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[wolfmat]

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

As far as I'm aware, you're in the thread discussing the best PS2 emulator available, so chances are links have been posted.

 

[papercut]

Since my PS2 is on it's last legs, I've been looking at using this emulator as a replacement (especially for the blue discs, which the PS2 laser really dislikes).

Anyway, I'm having trouble running anything at full speed and was wondering if I'm using the latest plugins (that matters, right?). I'm running the 0.9.6 version of the emulator.

My system:
Phenom II 940
4GB RAM
4870 1GB

Is there a site that posts the latest plugins? Right now I have:
GSdx 890 0.1.14
SPU2-X 1.1.0

Thanks!

 

[iceatcs]

Since my PS2 is on it's last legs, I've been looking at using this emulator as a replacement (especially for the blue discs, which the PS2 laser really dislikes).

Anyway, I'm having trouble running anything at full speed and was wondering if I'm using the latest plugins (that matters, right?). I'm running the 0.9.6 version of the emulator.

My system:
Phenom II 940
4GB RAM
4870 1GB

Is there a site that posts the latest plugins? Right now I have:
GSdx 890 0.1.14
SPU2-X 1.1.0

Thanks!

Well I don't have this kind of CPU, but I got 2 computers - one is AMD Athlon 64 and other is Intel Core2Duo, both have about same speed. PCSX2 seem work better on Intel CPU than AMD. But don't take my word since it isn't same as your CPU.

 

[water_wendi]

Since my PS2 is on it's last legs, I've been looking at using this emulator as a replacement (especially for the blue discs, which the PS2 laser really dislikes).

Anyway, I'm having trouble running anything at full speed and was wondering if I'm using the latest plugins (that matters, right?). I'm running the 0.9.6 version of the emulator.

My system:
Phenom II 940
4GB RAM
4870 1GB

Is there a site that posts the latest plugins? Right now I have:
GSdx 890 0.1.14
SPU2-X 1.1.0

Thanks!

i just got into the ps2 emulation thing yesterday. i have fiddled with it before a couple of years ago but i have to say pcsx2 has come a long way.

Your system is faster than mine.. i am using a E6320 overclocked from 1.8Ghz to 2.2Ghz and i am getting respectable speeds with a good number of my games. Some run almost flawlessly like Persona 4 and Nightmare of Druaga.. in others there is some dips here and there. Just taking a look at your plugins i can see that they are out of date. Those are what come with 0.9.6 but there are updates available.

GSdx 1194 - latest version i can find so yours is waaay out of date it seems. When you choose the option in the general configuration.. there are several different selections offered. If you have a Phenom II 940 it might be best to choose either the SSE41 option since your cpu offers that set of instructions. Personally i use SSSE3 which is the most advanced my old Core2Duo supports.

ZeroSPU2 r514-Dev 0.4.6 - i used this plugin instead of the SPU2-X that was set at default. With ZeroSPU2 sound works much better for me.. i also got a boost in framerate iirc. im not sure if r514 0.4.6 version came preloaded with the 0.9.6 version of PCSX2 or if i snagged an updated plugin though.

All of the other plugin options i left at default i think. Here is a screen shot of my plugin setup:

And here are my settings for the GSdx plugin:

Resolution - i leave this at windowed but i hear that fullscreen mode runs at a slightly higher fps
Renderer - Direct3D9 Hardware is the general option of preference. i suppose there would be a Direct3D10 Hardware option if you are running Vista. If you have the DX10 option def give that a go.
Shader - If you have any modern video card you should be able to set at Pixel Shader 3.0. im using an 8600 GTS which is a couple years old and Shader 3.0 works fine. EDIT: Some games work better with 2.0.. its a try it and see ordeal.
Interlacing - ok.. this one is set to None by default.. When running games however, there was a slight "jitteriness" to the screen. i fiddled with the options and Blend bff is my new BFF because it fixed the problem. It says 1/2 fps but i dont get a 50% hit to framerate and i dont really care about it too much atm to investigate it further. It works so thats all i care about.
Aspect Ratio - whatever
D3D internal res - mine was set to 1024x1024 by default.. ive read that lowering the internal resolution can help with fps but havent experimented with it so far.
Logarithmic Z - ok this is a big one. By default it is not checked and this cures graphical clipping.

Here is what games can look like with Logarithmic Z not enabled:

How it should look like with L Z turned on:

Here are my system specs:
C2D E6320 1.86Ghz clocked up just slightly to 2.2Ghz (i did the OC as a test strictly for PSCX2.. cpu speed is very important), 8600 GTS, 4GB memory.

Hope this helps get you up and running.

 

[SonOfABeep]

Should my 9600mGS 1GB, Core2Duo 2.14 gHZ, 4GB ram laptop be able to use this emulator decently?

Because the one time I tried it everything ran horribly, and I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

What PS2 games have been ported to PC?

Raiden 3 (great port), Onimusha 3 and what else? How do they compare to the emulated versions.

 

[water_wendi]

What PS2 games have been ported to PC?

Raiden 3 (great port), Onimusha 3 and what else? How do they compare to the emulated versions.

A good number of the large titles have made their way to PC.. MGS 2 Substance, Resident Evil 4, Onimusha 1/3, Chaos Legion, Megaman X7/X8, Silent Hill 2/3/4, Grandia II, Summoner, Red Faction 1/2, GTA 3/VC/SA.

The number one issue i run into with console ports is the controls.. but a good gamepad makes all the difference. i havent done any direct comparisons yet.. but PS2 emulation is missing one key thing: mods. So the PC version is still worth it imo to pick up if you see them. Chances are they are cheap anyways.. the games tend to come out 1-2 years after release to begin with.

Should my 9600mGS 1GB, Core2Duo 2.14 gHZ, 4GB ram laptop be able to use this emulator decently?

Because the one time I tried it everything ran horribly, and I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong.

id say its worth a shot.. but with that kind of setup there is gonna be slowdown, no way around that. Some games like Persona 3/4 will probably run pretty decent.

 

[sixteen-bit]

What PS2 games have been ported to PC?

Raiden 3 (great port), Onimusha 3 and what else? How do they compare to the emulated versions.

Silent Hill 3 is one

 

[ultim8p00]

Should my 9600mGS 1GB, Core2Duo 2.14 gHZ, 4GB ram laptop be able to use this emulator decently?

Because the one time I tried it everything ran horribly, and I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong.

It should run fine. I have an AMD X2 OCed to 2.20 GHz and 2GB of ram and a 9600 GT and I never get below 40fps. Here are some things that could speed things up for you:

First off, you should get the Maetel hack of PCSX2, not the regular PCSX2. It's much faster. The latest version is 3.3, but try 2.6 first, since it has an extra speed hack that the later versions do not have.

When setting the CPU options, enable dual core mode. Do not use frameskipping. Instead, let all frames be rendered and then max out all the speed hacks. If you have Vista, use Directx 10 as it makes the game much faster. Let GSDX run in native mode and leave the aspect ratio at 4:3. Run the game in fullscreen mode. Use the right type of SSE too. If your comp supports SSSE3, use that appropriate GSDX. Using the wrong one can cause the game to crawl.

I do this and it runs at about 40-60fps

 

[BeEatNU]

I was looking for this damn thread.

thanks for the bump!

 

[SonOfABeep]

sounds like a lot of work to not hook up the PS2. Thanks for the help though!

Why can't it be simple as nesticle?

 

[Piano]

Should my 9600mGS 1GB, Core2Duo 2.14 gHZ, 4GB ram laptop be able to use this emulator decently?

Because the one time I tried it everything ran horribly, and I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong.

So I guess that means I shouldn't even try?

Laptop with
Core 2 Duo T7700 @ 2.40 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nvidia 8600m

 

[ultim8p00]

So I guess that means I shouldn't even try?

Laptop with
Core 2 Duo T7700 @ 2.40 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nvidia 8600m

It's possible, but be prepared to do a lot of plugin searching an optimizations. I'm running God of War 2 at 50fps on an AMD X2 3800+ OCed to 2.2GHz with 2GB ram and a 9600GT 512MB

 

[SonOfABeep]

The only game I work that hard to get working is STALKER.

:lol

Works great in DX9, turn on DX10 and it's instant crash to desktop on new or load game!

 

[Clevinger]

So I guess that means I shouldn't even try?

Laptop with
Core 2 Duo T7700 @ 2.40 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nvidia 8600m

Try a bunch of different games first. Some still run like shit, or don't run at all, and some run perfectly. It depends on the game.

 

[nincompoop]

So I guess that means I shouldn't even try?

Laptop with
Core 2 Duo T7700 @ 2.40 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nvidia 8600m

Should be enough to run certain games full speed. Games like Final Fantasy X and Okami run a lot faster than most other games for some reason.

 

[Clevinger]

It's because the emulator isn't even close to finished.

 

[bigmit3737]

So I guess that means I shouldn't even try?

Laptop with
Core 2 Duo T7700 @ 2.40 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nvidia 8600m

Hmm I have the same setup and was going to wait till I finish my new computer build.

But I wanted to try out FFX and If I get that on this laptop, that would be fantastic.

Going to eventually give it a shot.

 

[Piano]

Hmm I have the same setup and was going to wait till I finish my new computer build.

But I wanted to try out FFX and If I get that on this laptop, that would be fantastic.

Going to eventually give it a shot.

I'm setting things up right now...I don't have FFX, but I'll let you know how some other games run.

 

[CurlySaysX]

I tried this emulator about 2 months ago and it ran awfully to not at all on my pc, is there a new version out or any specific plug ins i'm supposed to use? I really want to play and finish GoW2.
Specs btw.
C2D 3.6ghz
3.5 giga ram XP 32
1gb 4850 ATI 750/1100

 

[Zombie James]

Oh crap, something to play with on my new PC

 

[Piano]

Alright, I got it running - not very well, but I'll get to that. I don't really own that many PS2 games, so the only two I've tried so far are Tekken 5 and King of Fighters 2006 (I think it's an awesome game, sue me).

Tekken 5 crashes right before the title screen. I see the Namco logo, I play the little space-shootin' mini game, but as soon as I press start to go to the title screen, it hangs, then crashes. The error logged in the PCSX2 console is "vtlb miss" or something like that. I've googled it, and haven't been able to find any applicable solutions.

King of Fighters 2006 runs, but runs slooow. I presume this is because of my mid-range computer, not emulation issues. It runs at 30FPS, or about 50% speed. So what can I do to speed it up? Currently I'm using all of the settings screenshotted above by Number 2, with the exception of using DX10 since I'm in Vista.

Is there any advantage to using DX10? Or does it hurt the framerate? And, in general, what can I do to help the framrate, aside from frameskip - I can deal with some frameskip, but not to get a 50% speed game up to full speed. Should I have it render at a lower resolution? I was running the games windowed, and I get the impression that fullscreen can improve framerate a bit, but I'm going to need some better methods.

Again, my specs:
Core 2 Duo 2.40GHz
3GB RAM
Vista HP 32bit
Nvidia 8600m (bleh)

Thanks!

 

[aeolist]

I got this up and running... and then realized I don't give a shit about PS2 games in HD. Maybe if I had Rez or something, but that just makes me think Mizuguchi is stupid for not putting Rez HD on Steam.

 

[water_wendi]

Alright, I got it running - not very well, but I'll get to that. I don't really own that many PS2 games, so the only two I've tried so far are Tekken 5 and King of Fighters 2006 (I think it's an awesome game, sue me).

Tekken 5 crashes right before the title screen. I see the Namco logo, I play the little space-shootin' mini game, but as soon as I press start to go to the title screen, it hangs, then crashes. The error logged in the PCSX2 console is "vtlb miss" or something like that. I've googled it, and haven't been able to find any applicable solutions.

King of Fighters 2006 runs, but runs slooow. I presume this is because of my mid-range computer, not emulation issues. It runs at 30FPS, or about 50% speed. So what can I do to speed it up? Currently I'm using all of the settings screenshotted above by Number 2, with the exception of using DX10 since I'm in Vista.

Is there any advantage to using DX10? Or does it hurt the framerate? And, in general, what can I do to help the framrate, aside from frameskip - I can deal with some frameskip, but not to get a 50% speed game up to full speed. Should I have it render at a lower resolution? I was running the games windowed, and I get the impression that fullscreen can improve framerate a bit, but I'm going to need some better methods.

Again, my specs:
Core 2 Duo 2.40GHz
3GB RAM
Vista HP 32bit
Nvidia 8600m (bleh)

Thanks!

DX10 is supposed to offer a boost in performance over DX9 so use that if you are able. i think i might have Tekken buried away somewhere.. KoF 2006 i know i dont have.. if i can find Tekken ill reply with what kind of performance im getting.

Also under the Config drop down menu there is an option for Speedhacks. Some of these options can speed up things a little bit. Remember you can just Esc out while playing the game.. fiddle with a setting or two.. then go Run>Execute to continue where you left off.

 

[zbarron]

For any of you Dragon Quest VIII fans there was a bug in the Black Citadel that made it impossible to beat the game.
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=ALZYU53P
I just played through that part using PCSX2 V9.6 and I didn't come across the bug. This might mean that you can actually beat the game. I'll post again when I do.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I got this up and running... and then realized I don't give a shit about PS2 games in HD. Maybe if I had Rez or something, but that just makes me think Mizuguchi is stupid for not putting Rez HD on Steam.

Or it could be contractually tied to XBLA

 

[gofreak]

Hmm. After TRICO footage, I wanted to give Ico a whirl on this (first time trying it).

Is it just me or does it lock up during the opening sequence? When the dude pulls the sword out of its sheath?

I've tried twiddling some settings, with the same result. I checked the compatibility page and it says it should work..

 

[Asparagus]

Since my PS2 is on it's last legs, I've been looking at using this emulator as a replacement (especially for the blue discs, which the PS2 laser really dislikes).

Anyway, I'm having trouble running anything at full speed and was wondering if I'm using the latest plugins (that matters, right?). I'm running the 0.9.6 version of the emulator.

My system:
Phenom II 940
4GB RAM
4870 1GB

Is there a site that posts the latest plugins? Right now I have:
GSdx 890 0.1.14
SPU2-X 1.1.0

Thanks!

You can grab the latest plugin and pcsx2 svn releases here.

 

[water_wendi]

Hmm. After TRICO footage, I wanted to give Ico a whirl on this (first time trying it).

Is it just me or does it lock up during the opening sequence? When the dude pulls the sword out of its sheath?

I've tried twiddling some settings, with the same result. I checked the compatibility page and it says it should work..

On the PCSX2 compatibility page it lists the US version of Ico as "in game" which means not playable but shows something. However, the Euro version seems to be playable. Which version do you have?

 

[ultim8p00]

I tried this emulator about 2 months ago and it ran awfully to not at all on my pc, is there a new version out or any specific plug ins i'm supposed to use? I really want to play and finish GoW2.
Specs btw.
C2D 3.6ghz
3.5 giga ram XP 32
1gb 4850 ATI 750/1100

It should run fine. I have an AMD X2 OCed to 2.20 GHz and 2GB of ram and a 9600 GT and I never get below 40fps. Here are some things that could speed things up for you:

First off, you should get the Maetel hack of PCSX2, not the regular PCSX2. It's much faster. The latest version is 3.3, but try 2.6 first, since it has an extra speed hack that the later versions do not have.

When setting the CPU options, enable dual core mode. Do not use frameskipping. Instead, let all frames be rendered and then max out all the speed hacks. If you have Vista, use Directx 10 as it makes the game much faster. Let GSDX run in native mode and leave the aspect ratio at 4:3. Run the game in fullscreen mode. Use the right type of SSE too. If your comp supports SSSE3, use that appropriate GSDX. Using the wrong one can cause the game to crawl.

I do this and it runs at about 40-60fps

Make sure you don't run it from the CD though. I ran it from the CD and I got like 3 seconds per frame. ISOed it and it now runs at 50fps on average.

 

[gofreak]

On the PCSX2 compatibility page it lists the US version of Ico as "in game" which means not playable but shows something. However, the Euro version seems to be playable. Which version do you have?

Euro.

I did some googling, and it seems changing some clamping options fixes this. Just tried now and seems to have fixed it. (You have to change EE and VU clamping options to Extra+Preserve Sign in the advanced options)

 

[Green Biker Dude]

The King of Fighters... 2006? What?

 

[Aru]

The King of Fighters... 2006? What?

KoF 2k6 is the NA name of KoF Maximum Impact 2.

 

["God's Beard!"]

ok so ZOE2 runs at 0.75fps :lol

I was hoping it'd be fixed with 9.6 :-(

I'm running a c2d6850@3.24ghz, too.

 

[water_wendi]

Okay.. found my copy of Tekken 5 and with my settings it runs at about 30fps so its barely playable. Not sure how fast it was running for you TheEastonator. However when searching online i found a video of youtube where someone got it to run at full speed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KkTgwAF56k. That is running off of an E8400 clocked to 3.9GHz.. the next time i run into a hundred bucks or so i know what im getting

Fortunately for me my main genre of choice is rpgs and adventure games so most of the games i want to play run pretty good. PCSX2 is so great for me because i dont have to worry about ruining my original discs from playing.. ive already ruined a few games just from very slight general use.. maybe its my PS2 scratching them or something. Now my only concern with my collection is space to organize them and dust on the boxes

Here are some shots of games that ive tested so far with my setup (note the stats/fps/etc on the top of the window)

SMT 3 - runs pretty good.. full speed almost always.. every once in a while it seems to drop in framerate like when certain cutscenes happen. Some cutscenes run flawless like the first image below.

Persona 3 Fes - runs great.. full speed, although some minor graphics glitches with some floor/shadow stuff. Supposedly its fixed in the current beta of PCSX2.

Tales of the Abyss - runs great.. full speed. Slight fps drop in overworld but combat seems to be pretty solid speed.

Atelier Iris - runs pretty much full speed except in some movie cutscenes. Very minor graphical flaws.

Atelier Iris 2 - same as the first game from what i can tell.

Atelier Iris 3 - has more graphical issues than the first two games but speed is great still.

Disaster Report - looks pretty good and runs decent. Some slight slowdown.. but again a faster cpu would def make it almost flawless.

Shining Force Neo- near perfect from what i played into it. i should really get a usb memory card reader so i can transfer my saves over.

Rogue Galaxy - runs at about 40-50fps for me. For an action game it makes it unplayable tho. Faster cpu would again help here. Looks great though.

 

[Clevinger]

Having a faster CPU doesn't = a perfect frame rate. The emulator isn't finished, and all the games work somewhere in the range of broken to perfect.

 

[water_wendi]

Having a faster CPU doesn't = a perfect frame rate. The emulator isn't finished, and all the games work somewhere in the range of broken to perfect.

i understand that. im just excited i guess. im not one of those super-mint collector people.. i dont have enough money for that.. but the prospect of me not having to risk mess up my games collection has got me going. On top of that, i have this compulsion for HD recording and its much cheaper for me to Fraps something than spring for a $200+ dv card.

Speaking of HD recording.. i did a little test with Fraps and Persona 3 FES that came out fantastic. It took me a good hour of fiddling with settings but i got Fraps to record in super high resolution at 60fps while running PCSX2 Its my proud computing moment of the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKgnP9WuLag is the link for anyone interested.. be sure to click on the HQ button

 

[Truespeed]

It sure would have been nice if the BC capable PS3 would have been able to apply user selected filters instead of the default ass filter it applies.

 

[Spasm]

I've given up on trying to play ICO on my PS3, and will be playing it with a wireless 360 pad on PCSX2 instead.

 

[Piano]

Okay.. found my copy of Tekken 5 and with my settings it runs at about 30fps so its barely playable. Not sure how fast it was running for you TheEastonator. However when searching online i found a video of youtube where someone got it to run at full speed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KkTgwAF56k. That is running off of an E8400 clocked to 3.9GHz.. the next time i run into a hundred bucks or so i know what im getting

Damn, okay, maybe my laptop isn't quite built for Tekken 5, then :lol. Oh well - thanks for the input.

Make sure you don't run it from the CD though. I ran it from the CD and I got like 3 seconds per frame. ISOed it and it now runs at 50fps on average.

So I should rip all of my games before playing them? Shouldn't that just affect loadtimes, not framerate?

 

[vareon]

My 2.20 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB Ram, adn 8600 GT apparently can't run FFX at 60 FPS, it always dropped to 40 or 50. Is that the best my hardware can do or there's another trick?

 

[water_wendi]

So I should rip all of my games before playing them? Shouldn't that just affect loadtimes, not framerate?

i would say yes. Some games seems to be affected to a greater degree by this than others. Also that ISO mounting plugin that comes standard can be problematic. There seems to be a good size hit on fps on my machine on every game that i had used with it. After mounting the image via Alcohol 120 this wasnt an issue any longer.

My 2.20 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB Ram, adn 8600 GT apparently can't run FFX at 60 FPS, it always dropped to 40 or 50. Is that the best my hardware can do or there's another trick?

Havent tried FFX yet. ill have to dig it out and rip the image. ill let you know how it goes. Also different plugins and newer versions can make a huge difference.

 

[EGM92]

My 2.20 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB Ram, adn 8600 GT apparently can't run FFX at 60 FPS, it always dropped to 40 or 50. Is that the best my hardware can do or there's another trick?

There are speedhacks/graphics options that make FFX run near flawless. Some people, like myself, are able to run it at a 120fps 99% of the time. Your CPU is limiting you.

 

[bigmit3737]

Does this emulator have save states?

Because that would be FANTASTIC!

(Especially for rpgs)

 

[gofreak]

I've given up on trying to play ICO on my PS3, and will be playing it with a wireless 360 pad on PCSX2 instead.

Mine crashed on me after some time playing..

I don't think it's stable enough for Ico. Think I'm going to go back to my PS2.

 

[Asparagus]

Does this emulator have save states?

Because that would be FANTASTIC!

(Especially for rpgs)

Yeah, F1 to save and F3 to load.

 

[TheGreatDave]

I can't get SOTC or ICO to work on PCSX My PC isn't great, but a 4850 and a dual core with 4GB of RAM should be enough to get it running semi-decently, right?

 

[Baloonatic]

They aren't fully functional yet, SoTC especially.

 

[DieH@rd]

They aren't fully functional yet, SoTC especially.

SOTC iz playable, i dont know why you all have errors.

Pcsx2 0.9.6 running SotC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9xZwpDD_Qw
^ as you see there is no frame limit on this footage, so its faster than it shoud be :lol


here is another footage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odOPOR-Orrk&feature=related
Almost perferc emulation...


On my crappy PC i get maybe 15fps, but i only have a single core 2.2ghz athlon.

 

[ToastyBanana]

I can't get SOTC or ICO to work on PCSX My PC isn't great, but a 4850 and a dual core with 4GB of RAM should be enough to get it running semi-decently, right?

Depends on the clock speed of them dual cores. Some games just need higher clocks to run smoothly.