God of War III Remastered for PC

English | Português (Brasil)

A PC port of God of War III Remastered (PlayStation 4) for Windows 10 and 11.

The CPU side is native: the game's original executable runs directly on the PC's processor (the PS4 uses the same x86-64 architecture), and a runtime written for this game replaces the PS4 system libraries, so there is no emulator. The graphics are translated: they run on the shadPS4 video core, which converts the PS4 GPU commands and shaders to Vulkan, with the God of War III rendering fixes from cuesta4's eltutz branch. Running the game code directly on the CPU is also how shadPS4 works; what this project changes is the system layer and the game-specific work (patches, background shader cache, launcher and in-game menu). It is a fork of Supermedo's Windows port of deadinside28's bloodborne_pc (see Credits).

No game files are included. You need a dump from your own PS4 (tested: CUSA01623 and CUSA01715, versions 01.00 and 01.02). This project is not affiliated with Sony Interactive Entertainment or Santa Monica Studio. God of War is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

On the test machine (AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, Ryzen 5 5600X, 32 GB) the game runs at 144 FPS on average (55 to 240) at 1080p with the 240 FPS engine frame rate, and at 108 FPS on average at 4K with FSR 1.

Tested and playable from start to finish at native 1080p with the 240 FPS engine frame rate. At other render resolutions some textures look broken; a fix is in progress.

Progress is tracked (in Portuguese) in docs/gow3/ROADMAP.md.

What works

• Opening, menus, video cutscenes (H.264) and gameplay.
• Audio: music, voices and effects (ATRAC9 and MP3).
• Controller (DualSense, Xbox and others, through SDL3) and keyboard at the same time, both remappable.
• Saving and loading: the save list is shown on screen, as on the PS4. Autosave works too. The launcher backs the saves up before every start.
• Patches: render resolution of 480p, 720p, 1440p, 1800p or 4K, corrupted texture fix and skip videos with the X button (community); engine frame rate of 120 FPS (kvicken) or 240 FPS (adapted by Felipe Prado).
• Instant start: the saved shader cache loads in the background while you play, and new shaders compile in the background too, so the game does not stop to build them.
• Launcher in the game's colors, in English with partial translations: quick settings on the home page, display, performance, game folder and save backups, patches, mods (order, presets and conflicts), controls with PlayStation or Xbox button icons, updates and diagnostics.
• In-game menu (Insert on the keyboard, R3+L2 on the controller), with four tabs:
  • Game: cheats (infinite health, magic, item meter, Rage of Sparta, max red orbs); multipliers from 0.1x to 100x for red, green (health), blue (magic) and gold (Rage of Sparta) orbs and for damage dealt and taken; an enemy health bar.
  • Image: display mode (windowed, borderless, fullscreen), VSync, FSR 1 upscaling and RCAS sharpening.
  • Performance: frame rate limit (30 to unlimited), frames queued, background shader compiling; render resolution, engine frame rate and GPU readback options apply with one "Apply and restart" button.
  • Overlay: a performance overlay with FPS, frametime, upscaler, GPU (name and use), CPU, RAM and VRAM, each optional, with font size, corner, background opacity and layout. The numbers are the game's own use, not the whole system's.

Download and play

You need

• Windows 10 (1903 or newer) or Windows 11, 64-bit.
• A graphics card with Vulkan 1.3 and an up-to-date driver.
• Your own copy of God of War III Remastered, as a folder that contains eboot.bin, sce_module and sce_sys. Tested: CUSA01623 (US) and CUSA01715 (EU), versions 01.00 and 01.02 (full update). Other regions and versions may work but are untested: if you try one, please open an issue with your user/last_run.log. No game files are included in this download.

Steps

1. Download gow3-windows.zip from the Releases page.
2. Extract it to a folder of your choice, for example C:\Games\gow3-windows. Do not run it from inside the zip.
3. Open God of War III.exe. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway: the program is not digitally signed.
4. Click Choose the game folder. It takes you to the Game page. Next to Game folder, click Browse… and select the folder with eboot.bin.
5. Back on Home, the cover art and "CUSA01623 · version 01.02" appear. Adjust Quick settings if you like: display mode, frame rate limit, render resolution and engine frame rate.
6. Click PLAY. The first start takes a little longer while the game image is prepared. The next starts are quick.

Patches and fixes are included and applied automatically: texture fix, skip videos with X and 120 FPS are on by default. Change the resolution and frame rate on Home or Performance.

While playing

• Insert on the keyboard, or R3 + L2 on the controller, opens the port's menu: cheats, multipliers, image, performance and the performance overlay.
• Saved shaders load in the background. A small "Loading shader cache" note in the corner shows the progress.

Next time

• Play God of War III.exe starts the game straight away with your saved settings. You can make a desktop shortcut to it, or add it to Steam with Add a Non-Steam Game.
• Your saves, shader cache and log are in the user folder next to God of War III.exe. Keep that folder when you update.
• Advanced → Check for updates downloads and installs a new version. Your saves and settings are kept.

If something goes wrong

• Black screen at start: Advanced → Clear shader cache, then start again.
• The game does not open: check the Log page, or send user\last_run.log with your report.

Linux (AppImage, experimental)

The Linux build runs the same native runtime and the same launcher. It was tested on Arch Linux with a Radeon RX 7800 XT (RADV) in a Wayland session.

You need: a Vulkan 1.3 driver and your own dump of the game (CUSA01623, version 01.02).

Build and run

bash build.sh
bash packaging/linux/build.sh   # needs PyInstaller, Tk and Pillow for Python, plus patchelf and curl
./dist/gow3-x86_64.AppImage

Choose the game folder in the launcher. --play starts the game with the saved options and no window. From a source tree: GOW3_GAME_DIR=/path/to/CUSA01623 python3 run.py after bash build.sh.

• Files: saves, settings, shader cache and the log are in ~/.local/share/gow3; the launcher's own settings in ~/.config/gow3-launcher.
• Update folder: if the update was dumped apart from the game, choose it under Game → Update folder. It is laid over the game folder without changing either.
• Advanced → Linux: window system (automatic, Wayland or X11), GameMode and MangoHud. Only the tools installed on the system can be turned on.
• Steam: Advanced → Add to Steam adds "God of War III Remastered" as a non-Steam game, with the icon, the vertical and horizontal capsules, the library background and the logo made from the dump's pictures. Close Steam first (it rewrites its shortcuts when it exits). The button is also in the Windows launcher (not tested there yet).
• Menu entry: the AppImage writes ~/.local/share/applications/gow3.desktop when it starts, so the launcher and the game window show their icon in the dock; Advanced → Linux turns it off and removes the entry.
• Icon: the AppImage, the launcher and the game window use packaging/linux/gow3.png when that file exists at build time, and launcher/gow3.png otherwise.
• Patches: the same patch file serves the full 01.02 update (eboot.bin sha256 6e72330e…) and the European title (CUSA01715): the patches and cheats find their sites by signature.
• Graphics (experimental): the temporal upscalers (FSR 3.1, FSR 4, TAA, DLSS) are off by default; the switch is at the top of that page.

Requirements

• Windows 10 (1903 or newer) or Windows 11, 64-bit.
• A 64-bit processor with the PS4's instruction sets (AVX, F16C, BMI1, MOVBE, LZCNT): Intel Haswell (2013) or newer, AMD Ryzen or newer. The game's own code runs on the CPU as it is, so an older processor stops at start with a STOP: this CPU lacks line in the log.
• A graphics card with Vulkan 1.3 and a current driver.
• Your copy of the game (the folder with eboot.bin, sce_module and sce_sys). Tested: CUSA01623 and CUSA01715, versions 01.00 and 01.02.
• The patches and the in-game hooks (cheats, multipliers, health bar) find their sites by signature: the original bytes around each one, wherever a release placed that code (tools/make_signatures.py). A site that is not found leaves only that patch or hook off; the game starts without it, and the log and the menu say why.
• To build from source: MSYS2 and Python 3 with Pillow (pip install pillow, used for the game's icon and cover art).

Building from source

Development happens on the gow3 branch; main receives tested merges.

1. Install MSYS2 (winget install MSYS2.MSYS2) and, in the MSYS2 CLANG64 shell, the packages listed in packaging/windows/README.md.

2. Clone the repository with its submodules and build:

   git clone --recursive https://github.com/FelipePrado0/gow3_pc
   cd gow3_pc
   git checkout gow3   # the newest work; skip it to build main
   bash build.sh

3. Start the launcher (in PowerShell, in the project folder):

   python launcher/gow3_launcher_win.py

4. On Game, choose the game folder. Adjust Display, Performance and Patches if you like, then press PLAY.

To play with the saved settings without opening the launcher's window (for a shortcut or Steam):

python launcher/gow3_launcher_win.py --play

Or without the launcher at all:

$env:GOW3_GAME_DIR = 'D:\path\CUSA01623'
python run.py

Settings are kept in gow3.ini (the game and the in-game menu) and in %APPDATA%\gow3-launcher\settings.json (the launcher). Saves, the shader cache and last_run.log go to the project's user folder.

On Performance → GPU data → Stream buffer memory, choose System RAM (cached, default), System RAM (uncached) or GPU memory (previous behavior). System RAM can improve frame rates on NVIDIA laptops. The choice is saved and applies on the next game launch, including when using Play God of War III.exe or --play. Choose GPU memory to restore the previous allocation behavior. For direct launches without the launcher, GOW3_STREAM_MEMORY accepts cached, host or device; the launcher's saved choice takes precedence when using it.

Importing shadPS4 saves

Only shadPS4 saves for God of War III Remastered are compatible. RPCS3 saves are from the PS3 game and will not work. Use the same title ID (this example uses CUSA01623).

1. Close the game and shadPS4. Back up both save folders.
2. Find the source in shadPS4's data folder: user\savedata\1\CUSA01623\ in older versions, or home\<user-id>\savedata\CUSA01623\ in newer versions.
3. The destination is user\savedata\1\CUSA01623\ next to God of War III.exe. Example: C:\Games\gow3-windows\user\savedata\1\CUSA01623\. With a custom Saves folder in the launcher, use <custom folder>\savedata\1\CUSA01623\.
4. Copy each slot folder there, keeping its name and game files. Do not nest another CUSA01623 folder. Exclude the slot's internal sce_sys folder from the game data.
5. Beside each slot, create <slot name>.sce_sys if it does not exist. You can copy shadPS4's sce_sys\icon0.png there. Do not rename param.sfo to param.bin: the formats differ. Preserve any existing port param.bin. Without one, the slot appears by folder name; saving again in the port writes its metadata and refreshes the displayed information.
6. Start the port and select Load Game. Completed saves can be imported too.

The port's save dialog displays at most 32 entries. If the imported slot is missing from a long list, test it with a separate Saves folder containing just that slot under savedata\1\CUSA01623\, with its sibling metadata folder. Keep the original saves and restore the previous Saves folder setting after testing.

Third-party overlays (Windows)

The game process is bin\gow3-probe.exe, not God of War III.exe (source builds use out\gow3-probe.exe). Add that executable to RTSS and enable Afterburner's on-screen display. In the ReShade installer, select that same executable and the Vulkan API.

If the overlay still does not appear, report the port and overlay versions, the last working port version, and attach user\last_run.log. These checks do not confirm a fix for every overlay configuration.

Keyboard controls

Defaults; change them on the launcher's Controls page.

On a controller without a touchpad (Xbox and others), View opens the pause menu (the right touchpad click) and L1 + View opens photo mode (the left click). On a DualSense the touchpad works as on the PS4, and Share/Create works like View.

In the menu: L1/R1 or Q/E switch tabs. In the save list: arrows or the d-pad choose, Enter or Cross confirm, Esc or Circle cancel.

Tests

python -m unittest discover -s tests
bash build.sh --test
ninja -C out/gpu stat-multipliers-test perf-overlay-test warmup-inbox-test graphics-settings-test
out/gpu/stat-multipliers-test.exe out/eboot.elf
out/gpu/perf-overlay-test.exe
out/gpu/warmup-inbox-test.exe
out/gpu/graphics-settings-test.exe

The C++ tests are targets in gpu/CMakeLists.txt; the ones that check the game's code take the prepared executable (out/eboot.elf) as their argument.

To check that every system function the game uses is implemented, without starting the game:

out/gow3-probe.exe out/boot-linked.bin --app0 <game folder> --check-imports

How it works

More documentation: mods, frame map and upscaler, parallel GPU work and the roadmap.

Credits

This project is a fork of Supermedo's Windows port, which builds on deadinside28's original:

• deadinside28: bloodborne_pc, the original native port.
• Supermedo (Mohammed Albarghouthi): bloodborne_pc for Windows, the fork this project comes from.
• cuesta4: shadPS4 fork focused on God of War III Remastered (branch eltutz). The game's rendering in this port depends on its fixes: the GNM blend rewrite, depth/stencil state and image aliasing. cuesta4 is also a co-author of the resolution, texture fix, 120 FPS and skip videos patches (below). If you play on shadPS4, this is the build to use for God of War III.
• shadPS4 team: the shadPS4 video core, which does all the GPU and shader translation to Vulkan in this port.

Patches: kvicken and cuesta4 (resolution, texture fix, 120 FPS and skip videos, building on the PS3 patches by illusion0001), published for shadPS4 in shadps4-emu/ps4_cheats#145 and adapted to this executable. The 240 FPS patch was adapted by Felipe Prado from the 120 FPS patch. Cheats: adapted from Celogamez's GoldHEN cheats.

Also used: LibAtrac9, FFmpeg, SDL3, Dear ImGui, sirit, magic_enum, miniz, xbyak, Vulkan Memory Allocator, FSR-Vulkan and the AMD FidelityFX SDK, MSYS2, LLVM and Pillow.

License

GNU GPL v2 or later (LICENSE). Third-party components keep their own licenses.