shadPS4/documents/building-macos.md

Build shadPS4 for macOS

Install the necessary tools to build shadPS4:

First, make sure you have Xcode 16.0 or newer installed.

For installing other tools and library dependencies we will be using Homebrew.

On an ARM system, we will need the native ARM Homebrew to install tools and x86_64 Homebrew to install libraries.

First, install native Homebrew and tools:

# Installs native Homebrew to /opt/homebrew
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
# Adds Homebrew to your path
echo 'eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)' >> ~/.zprofile
eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)
# Installs tools.
brew install clang-format cmake

Next, install x86_64 Homebrew and libraries.

If you are on an ARM Mac:

# Installs x86_64 Homebrew to /usr/local
arch -x86_64 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
# Installs libraries.
arch -x86_64 /usr/local/bin/brew install molten-vk qt@6

If you are on an x86_64 Mac:

brew install molten-vk qt@6

If you don't need the Qt GUI you can remove qt@6 from the last command.

Cloning and compiling:

Clone the repository recursively:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/shadps4-emu/shadPS4.git
cd shadPS4

Generate the build directory in the shadPS4 directory:

cmake -S . -B build/ -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=x86_64

If you want to build the Qt GUI, add -DENABLE_QT_GUI=ON to the end of this command as well.

Enter the directory:

cd build/

Use make to build the project:

cmake --build . --parallel$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)

Now run the emulator:

./shadps4 /"PATH"/"TO"/"GAME"/"FOLDER"/eboot.bin