libretro/emulators/fpse.yml

emulator: FPse
type: standalone
core_classification: other
source: "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emulator.fpse"
upstream: closed-source
author: "Schtruck & LDchen (EMUSOFT)"
profiled_date: "2026-08-11"
core_version: "12.1"
display_name: "Sony - PlayStation (FPse)"
cores:
  - fpse
systems:
  - sony-playstation
mode: standalone
bios_directory: "bios/"
bios_size: 524288

notes: |
  PlayStation emulator for Android, closed source, sold on Google Play as package
  com.emulator.fpse. Two builds are read here and both carry the same signing
  certificate, CN=FPse Team issued 2011, sha256
  9af45a593faf3b522c5120fc976a03b7d82a88a9e5008162b9d6822ade7c981a: 12.1
  versionCode 940, apk md5 09160e917333d546296d4fcdae7b35f9, armeabi-v7a, and
  0.11.190 versionCode 720, apk md5 818ee3fe71370ac983283926234e920e, armeabi
  plus armeabi-v7a plus x86, taken from the OUYA store archive. The archive.org
  item labelled FPse 1.7.8 is package com.emulator.fpse64, signed with the Android
  test key and carrying an assets/hook.apk payload, and is not read here. The
  emulator descends from LDchen's PC FPSE and keeps its console messages, its
  fpse.ini keys and its bios, plugin, cfg and snaps directory names.
  ref: com.emulator.fpse META-INF/BNDLTOOL.RSA, META-INF/CERT.RSA,
       res/raw/fpse.ini

  One root holds everything and it is the private files directory of the package,
  not shared storage. Main sets it from getFilesDir and creates bios, plugin, cfg
  and skin under it right after the native libraries load, then unpacks its own
  resources into them. Paths below are relative to that root. The plugins have no
  stable path of their own: 12.1 loads them from the native library directory of
  the package and 0.11.190 loaded them from this root, so they are recorded by
  name alone.
  ref: Main.java:32088, Main.java:29716-29719

  Exactly one BIOS image is ever loaded and its full path is a setting rather than
  a name the code looks for. The Load Bios browser lists .bin files only, the
  chosen path is written to the preference com.emulator.fpse.biospath and pushed
  into the emulator core as string slot 6, and leaving the browser without a
  choice writes an empty string, which is the documented way to switch to HLE.
  The stored path is re-checked at every start: a file that no longer exists or is
  not exactly 524288 bytes clears the preference and the session runs on HLE. On
  the core side a path that will not open reports
  "Can't load biosfile '%s', switching to HLE" and emulation continues, so no
  image is needed on its own. fpse.ini ships with EnableHLE=on and BiosName set to
  the placeholder scph1001.bin_is_recommended, and the core resolves BiosName
  under bios/ when the setting is left alone.
  ref: Main.java:5917-5919, Main.java:1173, Main.java:1965-1971,
       Main.java:25213-25222, res/raw/fpse.ini BiosName,
       FPse 0.11.190 libfpse.so x86 0x5c2c8-0x5c395

  Automatic detection recognises one dump and does it on content. Scanning
  storage, FPse keeps files whose lowercased name ends in .bin and whose length is
  exactly 524288, reads all 524288 bytes, sums them as signed bytes and accepts
  the file when the total is 85958, writing the path to the preference and turning
  the BIOS on. The same constant answers over NFS through isnfsbios. Reimplemented
  over the collection, that sum resolves to a single image, the v2.2 12/04/95 A
  dump listed below, and to no other. The HLE path impersonates the same revision:
  its identification strings sit in .rodata as ordinary C strings next to
  "HLE enabled.", and the library carries no 512 KB image of its own.
  ref: Main.java:4155-4175, Main.java:4185, Main.java:21188,
       FPse 0.11.190 libfpse.so armeabi-v7a .rodata 0x245828-0x2458cc

  Emulation itself lives in plugins that Main names one by one before the core:
  uncompress, spuplugin, soft1, nfsplugin and opengl, then fpse. libfpse.so lists
  all of them except uncompress in DT_NEEDED, so the core will not link without
  them. They are distributed both ways. 0.11.190 shipped none of them, tested for
  each file in the private directory, stopped on an error dialog before loading
  the core when one was absent, and fetched plugins267.zip and its per GPU and per
  ABI variants from fpse.net; 12.1 carries them in the package and keeps an
  updater that asks getfile.php for the list matching its own versionCode and ABI,
  alongside plugins605 constants nothing reads. Both generations of the pack still
  answer: plugins605v7.zip is 1359776 bytes and holds the armeabi-v7a build of
  libsoft1.so, libspuplugin.so, libopengl.so, libnfsplugin.so and
  libuncompress.so at the same lengths as the copies inside 12.1 but not the same
  bytes, plus the libopenglex.so, libspuplugin1.so and libspupluginex.so variants
  the package does not carry, and twenty shader pairs. An OpenGL plugin picked by
  hand from the .so browser is copied over libopengl1.so and used in place of the
  packaged one. libGLESv2, libjnigraphics, liblog, libstdc++, libdl, libm and libc
  are the Android runtime and are not files anyone supplies.
  ref: Main.java:29686-29698, Main.java:20405-20406, Main.java:11010,
       Main.java:3417-3423, Main.java:1120-1137,
       FPse 0.11.190 Main.java:24126-24207, FPse 0.11.190 Main.java:860-871,
       FPse 12.1 libfpse.so readelf -d,
       fpse.net/plugins605v7.zip md5 ae5dbdc27452092af3e712448f427fd3

  Resources unpack through two helpers that differ in one respect. b2 writes only
  when the target is absent, so bios/kanji.rom, fpse.ini and the whole skin set
  survive being replaced by hand. c2 truncates, so gamelist.ini is rewritten from
  the package at every start and a copy put there does not last.
  ref: Main.java:26892-26895, Main.java:26956-26957, Main.java:29721,
       Main.java:29755-29758, Main.java:30046

files:
  - name: scph1001.bin
    path: bios/scph1001.bin
    system: sony-playstation
    required: false
    hle_fallback: true
    variant_group: "psx-bios"
    config_key: "BiosName"
    size: 524288
    validation: [size]
    md5: 924e392ed05558ffdb115408c263dccf
    sha1: 10155d8d6e6e832d6ea66db9bc098321fb5e8ebf
    description: "SCPH-1001, DTL-H1201, DTL-H3001 (v2.2 12-04-95 A)"
    note: "The only image the code identifies, and it identifies it by a checksum of its own rather than by a hash it spells out: the 524288 bytes summed as signed bytes, accepted at 85958. The md5 and sha1 here are the dump that reproduces that sum. Selecting a BIOS by hand takes any file ending in .bin that is exactly 524288 bytes, so the other images of the group fill the slot without being recognised by name or by sum."
    source_ref: "Main.java:4159-4175, Main.java:5919, Main.java:25217, res/raw/fpse.ini BiosName"

  - name: LibPS.exe
    system: sony-playstation
    required: false
    description: "PlayStation library executable loaded at startup when present"
    note: "Loaded by bare name through the same loader as any PS-X EXE, reporting \"LibPS.exe found and loaded.\" on success and continuing untouched when the loader returns -1. Not carried by the package, and the core never chdirs, so it resolves against the working directory of the process."
    source_ref: "FPse 0.11.190 libfpse.so x86 0x95545-0x9558a, FPse 12.1 libfpse.so .rodata 0x344634"

  - name: libsoft1.so
    required: true
    bundled: true
    category: game_data
    description: "software renderer plugin"
    note: "Named by System.loadLibrary(\"soft1\") and listed in DT_NEEDED by the core. 0.11.190 listed it the same way without shipping it, tested for the file in the private directory and stopped on an error dialog before the core when it was absent, the file coming from plugins267.zip."
    source_ref: "Main.java:29688, FPse 0.11.190 Main.java:24148-24162"

  - name: libspuplugin.so
    required: true
    bundled: true
    category: game_data
    description: "sound plugin"
    note: "Named by System.loadLibrary(\"spuplugin\") and listed in DT_NEEDED. 0.11.190 picked libspupluginex.so, libspuplugin2.so or libspuplugin1.so by device and API level and copied the winner over this name."
    source_ref: "Main.java:29687, FPse 0.11.190 Main.java:24126-24132"

  - name: libopengl.so
    required: true
    bundled: true
    category: game_data
    aliases: ["libopengl1.so", "libopenglex.so"]
    description: "OpenGL renderer plugin"
    note: "Named by System.loadLibrary(\"opengl\") and listed in DT_NEEDED. A plugin chosen from the .so browser is copied over libopengl1.so, which 0.11.190 in turn copied over this name, the ex variant standing in for it on the devices that ask for it."
    source_ref: "Main.java:29690, Main.java:11010, FPse 0.11.190 Main.java:24178-24199"

  - name: libnfsplugin.so
    required: true
    bundled: true
    category: game_data
    aliases: ["libnfs.so"]
    description: "NFS client plugin, for discs read from a network share"
    note: "Named by System.loadLibrary(\"nfsplugin\") and listed in DT_NEEDED. Called libnfs.so through the 0.11.x line."
    source_ref: "Main.java:29689, FPse 0.11.190 Main.java:24163-24177"

  - name: libsdl.so
    required: true
    bundled: true
    category: game_data
    description: "SDL 1.2 audio backend"
    note: "Named by System.loadLibrary(\"sdl\") and listed in DT_NEEDED."
    source_ref: "Main.java:20405, FPse 12.1 libfpse.so readelf -d"

  - name: libneon.so
    required: true
    bundled: true
    category: game_data
    description: "NEON colour conversion routines"
    note: "Named by System.loadLibrary(\"neon\") and listed in DT_NEEDED, which resolves bgr555rgb565neon for the core."
    source_ref: "Main.java:20406, FPse 12.1 libfpse.so readelf -d"

  - name: libuncompress.so
    required: false
    bundled: true
    category: game_data
    description: "archive extractor for .zip, .rar, .7z, .ape and .ecm images"
    note: "Named by System.loadLibrary(\"uncompress\") and the only one of the plugins the core does not list in DT_NEEDED. 0.11.190 loaded it on demand from the private directory."
    source_ref: "Main.java:29686, FPse 0.11.190 Main.java:6244-6249"

  - name: "<skin>.ini"
    path: "skin/<skin>.ini"
    required: false
    category: game_data
    unsourceable: "overlay pad artwork published by other users"
    description: "external overlay pad skin"
    note: "Selected through a browser listing .ini files, which is what the External entry of the gamepad skin setting opens. The default set unpacks from the package as skin/pad.ini with its button and stick artwork."
    source_ref: "Main.java:5936-5938, Main.java:29758"

  - name: "<game>.txt"
    required: false
    category: game_data
    unsourceable: "cheat codes the user writes or collects per title"
    description: "cheat codes for one title"
    note: "Selected through a browser listing .txt files and parsed as titles between hashes followed by address and value pairs. Cheats apply only when a BIOS image is loaded."
    source_ref: "Main.java:5965-5967, Main.java:30552"

exclusion_note: >
  Left out are the files FPse writes and reads back itself, which are emulator
  state rather than files a user has to obtain: fpse.ini and the per-title
  configurations under cfg, the memory cards slot1.mcd and slot2.mcd, savestates
  and the snapshots under snaps, fpselog.txt and the cpulog.txt and gpulog.txt
  traces. gamelist.ini is left out with them for a different reason: it is
  rewritten from the package at every start, so a copy placed there never
  survives. Left out too are the shipped overlay pad artwork, skin/pad.ini with
  its button and stick images, which unpack from the package, and the shader
  pairs, which the package carries in assets while the Shaders setting selects a
  directory rather than a file. bios/kanji.rom is left out on the same ground: it
  is a FONTX2 font the core draws Japanese text with, header FONTX2X11, 238586
  bytes, md5 040d9dcbad83388c14d2628ac69ce88b, sha1
  915880f8bb04de39fd5132b92dfb99872f54fa47 in 12.1, and it has only ever existed
  inside the package, unpacked into bios at first start and left alone afterwards
  so a replacement stays. It is not a dump of the font ROM inside the Japanese
  BIOS, and it shares its generic name with the unrelated kanji ROMs of the MSX
  and the PC-88. Only
  the ARM builds name it; the x86 build of 0.11.190 carries neither it nor the
  v2.2 identification strings. The disc images and their .cue sidecars are not
  emulator files. The HLE BIOS is not a file either: it is code, and the strings
  it answers a BIOS identification with sit in .rodata beside the rest of the core
  messages, with no 512 KB image anywhere in the library.
  ref: res/raw/fpse.ini MemCard1, Main.java:30046, Main.java:29721,
       Main.java:29758-29859, res/raw/kanji.rom,
       FPse 0.11.190 libfpse.so armeabi-v7a .rodata 0x245818-0x2458cc