Water
RPCS3 full screen
Press Alt+Enter while a game is running to switch RPCS3’s game window to fullscreen; Alt+Enter again, or Esc, goes back to a window. To start every game fullscreen, tick “Start games in fullscreen mode” in Configuration › Emulator. RPCS3 has ticked it by default since March 2026.
Updated 29 October 2026
Switch to fullscreen while a game runs
- Alt+Enter switches the game window between fullscreen and a window. Click the game window first if RPCS3’s game list is in front: the list has an Alt+Enter of its own.
- Esc leaves fullscreen. The game keeps running in its window.
- The PS button on a controller opens RPCS3’s home menu over the game, as Shift+F10 does from the keyboard: choose Toggle Fullscreen there.
- Double-clicking the game window switched it too until March 2026, when RPCS3 turned that off by default. To have it back, untick “Ignore doubleclicks for Fullscreen” under Viewport in Configuration › Emulator.
Configuration › Keyboard Shortcuts lists these keys under Game Window Shortcuts as Toggle Fullscreen (shown there as Alt+Return) and Exit Fullscreen, and lets you change them.
Start every game fullscreen
- In RPCS3’s main window, open Configuration › Emulator.
- Under Emulator Settings, tick “Start games in fullscreen mode”.
- Press Save. The next game you start opens fullscreen.
Versions since March 2026 tick it by default, but settings saved by an older version keep the value they had, so check it. Untick it to have games start in a window again.
Start a game fullscreen from a command
RPCS3 boots a game straight into fullscreen, without its game list, when you give it --no-gui, --fullscreen and the path of the game’s EBOOT.BIN, which a disc game keeps in PS3_GAME\USRDIR:
rpcs3.exe --no-gui --fullscreen "<game folder>\PS3_GAME\USRDIR\EBOOT.BIN"
--fullscreenworks only with--no-gui. On its own, RPCS3 stops with an error that says so.--game-screenand a number, counted from 0, picks the monitor the game opens on.
When fullscreen misbehaves
- No mouse cursor. In fullscreen RPCS3 hides the cursor and locks it to the middle of the screen. Tick “Show mouse cursor in Fullscreen” under Viewport in Configuration › Emulator to see it, and untick “Lock mouse cursor in Fullscreen”, in the same box, to let it move freely. RPCS3 notes that showing the cursor may not work every time.
- Black bars at the sides. RPCS3 keeps the game’s aspect ratio. “Stretch To Display Area”, under Additional Settings in Configuration › GPU, overrides it and stretches the picture over the whole screen.
- Exclusive or borderless. With the Vulkan renderer, Exclusive Fullscreen Mode in Configuration › Advanced sets which kind RPCS3 asks the graphics driver for, and “Automatic (Default)” leaves it to the driver. RPCS3’s makers say “Prefer borderless fullscreen” can help if streaming the game gives you trouble, or if HDR turns on by itself in fullscreen.
Or let Water do it
Water is a game launcher for Windows that plays PS3 games with RPCS3, made by its own team; Water isn’t affiliated with it. When you press Play, Water starts RPCS3 with --no-gui --fullscreen, so the game opens fullscreen with no game list or welcome dialog in the way, and RPCS3 closes when the game ends. Your controller and each profile’s saves are set up too: see Water’s PS3 emulator page.
