That IS the best PS2 emulator, sadly. At least as far as I'm aware of. If you put the right settings on you can get some pretty good results, but it still has a lot of really weird issues. For 20 year old games, you'd think they'd be a lot less intensive. At least Dolphin works.
What game are you trying to run, OP?
I really cannot wait for some real competition to come in and make an actually decent emulator. The potential is there for something cool.
more like only PS2 emulator.
It does run like shit its not very good
Look up the best way to configure the emulator for whichever game you're playing and if its actually playable.
I repect the effort but this shit need to become obsolete, they don't give a shit about accuraci and you need to hack the games in different ways to make them work. Atm it's better to just get a PS2 and mod it (You can install a hard drive or even solder a SD card reader in the memory card slot) or get a backwards compatible PS3.
I've never earnestly looked into modding my PS2 because I want to still play disc games, but that's only lost if you do hard modding, right?
I know I can look this up but I need another person to push me.
Ok thanks, I just tried it on MGS2, first playable scene on the back of the Tanker, with the hard rain, and yes I get severe slowdowns with opengl but 60 fps with d3d.
Yeah, best to stick with it. If you have exceptionally-powerful hardware though OpenGL is indeed better for a handful of games like Red Dead Revolver due to graphical bugs that can't be fixed on Direct3D.
gl in RetroArch works great for anything pre N64, but for modern systems I find glcore or DX11 works best. Some people find success with Vulkan but I don't really like it
"In summary, it is not possible to achieve close-to-perfection PS2 emulation with actual PC hardware, and even if it was possible, the results would most likely be unplayable. The PS2 is simply a very complex machine that even game developers struggled to work with."
>waaaah waaaah ps2 too complex pcsx2 is never going to be better
Meanwhile, the play! dev keeps ginding frick ups in pcsx2. Even major frick ups like totally different bus timings between hardware components in pcsx2 compared to real hardware.
Basically pcsx2 was a work of guessing and throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck. Then for the cases that it didn't work, literally put "if" conditions in the code to force hacks for specific games.
Totally moronic design.
the best PS2 emulator is a fat PS3 if you can find a working one of those. Otherwise you're stuck with PCSX2 or softmodding actual hardware (which I did after giving up on emulation)
PCSX2 sucks, but it's the only one that really works right now. Cope, make sure the settings are correct, and use an older version if you're on less-powerful hardware or use software mode more frequently if you have a strong CPU.
>Play!
Only being developed by one man and has seen virtually no progress in years. Pretty much a dead-end but I commend the dev for not giving up on it and doing what he can considering how much of a clusterfrick the PS2's hardware is.
>DobieStation
Only started development within the last few years and the dev has multiple other projects in the pipeline so don't count on this replacing PCSX2 anytime soon.
>hpsx64
Another dead-end like Play!, not even sure if this one's still in development.
>DamonPS2
A spyware-riddled chink bootleg Android port of PCSX2, not even worth mentioning.
>PCSX2 is the only worthwhile PS2 emulator, OP. Either learn to make it work better or softmod a real PS2. >spend $3,000 on top of the line PC >can't even play ps2 games
PC bros, tell me its gonna be ok
If you have a top of the line PC then it should run everything in SW mod with no slowdown. SW mode is basically hardware-accurate so HW rendering is mostly just a bonus for he games it plays well with.
Not necessarily meaningless things, but very minor improvements that don't really make significant differences to game compatibility in the grand scheme of things, and anytime I've tried it myself or seen demonstration videos on YouTube games are either slow as Hell or have more severe graphical glitches than even PCSX2 does. Keep in mind that emulator's being developed by just one guy.
I see. I know it's just one guy, which is sad. PS2 would be one of the best consoles to emulate, but it looks like buying a PS2 will be the best choice for a long time.
Something I've observed as a user of both PCSX2 and RPCS3:
RPCS3 would be a fricking nightmare to use if not for its UI/UX, which allows the user to right-click on a game in their library and "change custom configuration" so they can adjust the emulator's settings according to what's best for that particular game instead of having to redo the whole fricking thing every time you want to play a different game.
This is the big problem with PCSX2. It's a complex emulator for a complex machine that demands specific settings depending on the game you want to play, but there's no way to set custom configs for each individual game because its UI design is based-on ancient emulators like ePSXe where you pretty much just adjust the settings once according to what your machine can handle and then you rarely ever have to touch it again, but with PCSX2 you're ALWAYS having to make adjustments to what hacks you're using and what GPU plugin settings so the game looks and plays optimally. This wouldn't be such a huge fricking asspain and a detriment to the emulator if it had a similar option to RPCS3. I would argue hat "right-click to change custom config" feature is absolutely crucial to a complex emulator like PCSX2- it is in DESPERATE need of a UI overhaul but that doesn't appear to be a high priority to the emu devs currently.
This begs the question: How difficult would it be to program a frontend of sorts- (like Mednaffe for Mednafen) to overcome PCSX2's dogshit UI and add features like per-game configs and automatic updates like Dolphin and RPCS3? Because I highly doubt it's going to be on any of the main builds anytime soon and as far to my knowledge no such thing currently exists for PCSX2, if this were available I doubt we'd see so many anons shitting on the emulator because they're frustrated they have to keep fricking with the settings to play a new game, then try to go back to the other game they were playing only to find that it was fricked.
said. Quite a few games would still look and play like shit but at-least you'd only have to set hacks and shit for the game only once based-on what the Wiki or other anons recommend and then not have to worry about tinkering with them again for the remainder of your playthrough, just like Duckstation.
Something I've observed as a user of both PCSX2 and RPCS3:
RPCS3 would be a fricking nightmare to use if not for its UI/UX, which allows the user to right-click on a game in their library and "change custom configuration" so they can adjust the emulator's settings according to what's best for that particular game instead of having to redo the whole fricking thing every time you want to play a different game.
This is the big problem with PCSX2. It's a complex emulator for a complex machine that demands specific settings depending on the game you want to play, but there's no way to set custom configs for each individual game because its UI design is based-on ancient emulators like ePSXe where you pretty much just adjust the settings once according to what your machine can handle and then you rarely ever have to touch it again, but with PCSX2 you're ALWAYS having to make adjustments to what hacks you're using and what GPU plugin settings so the game looks and plays optimally. This wouldn't be such a huge fricking asspain and a detriment to the emulator if it had a similar option to RPCS3. I would argue hat "right-click to change custom config" feature is absolutely crucial to a complex emulator like PCSX2- it is in DESPERATE need of a UI overhaul but that doesn't appear to be a high priority to the emu devs currently.
This begs the question: How difficult would it be to program a frontend of sorts- (like Mednaffe for Mednafen) to overcome PCSX2's dogshit UI and add features like per-game configs and automatic updates like Dolphin and RPCS3? Because I highly doubt it's going to be on any of the main builds anytime soon and as far to my knowledge no such thing currently exists for PCSX2, if this were available I doubt we'd see so many anons shitting on the emulator because they're frustrated they have to keep fricking with the settings to play a new game, then try to go back to the other game they were playing only to find that it was fricked.
Somebody needs to start building a DuckStation 2 already
That IS the best PS2 emulator, sadly. At least as far as I'm aware of. If you put the right settings on you can get some pretty good results, but it still has a lot of really weird issues. For 20 year old games, you'd think they'd be a lot less intensive. At least Dolphin works.
What game are you trying to run, OP?
I really cannot wait for some real competition to come in and make an actually decent emulator. The potential is there for something cool.
Ironically the author of DuckStation is contributing to the PCSX2 project. He's currently making the new QT GUI.
more like only PS2 emulator.
It does run like shit its not very good
Look up the best way to configure the emulator for whichever game you're playing and if its actually playable.
have your (you) i guess
PCSX2 is the only worthwhile PS2 emulator, OP. Either learn to make it work better or softmod a real PS2.
I repect the effort but this shit need to become obsolete, they don't give a shit about accuraci and you need to hack the games in different ways to make them work. Atm it's better to just get a PS2 and mod it (You can install a hard drive or even solder a SD card reader in the memory card slot) or get a backwards compatible PS3.
have you tried not running it on a toaster pc?
my i9 10th gen runs it fine
softmod a PS2. Seriously, it's the best we're going to get for a long time.
I paid $50 total for a fat PS2 at Value Village, a FreeMCBoot card and cheap SATA hard drive adapter from ebay.
>interlaced video
Getting and modding a PS Two isn't the issue.
if you want a modern display there are upscalers that handle interlacing well now
I've never earnestly looked into modding my PS2 because I want to still play disc games, but that's only lost if you do hard modding, right?
I know I can look this up but I need another person to push me.
You probably tried this, but do not use OpenGL in Windows. Even with an Nvidia card.
Why is that?
The OpenGL plugin on PCSX2 has shit compatibility with Windows and was only designed to be used on Linux.
Ok thanks, I just tried it on MGS2, first playable scene on the back of the Tanker, with the hard rain, and yes I get severe slowdowns with opengl but 60 fps with d3d.
Yeah, best to stick with it. If you have exceptionally-powerful hardware though OpenGL is indeed better for a handful of games like Red Dead Revolver due to graphical bugs that can't be fixed on Direct3D.
gl in RetroArch works great for anything pre N64, but for modern systems I find glcore or DX11 works best. Some people find success with Vulkan but I don't really like it
"In summary, it is not possible to achieve close-to-perfection PS2 emulation with actual PC hardware, and even if it was possible, the results would most likely be unplayable. The PS2 is simply a very complex machine that even game developers struggled to work with."
>Oh no my ocd is flaring up again
Pretty sure I remember seeing this exact same post about the SNES before
>waaaah waaaah ps2 too complex pcsx2 is never going to be better
Meanwhile, the play! dev keeps ginding frick ups in pcsx2. Even major frick ups like totally different bus timings between hardware components in pcsx2 compared to real hardware.
Basically pcsx2 was a work of guessing and throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck. Then for the cases that it didn't work, literally put "if" conditions in the code to force hacks for specific games.
Totally moronic design.
>Meanwhile, the play! dev keeps ginding frick ups in pcsx2.
>PCSX2 game compatibility = 98%
>Play! game compatibility = literally 0%
Hmm...
That's what happens when you're searching for accuracy. Things are very slow to start, but then games start being 100% playable really fast.
Also, it's a one man project. He's never going to get it finished because of that.
It's a good idea to not use the stable release and use a nightly/dev build instead. Fixes a lot of problems that you might have.
Could you be possibly ANY more cryptic and non-descriptive? Or is this just a thinly veiled "lets shit on pcsx2" thread?
It emulated King's Field 4 without a flaw, so I'm okay with it
>without a flaw
Fun fact: you will never truly know this unless you have real hardware or video footage.
Yeah but I do, I played the PAL version on PS2 a few years ago
>PAL version
Then your whole experience was flawed and your frame of reference is fricked
it runs the same as the NTSC-U (though I only know that from youtube videos)
the best PS2 emulator is a fat PS3 if you can find a working one of those. Otherwise you're stuck with PCSX2 or softmodding actual hardware (which I did after giving up on emulation)
PCSX2 sucks, but it's the only one that really works right now. Cope, make sure the settings are correct, and use an older version if you're on less-powerful hardware or use software mode more frequently if you have a strong CPU.
>Play!
Only being developed by one man and has seen virtually no progress in years. Pretty much a dead-end but I commend the dev for not giving up on it and doing what he can considering how much of a clusterfrick the PS2's hardware is.
>DobieStation
Only started development within the last few years and the dev has multiple other projects in the pipeline so don't count on this replacing PCSX2 anytime soon.
>hpsx64
Another dead-end like Play!, not even sure if this one's still in development.
>DamonPS2
A spyware-riddled chink bootleg Android port of PCSX2, not even worth mentioning.
On my 4500U laptop I can run pretty much anything on 720p
It ain't much but I hardly need anything more
>PCSX2 is the only worthwhile PS2 emulator, OP. Either learn to make it work better or softmod a real PS2.
>spend $3,000 on top of the line PC
>can't even play ps2 games
PC bros, tell me its gonna be ok
If you have a top of the line PC then it should run everything in SW mod with no slowdown. SW mode is basically hardware-accurate so HW rendering is mostly just a bonus for he games it plays well with.
i can play most games fullspeed with a 500 dollar prebuilt pc that i bought from walmart
How is play! coming around? I'm fricking tired of pcsx2, been strongly considering just buying a ps2 with one of those pricey upscale things like OSSC
it'll be a while. you're better off buying a ps2 than continuing to use pcsx2
Play! hasn't made any real progress in years, it's not really a viable alternative unfortunately.
Didn't Play! had a couple of updates these last few months? Or it was just meaningless things?
Not necessarily meaningless things, but very minor improvements that don't really make significant differences to game compatibility in the grand scheme of things, and anytime I've tried it myself or seen demonstration videos on YouTube games are either slow as Hell or have more severe graphical glitches than even PCSX2 does. Keep in mind that emulator's being developed by just one guy.
I see. I know it's just one guy, which is sad. PS2 would be one of the best consoles to emulate, but it looks like buying a PS2 will be the best choice for a long time.
I think PCSX2 would be tolerable with a better UI like
said. Quite a few games would still look and play like shit but at-least you'd only have to set hacks and shit for the game only once based-on what the Wiki or other anons recommend and then not have to worry about tinkering with them again for the remainder of your playthrough, just like Duckstation.
I just play the related game's PSP port on PPSSPP
Does it play the ratchet and clank games now? If so, I like it.
Something I've observed as a user of both PCSX2 and RPCS3:
RPCS3 would be a fricking nightmare to use if not for its UI/UX, which allows the user to right-click on a game in their library and "change custom configuration" so they can adjust the emulator's settings according to what's best for that particular game instead of having to redo the whole fricking thing every time you want to play a different game.
This is the big problem with PCSX2. It's a complex emulator for a complex machine that demands specific settings depending on the game you want to play, but there's no way to set custom configs for each individual game because its UI design is based-on ancient emulators like ePSXe where you pretty much just adjust the settings once according to what your machine can handle and then you rarely ever have to touch it again, but with PCSX2 you're ALWAYS having to make adjustments to what hacks you're using and what GPU plugin settings so the game looks and plays optimally. This wouldn't be such a huge fricking asspain and a detriment to the emulator if it had a similar option to RPCS3. I would argue hat "right-click to change custom config" feature is absolutely crucial to a complex emulator like PCSX2- it is in DESPERATE need of a UI overhaul but that doesn't appear to be a high priority to the emu devs currently.
This begs the question: How difficult would it be to program a frontend of sorts- (like Mednaffe for Mednafen) to overcome PCSX2's dogshit UI and add features like per-game configs and automatic updates like Dolphin and RPCS3? Because I highly doubt it's going to be on any of the main builds anytime soon and as far to my knowledge no such thing currently exists for PCSX2, if this were available I doubt we'd see so many anons shitting on the emulator because they're frustrated they have to keep fricking with the settings to play a new game, then try to go back to the other game they were playing only to find that it was fricked.
https://github.com/valters-tomsons/Spectabis
Never heard of it, but this looks promising. I'll try it later.