How to use AnyPS5 on Windows and Linux

Before you start

• A 64-bit x86 PC running Windows or Linux. ARM machines are not a target, apart from the experimental Rosetta path on Macs.
• A Vulkan 1.1 GPU driver with graphics and compute queues. AnyPS5 prefers a discrete GPU over an integrated one.
• The two release files for your OS: the relinker and the matching library archive from v0.1.1. See the download guide.
• A clean ELF executable of the title, with its bundled modules in sce_module/, sce_modules/ or prx/ next to it. A SELF container is rejected with an error.

source/
    input.elf
    sce_module/
        <bundled ELF modules>

Command builder

Choose your setup and copy the command. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Windows, step by step

1. Download the two files

   From the latest release, get relinker-v0.1.1.exe and prx-windows-v0.1.1.zip. Put them in an empty working folder with a plain ASCII path, such as C:\anyps5.

2. Prepare the input

   Create a source folder inside it containing the clean ELF and its sce_module folder, as shown above.

3. Run the relinker

   Open PowerShell in the working folder:

   PowerShell Copy

   .\relinker-v0.1.1.exe --windows source\input.elf app.exe

   On an Intel processor, add --to-intel:

   PowerShell · Intel CPU Copy

   .\relinker-v0.1.1.exe --windows --to-intel source\input.elf app.exe

   The relinker prints a Guest module: line for each bundled module it converts, and writes them under app0\. Exit code 0 means success; 2 means the conversion failed and the reason is on stderr.

4. Unpack the system libraries

   PowerShell Copy

   Expand-Archive prx-windows-v0.1.1.zip -DestinationPath .

   You should now have a libs folder next to app.exe, containing .prx files and three MinGW DLLs.

5. Add the title's resources and run

   Copy the title's remaining files into app0\, keeping their structure, then start the program:

   PowerShell Copy

   .\app.exe

Linux, step by step

1. Download the two files

   Get relinker-v0.1.1 and prx-linux-v0.1.1.zip from the latest release.

2. Run the relinker

   bash Copy

   chmod +x relinker-v0.1.1
   ./relinker-v0.1.1 source/input.elf app.elf

   Linux ELF is the default output, so no format flag is needed. On an Intel processor:

   bash · Intel CPU Copy

   ./relinker-v0.1.1 --to-intel source/input.elf app.elf

3. Unpack the system libraries

   bash Copy

   unzip prx-linux-v0.1.1.zip

4. Give yourself access to udmabuf

   With Mesa and other drivers that import dma-buf memory (not the NVIDIA proprietary driver), shared memory goes through /dev/udmabuf. Many distributions restrict it to the kvm group:

   bash Copy

   sudo usermod -aG kvm $USER   # then log out and back in

5. Add resources and run

   Copy the title's remaining files into app0/, then:

   bash Copy

   chmod +x app.elf
   ./app.elf

Upstream currently lists “Linux with a hardware GPU” as not verified in its compatibility notes, so expect rough edges and report what you find.

macOS (experimental)

There are no macOS files in release v0.1.1. You can build the relinker yourself (see relinker-only build) and ask it for a Mach-O executable:

./relinker --macos --to-rosetta source/input.elf eboot   # Apple silicon
./relinker --macos --to-intel source/input.elf eboot     # Intel Mac

The output is x86-64 and runs under Rosetta on Apple silicon. The relinker-only build does not produce the system libraries, and the official compatibility table has no macOS column, so treat this as a path for contributors rather than players.

Relinker options

The syntax is relinker [options] <input.elf> <output>. There is no --help; running it with no arguments prints the usage line.

Four older flags, --skip-sce-module, --exclude-sce-module, --skip-syscall-check and --lazy-binding, are deprecated. Upstream warns that programs relinked with them are extremely unstable and that they exist only for debugging.

Source: docs/user/USAGE.md.

Environment variables

Set these before starting the converted program, not the relinker.

System fonts

Titles that open the console's system font sets need font files in anyps5-fonts/. If you do not have the console's own fonts, AnyPS5 accepts openly licensed substitutes when present: NotoSans in Light, Regular, Medium and Bold (plus italics), NotoSansMono, NotoSansThai and NotoSansCJK in the same four weights. Without either, those titles show no text.

Language codes

Values accepted by ANYPS5_LANGUAGE. Any other value stops the title at its first language query.

Choosing a GPU

At start-up the program prints Physical device candidate lines with the name of each Vulkan device. Set ANYPS5_GPU to any part of the name you want, case-insensitively. If nothing usable matches, start-up fails and the error lists the available names.

Check a title's imports before launching it

If you have the repository checked out, tools/import_audit.py tells you which system functions a converted title imports and whether the built libraries provide them. It needs only Python 3.

relinker --registry source/input.elf app.elf
python3 tools/import_audit.py app.registry.json app.*.registry.json --libs build/core/libs/libs --modules source/sce_module

--registry writes one JSON file for the executable and one per converted module; pass all of them. Each import lands in one class: implemented, stub (the title loads but throws when it calls the function), absent (the loader fails) or module (provided by the title's own library). Exit code 1 means something would block loading.

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