I have seen the light that is PS2 emulation, Part 2!

[Shinobido Heart]

If you missed my first thread, you can find it here:

I have seen the light that is PS2 emulation

I wanted to do something special for the 20th anniversary of the PS2. I dug out my old fat PS2 to see if it still worked, it hasn't been plugged in years. Surprisingly it still worked but it has some issues with the disc drive not being able to read blue discs and the disc tray likes to close...

www.resetera.com

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Ever since I tried out emulation for the first time, I haven't been able to stop.

I've been working on my PS2 collection since the creation of that thread.

I finally finished turning all my PS2 games into .iso format, along with some new additions I recently found at my local vintage stores.

This took me awhile to do because each game disc could potentially take up to 10 or 30 minutes per disc when converting them into .iso format.

My recent new additions are as follows:

Eternal Ring
Bujingai
Winback
Winback 2
Orphen Scion of Sorcery
Evergrace (failed to convert into .iso, disc probably doesn't work)
Mana Khemia
Wild Arms 3
Rygar
Kill Switch
Extermination
Kya Dark Lineage (friend recommendation)

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I'm still on the hunt for a few more games, but finding them is difficult.

The other issue being price.

Still, I'm happy with what I found and I'm really looking forward to playing some of these.

Whether some of these games are good, or bad, I'm just happy to be able to play them on PC.

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Eternal Ring:
This is a game I sometimes hear people talking about, so I was curious about it.

Played it for about an hour and I'm actually liking it quite a bit.

I'm no stranger to first person games, but this is a type of first person game I don't think I've ever played before. The controls took awhile to get used to.

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Extermination:
I didn't know about this game until a friend of mine brought it up.

I came across a copy of it and decided to pick it up.

In my short time playing it, it kinda gives me the impression of Metal Gear Solid mixed with some survival horror and monsters.

Don't think there is any stealth, but it does feature some decent climbing mechanics.

Click to shrink...

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Bujingai: The Forsaken City (Featuring Gackt, yes, Gackt):
Now here is a nice surprise.

This game kind of reminds me of Devil May Cry, but probably doesn't have the in depth combo system.

Still, it's a game featuring popular japanese singer, Gackt, with some surprisingly fun mechanics, swordplay, and great music.

Definitely check it out if you have the time!

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[Pocky4Th3Win]

I've been using launchbox with big box to control my htpc and having all my classic console games dumped to it is awesome.

 

[Flon]

PCSX2 is definitely the best way to play a few PS2 games. Wild Arms 5 was a recent one for me as that game looks incredible at higher resolutions, but it's so blurry on hardware.

However, I'll never be able to get used to the heavy amount of input delay that it adds to many of the games I've played. It feels like it's adding around 10 frames compared to hardware.

 

[Aurica]

I'd like to play Gackt: The Game one day.

 

[Deleted member 16908]

PCSX2 is probably my favorite emulator of all time. I love how customizable it is and I especially appreciate that they let you run the games at their original resolution if you really want the OG experience.

 

[Marche90]

An Orphen game localized and published by Activision? Man, the 00's were wild lol

 

[Shinobido Heart]

PCSX2 is definitely the best way to play a few PS2 games. Wild Arms 5 was a recent one for me as that game looks incredible at higher resolutions, but it's so blurry on hardware.

However, I'll never be able to get used to the heavy amount of input delay that it adds to many of the games I've played. It feels like it's adding around 10 frames compared to hardware.

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Yeah, I have no doubt that Wild Arms 5 will look great.

I beat it awhile back, so I'm not sure if I'll play it again anytime soon but I am curious to see how it looks on PC with anti aliasing and better resolution.

I'd like to play Gackt: The Game one day.

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I hope you get to play it too!

 

[FunMouse]

Couple of months ago I finally was able to turn my xenosaga collection into .iso formats. Games look glorious now on my TV. What other Non Final Fantasy/Persona RPGS are worth getting to play on pcsx2?

 

[AuthenticM]

I was thinking of using emulation to play the PS2 Ace Combat games. I have never used a PS2 emulator. How complicated is it to set up? Is it hassle-free?

 

[Deleted member 76797]

I was thinking of using emulation to play the PS2 Ace Combat games. I have never used a PS2 emulator. How complicated is it to set up? Is it hassle-free?

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its very, very easy

 

[BadWolf]

Couple of months ago I finally was able to turn my xenosaga collection into .iso formats. Games look glorious now on my TV. What other Non Final Fantasy/Persona RPGS are worth getting to play on pcsx2?

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Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is so good.

 

[AuthenticM]

its very, very easy

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Can I use my dualshock 4 with it?

 

[Shinobido Heart]

I was thinking of using emulation to play the PS2 Ace Combat games. I have never used a PS2 emulator. How complicated is it to set up? Is it hassle-free?

Click to shrink...

Well, if you want to do things legally like I did, you'll need to get the BIOS from your PS2. PCSX2 won't work without a BIOS.

You'll need to determine what methods you can use for your particular model to get the BIOS from it.

In my case, I had a Fat PS2, so I just needed to buy a FreeMcBoot Memory card from Amazon to begin the process.

Then you'll need an old USB drive to put the BIOS files on. My PS2 couldn't find my 3.0 USB drive but it found my 2.0 USB drive easy.

There should be quite a few tutorials on how to do it on youtube.

As for getting your games on PC, I bought a LG Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer and I used a program called ImgBurn to turn discs into .iso format.

Then it's just a matter of installing PCSX2, making sure you paste your PS2's BIOS files in the bios folder of your PCSX2 directory.

You might need to fiddle around with settings because some games don't play nice, there might be missing objects, visual glitches or other weird abnormalities.

Can I use my dualshock 4 with it?

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Absolutely! :)

 

[Gitaroo]

Still waiting for siren 2 to work properly in high res... Damn Sony should release the game as Ps2 classic especially when it never came out in NA.

 

[Lazybob]

That reminds me I need to rip most of my PS2 games still. Already did it for one testing it out but never got around to it. Still have a dozen+ to go through.

Well, if you want to do things legally like I did, you'll need to get the BIOS from your PS2.

You'll need to determine what methods you can use for your particular model to get the BIOS from it.

In my case, I had a Fat PS2, so I just needed to buy a FreeMcBoot Memory card from Amazon to begin the process.

Then you'll need an old USB drive to put the BIOS files on. My PS2 couldn't find my 3.0 USB drive but it found my 2.0 USB drive easy.

There should be quite a few tutorials on how to do it on youtube.

As for getting your games on PC, I bought a LG Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer and I used a program called ImgBurn to turn discs into .iso format.

Then it's just a matter of installing PCSX2, making sure you paste your PS2's BIOS files in the bios folder of your PCSX2 directory.

You might need to fiddle around with settings because some games don't play nice, there might be missing objects, visual glitches or other weird abnormalities.



Absolutely! :)

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Just top add to this. FreeMcBoot might not be needed. There was a recent new hack that lets people run homebrew from DVD-R called FreeDVDBoot . If people have Blank DVD's and a burner already they should check if the hack is available for their PS2's DVD firmware instead of buying a FreeMcboot card.

 

[Deleted member 76797]

In

Can I use my dualshock 4 with it?

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yup thats what I use

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Wow, those are some nice looking images. There's something really attractive about that Eternal Ring screenshot with the waterwheel.

 

[Oliver James]

Couple of months ago I finally was able to turn my xenosaga collection into .iso formats. Games look glorious now on my TV. What other Non Final Fantasy/Persona RPGS are worth getting to play on pcsx2?

Click to shrink...

Shadow Hearts
.hack
Shin Megami Tensei(Raidou, Digital Devil Saga, Nocturne)
Suikoden
Wild Arms
Rogue Galaxy
Star Ocean

Probably many more

 

[waugh]

I started using PCSX2 and I'm so glad I did. It's improved a lot since I last used it 2010 I think? I hate using CRTs, they're so big they take up so much space. Even my tiny small one that's 4:3. The screen also hurts my eyes. So I haven't been playing much of the PS2 for years but PCSX2 is looking to change that.

I'd rather just play them on my PS4 but Sony doesn't care.

 

[eddiemunstr]

I would love to use pcsx2 instead of my actual ps2 just for convenience and because of higher resolutions, but it seems like so many ps2 games still have issues running in it. That and the constant changing of settings for each individual game to get them running as good as you can. If the emulation could get to a point where after an initial setup of the emulator it mostly just works fine with most games I would abandon my actual ps2 in a heartbeat.

 

[Shinobido Heart]

I would love to use pcsx2 instead of my actual ps2 just for convenience and because of higher resolutions, but it seems like so many ps2 games still have issues running in it. That and the constant changing of settings for each individual game to get them running as good as you can. If the emulation could get to a point where after an initial setup of the emulator it mostly just works fine with most games I would abandon my actual ps2 in a heartbeat.

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This is why I use Spectabis, it saves the configs for each game so that you don't need to mess with them again. :)

 

[eddiemunstr]

This is why I use Spectabis, it saves the configs for each game so that you don't need to mess with them again. :)

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Ill have to look into it then because that sounds much better than trying to remember what settings I changed every time I want to play a different game. Last time I read up on ps2 emulation a bunch of my games still had issues running correctly though, thats my primary issue. But hey if its working out for you and you are enjoying it then thats awesome.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

These look great and it does look great when I use the my but the input lag sucks so hard I really would only use it for rpgs

 

[Lowblood]

That reminds me to get back to hunting down a copy of Extermination once we're not in a pandemic.

But yeah, I've been doing something similar to this with my PS1 and PSP collection on a Raspberry Pi 4. Hoping that a few years from now I'll be able to do the same thing with the next Pi and my PS2, GC, and Xbox collection.

In the meantime I might try PCSX2 for Wizardry TotFL, just because I always worry about playing blue backs on PS2 hardware.

 

[Shinobido Heart]

Ill have to look into it then because that sounds much better than trying to remember what settings I changed every time I want to play a different game. Last time I read up on ps2 emulation a bunch of my games still had issues running correctly though, thats my primary issue. But hey if its working out for you and you are enjoying it then thats awesome.

Click to shrink...

I don't know how often the wiki is updated, but usually it's recommended to use the development builds over the stable builds.

Latest stable build is 1.6, development build is 1.7 and higher.

 

[Shinobido Heart]

Couple of months ago I finally was able to turn my xenosaga collection into .iso formats. Games look glorious now on my TV. What other Non Final Fantasy/Persona RPGS are worth getting to play on pcsx2?

Click to shrink...

Well, you can try looking into the Tales of games. I don't think Tales of the Abyss got a remaster.

Definitely check out Wild Arms 3, 4 and 5. I didn't like 4 too much but maybe you will. Wild Arms Alter Code F might be worth getting too, but seems hard to find.

PS2 has tons of RPG's, hard to name them all. :)

 

[ApeEscaper]

Input lag is the main thing imo that ruins PCSX2 emulator, if it could be improved even slightly that would be nice

 

[Chief Malik]

Input lag is the main thing imo that ruins PCSX2 emulator, if it could be improved even slightly that would be nice

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The Nvidia low latency doesn't help?

 

[Damaniel]

PCSX2 is pretty good, but the one game that I really want to play (Champions of Norrath) runs like garbage even on a Ryzen 3900X. I'm not blaming the developers - the game pushed the PS2 to its limits, so emulating it is really hard. Most other games run great though.

 

[Deleted member 42641]

Can someone please show me how to play games on pcxs2 that dont have the same visual problems that I have playing a ps2 disc on a ps2 or ps3 on an hdtv.

I got windows running on my mac just to see nocturne looked just as shitty as it did on original hardware on an hdtv

 

[Shinobido Heart]

Can someone please show me how to play games on pcxs2 that dont have the same visual problems that I have playing a ps2 disc on a ps2 or ps3 on an hdtv.

I got windows running on my mac just to see nocturne looked just as shitty as it did on original hardware on an hdtv

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I'm not familair with Macs but what's the problem?

 

[Deleted member 42641]

I'm not familair with Macs but what's the problem?

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I hope to use the right terminology here but it seems to be "dithering" (I think is the right word) so that faces will just end up being a jumbled mess when far away and when close in in stuff like their eyebrows or eyes where be a bit messy with pixels. Its the exact same problem ive had not using emulation.

not sure how much of a difference it makes with being on a mac thats running windows.

I just want to play smt games :(

 

[pikablu]

I'm still waiting for true crime New York to be fully playable. PC port is awful.

 

[Samanosuke Akechi]

Bujingai is fantastic. Everyone should play it.

 

[Shinobido Heart]

I hope to use the right terminology here but it seems to be "dithering" (I think is the right word) so that faces will just end up being a jumbled mess when far away and when close in in stuff like their eyebrows or eyes where be a bit messy with pixels. Its the exact same problem ive had not using emulation.

not sure how much of a difference it makes with being on a mac thats running windows.

I just want to play smt games :(

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Yeah, I don't know if I can help with that.

You can try looking at the wiki for the games you are having problems with. Someone else might be experiencing the problems you are having.

The other suggestion I have is to mess around with the HW hacks and trying different things to see if anything helps.

 

[signal]

Post a photo of yourself with all the game discs, receipts, a paper with your username and timestamp, and holding a newspaper from today, or reported to authorities.

Too bad macOS' 64-bit only makes vanilla PCSX2 unusable. None of the other emulators are close.

 

[ApeEscaper]

The Nvidia low latency doesn't help?

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Didn't seem to help felt same

 

[Shinobido Heart]

So I got a bit curious about how Wild Arms 5 looks on emulator so I gave it a try and...well I'm honestly shocked. I have the game super sampled, 3840 x 2160 but output is set to 1920 x 1080.

Maybe I forgot how some PS2 games looked, but wow, it looks better than I thought it would.

If this game was scheduled to be re-released or remastered, there really wouldn't be much to do other than upscale the resolution. It already looks great.

 

[kiriku]

Yeah, playing Wild Arms V super sampled at 60 fps is a treat. So clean and sharp.

 

[TheMadTitan]

Is Spectibis still being updated?

I'm surprised more people aren't just using Launchbox+PCXS2 Configurator.

 

[Ruruja]

OP if you're interested, I've spent the last few years slowly making every PS2 front and back cover in HQ, with the exact same dimensions and the exact same black bar at the top of the front cover (notice how they're all different in yours? It really bugged me when I viewed them in my emulator frontend). I've almost completely done the US covers.

Assuming you can manually replace the ones in this Spectabis?

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

This is the one thing that I wish I had a stronger PC for. I still have my launch day PS3 that I play PS2 games on but those super sampled shots are gorgeous with all that AF added to it.

 

[Shinobido Heart]

Is Spectibis still being updated?

I'm surprised more people aren't just using Launchbox+PCXS2 Configurator.

Click to shrink...

It got updated for the 1.6 stable release of PCSX2.

I use it with a 1.7 development build.

OP if you're interested, I've spent the last few years slowly making every PS2 front and back cover in HQ, with the exact same dimensions and the exact same black bar at the top of the front cover (notice how they're all different in yours? It really bugged me when I viewed them in my emulator frontend). I've almost completely done the US covers.

Assuming you can manually replace the ones in this Spectabis?

Click to shrink...

Wow, that's quite the task you are undertaking! Impressive!

Spectabis does look for images on the internet if you let it, but I choose to do it manually by saving the image then applying it.

 

[TheMadTitan]

It got updated for the 1.6 stable release of PCSX2.

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Sweet; maybe I'll dabble with it again if I get sick of Launchbox, or if Valve ever updates Steam BPM for themes, options for pinning other launcher stores, and so on.

Also, I hope people aren't sticking with the stable releases of PCSX2. Stable versions are milestones that won't ever see updates; 1.6 will remain untouched for the next two years.

Anyone coming into this thread looking to get into PCSX2, or anyone who is already using it and doesn't know, grab the latest 1.7 development build. 1.7 sees updates regularly and will contain any and all fixes that improve compatibility. If you're the type to wait for stable releases for things like that, you'll be waiting for awhile.

 

[TheMadTitan]

OP if you're interested, I've spent the last few years slowly making every PS2 front and back cover in HQ, with the exact same dimensions and the exact same black bar at the top of the front cover (notice how they're all different in yours? It really bugged me when I viewed them in my emulator frontend). I've almost completely done the US covers.

Assuming you can manually replace the ones in this Spectabis?

Click to shrink...

You would be doing the world a favor if you upload those to the Launchbox DB and Emumovies databases.

 

[Shinobido Heart]

Right now I'm just trying out the games, to make sure they work with PCSX2.

Currently having some issues with Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria, I'll need to figure that out later.

Tried out Wild Arms 3, and it works great. It did have some black lines, but I fixed that by applying the Wild Arms Offset hack.

Game looks great as well, it has that grain effect you see in Valkyria Chronicles.

 

[Brhoom]

Shinobido Heart

Check this link https://wiki.pcsx2.net/Valkyrie_Profile_2:_Silmeria

Also make sure you are using the nightly builds not the stable one, they are more accurate in my experience.

 

[Deleted member 49611]

my PS2 slim is still going strong but i think i might stop playing on it once i finish the games i'm currently playing. i've got all my games backed up on my PC and have experimented with PCXS2. maybe going forward i will use emulation.

 

[Shinobido Heart]

Shinobido Heart

Check this link https://wiki.pcsx2.net/Valkyrie_Profile_2:_Silmeria

Also make sure you are using the nightly builds not the stable one, they are more accurate in my experience.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'm using a 1.7 development build.

I tried the ghosting fix for Silmeria (PCSX2 1.6.0 Enable HW Hacks > "frame buffer conversion" and "Half-pixel offset to Special texture") but it didn't seem to help much.

I'll need to play around with the settings some more and see if I can find something that helps.

 

[StereoVSN]

PS2 emulation is amazing. Also using Launchbox and with some tweaks vast majority of games do pretty well at high resolution.

Never heard of Spectabis before so will check it out. Got probably 40 or so games on there which is maybe 1/2 of my physicals, but the rest either got remakes, PC ports or both. I probably should still rip the ISOs though.