Digital Foundry's Thomas Morgan recently put Bloodborne through its paces using the ShadPS4 emulator, analyzing its performance and the impact of community-created enhancements.
Morgan's evaluation utilized ShadPS4 build 0.5.1 by diegolix29, stemming from raphaelthegreat's custom branch. After experimenting with various builds, this version yielded optimal results on his test system (AMD Ryzen 7 5700X CPU and GeForce RTX 4080 GPU).
He strongly suggested installing the Vertex Explosion Fix mod. While this mod disables pre-game character face customization, it effectively eliminates distracting visual glitches manifested as distorted or misplaced polygons. No other significant mods are necessary; the emulator incorporates a comprehensive menu for managing performance enhancements, including 60fps support, resolution scaling up to 4K, and chromatic aberration toggling.
While occasional stuttering was observed, Bloodborne maintained a largely stable 60fps framerate. Experiments with higher resolutions (1440p and 1800p) resulted in improved visual fidelity, but at the cost of significant performance dips and frequent crashes. Therefore, Morgan recommends sticking to 1080p (matching the PS4 version) or 1152p for the best balance of performance and visuals.
Morgan concluded that the very feasibility of PS4 emulation for Bloodborne is a remarkable feat by the ShadPS4 team. While acknowledging remaining technical imperfections, he deemed the emulator's performance impressive.
