Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[Great Deceiver]

Yeah, it's definitely overreaction. The GC version is just fine and the reduced random encounter rate makes it a lot more playable.

 

[deuxhero]

It's mostly the compression. Skies of Arcadia is one of very few GCN games to actually use the whole disc (and the DC original was multidisc), so the audio had to be compressed.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Has anyone tried yuzu or vita3k?

 

[Baron Dupek]

Sony Patents PSX, PS2, PS3, PS4 Backwards Compatibility System for PS4
https://gamerant.com/ps5-backward-compatible-ps4-ps3-ps2-ps1/

more like paperwork than anything else I guess

 

[Goi~Yaas~Dinn]

Sony Patents PSX, PS2, PS3, PS4 Backwards Compatibility System for PS4
https://gamerant.com/ps5-backward-compatible-ps4-ps3-ps2-ps1/

more like paperwork than anything else I guess

They better not try to go after emulation projects while waving that bullshit piece of paper. They'd have no legal basis, but when has that ever stopped them?

 

[Hoaxmetal]

but when has that ever stopped them?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment,_Inc._v._Connectix_Corp.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

This is a mockery of Sony, to install retroarch on PS classic:

 

[IceyD]

playing Tales of the Abyss on PCSX2 and Legretta is just murdering me, good lord

 

[Goi~Yaas~Dinn]

but when has that ever stopped them?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment,_Inc._v._Connectix_Corp.

Exactly. Sony are the original litigious pieces of shit on that kinda stuff.

This is a mockery of Sony, to install retroarch on PS classic:

I still find it weird they even bothered with the Playstation Classic. It's just so damn obvious that they really didn't want to do it at all and just phoned everything in because they couldn't ignore the potential profit. But if you're going to be saddled with producing something anyway, why not make the best of it and give it a proper go? I just don't understand that shit...

 

[Nifft Batuff]

playing Tales of the Abyss on PCSX2 and Legretta is just murdering me, good lord

What configuration are you using? Do you manage to get rid of the "ghost" misaligned bloom effect when upscaling the resolution in hardware mode? I am using the latest PCSX2 v1.5.0 build.

Example of "ghost" effect (OpenGL 2x resolution) (see the moon & pillars for example):

Example of SW rendering (1x) w/o "ghost":

 

[flyingjohn]

playing Tales of the Abyss on PCSX2 and Legretta is just murdering me, good lord

What configuration are you using? Do you manage to get rid of the "ghost" misaligned bloom effect when upscaling the resolution in hardware mode? I am using the latest PCSX2 v1.5.0 build.

Example of "ghost" effect (OpenGL 2x resolution) (see the moon & pillars for example):

Example of SW rendering (1x) w/o "ghost":

https://wiki.pcsx2.net/index.php/Tales_of_the_Abyss
There is a custom plugin to fix this issue available.

 

[flyingjohn]

https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-7-6-released/

A new version of retroacrh is available.You can now use retroacrh on your ps2,while xbox one ,ps4 and toaster support is coming later.
And they seem to have made a new menu driver:

 

[abnaxus]

playing Tales of the Abyss on PCSX2 and Legretta is just murdering me, good lord

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I still find it weird they even bothered with the Playstation Classic. It's just so damn obvious that they really didn't want to do it at all and just phoned everything in because they couldn't ignore the potential profit. But if you're going to be saddled with producing something anyway, why not make the best of it and give it a proper go? I just don't understand that shit...

incompetence

sometimes there's no deeper meaning, they tried their best

 

[spekkio]

BROS I need some help.

I've encounter a weird bug in Retroarch 1.7.5 + byuu's cores (tested various bsnes cores and higan core).

Problem? Megaten games crash the emu.

Tested japanese versions of Majin Tensei 2, SMT1 and SMT2 and none of them will load. Using older cores won't help, resetting options does shit as well.
Tried a lot of other roms (Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Metroid) and all of them work fine. It's like some code / format used by Atlus crashes the emu.

On good old 1.7.3. these games work fine, using older and recent cores. So it's related to Retroarch.exe, not the cores.

I've been able to identify and fix this problem. It was caused by using modified gamepad drivers (DualShock2 + USB converter disguised as Saitek Pad to get Force Feedback working). Removing modified drivers and resetting gamepad settings to default in registry get the job done.

Still, weird AF, since it was working fine with all other RA cores and other Snes games except Megaten ones (tested different Bsnes / Higan and nSide cores).

Also, I really hope that RA devs will keep the format of .cfg files unchanged, because I don't think I could stomach going from cluttered as hell this:

To something like this:

Without using old config files... And core config files. And remap files.

 

[glass blackbird]

apparently that ps3 wizardry is playable in rpcs3. is it any good though

 

[Shackleton]

No idea if anyone will ever find this useful, but after a lot of head scratching about regular, but seemingly random jitters while playing Etrian Odyssey V in Citra I found a year old thread at Reddit that solved the problem.

In NV control panel, change the 3D settings so Citra has 'Adaptive' VSync.

I still get a bit of slowdown when there's a few effects on the screen, but the regular 'hiccups' when just moving around the map have gone completely. Thank god as it was really bugging me. Never really used Citra much before, but I'm very impressed. Looks like another selection of great jap dungeon crawlers just added to my backlog!

 

[Sigourn]

I'm posting this here because I thought I would share what I learned a few days ago about swapping disks for the PlayStation Beetle PSX core.

1. Create a text file with the extension .m3u. For instance:

Koudelka (USA).m3u

2. Inside that text file you must place the .cue names of every disk your game uses and save the text file. For instance:

Koudelka (USA) (Disc 1).cue
Koudelka (USA) (Disc 2).cue
Koudelka (USA) (Disc 3).cue
Koudelka (USA) (Disc 4).cue

You don't need .bin information of any kind in this text file. BUT YOU !!MUST!! HAVE THE .CUE FILES ON THE SAME FOLDER AS YOUR .m3u FILE! Otherwise RetroArch will crash when you load the .m3u file. It doesn't matter if said .cue files are bogus (i.e. you simply copypaste the first disk's .cue file and rename it), as long as you replace them with legitimate ones by the time you need to advance to that disk. It goes without saying you need to have legitimate .bin files as well in your folder when you advance through the disks.

3. Place that .m3u file on the same folder your .cue and .bin files are for that particular game.
4. Whenever you want to play, Load Content this .m3u file instead of the .cue files as you would normally do with single-disk PS1 games. It will automatically load the first disk in the series.
5. When prompted to switch disks, whether it be because you are loading a savegame that takes place in a latter disk or because you are advancing in-game to that disk:
a. Open the RetroArch menu and navigate to the game you are playing.
b. In the game's settings menu (where you can change emulation options, shaders, etc.) go to Disk Control.
c. Click on Disk Cycle Tray Status. This will open the virtual lid and Eject the current disk.
d. Set Disk Index to the corresponding disc (e.g. Disk Index 2 means Disk 2; by default it will be set to Disk Index 1 because that's the default disk the game launches)
d. Click again on Disk Cycle Tray Status. This will Close the virtual lid.
e. Close all menus and resume playing the game. Your savegame will load/you will advance to the next disk.

Hope this save's people some trouble, as I had to switch disks for Koudelka and I didn't know how, and most of the explanations I found online were very vague (for instance, they didn't say you need all .cue files).

 

[Sigourn]

https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-7-6-released/

A new version of retroacrh is available.You can now use retroacrh on your ps2,while xbox one ,ps4 and toaster support is coming later.

I have a few questions.

1. I have a PS2 myself. Does this mean I would be able to play other console games on my PS2? (And thus make use of my precious CRT?)
2. Would these games run just fine or would it still be better to run them on my computer?
3. If I have FreeMCBoot, can I play PS1 and PS2 games on my computer without the need to burn them into a DVD? Any links that explain how? By the way, my PS2 has a chip so it can play pirated games.

I installed FreeMCBoot a year or two ago for the sole purpose of fixing my CRT's annoying screen offset (that moved the screen slightly to the left, leaving a thin black bar to the right), but never made use of the program's full abilities.

 

[flyingjohn]

https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-7-6-released/

A new version of retroacrh is available.You can now use retroacrh on your ps2,while xbox one ,ps4 and toaster support is coming later.

I have a few questions.

1. I have a PS2 myself. Does this mean I would be able to play other console games on my PS2? (And thus make use of my precious CRT?)
2. Would these games run just fine or would it still be better to run them on my computer?
3. If I have FreeMCBoot, can I play PS1 and PS2 games on my computer without the need to burn them into a DVD? Any links that explain how? By the way, my PS2 has a chip so it can play pirated games.

I installed FreeMCBoot a year or two ago for the sole purpose of fixing my CRT's annoying screen offset (that moved the screen slightly to the left, leaving a thin black bar to the right), but never made use of the program's full abilities.

You can play nes and megadrive games with the current version of retroarch for the ps2. More cores will probably come later.

As for how they run,here is a video of some games running:


Is it worth it? Well that is up to you.I mean the performance doesn't seem to lag,but you can forget about any up scaling or extra bells and whistles that come with the computer version.
Now,if you have a crt tv and not a crt monitor,then it might be actually viable to play nes or megadrive games considering that is what they were supposed to be running on.
But you can still expect some slowdown on the more demanding games since you can't overclock the cores and the original fps of some of these games run were pretty low.

As for the freemcboot,well here is a reddit link mentioning it.It seems to be not recommendable since the usb on the ps2 is much slower then the dvd.
But you should read the link and decide for yourself,you can probably find a tutorial if your easily want just by googling it.

 

[Sigourn]

You can play nes and megadrive games with the current version of retroarch for the ps2. More cores will probably come later.

As for the freemcboot,well here is a reddit link mentioning it.It seems to be not recommendable since the usb on the ps2 is much slower then the dvd.
But you should read the link and decide for yourself,you can probably find a tutorial if your easily want just by googling it.

Hmm, I see. I have very few games on my NES backlog (Castlevanias and Metroid), maybe throw in Sweet Home and the Final Fantasies just because, so I'll check that out. Regarding the PS2, the idea was intriguing because it would save me money I don't have (jobless) and I would also prevent my laser from getting too much fucked up (I think I had it fixed twice and I juryrigged the lid so that the disc would spin properly), but if it really is considerably slower then maybe I won't bother.

EDIT: Hmm read something about using OPL to play games on my PS2 from my PC. Not sure how that would work, but apparently the consensus is that is is much better than using a USB, which from what I've heard will not only work slower, but the game will also stutter and crash.

 

[Sigourn]

woot woot it worked! I managed to get my games to play off the Ethernet connection (currently testing out King's Field IV). I'm getting Final Fantasy Tactics to see if I can do the same with PS1, that would be fantastic. But that I can do it with PS2 games alone (the ones with the most emulation issues as opposed to PSX games which work just fine with Beetle PSX) is a fantastic thing.

 

[glass blackbird]

for stuff like emulation and roms, USB storage would be fine. it's shitty for backups, though. the main problem is the ps2 doesn't have usb 2.0, so files read slower than they do off disc, which means much longer loadtimes, fucked up videos, and sometimes just outright failure to work.

the best option if you can swing it is putting games on a ps2 hard disk drive, if you have one. speeds up loading and everything, it's rad. if you've got the ethernet thing working though, that's also a good option and works with pretty much everything, iirc

 

[Sigourn]

if you've got the ethernet thing working though, that's also a good option and works with pretty much everything, iirc

I played about 20 minutes of King's Field IV and didn't encounter anything strange, so that's really nice. I'm testing out Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land now. I'm really happy about all of this, this has effectively replaced the shitty PS2 emulator.

 

[No Great Name]

I'm posting this here because I thought I would share what I learned a few days ago about swapping disks for the PlayStation Beetle PSX core.

1. Create a text file with the extension .m3u. For instance:

Koudelka (USA).m3u

2. Inside that text file you must place the .cue names of every disk your game uses and save the text file. For instance:

Koudelka (USA) (Disc 1).cue
Koudelka (USA) (Disc 2).cue
Koudelka (USA) (Disc 3).cue
Koudelka (USA) (Disc 4).cue

You don't need .bin information of any kind in this text file. BUT YOU !!MUST!! HAVE THE .CUE FILES ON THE SAME FOLDER AS YOUR .m3u FILE! Otherwise RetroArch will crash when you load the .m3u file. It doesn't matter if said .cue files are bogus (i.e. you simply copypaste the first disk's .cue file and rename it), as long as you replace them with legitimate ones by the time you need to advance to that disk. It goes without saying you need to have legitimate .bin files as well in your folder when you advance through the disks.

3. Place that .m3u file on the same folder your .cue and .bin files are for that particular game.
4. Whenever you want to play, Load Content this .m3u file instead of the .cue files as you would normally do with single-disk PS1 games. It will automatically load the first disk in the series.
5. When prompted to switch disks, whether it be because you are loading a savegame that takes place in a latter disk or because you are advancing in-game to that disk:
a. Open the RetroArch menu and navigate to the game you are playing.
b. In the game's settings menu (where you can change emulation options, shaders, etc.) go to Disk Control.
c. Click on Disk Cycle Tray Status. This will open the virtual lid and Eject the current disk.
d. Set Disk Index to the corresponding disc (e.g. Disk Index 2 means Disk 2; by default it will be set to Disk Index 1 because that's the default disk the game launches)
d. Click again on Disk Cycle Tray Status. This will Close the virtual lid.
e. Close all menus and resume playing the game. Your savegame will load/you will advance to the next disk.

Hope this save's people some trouble, as I had to switch disks for Koudelka and I didn't know how, and most of the explanations I found online were very vague (for instance, they didn't say you need all .cue files).

You can also go into the retroarch.cfg file and set hotkeys for those actions too instead of fiddling with menus. For example, I have input_disk_eject_toggle set to f10 and input_disk_next to f11 so if i need to switch to disc 2, i press f10, f11, and f10 again and that's it.

Just remember that when loading the .m3u file, retroarch defaults to disc 1 at the start.