emulator: PCSX-ReARMed (standalone)
type: standalone
core_classification: embedded_hle
source: "https://github.com/notaz/pcsx_rearmed"
profiled_date: "2026-10-20"
source_commit: "8b6c163575e6ce9a0537553e0d4ed4225315955e"
core_version: "r26"
display_name: "Sony - PlayStation (PCSX-ReARMed standalone)"
mode: standalone
cores:
  - pcsx-rearmed
systems:
  - sony-playstation

notes: |
  notaz's own SDL front end of PCSX-ReARMed, the pcsx binary built by the
  repository's configure and make, not the libretro core. RetroPie
  builds it from master, creates a bios folder in its install directory,
  links SCPH1001.BIN from its BIOS directory into that folder and runs
  ./pcsx -cdfile <image> from the install directory.

  The BIOS folder is <home>/.pcsx/bios/. home is "." when a .pcsx folder
  exists in the working directory, which RetroPie provides, and the bios
  folder of the working directory then replaces it.
  ref: frontend/main.c:85-102, frontend/main.c:505-520, frontend/main.h:25-37

  The front end names no BIOS file. At start it lists every regular file
  or link of exactly 512 KiB or 4 MiB in that folder, the menu offers them
  beside HLE, and the choice is saved in the configuration. Until a
  configuration has been saved the menu selects the first file the
  directory listing returns, and a launch with -cdfile that never opens
  the menu runs with HLE. psxMemReset reads the first 0x80000 bytes of
  the selected file and falls back to HLE when it cannot be read whole.
  ref: frontend/menu.c:2581-2632, frontend/menu.c:2535-2550,
       frontend/menu.c:1655-1661, frontend/main.c:452,
       libpcsxcore/psxmem.c:291-333

  cheatpops.db, a cwcheat list read from the working directory when a disc
  is inserted, is optional and not installed by RetroPie.
  ref: frontend/main.c:312-321, frontend/main.c:398-401

files:
  - name: "SCPH1001.BIN"
    system: sony-playstation
    description: "PlayStation BIOS, any 512 KiB image, named as RetroPie links it"
    size: 524288
    validation: [size]
    required: false
    hle_fallback: true
    note: >-
      The code accepts any file name. SCPH1001.BIN is the one name RetroPie
      links into the bios folder, so it is the only image this install can
      list. A 4 MiB file is also listed, and only its first 512 KiB are
      loaded.
    source_ref: "frontend/menu.c:2619-2628, libpcsxcore/psxmem.c:314-327"