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DuckStation: How to Add Games & Configure For Low/Mid/High Range Devices

In this article, we’ll explore how to configure DuckStation with optimal settings tailored to your mobile device’s power.

How to Add Games on DuckStation

Before proceeding with installing the ROMs, you’ll need the games. If you have a physical or digital copy, you can transfer it from your PC to your Android. But if you’re looking for an easier way, I’m here to share some websites where you can find a wide variety of games to download directly.

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Video Example with Coolroms

Just a reminder, if you already have downloaded ROMs or games in ISO, CHD, BIN&CUE, CSO, or Eboot PBP format, it’s recommended that you skip the next step, which is about decompressing ROMs.

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Let’s make things easier! To decompress our downloaded games, I’ll use an app that you can easily get from Google Play or by downloading the APK.

Let’s locate our game and extract its contents into a folder. In this case, you can create a folder named “Games” and then “PS1,” and move the game to that location.

Wait a moment, friend! If the game you downloaded and extracted comes with a single file and has the BIN extension without the CUE file, the emulator won’t recognize it. Don’t worry! You just need to rename the file extension to ISO, as I’ll show you in the following example.

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Ve al archivo descomprimido y mira su formato, si es bin y no esta su archivo cue, entonces cambia BIN por ISO.

Now, let’s move on to adding the games to DuckStation.

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App Setting → Game List → + and navigate to the folder where you placed your games.

Best Graphics Settings in Duckstation for Low End Android Phones

Before we begin, configuration can be done in two ways: one general setting for all games and another specific to individual games. Here, we recommend the specific game settings because each game has different requirements. If your game requires few resources, you can configure it to take advantage of the excess performance and apply graphical enhancements.

To configure games individually, simply long-press on your game, then select ‘Game Properties‘.

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  • GPU RENDERER: If you have a very old phone, like one from 2016, and Vulkan is not an option, then choose OpenGL. However, if Vulkan is available, be sure to select it, as it significantly improves performance.
  • RESOLUTION SCALE: The higher the resolution, the better the game will look graphically, but this option consumes a lot of resources depending on the game. We recommend setting it to 2x, but if the game is very slow, you can set it to 1x.
  • TEXTURE FILTERING: This section is crucial, as even on high-end phones, this option demands a lot of resources. If you’re playing very lightweight games that aren’t racing games, you can enable bilinear filtering. However, you can generally leave it on Nearest Neighbor to improve performance.
  • TRUE COLOR RENDERING: Activate
  • WIDESCREEN HACK: Disabled. The reason we decided on this is because this option can cause graphical errors in most games. Very few games are compatible, and we also don’t have a list.
  • PGXP GEOMETRY CORRECTION: Disabled. This option tends to consume a lot of resources, which can slow down the game. Therefore, it’s best to leave it disabled.
  • USE SOFTWARE RENDERER FOR READBACKS: Activate
  • CROP MODE: All Borders
  • ASPECT RATIO: Game Native, This will make the game look as it originally is, without stretched objects, but it won’t cover the entire screen of your phone. If you set it to 16:9 or other options, the game will stretch to fill your entire screen, but everything will appear stretched, including objects, characters, etc.
  • SCALING: BILINEAR
  • DOWNSCALING: DISABLE. Although this option can improve the image if your game looks very pixelated, in that case, you can set it to Adaptive (Preserve 3D/Smooth). However, the resolution must be at least 1x; if you increase it further, you’ll lose performance.
  • STREATCH TO FILL: DISABLE
  • SCALED DITHERING: ENABLE
  • DISABLE INTERCALING: ENABLE
  • FORCE NTSC: DISABLE, This option makes PAL games, which run at 25 or 50 FPS in Europe, run at 30 or 60 FPS. However, it desynchronizes the game’s audio.
  • FORCE 4:3 FOR 24-BITS DISPLAY: DISABLE
  • CHROMA SMOOTHING: DISABLE

From here onwards, the last options should be disabled. Remember, this configuration is for low-end smartphones.

DuckStation Best Settings for Mid / High end Android Phones

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  • GPU RENDERER: Vulkan
  • RESOLUTION SCALE: If it’s a mid-range phone, you can set it from 2x to 3x at maximum, but if it’s a high-end phone, you can set it to 5x, depending on your screen resolution.
  • TEXTURE FILTERING: This section is crucial, as even on high-end phones, this option demands a lot of resources. If you’re playing very lightweight games that aren’t racing games, you can enable bilinear filtering. However, you can generally leave it on Nearest Neighbor to improve performance.
  • TRUE COLOR RENDERING: Activate
  • WIDESCREEN HACK: Disabled. The reason we decided on this is because this option can cause graphical errors in most games. Very few games are compatible, and we also don’t have a list.
  • PGXP GEOMETRY CORRECTION: Enable,This will make the game look much better and more stable, but it can consume a lot of resources. To counteract this, lower the resolution so that the phone can handle this PGXP improvement.
  • USE SOFTWARE RENDERER FOR READBACKS: Activate
  • CROP MODE: All Borders
  • ASPECT RATIO: Game Native, This will make the game look as it originally is, without stretched objects, but it won’t cover the entire screen of your phone. If you set it to 16:9 or other options, the game will stretch to fill your entire screen, but everything will appear stretched, including objects, characters, etc.
  • SCALING: BILINEAR
  • DOWNSCALING: Enable. Although this option can improve the image if your game looks very pixelated, in that case, you can set it to Adaptive (Preserve 3D/Smooth). However, the resolution must be at least 2x; if you increase it further, you’ll lose performance.
  • STREATCH TO FILL: DISABLE
  • SCALED DITHERING: ENABLE
  • DISABLE INTERCALING: ENABLE
  • FORCE NTSC: DISABLE, This option makes PAL games, which run at 25 or 50 FPS in Europe, run at 30 or 60 FPS. However, it desynchronizes the game’s audio.
  • FORCE 4:3 FOR 24-BITS DISPLAY: DISABLE
  • CHROMA SMOOTHING: DISABLE
  • From here onwards, the last options should be disabled. Remember, this configuration is for low-end smartphones.
  • PGXP CULLING CORRECTION: ENABLE
  • PGXP TEXTURE PERSPECTIVE: ENABLE
  • PGXP COLOR PERSPECTIVE: Enable
  • PGXP PRESERVE PROJECTION: This will make the game look much better and more stable, but it can consume a lot of resources. To counteract this, lower the resolution so that the phone can handle this PGXP improvement.
  • PGXP DEPTH BUFFER: Enabled, but this may cause graphical errors in some games. If that’s the case, then disable it.