Hardware PS4 = Easy to Emulate?

[Foxi4]

If I recall correctly, I remember something about the main hurdle in Xbox emulation, besides lack of interest, is the GPU, not the CPU. The Nvidia GPU the Xbox had next to none documentation, so there you go.

It's likely that the PS4 will end up the same way here.

The XBox's NV2A GPU is a customized NV20 with some NV25 functionality, meaning a cross between the GeForce 3 and GeForce 4 families. The chip has no consumer level equivalent as far as PC GPU's are concerned, and this poses a problem.

The available documentation is indeed very scarce and while some functionality can be directly replicated by equivalent functions on more modern GeForce chips, it's a lot like walking in the dark. As for replicating it directly on AMD chips, it's a no-go.

This is why the entirety of the code dedicated to the GPU would have to be emulated on the target machine, not directly interpreted by it. To be successful, an emulator would have to allow 100% compatibility on both NVidia and AMD chips, and across a vast number of different families at that.