OpenNOW PS5

This repository is archived. Development now continues at OpenCloudGaming/OpenNOW-PS5. Please use that repository for future updates, issues and contributions. This repository remains available for historical source code and releases.

Social preview artwork for the independent native PS5 prototype.

An experimental native PS5 homebrew client for GeForce NOW, based on the public OpenNOW projects. Native hardware video decoding, GPU presentation, Opus audio and DualSense input are integrated.

This is a working, console-tested prototype, not a finished application. You can sign in, launch a game and play. The interface is still rough and primarily exists to test that authentication, streaming, audio, video and controls work together. Expect an incomplete user experience, limited navigation and functionality that still needs further testing.

Latest prerelease: 0.1 — development build 00.002.038, title ID PPSA99082, with FTP-accessible launch-age configuration, persistent login, virtual keyboard/mouse and Auto / Stereo / 5.1 / 7.1 audio selection. This project is unofficial and unaffiliated with Sony or NVIDIA.

What works

• NVIDIA device authorization, game/store catalog, session allocation and cancellation.
• Native H.264 and HEVC Main10 decoding, including 10-bit SDR and HDR10 presentation paths.
• Qualified asynchronous Main10 decoding with owned input buffers and safe GPU surface leases.
• Selectable 4K120, 4K90 and 4K60 HDR targets, 4K120/90 SDR targets, and lower-resolution compatibility profiles, with up to 100 Mb/s requested bitrate.
• Full-screen GPU presentation, 48 kHz Opus audio and DualSense controls.

In the latest console test, a 3840 × 2160 Main10 SDR stream was received, decoded and drawn at approximately 92 FPS and 51–52 Mb/s. No RTP/AU loss, queue overflow, decoder reset or API error was recorded after more than 19 minutes. The tester reported fluid motion and the earlier recurring compression degradation was resolved.

Prototype limitations

• The UI is a test interface. It is not polished, feature-complete or representative of the final experience. Catalog navigation and the controller-driven search keyboard are intentionally basic.
• Real 120 FPS and HDR game streaming are not yet validated. The tested game supplied SDR despite an HDR request. Startup fixture tests passed 4K, 119.88 Hz output and HDR scanout; these checks do not establish sustained game FPS or HDR source content.
• The 90 FPS profiles are requests; earlier tests received 60 FPS. Server behavior can differ from the selected target.
• The deeper pipeline currently applies to qualified UHD Main10. H.264 remains at depth one and does not inherit its measured throughput improvement.
• NVIDIA login is saved and renewed automatically. Persistence through a full console reboot and app replacement still needs live validation. NVIDIA can require sign-in again if renewal credentials expire or are revoked. Audio falls back to stereo when GFN does not offer a supported surround layout. Live 5.1/7.1 negotiation and speaker placement, broader firmware/loader compatibility and more games need testing.

Performance may differ by game, server, network, display and profile. Requested settings are targets, not guaranteed results. See stream quality for the measurements.

Install the alpha

1. Download OpenNOW-PS5-0.1.zip and SHA256SUMS from Releases.
2. Verify the ZIP against its entry in SHA256SUMS using shasum -a 256 or sha256sum. If you download every listed asset, you can use shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS.
3. Extract the archive. Install the included PPSA99082 folder through a compatible native homebrew directory loader, such as ShadowMountPlus. Follow your loader's registration procedure and check that this title ID is unused.
4. Before replacing an existing installation, close OpenNOW completely and retain a backup of its title folder.
5. Open the app once to create /data/opennow/config (or repair directory permissions after an update), then upload launch-age.txt into that config folder via FTP containing your age as an integer from 0 to 120. Ensure the uploaded file is readable by the app (for example, mode 0644). This personal configuration is required for session requests and is excluded from the release. Existing /data/opennow/launch-age.txt files remain supported when the new file is absent. Only the config folder allows uploads by other users; saved login files stay in the parent directory with owner-only file permissions. Do not delete /data/opennow to fix an upload problem, as it also holds your saved login.
6. Open the app and authenticate using NVIDIA's device authorization page shown on screen. Check that ACCOUNT SAVED appears. Circle in the menu closes the app while preserving the saved login; L1+R1 together signs out and removes it.

Requires a PS5 environment that can run native homebrew titles, a GeForce NOW account with suitable streaming capabilities, and a compatible display for the requested mode. The package has been tested in one homebrew console environment; compatibility with other firmware/loader combinations is unverified. This is a directory package, not a retail PS5 store application or a PKG installer.

Controls

Control	Action
Cross	Authenticate or launch the selected game/store
D-pad	Select a game/store
L1	Cycle available stream profiles before launch
Square	Load the catalog
Triangle	Open the catalog search keyboard
R1	Load the next catalog page
Circle	Close the app from the menu; cancel text entry in the search keyboard
L1+R1 together	Sign out and remove the saved login
Options + touchpad	Stop gameplay streaming
Touchpad alone during streaming	Toggle virtual mouse / gamepad
Right stick in virtual mouse mode	Move the remote pointer
R2 / L2 in virtual mouse mode	Left / right mouse button (hold to drag)
D-pad in virtual mouse mode	Vertical / horizontal scrolling
Square in virtual mouse mode	Cycle slow / normal / fast pointer speed
Triangle in virtual mouse mode	Open / close the remote keyboard

The remote keyboard uses US QWERTY, matching the session's requested layout. Navigate with the D-pad, press Cross to type, Square for Backspace, Options for Enter and Circle to close. L1 toggles Shift and R1 switches between letters and symbols. Enter, Escape, Tab, arrows, Shift, Ctrl and Alt also have selectable keys; Ctrl and Alt apply to subsequent strokes until toggled off. The local feedback always shows asterisks and never stores or logs a plaintext input string. Remote fields remain responsible for their own password masking. Closing the keyboard, leaving virtual mode, disconnecting the controller or stopping the stream cancels pending strokes and releases successfully sent keys and mouse buttons. Failed releases are retried while the input channel is available.

This implementation targets launcher logins and menus. It includes software-video and native GPU overlays, but remote cursor capture, text entry and HDR overlay appearance still require console validation. USB keyboard/mouse support is not included. Virtual keyboard/mouse controls are included in 0.0.6.

In the search keyboard, use the D-pad to select a character and Cross to type it. Square deletes a character, Triangle clears the text, Options submits the search and Circle cancels. R1 advances through search results; Square in the catalog returns to the full catalog.

For existing installations, artwork files can be cached in the registered title metadata. Use the loader's supported refresh or re-registration procedure if the home-screen icon or background remains stale. Replacing the title folder alone may not refresh the background reference.

Audio selection

Press R2 in the catalog before launch to cycle Auto / Stereo / 5.1 / 7.1. Auto probes the PS5 eight-channel AudioOut port; it does not detect physical speakers. GFN must offer a valid multichannel Opus layout before surround is selected. Unsupported offers fall back to offered stereo audio. All formats use 48 kHz; requested bitrate ceilings are 256 kb/s stereo, 384 kb/s 5.1 and 510 kb/s 7.1. Actual received bitrate remains server-controlled.

The adaptive queue, RED recovery and in-band FEC/PLC protect continuity while bounding accumulated latency. Private diagnostics distinguish requested and negotiated channels, queue depth and received codec bitrate. See stream quality for details and remaining limitations.

Privacy

NVIDIA login credentials and the device identity are saved in /data/opennow/account.bin, outside the installed title, so closing the app, rebooting the PS5 and replacing the app preserve the login. The app restores and renews the saved login automatically; temporary network failures keep the saved credentials and retry. L1+R1 together in the menu signs out and removes the saved login; closing with Circle or stopping a game session keeps it. NVIDIA can still require a new sign-in if the renewal credentials expire or are revoked. The UI reports ACCOUNT SAVED or ACCOUNT NOT SAVED. The file uses owner-only permissions and contains sensitive credentials without encryption; keep it private.

Public source and packages exclude local configuration, account data, session logs, console dumps and captured gameplay. Private bounded diagnostics can be written under /data/opennow; an explicit local marker enables a short video capture for troubleshooting. Do not upload that directory when reporting an issue.

Build and test

Host tests use synthetic fixtures and do not require a console or account:

bash tools/test-port.sh

Native Docker builds in this project's workflow run on a separate Linux build host over SSH. Configure the vps SSH alias and remote workspace for your environment. The GPU build additionally requires preparing the pinned public GPU SDK/runtime; see native hardware video and dependency/source provenance.

# Software compatibility build
bash tools/build-vps.sh
# GPU build, after preparing .deps/gpu/sdk on the build host
bash tools/build-gpu-vps.sh

Generated packages are written to dist/. CI checks host behavior; it does not reproduce or validate PS5 hardware execution. No proprietary Sony SDK or firmware module is included.

Development and licensing

Credits

Credit goes to OpenCloudGaming, the OpenNOW authors and contributors, and the OpenNOW-Switch contributors. Their open-source work provides the authentication, streaming protocol and transport foundations that made this native PS5 adaptation possible. This repository is an independent PS5 port prototype, not the official OpenNOW application.

The PS5 platform, decoder and GPU work also builds on public projects including ProsperoLight, the PS5 hardware video research, Kodi PS5, ps5-opengl and the native application boilerplate. Their specific roles, licenses and source revisions are retained in the third-party notices and source headers.

See port history and measured results, release notes and contributing. Other boilerplate documentation covers optional tooling and may describe workflows outside the GPU release path.

The combined native application is GPL-3.0-or-later. Third-party components retain their notices in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md, licenses/ and source headers. Exact upstream revisions and hashes are recorded in upstream-lock.json. Public dependency retrieval/build scripts and local GPU modifications are included; no captured game content is distributed.