Install PSPC and play your first game

What you need

• A PC with 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. PSPC 0.1.2 publishes a Windows installer only. Linux support is included in the tagged source, but must be built yourself: see PSPC on Linux.
• A PSP game you own, as a disc image (ISO, CSO, ZSO or DAX) or an EBOOT.PBP (PlayStation Store downloads and homebrew). PSPC comes with no games and can't download them. PlayStation Store titles also need your own license files.
• Nothing else. The installer brings the recompiler, a compiler and the Python runtime that native code builds use. You don't need Visual Studio, LLVM or Python.

Sony's PSP firmware is optional. You only need it for the PSP's own menu (the XMB) and for the system fonts a few games draw their text with: see Firmware, the XMB and system fonts.

Install PSPC

1. Download the installer

   Get PSPC-0.1.2-x64.msi from the v0.1.2 release. Its SHA-256 checksum, published in SHA256SUMS.txt, is e43042ba8e862152452a1467a6420c7fd6a74791eab50d2c8e82355d30bbb87b. To check your download, run this in PowerShell in your Downloads folder: the hash it prints must match. PowerShell shows it in capital letters.

   Get-FileHash .\PSPC-0.1.2-x64.msi -Algorithm SHA256

2. Run it

   Open the MSI. PSPC installs for your Windows account in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PSPC, without administrator rights, and adds PSPC to the Start menu and the desktop.

   The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows may say it protected your PC from an unknown publisher. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

3. Start PSPC

   Open PSPC from the Start menu or the desktop. The launcher opens on its Games page: your library. The sidebar on the left also has Boot XMB, Firmware Manager, Plugins, Settings, Online, and your Network account at the bottom.

Add your games

The library lists every game in PSPC's Games folder, with its icon and artwork. While it is empty, it shows two buttons for filling it:

• Open Games folder: copy your ISO, CSO, ZSO or DAX files there. Give each EBOOT.PBP game a folder of its own, for example Games\Patapon\EBOOT.PBP.
• Choose a folder…: use the folder your games are already in. PSPC remembers it, and finds games in its subfolders too.

Later, the folder button next to the search box opens the Games folder, and right-clicking the library offers Choose the games folder….

Press F5 or click Refresh after adding files while PSPC is open. With a big library, Ctrl+F jumps to the search box: type part of a title.

Play a game

1. Start it

   Double-click the game, or select it and press Enter, or click Play in the panel on the right.

2. Let PSPC build its native code

   The first time, PSPC says the game has no native code yet and asks whether to build it now. Choose Yes: a console window opens while PSPC compiles the game's code for your PC, and the game starts when it is done. PSPC estimates about a minute per disc; big games on slower PCs take a few minutes. The window shows build steps, progress and estimated time remaining. The result is cached between runs; see when to rebuild.

   Choose No to play straight away in PSPC's interpreter instead. Everything works there too, only slower.

3. Play

   The game opens in its own window. When you quit, you're back in the launcher, where the game now carries a NATIVE tag: all of its code is built.

While you play

These are the default keys. Every one can be changed under Settings: see Graphics, sound and controls.

Controllers work through SDL, which knows most USB and Bluetooth game controllers. On an Xbox-style controller, A, B, X and Y are Cross, Circle, Square and Triangle, in the same places as on a PSP. The shoulder buttons and triggers are L and R, both sticks drive the PSP's analog stick, and the guide button is HOME.

System screens look and work as on a PSP. Saving and loading, messages and the on-screen keyboard appear over the game and are answered with the PSP's buttons. HOME opens “Quit the game?”: choose Yes to return to the launcher.

Saving your progress

Save the way the game lets you, from its own menus. PSPC keeps saves on its virtual memory stick, as a PSP does, one folder per save:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PSPC\ms0\PSP\SAVEDATA

Back that folder up to keep your saves safe. PSPC has no save states: you can't freeze a game at any moment and resume it there, only use the game's own saves.

Update or uninstall

Updating: download the newer MSI and open it. It replaces the old version and keeps your settings, saves, firmware and server accounts. When an update changes PSPC's instruction semantics, the launcher tags affected games REBUILD, and Play offers to rebuild them. v0.1.2 fixes repeated rebuild prompts after every session; a game already asking for a rebuild may need one last rebuild. Existing firmware moves into a named profile: see Firmware Manager.

Uninstalling: open Windows Settings > Apps, find PSPC and uninstall it. That removes PSPC's programs and leaves what PSPC created in its folder: settings, saves, firmware and server databases. Delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PSPC yourself if you want those gone too, after backing up your saves.

Where to go next

• Graphics, sound and controls: play in up to 8K, smooth textures, remap controls.
• Play online: Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, Elite Squadron, Super Squadron and ad hoc play.
• Firmware, the XMB and system fonts: boot the PSP's own menu.
• Troubleshooting: if a game doesn't start, runs slowly or shows no text.