GameDB Documentation
YAML Game Format
The following is an annotated and comprehensive example of everything that
can be defined for a single Game entry.
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SERIAL-12345: # !required! Serial number for the game, this is how
games are looked up. Case insensitive
name: "A Sample Game" # !required
! region: "NTSC-U" # !required!
compat: 0
roundModes:
eeRoundMode:
0 vuRoundMode
: 3
clampModes:
eeClampMode:
0 vuClampMode
: 3
# If a GameFix is included in the list, it will be enabled
# If you 'd like to temporarily disable it, either comment out the
line, or remove it!
gameFixes:
- VuAddSubHack
- FpuMulHack
- FpuNegDivHack
- XGKickHack
- EETimingHack
- SkipMPEGHack
- OPHFlagHack
- DMABusyHack
- VIFFIFOHack
- VIF1StallHack
- GIFFIFOHack
- GoemonTlbHack
- IbitHack
- FullVU0SyncHack
- VUSyncHack
- VUOverflowHack
- SoftwareRendererFMVHack
# The value of the GS Fixes is assumed to be an integer
gsHWFixes:
mipmap: 1
preloadFrameData: 1
# The value of the speedhacks is assumed to be an integer,
# but at the time of writing speedhacks are effectively booleans (0/1)
speedHacks:
mvuFlagSpeedHack: 0
InstantVU1SpeedHack: 0
memcardFilters: - "SERIAL -123" - "SERIAL-456"
# You can define multiple patches, but they are identified by the CRC
patches:
default: # Default CRC!
content: |- # !required! This allows for multi-line strings in
YAML, this type preserves new-line characters
comment=Sample Patch
patch=1,EE,00000002,word,00000000
crc123: # Specific CRC Patch!
content: |-
comment=Another Sample
patch=1,EE,00000001,word,00000000
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Note that quoting strings in YAML is optional, but certain characters
are reserved like '*' and require the string to be quoted. Be aware / use
a YAML linter to avoid confusion.
A Note on Case Sensitivity
Both the serial numbers for the games, and the CRC patches are at the
moment not case-sensitive and will be looked up with their lowercase
representations. However, stylistically, uppercase is preferred and may be
enforced and migrated to in the future.
For example:
SLUS-123 will be stored and looked up in the GameDB as slus-123
Likewise, a CRC with upper-case hex 23AF6876 will be stored and
looked up as 23af6876
However, YAML is case-sensitive and will allow multiple serials that only differ
on casing. To prevent mistakes, this will also throw a validation error where the
first entry will be the one that wins.
Everything else can be safely assumed to be case sensitive!
Compatibility
compat can be set to the following values:
0 = Unknown Compatibility Status
1 = Nothing
2 = Intro
3 = Menu
4 = In-game
5 = Playable
6 = Perfect
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Rounding Modes
The rounding modes are numerically based.
These modes can be specified either on the EE (eeRoundMode) with(out)
(eeDivRoundMode) or VU (vuRoundMode) or specific VUs like VU0 (`vu0RoundMode`
) or VU1 (`vu1RoundMode`)
Options for rounding
0 = Nearest
1 = Negative Infinity
2 = Positive Infinity
3 = Chop (Zero)
The is the common default
Clamping Modes
The clamp modes are also numerically based.
eeClampMode refers to the EE's FPU co-processor and COP2
vuClampMode refers to the VUs in micro mode
vu0ClampMode refers to the VU0 in micro mode
vu1ClampMode refers to the VU1 in micro mode
eeClampMode
0 = Disables clamping completely
1 = Clamp Normally (only clamp results)
2 = Clamp Extra+Preserve Sign (clamp results as well as operands)
3 = Full Clamping for FPU
vuClampMode
0 = Disables clamping completely
1 = Clamp Normally (only clamp results)
2 = Clamp Extra (clamp results as well as operands)
3 = Clamp Extra+Preserve Sign
GS Hardware Fixes
[ ] = GameDB values { } = GUI options ( ) = Default values
GS Hardware Mipmap Fixes
mipmap [0 or 1 or 2] {Off, Basic, Full} Default: Automatic (No value,
looks up GameDB) // Tab 2 Rendering (2nd dropdown)
trilinearFiltering [0 or 1 or 2] {None, Trilinear, Trilinear Ultra} Default:
None (0) // Tab 2 Rendering (4th dropdown)
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GS Hardware General Fixes
beforeDraw {OI with suffix } {None unless specific game GSC} Default:
Automatic (No value, looks up GameDB) with valid variable name (ex.
OI_BurnoutGames)
afterDraw {OO with suffix } {None unless specific game GSC} Default:
Automatic (No value, looks up GameDB) with valid variable name
conservativeFramebuffer [0 or 1] {Off or On} Default: On (1)
texturePreloading [0 or 1 or 2] {None, Partial or Full Hash Cache}
Default: None (0) // Tab 2 Rendering (8th dropdown)
deinterlace [Value between 0 to 9] {Automatic, Off, WeaveTFF,
WeaveBFF, BobTFF, BobBFF, BlendTFF, BlendBFF, AdaptiveTFF,
AdaptiveBFF} Default: Automatic (No value, looks up GameDB) // Tab 1
Display (4th dropdown)
GS Hardware Renderer Fixes
autoFlush [0 or 1 or 2] {Disabled, Enabled (Sprites Only), Enabled (All
Primitives)} Default: Off (0)
disableDepthSupport [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
disablePartialInvalidation [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
cpuFramebufferConversion [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
preloadFrameData [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
textureInsideRT [0 or 1] {Disabled, Inside Targets, Merge Targets} Default: Off (0)
PCRTCOverscan [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
cpuCLUTRender [0 or 1 or 2] {Disabled, Normal, Aggressive} Default: Disabled (0)
cpuSpriteRenderBW [Value between 0 to 10] {Disabled, 1 (64), 2 (128), 3 (192), 4 (256
), 5 (320), 6 (384), 7 (448), 8 (512), 9 (576), 10 (640)} Default: Off (0)
cpuSpriteRenderLevel [0 or 1 or 2] {Sprites only, Sprites/Triangles, Blended Sprites/
Triangles} Default: Off unless cpuSpriteRenderBW has value other than Off then it is '
Sprites only' (0) /
estimateTextureRegion [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
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getSkipCount {GSC with suffix } {None unless specific game GSC} Default:
Disabled (0) unless valid variable name (ex.
GSC_PolyphonyDigitalGames, GSC_UrbanReign, ...)
gpuPaletteConversion [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
gpuTargetCLUT [0 or 1 or 2] {Disabled, Enabled (Exact Match), Enabled (Check Inside
Target)} Default: Disabled (0)
minimumBlendingLevel [0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5] {Minimum , Basic , Medium ,
High , Full(Slow ), Maximum (Very Slow )} Default : Automatic (No value , looks up
GameDB)
maximumBlendingLevel [0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5] {Minimum , Basic, Medium , High,
Full(Slow), Maximum (Very Slow)} Default: Automatic (No value, looks up GameDB)
recommendedBlendingLevel [0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5] {Minimum, Basic,
Medium, High, Full(Slow), Maximum (Very Slow)} Default: Automatic (No value,
looks up GameDB)
readTCOnClose [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
GS Hardware Upscaling Fixes
alignSprite [0 or 1] {Off or On} Default: Off (0)
mergeSprite [0 or 1] {Off or On} Default: Off (0)
wildArmsHack [0 or 1] {Off or On} Default: Off (0)
bilinearUpscale [0 or 1 or 2] {Automatic, Force Bilinear, Force Nearest} Default: Automatic
skipDrawStart [Value between 0 to 10000] {0-10000} Default: Off (0)
skipDrawEnd [Value between 0 to 10000] {0-10000} Default: Off (0)
halfPixelOffset [0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4] {Off, Normal Vertex, Special (Texture), Special (
Texture Aggressive), Align to Native} Default: Off (0)
nativePaletteDraw [0 or 1] {Off, On} Default: Off (0)
roundSprite [0 or 1 or 2] {Off, Half or Full} Default: Off (0)
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Game Fixes
These values are case-sensitive, so take care. If you incorrectly specify a
GameFix, you will get a validation error on startup. Any invalid game-fixes
will be dropped from the game's list of fixes.
Game Fixes Options
FpuMulHack
For Tales of Destiny: This fix addresses hanging issues.
SoftwareRendererFMVHack
Used for complex FMV rendering in certain games.
SkipMPEGHack
Prevents game hanging/freezing by skipping videos/FMVs.
GoemonTlbHack
Preload TLB hack to prevent TLB miss on Goemon.
EETimingHack
General-purpose timing hack affecting Digital Devil Saga, SSX,
and others.
InstantDMAHack
Resolves cache emulation problems, affecting games like Fire Pro
Wrestling Z.
OPHFlagHack
Affects games like Bleach Blade Battlers, Growlanser II and III,
Wizardry.
GIFFIFOHack
Corrects but slows down rendering, impacting games like
FIFA Street 2.
DMABusyHack
Affects games like Mana Khemia 1, Metal Saga, Pilot Down
Behind Enemy Lines.
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VIF1StallHack
Resolves hang issues in games like SOCOM 2 HUD and Spy
Hunter.
VIFFIFOHack
Simulates VIF1 FIFO read ahead, affecting games like Test Drive
Unlimited, Transformers.
FullVU0SyncHack
Enforces tight VU0 sync on every COP2 instruction.
IbitHack
Avoids constant recompilation in games like Scarface: The
World is Yours, Crash Tag Team Racing.
VuAddSubHack
For Tri-Ace Games: Star Ocean 3, Radiata Stories, Valkyrie Profile
2.
VUOverflowHack
Checks for possible float overflows (Superman Returns).
VUSyncHack
Ensures synchronization between VUs and EE to fix timing issues.
XGKickHack
Uses accurate timing for VU XGKicks, affecting games like WRC,
Erementar Gerad, Tennis Court Smash.
BlitInternalFPSHack
Utilizes an alternative method to calculate internal FPS to avoid
false readings in some games.
SpeedHacks
These values are in a key-value format, where the value is assumed to be an
integer.
Options for SpeedHacks
mvuFlagSpeedHack
Accepted Values - 0 / 1
Katamari Damacy has a peculiar speed bug when this speed
hack is enabled (and it is by default)
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MTVUSpeedHack
Accepted Values - 0 / 1
T-bit games dislike MTVU, and some games are incompatible
with MTVU.
InstantVU1SpeedHack
Accepted Values - 0 / 1
Games such as PaRappa the Rapper 2 need VU1 to sync, so you
can force sync with this parameter.
Memory Card Filter Override
By default, the FolderMemoryCard filters save games based on the game's
serial, which means that only saves whose folder names contain the game's
serial are loaded.
This works fine for the vast majority of games, but fails in some cases, which
this override is for. Examples include multi-disc games, where later games
often reuse the serial of the previous disc(s), and games that allow transfer
of savedata between different games, such as importing data from a prequel
. This can unlock certain content ranging from cosmetic features (gear/
visual costume) to mechanics (early unlock of weapons). These are not
needed with file memcards as they don't hide the serials or outside date
from the game itself nor it's save memcard.
Values should be specified as a list of strings, example shown above.
Patches
The patch that corresponds to the running game's CRC will take precedence
over the default. Multiple patches using the same CRC cannot be defined
and this will throw a validation error.
CRCs are case-insensitive, however uppercase is preferred stylistically!
Patches should be defined as multi-line string blocks, where each line would
correspond with a line in a conventional *.pnach file
For more information on how to write a patch , see the following forum
post
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Editor Tooling
We provide a JSON Schema for the GameDB's format. You can use this to validate the
file, and assist in writing it properly.
VSCode Integration
If you use VSCode and you want it to properly lint the GameIndex.yaml file you should:
1. Download the YAML extension -
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=redhat.vscode- yaml
2. Add the following to your settings:
"yaml.schemas": {
"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/master/pcsx2/Docs/gamedb-
schema.json": "**/GameIndex.yaml",
},
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