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opengnm

A clean-rewrite PS4 GNM library providing sceGnm* / sceGpa* drop-in API compatibility with the Sony official PS4 SDK.

Overview

opengnm is a from-scratch implementation of the PlayStation 4 Graphics Next Module (GNM) library. Any PS4 app or game written against the official Sony SDK headers should compile and link against opengnm unmodified.

The library exposes the full sceGnm* API surface — 207+ functions matching the Sony SDK ABI — plus the sceGpa* surface computation API (AMD AddrLib equivalent), a GCN fetch-shader assembler, and PM4 command buffer packet builders.

Key Features

  • Full sceGnm* API surface — 207 functions matching the Sony SDK ABI
  • OpenOrbis SDK compatible — builds with the OpenOrbis PS4 toolchain
  • Two backends:
    • orbis — delegates to the official libSceGnmDriver firmware
    • generic — pure software PM4 emission for host testing (no PS4 needed)
  • Binary-compatible struct layouts — _Static_assert verified sizes
  • Surface computation — sceGpa* (gpuaddr / AddrLib) for RT/texture sizing
  • GCN assembler — fetch shader generation
  • PM4 encoding — command buffer packet building
  • freegnm source compatibility — <compat/freegnm.h> maps gnm* wrapper calls to sceGnm* without exporting a second ABI

Quick Start

Host build (generic, for testing)

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DOPENGNM_PLATFORM=generic
cmake --build build

PS4 build (OpenOrbis)

export OO_PS4_TOOLCHAIN=/path/to/openorbis
cp config.orbis.mak config.mak
make
make install DESTDIR=$OO_PS4_TOOLCHAIN

Link your PS4 target with:

-lopengnm -lkernel -lSceGnmDriver -lSceVideoOut

See Getting Started for full build instructions.

Documentation Sections

Section Description
Getting Started Build, install, and link opengnm
Architecture Subsystem overview and data flow
Backends orbis vs generic backend comparison
Guides Tutorial-style walkthroughs for each subsystem
API Reference Complete function, struct, and enum reference
Examples Code examples and walkthroughs
freegnm Compatibility Source-level compatibility with the old freegnm wrapper API

API at a Glance

Subsystem Header Functions Description
Core Types gnm_types.h — 51 enums, constants, limits
Error Handling gnm_error.h 4 Error codes, message handler
Data Formats gnm_dataformat.h 44 GnmDataFormat, format constants
Buffer gnm_buffer.h 12 GnmBuffer descriptor
Texture gnm_texture.h 23 GnmTexture (0x20 bytes)
Sampler gnm_sampler.h 1 GnmSampler (0x10 bytes)
Render Target gnm_rendertarget.h 11 GnmRenderTarget (0x40 bytes)
Depth RT gnm_depthrendertarget.h 28 GnmDepthRenderTarget (0x34 bytes)
Control Registers gnm_controls.h — Blend, depth-stencil, primitive setup
Shader gnm_shader.h 10 Stage registers, fetch shader
Shader Binary gnm_shaderbinary.h 14 VS/PS shader containers
Command Buffer gnm_commandbuffer.h 3 GnmCommandBuffer (0x40 bytes)
Draw Command Buffer gnm_drawcommandbuffer.h 63 sceGnmDrawCmd* functions
Driver Runtime gnmdriver.h 265 sceGnm* runtime (207+ public + stubs)
Surface Computation gpuaddr.h 19 sceGpa* / AddrLib
Platform platform.h 3 GPU mode, buffer label
Helpers gnm_helpers.h 14 VideoOut, direct memory, validation
Strings gnm_strings.h 22 Enum-to-string converters

License

MIT, see COPYING in the repository.

Sources

  • Clean rewrite, based on the PS4 SDK ABI and AMD public documentation
  • Sony ABI reference: shadPS4/src/core/libraries/gnmdriver/
  • Surface computation: AMD PAL / Mesa AddrLib