Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[Great Deceiver]

Is there an alternative for PS1 emulation that isn't ePSXe? I hadn't used ePSXe in a while but I tried it out a game some days ago and god it is such an awful emulator.

Dude, the Beetle PSX core for Retroarch is far and away the best option, has been for years now. It also works with RA's recent runback method for reducing latency, which means that you can have next-frame response in many games.

I prefer the software renderer with good shaders for maximum fidelity, but there is also a hardware option with full PGXP functionality (perspective-correct textures/no wobbly polygons) that's very decent if you're into that sort of thing.

Get off that ePSXe crap!

Btw, spekkio updated the OP to remove ePSXe and include RA Beetle PSX awhile ago.

 

[aweigh]

what about playing PS1 games thru PPSSPP? I know it can be done I've just never bothered doing it. Do the resolution scaling options still work when you do that?

 

[aweigh]

I came across a neat topic in the PCSX2 forums. It hasn't gotten a lot of traction, but I feel it deserves it. For those unaware, asasega made a lot of hacks to get locked 30fps PS2 games running at 60. He has now also created some hacks that disable interlacing for several games as well.

https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-No-interlacing-codes

I thought this was really cool. This substantially improves the image quality. I've tried it out with Jak and Daxter and it seems to work, the game now look VERY crisp and sharp compared to before.

Interlacing is a bothersome issue when trying to run PS2 games at higher resolutions via emulation. In PCSX2, games which contain interlacing either suffer a perpetual vertical jittering, or require an unsightly blurring effect to hide it. Jacking up the internal resolution doesn't help this. The PS3 remasters of PS2 games removed the interlacing if they contained it, and appear crisp and sharp even at comparatively lower resolutions than you can achieve in PCSX2.

Sadly these are only available as cheats for individual games, and the list as of this time is not very large. The guy who made, asasega, also isn't taking requests and claims he won't be making more. So others will have to make them themselves.

 

[aweigh]

https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/92x56t/ps2_disabled_interlacing_cheats/

The PS2 video hardware internally outputs a 640x240 interlaced frame at 60fps, for a full resolution of 640x480 (You might see this described as "480i"). So if your game is rendering at 30fps or lower, you needed a full 640x480 render buffer so that the hardware could output the even/odd lines on every other frame.

However, the PS2 had a very limited amount of video memory ("VRAM"). This 4MB of VRAM needed to hold all of:

• The color data for the finished video frame currently being displayed ("front-buffer")
• The color data for the in-progress video frame being rendered to display next ("back-buffer")
• Storage for the "depth" of each pixel in the backbuffer ("z-buffer"), so that 3-d objects displayed properly on top / behind each other even if they were very close to each other.
• Texture and palette data for whatever is currently being rendered to the screen.

At 640x480, using 32-bit render buffers and a 16-bit z-buffer, this comes out to 3,072,000 bytes, or exactly 3000KB, almost 3/4 of the 4096KB available. This left just over 1MB for texture data, and games either needed to have very low texture detail, or spend a bunch of time moving texture data into VRAM just-in-time for it to be rendered.

However, the PS2 supported a native interlaced rendering mode -- if your game could maintain a solid 60fps framerate, you could render just the even/odd lines of the frame directly, requiring these buffers to only be 640x240. This saved half of the data required, more than doubling the amount of VRAM available for texture data -- from 1MB to 2.5MB!

If the game ever failed to output a frame at 60fps, you got 'derezzing', where the game would drop to 640x240 since there was no data for the other half of the frame. This looked terrible. So you needed to be confident that your game would render at 60fps to use this mode, but if you could, it saved a ton of memory.

In order to use this mode, the game would render each frame at 640x240, but offset every other frame by half a pixel vertically.

This looks just as good as rendering at 640x480 60fps when targeting regular TVs, but saves a ton of memory and rendering time ('fill rate' -- you only need to fill half as many pixels). So it was a win if you could do it.

It fell off in usage as 480p component video output (full 640x480 non-interlaced) became more common in the late stages of the PS2's life.

Yes and no. There are 640x480 pixels on an NTSC screen, but only half of them are updated every 60th of a second.

If you were to take a video of a TV at the time with a super high-speed camera, you'd see a line racing across the screen, lighting up 240 * 60 lines per second. The oldest pixels would be fading to black while the newest pixels would be very bright. But this electron beam would skip every other line on the screen. So there are 480 lines, but they are being updated at different times. Your brain combines this into a single 640x480 moving image -- it's different than a 640x480 30fps image; half the pixels are temporally different. It's also different from a 640x240 60fps image; the pixels are at different locations, allowing for higher detail.

It's 640x480 60fps, but only half of the pixels are updated each frame.

It's certainly nowhere as good as 480p, but it's also better than 640x240.

EDIT: The first part of this video shows the electron beam in action for a non-interlaced NES game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BJU2drrtCM -- IIRC, the NES resolution is around 256 x 224 x 60fps

 

[aweigh]

meanwhile modern devs are like lol 4k textures here u go

 

[LJ40]

what about playing PS1 games thru PPSSPP? I know it can be done I've just never bothered doing it. Do the resolution scaling options still work when you do that?

Unless it's changed very recently, PPSSPP doesn't support PS1 games.

 

[Great Deceiver]

MGS running on Beetle PSX HW.

The last time I played this was on release, 20 years ago. One of the most technically impressive games ever, it was incredible that they got this shit running on the PS1. The first MGS is 'gamey' enough to still entertain me all these years later, whereas later sequels got too absurd and the proportion between cutscenes and gameplay got even more skewed.

 

[spekkio]

^ SNAAAAAKE!!!

 

[aweigh]

Been trying out / playing "Guided Fate Paradox", a JRPG take on rogue-likes: turn-based movement in lock-step with enemies, absolute metric fuck-ton of items, can pick up many different objects in the field that have many different uses, and all rooms (not just the floor, but each successive "room") is randomly generated, etc.

Has a very charming little cast of characters that on the surface may seem like haram but they grow on you. Voice acting is suitably cute/lulzy.

Issues: currently RPCS3 spits out the 2D sprites with black outlines for some reason. Actual game itself plays perfectly.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Are you going full weeb, aweigh? Say it ain't so.

 

[aweigh]

mostly just combing through ps3 rpgs to see what's currently playable on rpcs3, and/or good. Seems to be a lot of jrpgs on it.

(I skipped the ps3 generation).

 

[lightbane]

meanwhile modern devs are like lol 4k textures here u go

It's too bad emulators are hyper-focused on mediocre/terrible/obsure (or popular) JRPG games though.
Should they be good enough, many mysteriously disappear shortly before an "HD Edition" is uploaded in the respective console network for an overcharged price.

At least they doesn't require you to install 500+ GB plus DRM always online bullshit.

 

[flyingjohn]

mostly just combing through ps3 rpgs to see what's currently playable on rpcs3, and/or good. Seems to be a lot of jrpgs on it.

(I skipped the ps3 generation).

Skip white knight chronicles 1/2. Offline MMO garbage.

Tales of graces f is only good if you enjoy animu,the story and characters are shit but the game play is on the same level of vesperia.
Vesperia is coming to pc anyway.

Nier is a interesting game to say the least.It has somewhat varied gameplay but the individual gameplay elements are nothing special.The story is insane and brilliant at the same time.

Resonance of fate doesn't work but you should play it when it becomes playable.Combat system centered around guns and customization is simply fun.

Eternal sonata is that jrpg where you play as Chopin.I personally didn't like it,but if you enjoy the combat system you might want to continue playing(it has a interesting system based on shadow/light),Also the story is garbage,pure garbage.

Ni no kuni you already liked so that is that.

Ps3 also has a huge collection of atelier games.Personally love them for the crafting alone.If you are interested in them start at either alchemist of arland or alchemist of dusk.So if you care about deep crafting and chill game play you might be interested in them.Also most stuff in the game are timed, so i don't know will that annoy you.

Disagea is a srpg,so have no idea will that interest you.Disgaea 5 is coming to pc and that alone is certainly better then playing disagea 3 or 4 since each installment builds on each other.
But if you want to play disagea on the ps3 just avoid 3,it is annoying.

Demons souls doesn't need a introduction.Mechanics wise it may lack some features from the dark souls,but the atmosphere alone is certainly up there and even better in some places(Latria) then dark souls.

Trinity universe is a jrpg where most of the game play takes place in dungeons.But not your wizardry dungeons,but modern jrpg dungeons which are boring.Also the story is full animu.So probably avoid.

Legasista is a shiren the wanderer roguelike type only available in Japan.I would recommend only to people who enjoyed shiren and mystery dungeon series,else avoid.

The awakened fate ultimatum is a sequel to guided fate paradox.It is a dumbed down version of guided fate,avoid.

Dragon crown and Odin sphere are more beat umps,but they are beautiful and have solid gameplay.

There are some wizadry game on the ps3 which i haven't played,but i doubt they are worth your time.

And that mostly covers the exclusive rpg genre on the ps3.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Man, Eternal Sonata was some hot garbage. I played it on the 360 back in the day, though. It was very disappointing because it was made by the same people who did Baten Kaitos 1/2, which were great underrated RPGs for the Gamecube.

 

[aweigh]

what about non-rpgs? is there a good wipeout/racing game on ps3? i used to love that shit. obviously i know stuff about last of us and red dead redemption but those aren't fully playable yet, but i have my eye on them.

 

[flyingjohn]

what about non-rpgs? is there a good wipeout/racing game on ps3? i used to love that shit. obviously i know stuff about last of us and red dead redemption but those aren't fully playable yet, but i have my eye on them.

Well for racing there is only gran turismo that is exclusive.Nothing like wipe out,but there is wipe out hd that you could try.
Edit:If you are interested in wipeout stuff,there is racing neo for the wiiu.It works nicely on cemu.

 

[Abu Antar]

Motorstorm was decent.

 

[Great Deceiver]

what about non-rpgs? is there a good wipeout/racing game on ps3? i used to love that shit. obviously i know stuff about last of us and red dead redemption but those aren't fully playable yet, but i have my eye on them.

Well, Wipeout HD is brilliant even though it was released 10 years ago. I don`t know if it works under rpcs3, but I played the shit out of it until my PS3 broke.



There's also an expansion called "Wipeout HD Fury". Give it a try.

 

[deuxhero]

PCSX2 settings for Steambot Chronicles?

As for the PS3 RPG question, the Arland trilogy of New Rorona/Totori/Meruru is a great though they just announced PS4 ports which I'm sure KT will use as an excuse to port to PC by the time they get announced for the west. Pretty much all the other PS3 RPGs of note have been ported to PC recently. Resonance of Fate and (maybe) Enchanted Arms are all I can think of beyond Atelier (which all have Vita ports and aren't really exclusive, but it's Vita so meh) and of course Demons Souls. I repeat the Eternal Sonata is REALLY bad. I mean really fucking bad. Disturbingly it's supposed to be the fixed version over the 360 original.

 

[aweigh]

ok but non-rpg game recommendations are fine.

for example i just discovered the amazing platformer Puppeteer thanks to GameSack youtube channel:

 

[deuxhero]

It's not really the gen so much as the consoles of that gen. The DS and PSP had a good number, though virtually none of the PSP ones were translated.

 

[aweigh]

ps3 (only version i believe) dragon quest builders got recently english patched. don't know anything else about it other than that.

 

[Baron Dupek]

I don't know if anyone care but EmuParadise no longer provide ROM downloads.
https://www.emuparadise.me/emuparadise-changing.php

From receiving threatening letters in the early days to our hosts suddenly shutting down our servers due to complaints, we've seen it all. We've always complied with takedown requests but as you can see, that is no guarantee of anything.


It's not worth it for us to risk potentially disastrous consequences. I cannot in good conscience risk the futures of our team members who have contributed to the site through the years. We run EmuParadise for the love of retro games and for you to be able to revisit those good times. Unfortunately, it's not possible right now to do so in a way that makes everyone happy and keeps us out of trouble.

I used them to get games for fifth and 6th generation games. Still got 2-3 sources to go for them (not counting torrents) so better get some reserves...
Bet Nintendo was main reason cause they're on fire recently to anihillate every site with their games to DL (including their own shops).

f

 

[aweigh]

the thing is nintendo can only go after sites with nintendo published games, so rom sites just need to not carry nintendo-made games if they're worried.

 

[spekkio]

Horrible news about EmuParadise. They've got almost everything and ultra-convenient to leech. Thank God I have everything worth having on my HDD, and new consoles aren't really worth emulating (few exclusives, DRM, day-one patches, dlcs, etc.).