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[Asparagus]

Let me show you what mine looks like.
This is 1920x1080 with filtering on. See how terrible the edges look?

Oh. I think I get it. 2560x1600. Yeah. That does look nice.

Yeah that does look quite jaggy. I have the internal res set to 1600x1600 personally, glad you got it looking smooth though.

 

[Mamesj]

Question - you guys think I'll get noticeably better speeds on a wolfdale E8500 (3.16ghz) vs. an overclocked E6750 (3.04ghz)? the E8500 has the 6mb cache vs. the 4mb cache on the E6750. I could probably OC the E8500 to 3.5ghz without extra cooling too.

but without the few extra ghz, is the extra cache a big difference for PCs in general?

I posted this in the Can We Talk About Emulators Here thread but I suppose it's more fitting here: Anyone know if ps2 emus have got to the point where I can play fighters like KoF XI, KoF 98 UM, KoF MI:RA, Rumble Fish, CvS 2, and SFAA @ a stable 60 fps? Last time I tried I got fluctuating frame rates from 30-65 when playing XI (game I want to play the most) so sometimes it was perfectly smooth and others it was crap.

KOFXI - ran full speed for me

KOF 98, MI - haven't tried

Rumble Fish - wow, forgot about this game. haven't tried it.

CvS2 - ran at like 10fps for me on an older build, haven't tried a newer one because it runs perfectly at 60fps on nullDC beta 1.0 (Dreamcast emu. make sure you get beta 1.0 and not a newer version.) Same goes for MvC2 and Project Justice, and probably some others.

SFAA - haven't tried.

 

[ampere]

I need to try this thing out for Soul Reaver 2. It has problems on my 80GB PS3 so that I can't get past one part and I don't want to have to rebuy another PS2 just to beat it ,__,

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

KOFXI - ran full speed for me

KOF 98, MI - haven't tried

Rumble Fish - wow, forgot about this game. haven't tried it.

CvS2 - ran at like 10fps for me on an older build, haven't tried a newer one because it runs perfectly at 60fps on nullDC beta 1.0 (Dreamcast emu. make sure you get beta 1.0 and not a newer version.) Same goes for MvC2 and Project Justice, and probably some others.

SFAA - haven't tried.

Which version are you using? I'll grab that one to play XI and test the other stuff too.

 

[SOLDIER]

I've been on and off using this thing, always coming close but never quite enough. So I'm giving it another shot, and hopefully you can help me fix some of my issues.

1. First, I'm using the 681 beta that was posted here.. I'm also using the GSDX9 plugin for the graphics.

2. The sound plugin is the Playground 1.9.0 plugin that was included.

3. For graphics, I'm using 1920x1080, everything else left default.

4. For CPU, I clicked multithreaded GS mode, since I've got a dualcore processor.

Anyway, I've been using FFXII as the main test, since that seems to be one of the widely stable games to try out.

The good news is that I get fullscreen, whereas before I couldn't pull that off with the PC displayed on my TV for some reason. The framerate is pretty stable too.

The bad news is the sound. Aside from the music stuttering or slowing down, the sound effects are a bit wonky as well. When my character runs, it sounds like he's wearing clown shoes.

So basically I need help having the sound synch up. Any ideas?

 

[ixix]

I've been on and off using this thing, always coming close but never quite enough. So I'm giving it another shot, and hopefully you can help me fix some of my issues.

1. First, I'm using the 681 beta that was posted here.. I'm also using the GSDX9 plugin for the graphics.

2. The sound plugin is the Playground 1.9.0 plugin that was included.

3. For graphics, I'm using 1920x1080, everything else left default.

4. For CPU, I clicked multithreaded GS mode, since I've got a dualcore processor.

Anyway, I've been using FFXII as the main test, since that seems to be one of the widely stable games to try out.

The good news is that I get fullscreen, whereas before I couldn't pull that off with the PC displayed on my TV for some reason. The framerate is pretty stable too.

The bad news is the sound. Aside from the music stuttering or slowing down, the sound effects are a bit wonky as well. When my character runs, it sounds like he's wearing clown shoes.

So basically I need help having the sound synch up. Any ideas?

Have you tried the P.E.Op.S. SPU2 sound plugin? It does a pretty okay job on FFXII as long as you can keep your framerate up. At the least it should get rid of the clown shoes problem.

 

[SOLDIER]

I'll give it a shot tomorrow, but for a reference point, what are a list of PS2 games that run just about as perfect as can be with this emulator? Is FFXII one of them, or should I try something a bit easier?

 

[Asparagus]

Question - you guys think I'll get noticeably better speeds on a wolfdale E8500 (3.16ghz) vs. an overclocked E6750 (3.04ghz)? the E8500 has the 6mb cache vs. the 4mb cache on the E6750. I could probably OC the E8500 to 3.5ghz without extra cooling too.

but without the few extra ghz, is the extra cache a big difference for PCs in general?

I doubt it, it's only worth upgrading if you plan on overclocking imo.

 

[Mamesj]

Which version are you using? I'll grab that one to play XI and test the other stuff too.

This was an older official build. I forget which one. the new one may work better.

 

[SOLDIER]

Have you tried the P.E.Op.S. SPU2 sound plugin? It does a pretty okay job on FFXII as long as you can keep your framerate up. At the least it should get rid of the clown shoes problem.

Okay, I switched to SPU 1.9.0, included with the beta. The sound quirks are gone, but the music plays slowly. Also, every few seconds the game freezes for about four seconds before running normally.

Do I click any of the settings on the sound plugin? Is there a more recent plugin, or perhaps I need to make another adjustment elsewhere?

 

[ixix]

Okay, I switched to SPU 1.9.0, included with the beta. The sound quirks are gone, but the music plays slowly. Also, every few seconds the game freezes for about four seconds before running normally.

Do I click any of the settings on the sound plugin? Is there a more recent plugin, or perhaps I need to make another adjustment elsewhere?

How stable is your framerate? That plugin tends to go all wonky if your speed is either too high or too low. Try capping your FPS at 60 and enabling frameskip in the Config->CPU settings screen.

I've spot-checked FFXII with a few saves I pulled off my memory card at various points in the game, and got good results across the board with FPS capped at 60 and skipping frames when it drops below 55. It can handle crowded areas in Rabanastre without having a spaz. I'm using a Core 2 Duo E8400 at stock clocks at the moment, so you might need to be either more or less aggressive with the frameskip depending on what sort of power you've got under the hood.

I'll give it a shot tomorrow, but for a reference point, what are a list of PS2 games that run just about as perfect as can be with this emulator? Is FFXII one of them, or should I try something a bit easier?

The FF games in general run quite well. Anything that high-profile is bound to get plenty of attention. It's really just pretty much inevitable at this stage of development that you're going to need to do some fiddling with plugins to get most things working smoothly. If you're really concerned about performance and stability you're still best served playing on the actual hardware. As good as the program is there are still lots of graphical glitches, crashes, and problems with saving games. It's got a ways to go yet before it becomes the wonderland of high-res PS2 glory it promises to one day be.

 

[SOLDIER]

Enabling Frame Skip actually made things worse, with the screen flickering considerably. Changing it to Limit fared better, but the music still plays slowly (voices and sound effects come out fine).

I'll post my current settings, to see if you can maybe point something out that I missed.

My PC Specs and Plugin Settings

Graphic Settings

Sound Settings

CPU Settings

If you see something I'm missing, please let me know.

 

[ixix]

Well we have the same processor so performance-wise we should be pretty even. The only major difference between my settings and yours is that I've got it set to skip frames when slower than 55 fps, and to skip 4 consecutive frames.

Here are shots of my config screens, so you can match them up exactly if you want:

Graphics

Sound

CPU

Other than that I don't know what to tell you. With those settings I get almost perfect sound effects, a reasonable facsimile of the music, and a generally stable framerate. If you're starting a new game keep in mind that the crowded areas of Rabanastre are some of the most taxing areas of the game so you're likely to see some hitches that will mostly smooth out once you get outside the city. If you want to be a bit devious you can try angling the camera so that it's pointing at a wall and most of the Rabanastre citizens are out of your view to keep your fps up.

 

[bee]

Well we have the same processor so performance-wise we should be pretty even. The only major difference between my settings and yours is that I've got it set to skip frames when slower than 55 fps, and to skip 4 consecutive frames.

Here are shots of my config screens, so you can match them up exactly if you want:

Graphics

Sound

CPU

Other than that I don't know what to tell you. With those settings I get almost perfect sound effects, a reasonable facsimile of the music, and a generally stable framerate. If you're starting a new game keep in mind that the crowded areas of Rabanastre are some of the most taxing areas of the game so you're likely to see some hitches that will mostly smooth out once you get outside the city. If you want to be a bit devious you can try angling the camera so that it's pointing at a wall and most of the Rabanastre citizens are out of your view to keep your fps up.

i'm fairly sure that detailed frame skipping options only become active when you actually select one of the 2 frame skipping methods and not limit

 

[ixix]

i'm fairly sure that detailed frame skipping options only become active when you actually select one of the 2 frame skipping methods and not limit

Yeah, that's right. Before I took that shot I'd been messing with settings to get Shadow Hearts 2 working right, so things are a bit wonky. Same reason Logarithmic Z is enabled in the graphics settings even though it doesn't do anything in FFXII.

 

["God's Beard!"]

oh my god this thing is incredible.

I've got FFXII up and running flawlessly(except FMVs), and I finally got God Hand running greatly(88-110%fps, lots of graphics glitches though) after I overclocked my C2D e6850 to 3.24ghz

Shadow of the collossus is almost playable, tons of graphics glitches and runs about 35-45%fps, which would have been like slo mo, if it weren't for the fact that climbing physics are all fucked up and I can't really do anything against the colossi. oh well.

Speaking of slo mo, Viewtiful joe works great except again graphics glitches.

My specs:
Windows XP Pro
Core 2 Duo E6850 oc'd @3.24ghz
2GB RAM
GeForce 9600GT 512MB

plugins:
graphics- GSDx 890 SSSE3
Sound- P.E.Op.S SPU2
CDDVD- EFP Iso CDVD Driver 0.6.0(only one that seemed to work for me)


anyone have any tips for removing graphical glitches in the above games? Or in the case of SotC, speeding it up? Enabling Dual-core mode seemed to add another 5-10% onto the fps, but definately didn't improve the physics or graphics glitches.

 

[JSnake]

Use the latest SVN beta. You can grab it from the official forums.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Use the latest SVN beta. You can grab it from the official forums.

edit:nevermind, thanks for the tip!

testing now.

edit2:wow, what an improvement! graphics bugs are mostly gone, physics are almost normal and more than playable, and the fps is now bouncing around 30-60%

sound kinda drops in and out and I couldn't figure out how to save, but it's a great start!

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

So this will be my new rig:

CPU: Core2 Duo E7400 2.8GHz

Ignore the 32bit Vista entry. I had it changed to 64bit. Am I in a good position to upscale some PS2 games?

 

[Mamesj]

So this will be my new rig:

CPU: Core2 Duo E7400 2.8GHz

Ignore the 32bit Vista entry. I had it changed to 64bit. Am I in a good position to upscale some PS2 games?

Yeah, looks good. I'm not sure how Vista 64 affects it... You could probably overclock to 3.2 ghz without extra cooling and it would be really easy with that gigabyte board. All you would need to do is increase the front speed bus in your bios, the board would handle the voltages and stuff for you.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I would go for the fastest 8xxx series core 2 duo I could get my hands on. Even if it means skimping on the vid card.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

I would go for the fastest 8xxx series core 2 duo I could get my hands on. Even if it means skimping on the vid card.

Eh, it's done. I bought the bits and pieces already and they're sitting in a half-constructed pile on my dining table.

I bought it for uni and built it so it could handle Bioshock. If I could have gotten into some upscaling PS2 goodness as well, it was a nice bonus.

 

[-Rogue5-]

If I use PCSX2, would I be able to FORCE inverted right analog on FFXII... I really wanted to play it... really, I did... but I couldn't get used to the non-inverted camera. Totally killed the experience for me.

Also, how well would this run on a crappy graphics card? I'm hoping that becuase it's emulated that it's more processor/ram dependent, that way I can use it on my laptop.

 

[Zenith]

If I use PCSX2, would I be able to FORCE inverted right analog on FFXII... I really wanted to play it... really, I did... but I couldn't get used to the non-inverted camera. Totally killed the experience for me.

yes.

 

[-Rogue5-]

yes.

Double yes.

 

[Swedomu]

Questions



1. Will this ever work in yellow dog?
2. Do anyone do this over Boot Camp, which i am now about to do?
3. Does it work guwd with the Sixaxis?

 

[xemumanic]

Questions



1. Will this ever work in yellow dog?
2. Do anyone do this over Boot Camp, which i am now about to do?
3. Does it work guwd with the Sixaxis?

1. NO, you won't get this working on a PS3, I know that's what you're hoping for.

2. Should be fine as long as you have a good graphic card.

x86 Mac and Linux users should also start getting their hopes up for native PCSX2 love. Again.

3. There are Windows drivers for the Six Axis, so that should work fine.

There's also a Xbox 360 controller plugin with ZERO configuration needed. Hell, it doesn't even have such a dialog box when you hit the config box.

 

[Shinz Kicker]

http://jasonwynkoop.com/stuff/james2.jpg
http://jasonwynkoop.com/stuff/gsdx_20090219191935.jpg
http://jasonwynkoop.com/stuff/James.jpg

ffxii at 2560x1560 at 40fps.

its playable during fights and running around. a little slow. i have manual 4x-8x aa on through catalyst. sound doesnt come out when people talk though . ill lower res and try again later.

 

[M.Bluth]

Is there a common problem with Windows 7?
I tried playing a couple of games but it crashes after hitting "load CD" (or whatever)

my specs:
Core i7 2.66Ghz
3GB DDR3 RAM
ATi 4870 1GB

 

[Borman]

Questions



1. Will this ever work in yellow dog?
2. Do anyone do this over Boot Camp, which i am now about to do?
3. Does it work guwd with the Sixaxis?

Boot Camp is fine, I use it on my Mac Pro

 

[Nemo]

Okay, I've tried experimenting with the plugins and settings and I got pretty sick of it.

Does anyone have a list of plugins and settings I need to use to get FFXII running perfect? Specs is E8400/4850. Thanks!

 

[CurlySaysX]

How do people play this at such high frame rates?
I have tried every graphic plug-in available and am using the latest 0.9.4 emulator but my games run like ass.. like 5 fps ass.
I just wanna chill back and play some retail disc PS2 games on my puter, maybe even finish God2.
I have a 3.0ghz intel and 3.5 giga rams.

 

[Zenith]

How do people play this at such high frame rates?
I have tried every graphic plug-in available and am using the latest 0.9.4 emulator but my games run like ass.. like 5 fps ass.
I just wanna chill back and play some retail disc PS2 games on my puter, maybe even finish God2.
I have a 3.0ghz intel and 3.5 giga rams.

0.9.4 isn't the latest build. You are also using outdated plugins.

The speed is totally dependent on the game. For example Airforce Delta Strike runs at 60fps, but a similar game like Ace Combat 4 runs at 20.

 

[GaussTek]

Just a heads up, 0.9.6 is out

After nearly 16 months, here comes a new Pcsx2 version. Pcsx2 0.9.6

These months were somewhat problematic for pcsx2, due to an initial slowdown of the development process. Then, last fall, the Playground branch was created, and development picked up again. Finally, with the merge of Pcsx2 and Pcsx2 playground, the emulator's development returned once again as it was before, and now we can give you a release which should (we hope!) leave you happy

http://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-4262.html

Mirror: http://www.emudev.org/pcsx2/

What's new in 0.9.6?

- Huge rewrite, mainly from the new members of the Playground branch! Too many speedups, optimizations and other fixes to write here! Many famous games will now work.
- Dropped VM build replaced by the all new Vtlb, meaning no more 'Cannot allocate memory' errors at start up, more accurate emulation, slightly lower speeds but with many optimizations to come
- Full memcard support, working in all games
- Improved Frameskip/VU-skip
- Special Game Fixes Section
- Advanced Options Section for custom tweaking VU/FPU behavior.
- Rewritten Multithreaded GS (MTGS) mode, with as much as 15% speedup for HT machines (only 3-5% for Dual Core), and fixes many instabilities.
- Improved VU/FPU Flags and Clamping support (helps fix odd behaviors and SPS in some games)
- Improved EE/IOP synchronization (fixes many freeze-ups and vmhacks).
- Improved CDVD support.

 

[Mamesj]

I'll have to check that out.

so....everything runs full speed, perfect sound, no glitches, 100% now, right? jk

 

[Slightly Live]

I cant get any of those plugins working with that new release. It crashes every time I try to find a DVD image. Piece of shit.

 

[iceatcs]

I'll have to check that out.

so....everything runs full speed, perfect sound, no glitches, 100% now, right? jk

Depend of your system and PS2 game.

If you have multi-core then it is likely getting a good speed, but there might be some minor glitches like alpha error.

 

[Aaron]

Just tested it with God Hand. Full speed 99% of the time, but pretty glitchy graphics, even moreso than the previous build.

 

[Gwanatu T]

This is some fantastic sounding stuff. I've got a bunch of PS2 games and no PS2, and there's stuff like Okami that I've wanted to beat forever now that I haven't been able to. Just a quick question though, in the guide I don't see anything about memory cards. I see there is virtual memory card support, which is fine and dandy, but I've got real memory cards that I'd love to use because of the save files on there (particularly my 35+ hour Okami save file). Is there any usb hardware that accepts PS2 memory cards?

 

[obaidr]

This is some fantastic sounding stuff. I've got a bunch of PS2 games and no PS2, and there's stuff like Okami that I've wanted to beat forever now that I haven't been able to. Just a quick question though, in the guide I don't see anything about memory cards. I see there is virtual memory card support, which is fine and dandy, but I've got real memory cards that I'd love to use because of the save files on there (particularly my 35+ hour Okami save file). Is there any usb hardware that accepts PS2 memory cards?

you don't have like 50 bucks to buy a used PS2 or 80 to buy a new one?

 

[Gwanatu T]

you don't have like 50 bucks to buy a used PS2 or 80 to buy a new one?

If I don't have to spend any money, why would I, especially when this makes stuff look better? Honestly I don't have an extra $50-80 to blow on a Ps2 anyway, I've got to budget for new games coming out and I'd rather buy a new game than a PS2.

 

[Remfin]

This is some fantastic sounding stuff. I've got a bunch of PS2 games and no PS2, and there's stuff like Okami that I've wanted to beat forever now that I haven't been able to. Just a quick question though, in the guide I don't see anything about memory cards. I see there is virtual memory card support, which is fine and dandy, but I've got real memory cards that I'd love to use because of the save files on there (particularly my 35+ hour Okami save file). Is there any usb hardware that accepts PS2 memory cards?

If you have some way to get data from your PS2 to your PC, yes. It's rather involved but it is possible. I brought over all my old saves myself. It was "easy" for me since I have a Sharkport, but if a PS2 is exploited or modded it can be done with a little more work.

 

[Gwanatu T]

If you have some way to get data from your PS2 to your PC, yes. It's rather involved but it is possible. I brought over all my old saves myself. It was "easy" for me since I have a Sharkport, but if a PS2 is exploited or modded it can be done with a little more work.

I could borrow my brother's for a bit but it's a PS2 slim, and I'm not sure if there's any way to get it to transfer like this without buying additional stuff. No big deal if it's not, really, Okami is so great I'd play through it again to get to where I was.

 

[Xavien]

Guys, if you have sound skipping issues i would advise you try the recently released SPU2-X plug-in for sound, its a massive step up for me, no pops, crackles, just a little slow when the framerate isn't up to cap.

get it from here:

http://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-3800.html

With build r528 (probably out-of-date by now) and the following plugins:

Graphics Plugin: GSDX (SSE3 version) Version 1.0.1.9 @ 1536x1024 Internal Res (TURN ON LOGARITHMIC Z to stop flickering textures)
Sound Plugin: SPU2-X Version 1.1 (Turn off Effects Processing if you hear any weird beeps or bloops)
Pad Plugin: Lillypad 0.9.4
Speed Hacks: x2 Cycle Rate, Waitcycles and IOP x2 Cycle Rate, Multi threading enabled.

Running at 1600x1200 on a 8800GT 512MB with a 3.0GHZ Q6600 pretty much rock solid 50FPS (running from PAL land here) on any game i choose (including Kingdom Hearts 2), sound is almost perfect except some slowdowns while loading, FMV's working as they should.

The emulator has come a long way in a very short time imho.

 

[Demigod Mac]

FFXII: on the title screen it doesn't respond to button presses. What's up with that? All other games work fine.

 

[Deadly Monk]

So what files do I need to download to get this started on my PC? I've played FF12 to death on my PS2, I want to see it in all it's high res glory.

 

[Splatt]

You need PCSX2 0.9.6 and PS2 BIOS files which you can dump from your PS2 or... uuhhh... get by alternate means.

Also, PCSX2 works better with ISO files.

 

[godhandiscen]

Hello, can I get links to the best PS2 emulator available? I want to play Shadow of the Colossus specifically.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

smh

 

[Lucis]

Hello, can I get links to the best PS2 emulator available? I want to play Shadow of the Colossus specifically.

so you didn't read the OP?