Summary
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ShadPS4 enables ShadNet to emulate PSN, allowing you to play emulated PS4 games online without a PSN account.
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ShadNet uses RPCN dedicated servers to emulate Sony’s backend so that PS4 games can “talk” to online services.
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ShadNet is in testing: currently only score tracking works, site account required and netplay not complete.
I’ve never written a console emulator before, but I can imagine that getting netplay to work is one of the trickier parts. Games usually ship with special network code designed to talk only to a certain server, and part of the emulation process involves emulating that system so people can play online.
Not all consoles or games have emulated their netplay yet, but we’ve just seen a big breakthrough on the PS4 front. The ShadPS4 emulator team has announced the release of ShadNet, which replaces the need for Sony’s official PlayStation Network service and allows people to play games online without an account.
ShadNet brings netplay to ShadPS4 with no PSN required
Soon you can play your emulated PS4 games online
As seen Notebook checkThe ShadPS4 team announced ShadNet on their website website. ShadNet’s goal is to allow people to enable online features for PS4 games without the need for a PSN account:
We are happy to officially announce shadNet. ShadNet will offer a way for shadPS4 users to connect and play online games together. This project has been in the works for a few months now, but it’s at the stage where we can officially announce it. ShadNet is still in development and still has a lot to do, but it is ready for testing. Currently only tracking points work, but please give it a try!
To achieve this, the ShadPS4 team used RPCN, a dedicated server that people already use to play PS3 games online through an emulator. By creating a custom server, ShadNet acts as a stand-in for Sony’s own servers, meaning PS4 games with online capabilities can “talk” to it like a regular server. Using ShadNet requires creating an account on the website, and the implementation of netplay is not yet complete, but the development team hopes to have it up and running soon.
