performance in any way.
Resolution scale	100%	Scales the game's resolution by the given percentage of the base resolution set in the above option. Set this value to 100% if you want to use the normal resolution. Note that you can use keyboard arrow keys for precise changes on the slide bars.
Resolution scale threshold	16 x 16	Only framebuffers greater than this size will be upscaled. Increasing this value might fix problems with missing graphics when upscaling, especially when Write Color Buffers is enabled. Do not touch this setting if you are unsure. Note that you can use keyboard arrow keys for precise changes on the slide bars.
Write color buffer	Off	Enable this option if you get missing graphics or broken lighting ingame. Might degrade performance and introduce stuttering in some cases.
Strict rendering mode	Off	Enforces strict compliance to the API specification. Might result in degraded performance in some games. Can resolve rare cases of missing graphics and flickering. Overrides settings for Resolution Scale and Resolution Scale Threshold and enforces default values. It is meant to disable all the shortcuts in the rendering path, and as such it trades speed and resolution options for the enhanced compatibility.
VSync	Off	By having this off you might obtain a higher frame rate at the cost of tearing artifacts in the game.
Stretch to display area	Off	Overrides the aspect ratio and stretches the image to the full display area.
Disable vertex cache	Off	Disables the vertex cache. Might resolve missing or flickering graphics output. May degrade performance.
Disable Async shader compiler	Off	Disables asynchronous shader compilation. Fixes missing graphics while shaders are compiling but introduces stuttering. Disable if you do not want to deal with graphics pop-in, or for testing before filing any bug reports.

Audio configuration

Setting	Default Option	Description
Audio output	Windows: XAudio2 Linux: OpenAL	Windows: XAudio2 is the recommended option and should be used whenever possible. OpenAL uses a cross-platform approach and is the next best alternative. Linux: OpenAL uses a cross-platform approach and supports audio buffering, so it is the recommended option. PulseAudio uses the native Linux sound system, and is the next best alternative. If neither are available, ALSA can be used instead.
Dump to file	Off	Saves all audio as a raw wave file. If unsure, leave this unchecked.
Convert to 16-bit	Off	Uses 16-bit audio samples instead of default 32-bit floating point. Use with buggy audio drivers if you have no sound or completely broken sound.
Downmix to stereo	On	Uses stereo audio output instead of default 7.1 surround sound. Use with stereo audio devices. Disable it only if you are using a surround sound audio system.
Volume	100%	Controls the overall volume of the emulation. Values above 100% might reduce the audio quality. Note that you can use keyboard arrow keys for precise changes on the slide bars.
Enable buffering	On	Enables audio buffering, which reduces crackle and stutter but increases audio latency (requires XAudio2 or OpenAL).
Audio buffer duration	100ms	Target buffer duration in milliseconds. Higher values make the buffering algorithm's job easier, but may introduce noticeable audio latency. Note that you can use keyboard arrow keys for precise changes on the slide bars.
Enable time stretching	Off	Reduces crackle and stutter further, but may cause a very noticeable reduction in audio quality on slower CPUs. Requires audio buffering to be enabled.
Time stretching threshold	75%	Buffer fill level (in percentage) below which time stretching will start. Note that you can use keyboard arrow keys for precise changes on the slide bars.

I/O configuration

Setting	Default Option	Description
Keyboard handler	Null	Some games support native keyboard input. Basic will work in these cases.
Mouse handler	Basic	Some games support native mouse input. Basic will work in these cases.
Camera input	Unknown	Camera support is not implemented, leave this on unknown.
Camera settings	Null	Camera support is not implemented, leave this on null.
Move handler	Null	PlayStation Move support is not implemented, leave this on null. Fake: Experimental! This maps Move controls to DS4 controller mappings.

System configuration

Setting	Default Option	Description
Console language	Japanese	Some games may fail to boot if the system language is not available in the game itself. Other games will switch language automatically to what is selected here. It is recommended leaving this on a language supported by the game.
Homebrew: Enable /host_root/	Off	Required for some Homebrew. If unsure, don't use this option.
Console region	NA	Doesn't exist (yet).
Enter button assignment	Enter with cross	The button used for enter/accept/confirm in system dialogs. You can change this to use the circle button instead, which is the default configuration on Japanese systems and in many Japanese games. In these cases, having the cross button assigned can often lead to confusion.
Disk cache	Off	Automatically removes older files from disk cache on boot if it grows larger than the specified value. Games can use the cache folder to temporarily store data outside of system memory. It is not used for long-term storage. Default wipe size is set to 5120MB. Note that you can use keyboard arrow keys for precise changes on the slide bars.

Network configuration

Setting	Default Option	Description
Network status	Disconnected	Leave as disconnected unless you're debugging. RPCS3 has no online support.

Debug configuration

Below configurations are primarily used by developers. If unsure, don't use these options.

Setting	Default Option	Description
Use legacy OpenGL buffers	Off	Enables use of classic OpenGL buffers which allows capturing tools to work with RPCS3 e.g RenderDoc.
Debug output	Off	Enables the selected API's inbuilt debugging functionality. Will cause severe performance degradation especially with Vulkan.
Debug overlay	Off	Provides a graphical overlay of various debugging information.
Log shader programs	Off	Dump game shaders to file.
Use high precision Z-buffer	Off	Only useful when debugging differences in GPU hardware.
Write depth buffers	Off	Never use this.
Read depth buffers	Off	Never use this.
Read color buffers	Off	Never use this.
Disable ZCull occlusion queries	Off	Disables running occlusion queries. Minor to moderate performance boost. Might introduce issues with broken occlusion e.g missing geometry and extreme pop-in.
Force CPU blit emulation	Off	Forces emulation of all blit and image manipulation operations on the CPU. Requires 'Write Color Buffers' option to also be enabled in most cases to avoid missing graphics. Significantly degrades performance but is more accurate in some cases. This setting overrides the 'GPU texture scaling' option.
Disable on-disk shader cache	Off	Disables the loading and saving of shaders from and to the shader cache in the data directory.
Disable Vulkan memory allocator	Off	Disables the custom Vulkan memory allocator and reverts to direct calls to VkAllocateMemory/VkFreeMemory.
Disable FIFO reordering	Off	Disables RSX FIFO optimizations completely. Draws are processed as they are received by the DMA puller.
Strict texture flushing	Off	Forces texture flushing even in situations where it is not necessary/correct. Known to cause visual artifacts, but useful for debugging certain texture cache issues.
Use GPU texture scaling	Off	Force all texture transfer, scaling and conversion operations on the GPU. May cause texture corruption in some cases.
PPU debug	Off	Never use this.
SPU debug	Off	Never use this.
SPU verification	On	Never disable this.
Set DAZ and FTZ	Off	Never use this.
Accurate GETLLAR	Off	Never use this.
Accurate PUTLLUC	Off	Never use this.
Hook static functions	Off	Allows to hook some functions like 'memcpy' replacing them with high-level implementations. May do nothing or break things. Experimental.
Debug console mode	Off	Increases the amount of usable system memory to match a DECR console and more. Causes some software to behave differently than on retail hardware.

Legacy configuration

Below are the configurations used for previous versions of the emulator. Refer to the linked pull request for a detailed description on why this setting was removed.

Setting	Default Option	Category	Removed By	Description
Bind SPU threads to secondary cores	Off	CPU	PR 4079	If your CPU has SMT (Hyper-Threading) SPU threads will run on these logical cores instead. Usually faster on an i3, possibly slower or no difference on an i7 or Ryzen.
Invalidate cache every frame	Off	GPU	PR 3618	Enable this option if the game has broken shadows. May slightly degrade performance.