User Manual

This is the user manual for ArcStation. For hardware installation instructions, see this page.

If your ArcStation package includes an SD card, you can skip the SD-card requirements and formatting section — it’s already formatted and ready to use.

Initial Setup

If you have an early PlayStation revision — SCPH-100X, SCPH-300X, SCPH-350X, or SCPH-500X (PU-8) — it’s important to enable the PU-8 Compatibility option in ArcStation settings. Otherwise, performance will be degraded.

Press  , then go to Settings → PU-8 Compatibility, set it to On with  , and press  to save.

If you later move ArcStation to a later console revision, don’t forget to turn this option back off.

For PSone (where ArcStation is installed upside down), or for early “fat” models (where ArcStation is installed sideways), you may want to rotate the LED display 180°. To do that, press  , then select Settings → LED Display → Rotate 180.

Settings

Settings are stored in internal flash memory (not on the SD card), so they’re preserved when you swap SD cards.

To reset settings to factory defaults:

1. Power off the PlayStation.
2. Open the lid.
3. Press and hold the button to the right of the SD-card slot.
4. Power on the PlayStation.
5. Release the button after the LED display shows H.

Below is the list of available settings. Options marked with * are applied only after you save settings. Other options take effect immediately, but revert if you exit without saving.

• Video Mode: Changes the ArcStation menu refresh rate to 50 Hz or 60 Hz (does not affect games). This can be useful on CRT displays.
  Example: you may want the menu to render at 60 Hz (NTSC) to reduce flicker even if your console is PAL (50 Hz by default). Warning: changing this option on early PlayStation revisions may result in a black screen.
• Theme: Selects a dark or light appearance.
• Sound: Enables or disables menu UI sounds (does not affect games).
• Auto-start last game: Automatically starts the last played game when you power on the console. You can set a delay from 3 to 10 seconds before the game starts, and cancel auto-start during the countdown. Set this option to Off to disable the feature.
• Virtual Memcard *: Controls the Virtual Memory Card (VMC) feature. If set to Off, VMC is disabled. If set to Slot 1 or Slot 2, VMC occupies that slot.
  Do not insert a real memory card into a slot occupied by VMC — the memory card file system may become corrupted. For more details, see this page.
• Reset via Gamepad: Controls the Reset via Gamepad feature. If set to Off, the feature is disabled. If set to L1+L2+Start or R1+R2+Select, it determines which button combo resets the console and returns to the menu.
• Gamepad Mode: Setting this to Analog switches DualShock 1/2 controllers to Analog mode. The selected mode is applied on every boot and whenever a controller is connected. When a DualShock controller is in Analog mode, you can navigate menus using the left analog stick. This setting does not affect games.
• LED Display *: Rotates the display by 180°.
• PU-8 Compatibility *: Enables a special compatibility mode for early PlayStation revisions (SCPH-100X, SCPH-300X, SCPH-350X, SCPH-500X). It can drastically reduce loading times. This option should be Off for all other PlayStation revisions, or you may get the opposite effect.

Caution

Do not change Video Mode to a non-native video mode on early PlayStation revisions (SCPH-100X, SCPH-300X, SCPH-350X, SCPH-500X), or you may get a black screen.

If you accidentally changed it:

• Press  to revert settings, or reset the PlayStation.
• Do not press  , because that will save the setting and you’ll get a black screen on the next boot.

If you saved the wrong setting and now the menu is black, reset settings to factory defaults using the steps at the top of this section.

SD Card

Any SD card 1 GB or larger is supported, but you may experience longer load times if the card has high latency. For best results, choose a card with an A1 or A2 rating (optimized for low-latency random reads/writes).

The SD card should be formatted with a FAT32 or exFAT file system. It’s recommended to use SD Memory Card Formatter from the SD Association. It automatically selects an appropriate file system based on card size and aligns the partition to the allocation unit, which can improve performance and reduce wear over time.

Add Games

ArcStation currently supports CUE/BIN disc images only.

Each game’s .cue and .bin files should be placed inside their own folder. The game name shown in the menu is derived from the folder name.

You can place game folders inside subfolders to better organize your library.

After adding new games to the SD card, refresh the game library: press  → Refresh Games List.

Here’s an example of the file structure on the SD card:

• DirectoryDiablo (USA) (En,Fr,De,Sv)

  • Diablo (USA) (En,Fr,De,Sv).cue
  • Diablo (USA) (En,Fr,De,Sv).bin
• DirectoryTekken 3 (Europe)

  • Tekken 3 (Europe).cue
  • Tekken 3 (Europe) (Track 1).bin
  • Tekken 3 (Europe) (Track 2).bin
  • Tekken 3 (Europe) (Track 3).bin
• DirectoryDriver 2 (USA) (Disc 1)

  • Driver 2 (USA) (Disc 1).cue
  • Driver 2 (USA) (Disc 1).bin
• DirectoryDriver 2 (USA) (Disc 2)

  • Driver 2 (USA) (Disc 2).cue
  • Driver 2 (USA) (Disc 2).bin
• Directorymemcards created automatically

  • Diablo (USA) (En,Fr,De,Sv).mcd
  • Tekken 3 (Europe).mcd
  • Driver 2 (USA).mcd
• …

Start a Game

Select a game from the list and press  to boot it. If Virtual Memory Card is enabled, the game’s VMC is automatically loaded.

Return to the ArcStation menu

You can return to the ArcStation menu while in-game by pressing one of the following button combos on the controller:

•  +  + 
•  +  + 

The active combo depends on what you select in Settings.

On PSone, returning to the menu requires a power cycle.

For details, see Reset via Gamepad.

Multidisc games

Multidisc games are supported. To swap discs during gameplay, you need to build a disc queue before starting the game.

To add a disc to the queue, press  — a number will appear to the right of the game title. You can add up to 6 discs to the queue.

After you’ve formed a queue, select one of the queued discs and press  to boot it.

To switch discs in-game:

1. Open the lid.
2. Press the button on ArcStation (to the right of the SD-card slot). The LED number changes to indicate the currently selected disc in the queue.
3. When the correct disc is selected, close the lid.

Note: the LED display shows the disc’s position in the queue, not the disc number in the file name. For best results, add the discs to the queue in disc order (Disc 1 → Disc 2 → …).

Example

You’re playing Driver 2 and starting a new game:

• Highlight Driver 2 (Disc 1) and press  — 1 appears on the right.
• Highlight Driver 2 (Disc 2) and press  — 2 appears on the right.
• Highlight Driver 2 (Disc 1) and press  — boots Disc 1.

You’re playing Driver 2 and continuing from Disc 2:

• Highlight Driver 2 (Disc 1) and press  — 1 appears on the right.
• Highlight Driver 2 (Disc 2) and press  — 2 appears on the right.
• Highlight Driver 2 (Disc 2) and press  — boots Disc 2.

If Virtual Memory Card is enabled for a multidisc game, ArcStation tries to extract a base name from titles like Final Fantasy IX (USA) (Disc 1) and saves the VMC as /memcards/Final Fantasy IX (USA).mcd. This keeps one shared memory card across all discs.

To ensure the shared VMC is used, build a queue that includes all discs of the game, even if you’re currently on Disc 2. If you boot a single disc by itself, ArcStation may fall back to a per-disc name (for example, /memcards/Final Fantasy IX (USA) (Disc 1).mcd) instead of the shared /memcards/Final Fantasy IX (USA).mcd.

Non-Native Region Games

You can play games from all regions, including on PSone and Japanese (NTSC-J) consoles.

The only restriction is early PlayStation revisions: they cannot handle non-native video modes.
Example: if an NTSC game switches the console to 60 Hz NTSC on an early PAL system, you may get a black screen with audio but no video output.

LibCrypt Games

ArcStation supports LibCrypt-protected games.

Place an .sbi or .lsd file next to the game’s .cue in the same folder. The patch file should have the same base name as the .cue (only the extension differs).

LSD files are recommended and can be found here. SBI files are also supported.

Here’s an example of the file structure for a game with .lsd patch:

• DirectoryCTR - Crash Team Racing (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Nl) (EDC)

  • CTR - Crash Team Racing (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Nl) (EDC).cue
  • CTR - Crash Team Racing (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Nl) (EDC).bin
  • CTR - Crash Team Racing (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Nl) (EDC).lsd
• …

Update Firmware

To update ArcStation firmware, download arcstation_fw.uf2 and copy it to the root of the SD card. Press  → About →  and follow the on-screen instructions.

Troubleshooting

• Game stuck at loading, errors during gameplay, you can’t control the cursor in the menu, or the game is stuck in demo mode: the game is likely LibCrypt-protected and you didn’t provide the corresponding .lsd/.sbi file. You can check whether a game uses LibCrypt in this list.