FAQs

The requirements for running Vita3K are still not fully known and may change during its current development stage. The absolute minimum requirements for running the program are:

See the Quickstart for more information.

Vita3K is an open-source experimental Sony PlayStation Vita emulator for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android written in C++. It is currently capable of booting and playing commercial games.

Please check the Compatibility List. The source code for Vita3K is hosted on GitHub. You can grab the latest compiled revisions from the home page.

Some. Please see the Compatibility List. The emulator is in an early stage of development and many features required to run commercial games have not been implemented yet.

Currently, many games made with GameMaker Engine work flawlessly. More games will be supported when the hardware and firmware emulation becomes accurate enough to run them. Ignore outside estimates and guesses.

For homebrew, get them through VitaDB.

For commercial games, dump them with NoNpDrm. If the game is known not to work with NoNpDrm, you can optionally replace the executable with a FAGDec dump. Vitamin dumps are not supported.

First you have to install them. Once you do, just run the emulator and it will display a Game Select screen.

Windows

Right-click a .vpk, open Properties, and click Change... to associate Vita3K.exe with .vpk files. Double-clicking should work after that. Alternatively, drag and drop games onto Vita3K.exe.

Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android

Games can be installed directly through the emulator with File > Install .pkg or File > Install .zip .vpk. You can also supply them as a command-line argument to the executable or install them manually by unzipping the .vpk into Vita3K's home directory.

They are installed in the Vita3K home directory under <Vita3K_home_dir>/ux0/app/<Title_ID>. Defaults are:

• Windows: C:/Users/"username"/AppData/Roaming/Vita3K/Vita3K
• Linux: ~/.local/share/Vita3K/Vita3K
• Android: Android/data/org.vita3k.emulator/files

You can change it by editing the pref-path entry in config.yml.

Vitamin is, or rather was, software for dumping PS Vita games from cartridge or internal storage. Those dumps generally use the .vpk extension. They are not supported because the data inside is not properly ripped.

According to the developers of Vitamin, it should not be used because it contains bugs that can sometimes corrupt game data or save files. The recommended dumping method is to use NoNpDrm or FAGDec with VitaShell. See the Quickstart guide.

See the Quickstart for more information. If you are using Dynarmic for the CPU backend, changing to Unicorn may work, in exchange for extremely slow speeds.

If the Quickstart guide and this page do not solve your problem, ask in the #help channel on the Discord server. Be sure to report your OS, Vita3K version, and PC configuration.

Keyboard and mouse are supported, and SDL2-compliant devices can be used. DualShock 4 and DualSense are usually recommended. The rear touchpad is realized with right click.

Playing commercial games online with real PlayStation Vita systems would require PlayStation Network connectivity, which is not very feasible because of technical and legal limitations.

That said, networking is partly implemented and some homebrew multiplayer games like vitaQuake work fine.

Go to Help -> Welcome -> Download Firmware. This will decrypt the modules only.

If you also need all firmware files, like fonts, go to Help -> Welcome -> Download Firmware Font Package.

Using Vita3K on Steam Deck:

1. Switch to Desktop Mode from the power menu.
2. Open Konsole.
3. Run mkdir Vita3K && cd Vita3K && wget https://github.com/Vita3K/Vita3K/releases/download/continuous/ubuntu-latest.zip or use this direct link.
4. Run unzip ubuntu-latest.zip.
5. Run chmod +x Vita3K && ./Vita3K.

This should run Vita3K in desktop mode, which is usually preferred since game mode can compress the aspect ratio into a tiny square.

See the Blog or the project's social media accounts. For more cutting-edge progress, see the GitHub pull requests and the #development channel on the Discord server.

Vita3K is a completely hobby-driven project. Developers work on what they want to do, when they want to do it. Reports of problems are welcome.

Contributions are welcome. Check the Coding Style Guidelines and Developer Information.

Most development discussion happens on Discord, so be sure to visit the Discord server in the #development channel. Find something you want to implement or improve, test your changes, and send a pull request.

You can also contribute by participating in testing through the compatibility repository.

Good. You can report it through the GitHub issue tracker. Before sending anything:

• Check if your system matches the minimum requirements.
• Check if the issue is meaningful for the team.
• Search older issues and forum threads first.
• Use understandable English. It does not need to be perfect, just clear.
• Include details about your system, such as OS, CPU, GPU, and the Vita3K.log file.
• Do not post individual game issues there. Use the compatibility repository instead.