Case study

Orbital: reconstructing PlayStation 4 hardware for virtualization

Orbital reconstructs PlayStation 4 hardware in a virtualization-based emulator intended to boot decrypted console kernels. Its C++ source models components including Aeolia controllers and Liverpool graphics hardware, while hardware and kernel notes record device IDs, registers and kernel interfaces.

Targets: Firmware
Category: Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
Sources reviewed: 2026-11-06

Stars: 3.7k
Last commit: 2024-03-04
Language: C
License (GitHub): MIT

GitHub data as of 2026-11-09

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Requirements & limits

Prerequisites: Requires users to extract files and console keys from their own PlayStation 4; the dumper supports firmware 1.76, 4.55, 5.00 and 5.05.
Prerequisites: Requires an x86-64 CPU with AVX/BMI1 and virtualization extensions, 12 GB RAM, and Vulkan 1.0 support.
Limits: The project is not ready for end users; BIOS, GRUB and QEMU components must be built separately.
License: MIT license.

Cite

BibTeX

@misc{orbital-ps4-reconstruction-case,
  title = {{Orbital: reconstructing PlayStation 4 hardware for virtualization}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/AlexAltea/orbital}},
  url = {https://github.com/AlexAltea/orbital},
  urldate = {2026-11-06},
  note = {Awesome REA entry: \url{https://awesomerea.org/resources/orbital-ps4-reconstruction-case/}}
}

Plain text

Orbital: reconstructing PlayStation 4 hardware for virtualization. https://github.com/AlexAltea/orbital (accessed 2026-11-06). Awesome REA entry: https://awesomerea.org/resources/orbital-ps4-reconstruction-case/

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About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.

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Primary sources

README.md GitHub · AlexAltea/orbital · Revision cc40836
tools/dumper/README.md GitHub · AlexAltea/orbital · Revision cc40836
docs/hardware/aeolia.md GitHub · AlexAltea/orbital · Revision cc40836