How to Run God of War on the R36S (Tune PSP Settings over SSH on WiFi)

God of War on PSP is the title that makes an R36S sweat. This is the practical way we made Ghost of Sparta playable: turn on ArkOS Remote Services, SSH in over WiFi, switch to the 2021 PPSSPP build, and apply a short settings file — plus the thermal gotcha that makes the chip silently drop to 1.0 GHz.

What this guide will and will not do

The R36S is a Rockchip RK3326 handheld. PSP is where that chip stops coasting. God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta will not lock 60 FPS. After this tune you should get a steadier ~20 FPS cap, fewer stutters from thermal throttle, and a hold-to-fast-forward button for menus and cutscenes.

We applied this on a live ArkOS RK3326 unit over SSH — same chip and OS family as the HN-R36S-WiFi. It will not turn the console into a Steam Deck. If you want the honest PSP tier list first, start with PSP on the R36S: which games actually run full speed.

Use a game dump you own. This article does not link ISOs.

What you need

• HN-R36S-WiFi on the same WiFi as your PC (2.4 GHz dongles work; 5 GHz often does not)
• A Windows, Mac or Linux PC with SSH (Windows 10/11 already has ssh in Terminal)
• Your God of War ISO or CSO already in the PSP folder — see how to add PSP games to the R36S
• About 15 minutes, and the game not running while you edit files

1. Turn on Remote Services

On the handheld, from EmulationStation:

1. Open Options
2. Run Enable Remote Services
3. Note the IP under Network Info (example: 192.168.1.37)

That starts three things at once: SSH on port 22, Filebrowser on port 80, and Samba file shares. If SSH later says “connection refused”, the console slept or Remote Services stopped — turn it back on and try again.

2. SSH in

ArkOS default login is user ark and password ark unless you changed it in Options. From PowerShell or Terminal:

ssh ark@192.168.1.37

Accept the host key the first time. You should land in a Linux prompt on the handheld.

3. Switch to PPSSPP 2021

The newest standalone PPSSPP on current ArkOS is fine for light games. On this chip, standalone-2021 (the older build with the max-FPS patch) was the smoother God of War option in our test.

In EmulationStation: highlight the game → Select → Edit this game's metadata → Emulator standalone-2021 → save. Next launch should show a process path like /opt/ppsspp-2021/PPSSPPSDL.

Confirm over SSH after launch:

pgrep -af PPSSPPSDL

4. The settings that actually move the needle

PPSSPP stores the persistent file next to the ROM card:

• SD1: /roms/psp/ppsspp/PSP/SYSTEM/ppsspp.ini.sdl
• SD2: /roms2/psp/ppsspp/PSP/SYSTEM/ppsspp.ini.sdl

Edit both ppsspp.ini and ppsspp.ini.sdl so the launcher cannot restore old values. Key lines:

Paste this on the device after SSH (it updates the SD2 copy; change the path if your ISO lives on SD1):

python3 - << 'PY'
import re, os
paths = [
  "/roms2/psp/ppsspp/PSP/SYSTEM/ppsspp.ini",
  "/roms2/psp/ppsspp/PSP/SYSTEM/ppsspp.ini.sdl",
]
u = {
  "FrameSkip": "2", "AutoFrameSkip": "True", "ForceMaxEmulatedFPS": "20",
  "InternalResolution": "1", "SkipBufferEffects": "True", "CPUSpeed": "222",
  "VSyncInterval": "False", "HardwareTransform": "True",
  "SoftwareSkinning": "True", "DisableSlowFramebufEffects": "True",
  "ShowFPSCounter": "1",
}
for p in paths:
  if not os.path.exists(p):
    print("skip missing", p); continue
  out = []
  for line in open(p, errors="replace"):
    m = re.match(r"^([^=\n]+?) = ", line)
    if m and m.group(1) in u:
      out.append("%s = %s\n" % (m.group(1), u[m.group(1)]))
    else:
      out.append(line)
  open(p, "w").writelines(out)
  print("patched", p)
PY

Leave the FPS counter on for one session so you can see whether you are holding the 20 cap. Turn it off later in the PPSSPP menu (L2 on ArkOS).

5. The thermal trap (why it still feels choppy)

This is the finding that surprised us. ArkOS can show governor performance while the chip is actually locked at 1.008 GHz CPU and 400 MHz GPU — the minimums — because the stock thermal trip is 70 °C. God of War sits at ~80–85 °C. The kernel then full-throttles. You get a “performance” label and a 1 GHz chip.

Check while the game is running:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq
cat /sys/devices/platform/ff400000.gpu/devfreq/ff400000.gpu/cur_freq
awk '{print $1/1000 " C"}' /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

Healthy in-game numbers on this board: CPU 1512000, GPU 520000000, RAM 786000000. If CPU reads 1008000 and GPU 400000000, you are throttled — settings will not save you.

There is no extra overclock on stock ArkOS. The OPP table already tops out at 1.512 GHz / 520 MHz. ArkOS dropped higher clocks on this family because they caused crashes and often made emulation slower. What you want is to stop the 70 °C trip from clipping the clocks you already have.

Optional, while SSH’d (raises the first throttle point to 90 °C; critical shutdown stays 115 °C):

echo 90000 | sudo tee /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/trip_point_0_temp
echo 105000 | sudo tee /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/trip_point_1_temp
echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/class/thermal/cooling_device0/cur_state
echo 1512000 | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_max_freq
echo 520000000 | sudo tee /sys/devices/platform/ff400000.gpu/devfreq/ff400000.gpu/max_freq

6. Fast-forward (the missing 2× button)

Stock mappings put Unthrottle on a keyboard key, so there is no 2× button on the pad. PSP games do not use R2. Map hold-R2 to Unthrottle in controls.ini:

Unthrottle = 1-61,10-195,10-105

File: /roms2/psp/ppsspp/PSP/SYSTEM/controls.ini (or the /roms/psp/... twin). Hold R2 to run as fast as the chip can — useful in menus, boats and cutscenes. It will not magically 2× a heavy fight.

7. Relaunch

Restart EmulationStation if the emulator picker looks stale (Options will not always pick up an SSH edit until ES restarts). Then launch God of War from the PSP list. Confirm FPS overlay and the 1.51 GHz clock once.

If skip-buffer effects make water or shadows unreadable, open the PPSSPP menu with L2 and set Skip Buffer Effects off. You will lose FPS; that is the trade.

What “good” looks like