When you see the "likely crashed" message, it means the emulator stopped receiving expected signals from the emulated game loop. The most common culprits include:
The error message you're encountering, "The PS3 application has likely crashed. You can close it," in the context of using RPCS3, a PlayStation 3 emulator for PC, indicates that the emulator has detected an issue with the PS3 application (or game) you're trying to run. This situation can arise due to various reasons, ranging from compatibility issues with the game or the emulator, corrupted game data, or problems with the emulator's settings. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and potentially resolve the issue: