PCSX2 is something that I am forever grateful for being as good as it is. Now that I have an insane PC, I can finally play some more demanding games emulated in 4k with no issues. Playing the Sly Cooper trilogy and Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition Remix is a dream because the PS2 means so much more to me than just a console. I grew up with some of the best games I’ve ever played.
Might want to use the Nightly build. I just switched last night and it’s great. Running on Vulkan and True Crime New York is running to its full capacity and it’s on HD😅. I want to say I used the AXCS2 64 bit.
Hey man, random question. My pcsx 2 has a lot of speed problems and framedrops. I have tried tweaking EE cycle rate and other settings. My PC has 8 GB ram and 4 GB Nvedia GPU (not sure which one exactly). Is it possible that my pc specs arent enough or there might be another reason?
Fun fact, the other PS2 emulator Play! has an HLE bios, so you don't need to provide your own. Though Play! still has a long ways to go before it gets to PCSX2 compatibility
Native PS2 fat with a freemcboot, with an ssd using a sata adapter and opl, and a HDMI adapter using fmcb to force 480p on all games, emulation is good, but the ps2 still is a a damn hell to emulate, thanks to many games using heavely customized engines that used every feature of the original hardware to the point of literal madness, ratchet and clank or jak and daxter come to my mind especially for their situation in pcsx2, other games like dirge of cerberus and many others still have some flaws or are so taxing that even high end computers have trouble running them at a somewhat stable framerate, usually with frametimes all over the place.
Forcing 480p on all games can create compatibility issues for those that don't support it at all. SATA clone adapters are also terrible. Best approach is: - Fat PS2, the 39k or 50k models preferably. - Official magic gate 8MB FMCB MC on the 2nd slot. - Official magic gate 8MB MC on the 1st slot for saves. VMCs are less reliable than real memory cards. - A USB flash drive for save backups when the MC is full. Easy to import and export back to the MC through uLaunchELF. - Official IDE Sony network adaptor with the SATA upgrade kit. - 3.5 inch 2TB HDD. 2.5 inch HDDs will "float" inside and SSDs do not benefit of the speed. - Official OPL v1.1.0 from PSX Place. - Component cables or a good Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr HDMI adaptor for the best picture quality.
@@Manic_Panic I personally went through the ordeal of finding an official hdd adapter to get network support and use a sata upgrade kit, regarding the ssd, it's not entirely accurate, as any older console actually benefits from the faster random reads the ssd is capable of, and personally I'm tired of HDDs going kamikaze, in 10 years i switched HDDs on my PC more times than i renewed my underwear.
Considering I can run Dirge of Cerberus at a near locked 60 on my pc there is no way I could ever imagine playing it on original hardware where it tanked everywhere.
@@omgazr0 Personally i never managed to run Dirge of Cerberus "well enough", and my PC specs are quite good, except for the gpu that it's starting to show its age: Ryzen 3700X, 16GB drr4 3600mhz, gtx 960 4GB version, and 2 500GB nvme SSD's no raid as i use one for linux and the other for windows, with a single 1TB HDD. And either the game just goes kboom on me regarding performance, or i manage to run it stable at 60fps but then the effects go kboom, specially noticable on the first level with all the lamps and lights, you can easley see that pcsx2 has trouble getting where the textures have to be and they just pop out like a laminated shiny aberration, i haven't advanced that much (im going through Edge, so level 3 or 4, idk exactly), but DoC is one of those games that i never managed to run it "just fine", and i played A LOT with the settings years ago, not so much right now with 1.7 builds, but even now i haven't managed to run it just fine. And i had a lot of trouble with the Atelier Iris games, or basically koei tecmo games, the emulator "separated" the sprites from the actual prerendered background and added lines to the edge of each object sprite making it look like a lego block puddle in some maps, that has been fixed in these latest 1.7 builds, but only when using certain texture filtering settings, so it's not perfect yet.
Dunno, I can run most of the PS2 library at 6K on my computer but I still play these games on real fat PS2 with an HDD, using a Trinitron CRT that I got for 10 euros. No amount of upscaling, widescreen hacks, shaders etc. can compare to the real deal, which is absolutely magical (I am also speaking as someone who didn’t have a PS2 console as a kid, so there is no nostalgia for me; this console is THIS good!)
One of the things I've found with emulators is that there's inconsistent input lag and so some games just don't feel right, particularly retro games reliant on frame perfect inputs. If the input lag were consistent, then we could adapt. Due to the nature of emulators though, sometimes it's 1 frame, other times it's 5. That's why I think FPGA is ultimately the future so long as the original hardware can be accurately described either by decapping or reverse engineering. In the late 2000s when LCDs took over the market and the PS3 was released, games started to lax the input windows. As such, I'd be curious to test fight games from the PS2 era to see if they started to loosen those input windows earlier. If they did, then being hardware-accurate may not matter so much.
Dolphin has no or very little input lag, PCSX2 still sucks at fighting games because of the input lag. For Budokai tenkaichi you can play that on Dolphin too.
I don't notice such latency on anything with a framebuffer and don't notice it with systems running run ahead. I actually find the original hardware has higher input latency than run ahead at times. I have heard people having such problems with Sega Saturn emulation but I am getting about the same frame counts between button presses as others are getting on MiSTer FPGA systems for Sega Saturn. I do wish we had more objective testing on both soft and hard emulation. Someone that does not have something to gain from the results they present.
Per game settings would be so cool, I have a zipped portable version of PCSX2 with the basic core settings and make a copy of it for each game I want to play in order to tweak it and get the best results (or sometimes to get them to work at all!), also having a memory card per game helps keeping saves sorted and tidy.
@@davidste60 Spectabis is meh. You can do per-game configs with Steam and then have them show up on steam with Steam Rom Manager. Steam Rom Manger also fetches cover-art for them as well. I run all of my pc games and roms with Steam and it's great. I can go from playing a PC game to a PS2 game in seconds, without even having to touch my keyboard. (I use Big Picture)
23:30 convert a MC save to a folder is very useful to put a save created on emulator or downloaded from the internet on real console. Just bring the folder to an USB stick, run uLanchELF on PS2 console and copy the folder to memory card and bang, you can play the save on real hardware. The backwards is valid too. You also can convert the save folder to a PS3 save file and put on PS3 (softmodded or not) using an USB stick, and play PS2/PS1 back compat games on PS3 using the save file you created
Love this emulator, just wish I could upscale my MLB 06 The Show without the black vertical lines :). Have about 40 PS2 discs and most work flawlessly. Great job!
you can get really weird results using discs in pcsx2 emulator same as original ps2 if there's scratch it'll mess up an area of code. since the emulator is reading original game code + interpreting its own emulator response + you get this really bizarre amount of glitches from any tiny spot the laser doesn't read 00FF
28:52 dude you don't get enough credits for your backdrops. This background looks sick as hell with all the differently sized crt's all displaying the ps2 logo. Looks like you're trying to sell me some sick ass, new old crts to boot with my ps2 :D
@@EposVox Can the PCSX2 play the PS1 and PS2 Japanese game discs...??? I have many Japanese physical discs, and I want to know if this emulator stores copies the disc into the drive
The biggest thing for me when emulating is the controller. I could play it with another controller but it takes away a bit of nostalgia. I would encourage people too try to source an OG controller and a USB adapter. It makes a world of difference. Especially the PS2 controller because it had pressure sensitive buttons. The only other controller that comes close to the DS2 is the DS3 from the ps3. Some rare titles on the ps2 also had support for sixaxis but I don't think pcsx2 has sixaxis support
For sure, especially in regards to the pressure sensitivity with a few titles like MGS2 and MGS3, where pressure sensitive controls are a vital part of gameplay.
None of the USB adapters available at the moment support pressure sensitivity. There is a kind of expensive one for PSX controllers that may add it with an update.
@@mattpiechocki8874 Would a PS3 controller work with PCSX2 for the pressure sensitivity? I'm considering getting that and a stand for my Steam Deck so I can play them properly.
I’m very grateful to PCSX2 devs for how good the emulator is. I grew up with the PS2 and my childhood console is basically 99% playable on the emulator. I know OG Xbox fans that aren’t so lucky. Not that Xbox emulation is bad or anything but it’s not as good as Dolphin or PCSX2.
fun fact PCSX2 memory cards can be used on the PS3 virtual memory card (the actual one, not the one baked into PS2 classics) make sure you have a memory card made on the PS3, rename the .PS2 virtual memory card to VM2 (if I remember off the top of my head) then drag n drop it onto the PS3 using FTP or multiman (obviously in the correct folder) I should note that the PS3 won't always show the memory card items.... it's just if you want to switch between PCSX2 and PS3 for gameplay or something
Honestly my biggest issue with PCSX2 from other emulators is the UI. I think it’s terrible compared to everything else out there like dolphin, duck station, RPCS3, and others. They need to update it. Still I love playing on my PC CRT and I wonder how it would look with the hdmi to composite adapter I have to connect to old SD CRTs
Love the PS2!! Easily my favorite video game console. Just added a HDD to to my fat PS2 and I’m able to play games that are ridiculously expensive right now. I’m still collecting games, but it’s refreshing that I can still play some premium PS2 games and actually have a shit ton of games backed up on the HDD.
15 seconds in MK: Armageddon I love it. This is absolutely incredible, PS2 always captures dark for me, emulators look perfect and Ps2 still has a active online community that can cross play from pcsx2 to old PS2's from windows or Mac users. It's incredible.
Despite the bonuses, I still get the most joy playing my PS2 on my CRT. I have FreeMCBoot and a HDD in my PS2, so I don't have to use my discs, and have made my own OPL theme based off the PS3 UI in yellow. Still play mine at least every couple of weeks.
"I would happily continue buying more games made in this engine today" Your vid was already excellent but that line? That one right there? That's the clincher and absolute earns a sub! Fellow Snowblind-engine aficionados are always groovy! I adore the engine and the games made on it, happily purchased BGDA on PS5 when it launched recently, and I'll be doing the same for BGDA2 when it hits this year :) I truly hope Black Isle can negotiate the rights to Fallout BoS and the two Everquest games
I remember like version 1.2 working pretty damn good with the resolution cranked up to like 2x even on my rig with a FX-8350 choking under the stock cooler and GTX-750ti back in 2014. It was impressive even before the massive reworking of the code in 1.7.
For choosing games, dump all your isos into one folder, select ISO from CDVD and then check "Always ask when booting" Not perfect, not even great, but it works. Also for memory cards, select "no disc" and and then the "Boot Iso" selection becomes "Boot BIOS" which will take you to the classic PS2 menu.
11:24 Soul Calibur 3 is running on interlaced mode, but that game is compatible with progressive scan (480p), you just need to press Triangle + X while the game is booting, until you see a menu asking you if you wish to activate progressive mode. I think that running the game in progressive mode should get rid of the ghosting.
YOU WERE AT TOO MANY GAMES ? DID YOU GET TO SEE JAMES ROLFE ROCK OUT WITH REX VIPER ? OH MAN I LOVE JAMES ROLFE, HE HAS SAVED MY LIFE. LOVE THE GUY BET HE ROCKED OUT HARD !! WISH I WAS THERE TO HAVE A BEER WITH THE DUDE SO I CAN TELL HIM HOW MUCH HE HAS DONE FOR ME.
It supports them, everything works.I've tested it with mgs 2, had to use triggers as pressure sensitive buttons due to xbox controller not having pressure sensitive buttons, only triggers.
I’m going to get a 1600x1200 CRT monitor and PCSX2 is one of my reasons for doing so. Deinterlacing and dodgy widescreen hacks won’t be a problem for me, and artefacts brought in by upscaling may be hidden by the attributes of a CRT(not sure about that last part).
@@5izzy557 if you knew what they used to solder things you wouldnt want to be anywhere near a crt turned on in a closed unvented room. totally different world today much less cancer than the early 90s late 80s... if you wanna be careful try making sure it's not from 85-93.
PCSX2 is incredible, but the most frustrating thing that ruins it for me is the noticeable input lag that it has. It seems to be baked into the emulator, as no matter what settings i try or how powerful of a computer i play on it always has some noticeable input lag. For that reason i will always prefer playing on a real PS2, once they somehow fix the input lag though it will 100% be the best way to play as playing ps2 games in 4k is a dream come true.
if there's thing I think PCSX2 could need it's some sort of other alternative upscaling methods like FSR for example, as I sometimes find that I end up preferring to use my mcable to upscale PS2 games on my TV as some PS2 games don't like the higher internal rendering resolution.
@@springchickena1 that... isn't relevant in the slightest to my comment, other than running games in native resolution, there is a software renderer to fix a majority of the issues in PS2 emulation, there are still some lingering issues like having to correct the fps in the emulator when running Tekken 1, Tekken 2, or Tekken 3 via Tekken 5's arcade history (as it will run slow by default for some reason), but otherwise my experience with Software renderer has been pretty good.
The fact that I was just looking up videos on the PS2 YESTERDAY and this man uploads this today is insane lol. PS2 in my opinion had the best games ever made. I purchased a PS2 to HDMI converter but I'll watch this video entirely if it means I can revisit my childhood on my PC. 🙏🏽🔥
@@EposVox I was hooking it up using a Monster multi adapter hook up which had PS2 Nintendo Multi, and Xbox connector on one end, and on the other had standard RCA red, white, and Yellow, AND S-video.that could have been part of the problem, but also, there is a option in BIOS to change the disk read speed: normal and fast. I always kept my PS2 on fast.
22:12 Launch box is a good option for managing ps2 games and it is constantly updated and while I haven't explored this option myself i think it does support some per game settings as well. the interface kinda looks like steam as well.
An awesome video as per usual, Adam 😄👍👍 as ever, I appreciate you for going into such a high level of detail and througherness with your content. 🙂👌 The PlayStation 2 was also my favourite games console from my late childhood and teenage years. 😁🎮 I’ve just now bought a satin silver slimline PS2 off of eBay in order to replay some of my favourites as well as a few new games (well, new to me in terms of titles I didn’t check out back in the day) I’ll definitely be checking out Curiosity Stream and Nebula when my next payday rolls around as I could definitely do with a more in depth video on how to convert the games that I currently have into ISO files to play them through the emulator. 🎮📀💻 Cheers to you, my man! 🥃🥃
I need an EDGE BROWSER version of the PCSX2, where it uses an EDGE browser minimalistic and it runs directly as a plugin, so it automatically runs the physical game and install it.
Loved the part where you played PCSX2 on a CRT Monitor. Have you ever tried playing it on a CRT Tv via CRT Emudriver, soft15khz, or by manually defining custom resolutions?
regarding per game config, the way I do it (on linux) is through Lutris (a game library program that tries to make it as easy as possible to install and run games on linux). I don't use the pcsx2 binaries downloaded by lutris, but install it my own way and have lutris launch that. Then in the configurations of the games, I set arguments so that they run with their very own config files, saved in the same folders as the iso files. This is what I do for Dolphin as well, because I prefer opening lutris and seeing all my games there, rather than opening different clients.
A CFWed PS3 is just as good in my opinion if not better. Only downside is that compatibility for PS2 isos isn't 100% depending on what model of PS3 you have. I have a Slim 2501A and I haven't run into any problems so far.
The new QT builds of PCSX2 now support per-game settings. Since pretty much every issue with emulation can be fixed with one tweak or another, it’s now possible to get 99% perfect emulation across pretty much all of the PS2 library, given that you tweak every game individually.
Looking forward to the PS2 Softmod, i had my FAT ps2 die not long ago shamefully just when i wanted to do the HDD expansion bay thing since you dont get jumpy cutscenes unlike using USB 1.0 due of the bandwith limitations. And good luck finding an OG 80gb PS3, had one but shamefully had YLOD twice even after seding it to be reballed/refurbished, last time i saw one where i live they costed around 600 dollars, ouch... Also wished i had so many physical copies like that, specially ones i saw like Digital Devil Saga, those are literal gems, shame that Raidou Kuzunoha games alone are now 200 dollars each, crazy high prices since they are just so rare! My biggest regret is selling my Time Crisis 2 with the Guncon II after i got the PS3, now i just wished i had it back with my old TV :C
There's a new mod that puts an SD adapter on the memory card and runs as fast as with the internall HDD and it doesn't have the issues of the USB stuttering
I love messing around with emulation, but it's going to be a long while before emulation replaces actual hardware for me. The main issue for me is just when I think I have everything nailed down, a new game disrupts it, forcing me down the path again for 'best settings'. Sometimes having something just work is more desirable.
@@drone124 yup and its exactly that reason why i ended up hunting down a pvm crt monitor to run my ps2 in rgb on that crt screen because that game as well as tales of the abyss and some others had that issue. On a nice pvm or crt monitor Valkyrie profile 2 looks so crisp and clean it almost looks like an HD remaster in and of itself!
@@matics28 i think valkyrie profile had a mode to run in 1080i so i am not surprised. there is hack in PCSX2 to sort of fix the ghost imaging but then you have to change it for every game
I use to think the fully backwards compatible ps3 60 gig models were the best way to play ps2 games, but now now I think pcsx2 has surpassed it. The original backwards compatible models were over 99% compatible, but now so is the pcsx2. I even know of one game spartan total warrior that didn't work on the backwards compatible ps3's that the pcsx2 has managed to get working that's an impressive achievement to me.
@TH4U Are you sure you got the 60 gig backwards compatible model? They did make non backwards compatible 60 gig models too. If you want a console like experience you could do what I do. Which is run an hdmi cable from your pc to tv. You can also get a bluetooth dongle so you can use your controller can wirelessly.
18:49-20:18 this is incorrect, the motion looks blurry because you are using the wrong deinterlacing setting (probably automatic or blend) for GT4 and many other games that are interlaced the best setting is bob bottom field first.
I played onimusha on my 750 tvl "pvm style" jvc crt monitor for the first time a few days ago and i have to say.... Literally no amount of ai upscaling or hd textures on the prerendered backgrounds that I've used with pcsx2 can compare to how CLEAN that game looked interlaced at 480i on my screen, i was absolutely blown away by it. I'll even go as far as saying it looked cleaner to my eyes than even the hd remaster they did on modern consoles, but that's just me personally, i know everyone has their personal preferences and i respect that.
Hey man thanks for the video, the ps2 emulation scene is amazing, everyone provides imput and is constantly evolving, too bad nowadays is hard to afford a pc, I can't get one myself so I have to use my phone to do light gaming. I saw the ps2 emulator working on Android and it seems like the app is very good compared to the pc version. The missing features you named are all avaible on android (I think). I will keep an eye on this amazing emulator, someday I will get a pc and hopefully the emulation gets better then. Much love from Colombia, I will sub and stay around to see what you post
Shotty deinterlacing is one of my worst nightmares, I hate it when those bouncing artefacts are present in text and textures. I hope they improve on it soon.
Dragon Ball Budokai 3 is absolutely gorgeous cranked up. It's been better than the PS2 for a long time assuming you have the hardware to play it. Sandy Bridge i7 or Skylake i5 is the bare minimum to play everything from what I can tell. Gran Turismo 4 was the hardest to emulate at full speed, they got that sorted around 1.5, AVX2 support helped tons.
Hey Addie, awesome video! I was wondering about how you script or prepare for your videos. How much of it is improvised or just some basic bullet-points and how much do you fully script or at least have a guideline?
The custom config for individual games would be useful and is unfortunate that they haven't or won't implement it but if you use retroarch you can actually do that you can create a per game configuration on each game its very limited but its pretty good for basic stuff like widescreen hacks and internal resolution
My experience, is that original hardware is the way to go if you have a FAT PS2 + Upscaler for modern LED TV. Its smoother, some games look different on emulator (missing graphics) and performance. You need a powerful expansive CPU, to run emulation, and it will always slowdown, sometimes even run too fast. Its still a pain for PS2. PS1 Duckstation is perfect, but PS2 is still to complex for an average PC. Emulator was nice but never run as original hardware. Its expensive to get a scaler, but its better then emulation in my opinion. Or just by an old CRT.
I'd take compatibility and playability over graphics and visuals. They should bring back 32 bit support. There's another PS1 emulator called ePSXe. As for PlayStation Plus, why would anyone buy a subscription to play PS2 games when they can just download an emulator and play for free?
Forcing progressive scan on PS2 is a lot less trivial than it is for something like Xbox or GameCube. True that a lot of games already use a full framebuffer. A lot of games on PS2 render interlaced (so 640x240, but it was usually 512x224).
pcsx2 is prob one of the best emulators of all time. Its still fun to have a native ps2 though just for nostalgia. plus with freemcboot you could have every game
Bruh i didn't know theres a new mac version. I just deleted my old one I installed using wine to run on my MacBook and it's so flawless now, the graphics could use some work tho
Playing on a Mac Mini M2. It truly does play better than the original hardware, and looks better with all these hd texture packs 🤌 nothing but chef's kiss for me
15:10 Burnout 3 does already run at a stable 60fps on an actual PS2 though. With the exception of the menus, crashes, and split-screen which are all capped at 30.
I've played so many games on PCSX2 over the years and was wondering if it was worth getting my old PS2 hardware up and running with a modded HDD and HDMI convertors... It just still will never come close to the graphical fidelity that PCSX2 can bring to these old games with upscaling.
Yes. The PS2 hardware has really bad video quality when hooked up to anything outside of a 640x480 CRT. Emulation (and upscaling) enable MUCH better video quality, which makes the PS2 library so much more fun.
I love original hardware and still using freemcboot with Ethernet, can’t say why but emulators are not for me, so I hunt for hardware constantly. For more sane person, this emu is gold, my PC master friends can play GOW, MGS, Silent Hill (although fog is still better on hardware) and enjoy it. The thing i don’t understand is resolution race, ps2 is 480/576 vertical resolution machine, there is no point to push it, just enjoy the games behind the pixels, not the pixels. I think it’s just showing what’s possible. Anyway, let’s just play some games and have a good time, regardless of emu or hardware.
I think it's cool to see games with more clarity, specially in modern lcd displays wich tend to be way bigger, GT4 looks insane when theres a little more sharpness, models are really good
No, stop it with your native resolution elitism. Many games on higher than native resolution screens look really bad and blurry and it's really hard to make out stuff (mainly for 3d games, 2d sprite based games are fine) so increasing the resolution to actually see is very reasonable.
@@thegamerfe8751 It's not elitism, I just said that I don't understand it, I'm not against it in any way. Furthermore, I think having more options is a very good thing in an emulator.
4:15, (Maybe this might help someone idk lol) For anyone that uses Linux PCSX2 and wants to make an image file, use the "dd" command (e.g dd if=/dev/cdrom of=whateverisonameyouwant.iso, or dd if=/dev/sr0 of=whateverisonameyouwant.iso)
this ^ the ps2 didnt have many games that could suppoert 480p you can use cheat codes to force some games to run in a progressive mode but they are not available for every game
PC CRTs have visible scan lines for resolutions that the PS2 ran at but the main issue is that it output 480i which wasn’t supported on the vast majority of PC CRTs so most games wouldn’t work. The one that did 480p and higher would have no issues though.
Damn 20 years. I definitely did not use it back in those days definitely around the 2010's when i first discovered it. For help with the memory card management you can use mymc ps2 memory card utility. I had done so mainly because i found my childhood ps2 memory card recently so i was transferring into pcsx2 for use with my Steamdeck.
While players may feel differences in their experiences, in my case, PCSX2 is unplayable for all games. I don't understand when PS2 games became a means of graphic benchmarking.
I dunno if I'd say the BEST way to play PS2 games is with an emulator. Personally, I'd leave that up to a real PS2 that's been modded with an SSD, the ability to play iso files, and HDMI out. Or something similar. But what I WILL say, is that an emulator is convenient, and allows for upscaling to higher internal resolutions. Playing PS2 at 1080p or higher is pretty nice, especially when playing on a modern TV. I'll also say, it's nice to have all my games just, tossed onto an external hard drive where I can pick the one I want to play from a big ol' list. It's also nice being able to use widescreen patches and stuff. There's also, nowadays, a version of PCSX2 (called XBSX2) that works on Xbox Series consoles, which is super nice for those of us that don't have a good enough PC for PS2 emulation. (Also, XBSX2 allows per-game settings). Honestly, I still say the best way to play PS2 games is with a modded PS2 console. But, at the same time, that's just an opinion. I'm all for emulation. My external hard drive has like, 2.5tb worth of roms, for like 30 different consoles. I even have a small emulation handheld for when I'm out and about, or just wanna chill with some Game Boy while I watch UA-cam. I'm mildly obsessed with emulation. BUT, I'm also of the opinion that the best way to play a game, is on original hardware when possible. In my case, I don't have that luxury. I don't have the means to hook up a ton of old consoles, or the money to buy massive game collections to play everything I want. So, I emulate. But with all my 2D console emulation, I always do my best to use filters, shaders, and image borders, to try and make it look and feel as close to real hardware as possible. So I at least get the same feeling out of it. Even my Game Boy games, if I play on my TV, I use a TV-Out shader and the original Super Game Boy border, along with a custom Super Game Boy Color border for GBC games, and the original Gamcube Player border for GBA.
Makes me want to see how the rcps3 emulator is doing. Did a full playthrough of the godfather a couple years back on stream and it was good but had some graphical issues. I know the Darkness was basically unplayable last I checked due to lighting issues.
Does wide screen actually make it look wide screen or just stretches out the image like watching the Simpson’s in Disney plus. I don’t like stretch and prefer the standard look, but if it does it properly the im all fkr it
PS2 games use anamorphic widescreen which means it squishes the image. The squished image becomes the correct aspect ratio when it gets stretched to 16:9 which is how PCSX2 works as well. But yeah if the game has no support or hacks available it'll just be straight up stretched. You can press F6 to quickly switch between 4:3 and 16:9 in that case. Also worth saying that not all widescreen support is made equal. Games like God of War or Ratchet & Clank used Vert-. Which is still viable if you care about filling your screen (without making it distorted), but gives a smaller viewing area than 4:3 since its cropped. Other games have proper widescreen, but stretch the HUD. Then a few games like Ace Combat have awesome support that actually widens the FOV and properly scales the HUD.
Hey @EposVox where can I find a link to your Lost Saves channel? Searching on UA-cam doesn't bring it up and I don't see a link in the description? :) edit: Nevermind. I found it under the "alt channel/clips" title in your description :)
The input delay in pcsx2 is so bad it's actually unplayable for me when it comes to fighting games because timing and perfect frame inputs are everything when it comes to fighting games
@@Teflon_274 It randomly happened real bad to me with San Andreas at first but the percievable lag went down significantly after some time for some random reason. Emulators should always have input lag though, especially PCSX2. Some people like me might just not be sensitive to it and don't notice it's there.
Casual simulation RPG gamers who are not sensitive to these issues simply look down on such criticisms and only point out that there is a problem with your settings. lol
Hey, you know how you were complaining about a lack of per-game configs and poor UI? Well guess what the PCSX2 team just fixed in the newest qt nightly?
PCSX2 is something that I am forever grateful for being as good as it is. Now that I have an insane PC, I can finally play some more demanding games emulated in 4k with no issues. Playing the Sly Cooper trilogy and Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition Remix is a dream because the PS2 means so much more to me than just a console. I grew up with some of the best games I’ve ever played.
Might want to use the Nightly build. I just switched last night and it’s great. Running on Vulkan and True Crime New York is running to its full capacity and it’s on HD😅. I want to say I used the AXCS2 64 bit.
i can’t understand pcsx2 at all
Hey man, random question. My pcsx 2 has a lot of speed problems and framedrops. I have tried tweaking EE cycle rate and other settings. My PC has 8 GB ram and 4 GB Nvedia GPU (not sure which one exactly). Is it possible that my pc specs arent enough or there might be another reason?
Fun fact, the other PS2 emulator Play! has an HLE bios, so you don't need to provide your own. Though Play! still has a long ways to go before it gets to PCSX2 compatibility
pointless comment play will never be near pcsx2
@@chadbrick67 How would you know? It'll take time eventually.
@@Abel-Alvarez not a chance they've been at it for years play it's still garbage..behave you triggered dosser
AetherSX2 is already leagues ahead of it but it needs bios. Bios are easy enough to get anyways
@@JohnRambo1947-July-6th use Google
Hats off to the devs... It's a labour of love to code emulators ensuring they will not be forgotten.
Native PS2 fat with a freemcboot, with an ssd using a sata adapter and opl, and a HDMI adapter using fmcb to force 480p on all games, emulation is good, but the ps2 still is a a damn hell to emulate, thanks to many games using heavely customized engines that used every feature of the original hardware to the point of literal madness, ratchet and clank or jak and daxter come to my mind especially for their situation in pcsx2, other games like dirge of cerberus and many others still have some flaws or are so taxing that even high end computers have trouble running them at a somewhat stable framerate, usually with frametimes all over the place.
Forcing 480p on all games can create compatibility issues for those that don't support it at all. SATA clone adapters are also terrible.
Best approach is:
- Fat PS2, the 39k or 50k models preferably.
- Official magic gate 8MB FMCB MC on the 2nd slot.
- Official magic gate 8MB MC on the 1st slot for saves. VMCs are less reliable than real memory cards.
- A USB flash drive for save backups when the MC is full. Easy to import and export back to the MC through uLaunchELF.
- Official IDE Sony network adaptor with the SATA upgrade kit.
- 3.5 inch 2TB HDD. 2.5 inch HDDs will "float" inside and SSDs do not benefit of the speed.
- Official OPL v1.1.0 from PSX Place.
- Component cables or a good Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr HDMI adaptor for the best picture quality.
@@Manic_Panic I personally went through the ordeal of finding an official hdd adapter to get network support and use a sata upgrade kit, regarding the ssd, it's not entirely accurate, as any older console actually benefits from the faster random reads the ssd is capable of, and personally I'm tired of HDDs going kamikaze, in 10 years i switched HDDs on my PC more times than i renewed my underwear.
@@Manic_Panic PS2 is very susceptible to fragmentation issues, so a SDD does makes sense.
Considering I can run Dirge of Cerberus at a near locked 60 on my pc there is no way I could ever imagine playing it on original hardware where it tanked everywhere.
@@omgazr0 Personally i never managed to run Dirge of Cerberus "well enough", and my PC specs are quite good, except for the gpu that it's starting to show its age: Ryzen 3700X, 16GB drr4 3600mhz, gtx 960 4GB version, and 2 500GB nvme SSD's no raid as i use one for linux and the other for windows, with a single 1TB HDD.
And either the game just goes kboom on me regarding performance, or i manage to run it stable at 60fps but then the effects go kboom, specially noticable on the first level with all the lamps and lights, you can easley see that pcsx2 has trouble getting where the textures have to be and they just pop out like a laminated shiny aberration, i haven't advanced that much (im going through Edge, so level 3 or 4, idk exactly), but DoC is one of those games that i never managed to run it "just fine", and i played A LOT with the settings years ago, not so much right now with 1.7 builds, but even now i haven't managed to run it just fine.
And i had a lot of trouble with the Atelier Iris games, or basically koei tecmo games, the emulator "separated" the sprites from the actual prerendered background and added lines to the edge of each object sprite making it look like a lego block puddle in some maps, that has been fixed in these latest 1.7 builds, but only when using certain texture filtering settings, so it's not perfect yet.
Dunno, I can run most of the PS2 library at 6K on my computer but I still play these games on real fat PS2 with an HDD, using a Trinitron CRT that I got for 10 euros. No amount of upscaling, widescreen hacks, shaders etc. can compare to the real deal, which is absolutely magical (I am also speaking as someone who didn’t have a PS2 console as a kid, so there is no nostalgia for me; this console is THIS good!)
One of the things I've found with emulators is that there's inconsistent input lag and so some games just don't feel right, particularly retro games reliant on frame perfect inputs. If the input lag were consistent, then we could adapt. Due to the nature of emulators though, sometimes it's 1 frame, other times it's 5. That's why I think FPGA is ultimately the future so long as the original hardware can be accurately described either by decapping or reverse engineering. In the late 2000s when LCDs took over the market and the PS3 was released, games started to lax the input windows. As such, I'd be curious to test fight games from the PS2 era to see if they started to loosen those input windows earlier. If they did, then being hardware-accurate may not matter so much.
Agreed, i feel a very strange input when playing godhand sadly
Dolphin has no or very little input lag, PCSX2 still sucks at fighting games because of the input lag. For Budokai tenkaichi you can play that on Dolphin too.
It will be a long t8me before you see FPGA running PS2 games.
@@Xanduur I agree. I think Mister will never be able to run PS2. But if it ever does it will be a miracle.
I don't notice such latency on anything with a framebuffer and don't notice it with systems running run ahead. I actually find the original hardware has higher input latency than run ahead at times. I have heard people having such problems with Sega Saturn emulation but I am getting about the same frame counts between button presses as others are getting on MiSTer FPGA systems for Sega Saturn.
I do wish we had more objective testing on both soft and hard emulation. Someone that does not have something to gain from the results they present.
Per game settings would be so cool, I have a zipped portable version of PCSX2 with the basic core settings and make a copy of it for each game I want to play in order to tweak it and get the best results (or sometimes to get them to work at all!), also having a memory card per game helps keeping saves sorted and tidy.
Have you tried Spectabis? It amazes me what people do to try to manage game settings with PCSX2! Just get a launcher.
@@davidste60 didn't even knew there were launchers for the emulator... I just found a way to do what I need to do years ago and kept doing it haha
What about games that give you bonuses for having a save from another game on the memory card?
@@KewelsBri I don't think I've ever played one of those haha if I did then I just missed the bonuses...
@@davidste60 Spectabis is meh. You can do per-game configs with Steam and then have them show up on steam with Steam Rom Manager. Steam Rom Manger also fetches cover-art for them as well. I run all of my pc games and roms with Steam and it's great. I can go from playing a PC game to a PS2 game in seconds, without even having to touch my keyboard. (I use Big Picture)
23:30 convert a MC save to a folder is very useful to put a save created on emulator or downloaded from the internet on real console. Just bring the folder to an USB stick, run uLanchELF on PS2 console and copy the folder to memory card and bang, you can play the save on real hardware. The backwards is valid too. You also can convert the save folder to a PS3 save file and put on PS3 (softmodded or not) using an USB stick, and play PS2/PS1 back compat games on PS3 using the save file you created
@TH4U yes, you can convert PS1/PS2 saves to PS3 save format, drop into a USB stick, plug in your console and use with digital games and vice versa
@TH4U since you have the save file in any format, you can convert it to use on emulator or real console, just using the right tools to do it
I CANT BELIEVE YOU SHOWED THIS GAME FIRST!ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES!
Love this emulator, just wish I could upscale my MLB 06 The Show without the black vertical lines :). Have about 40 PS2 discs and most work flawlessly. Great job!
I ran into this with tekken recently. Have you tried going into HW hacks and clicking “align sprites”?
you can get really weird results using discs in pcsx2 emulator same as original ps2 if there's scratch it'll mess up an area of code.
since the emulator is reading original game code + interpreting its own emulator response + you get this really bizarre amount of glitches from any tiny spot the laser doesn't read 00FF
28:52 dude you don't get enough credits for your backdrops. This background looks sick as hell with all the differently sized crt's all displaying the ps2 logo.
Looks like you're trying to sell me some sick ass, new old crts to boot with my ps2 :D
:)
@@EposVox
Can the PCSX2 play the PS1 and PS2 Japanese game discs...???
I have many Japanese physical discs, and I want to know if this emulator stores copies the disc into the drive
The biggest thing for me when emulating is the controller. I could play it with another controller but it takes away a bit of nostalgia. I would encourage people too try to source an OG controller and a USB adapter. It makes a world of difference. Especially the PS2 controller because it had pressure sensitive buttons. The only other controller that comes close to the DS2 is the DS3 from the ps3. Some rare titles on the ps2 also had support for sixaxis but I don't think pcsx2 has sixaxis support
For sure, especially in regards to the pressure sensitivity with a few titles like MGS2 and MGS3, where pressure sensitive controls are a vital part of gameplay.
None of the USB adapters available at the moment support pressure sensitivity. There is a kind of expensive one for PSX controllers that may add it with an update.
@@mattpiechocki8874 Would a PS3 controller work with PCSX2 for the pressure sensitivity? I'm considering getting that and a stand for my Steam Deck so I can play them properly.
@@GenesHand Seriously??? 😭
First party controllers also usually feel nicer even with age and wear, plus you don’t have to worry about button mapping.
I’m very grateful to PCSX2 devs for how good the emulator is. I grew up with the PS2 and my childhood console is basically 99% playable on the emulator. I know OG Xbox fans that aren’t so lucky. Not that Xbox emulation is bad or anything but it’s not as good as Dolphin or PCSX2.
fun fact PCSX2 memory cards can be used on the PS3 virtual memory card (the actual one, not the one baked into PS2 classics)
make sure you have a memory card made on the PS3, rename the .PS2 virtual memory card to VM2 (if I remember off the top of my head)
then drag n drop it onto the PS3 using FTP or multiman (obviously in the correct folder)
I should note that the PS3 won't always show the memory card items.... it's just if you want to switch between PCSX2 and PS3 for gameplay or something
Honestly my biggest issue with PCSX2 from other emulators is the UI. I think it’s terrible compared to everything else out there like dolphin, duck station, RPCS3, and others. They need to update it. Still I love playing on my PC CRT and I wonder how it would look with the hdmi to composite adapter I have to connect to old SD CRTs
I just launch all of my PCSX2 games through Steam, same for Dolphin
Test PCSX2 EX, it has a Dolphin-like interface
I think it's alright, then again, it might be because I am used to it.
And it needs the custom Textures like the PPSSPP
@@brandonperez8977 latest version on pcsx2 does have custom texture support
the nightly builds are goated now
It's so funny you released this video today. I just got done tweaking my PCSX2 settings for the past two hours.
Love the PS2!! Easily my favorite video game console. Just added a HDD to to my fat PS2 and I’m able to play games that are ridiculously expensive right now. I’m still collecting games, but it’s refreshing that I can still play some premium PS2 games and actually have a shit ton of games backed up on the HDD.
15 seconds in MK: Armageddon I love it. This is absolutely incredible, PS2 always captures dark for me, emulators look perfect and Ps2 still has a active online community that can cross play from pcsx2 to old PS2's from windows or Mac users. It's incredible.
Despite the bonuses, I still get the most joy playing my PS2 on my CRT. I have FreeMCBoot and a HDD in my PS2, so I don't have to use my discs, and have made my own OPL theme based off the PS3 UI in yellow. Still play mine at least every couple of weeks.
I just learned today that Digimon Rumble Arena on the PS1 has a sequel on the PS2 🤯
Yes. Burnout 3 does run at a locked 60fps on othe PS2 3:14
For Soulcalibur high resolution it need... Upscale Hack 'Aling Sprite' 'Merge Sprite' then Half-Pixel Offest set to Normal (Vertex) .
Dude why doesn't Sony just hire them it would make the gaming community so happy to play these classic ps2 titles
Thanks for the tag! Awesome video! 💪
"I would happily continue buying more games made in this engine today"
Your vid was already excellent but that line? That one right there? That's the clincher and absolute earns a sub! Fellow Snowblind-engine aficionados are always groovy! I adore the engine and the games made on it, happily purchased BGDA on PS5 when it launched recently, and I'll be doing the same for BGDA2 when it hits this year :) I truly hope Black Isle can negotiate the rights to Fallout BoS and the two Everquest games
... and yes, in regards to per-game configs, I completely agree. I love the PCSX2 devs and their constant updates have been amazing, but they are sometimes frustratingly stubborn when it comes to QoL fixes -- and have, for years, refused to contemplate per-game profiles. It's so needlessly obtuse that I simply cannot figure out their logic. Thankfully there's at least movement on the PCSX2 core for Retroarch now, and that supports per-game profiles like a champ :)
However! One of your wishes is going to be coming true Soon©I guess, since there's a new UI currently in development for PCSX2 (after 20 years!) and one of the features? Game library \o/
www.neogaf.com/threads/ps2-emulation-vulkan-backend-has-been-merged-into-pcsx2-new-gui-incoming.1627284/#post-265511608
(please excuse the NeoPuke link)
I remember like version 1.2 working pretty damn good with the resolution cranked up to like 2x even on my rig with a FX-8350 choking under the stock cooler and GTX-750ti back in 2014. It was impressive even before the massive reworking of the code in 1.7.
For choosing games, dump all your isos into one folder, select ISO from CDVD and then check "Always ask when booting"
Not perfect, not even great, but it works.
Also for memory cards, select "no disc" and and then the "Boot Iso" selection becomes "Boot BIOS" which will take you to the classic PS2 menu.
I have the same silver japanese fat PS2!! My favorite way to play any game thru a hard drive w/ OPL
11:24 Soul Calibur 3 is running on interlaced mode, but that game is compatible with progressive scan (480p), you just need to press Triangle + X while the game is booting, until you see a menu asking you if you wish to activate progressive mode. I think that running the game in progressive mode should get rid of the ghosting.
I see you were at Too Many Games the same year I was! I got a picture with Dan and he gave me a prototype board (no ribbon cable, though)
YOU WERE AT TOO MANY GAMES ? DID YOU GET TO SEE JAMES ROLFE ROCK OUT WITH REX VIPER ? OH MAN I LOVE JAMES ROLFE, HE HAS SAVED MY LIFE. LOVE THE GUY BET HE ROCKED OUT HARD !! WISH I WAS THERE TO HAVE A BEER WITH THE DUDE SO I CAN TELL HIM HOW MUCH HE HAS DONE FOR ME.
What about the pressure-sensitive d-pad, face buttons, and shoulder buttons? I know a good number of PS2 games supported that feature.
It supports them, everything works.I've tested it with mgs 2, had to use triggers as pressure sensitive buttons due to xbox controller not having pressure sensitive buttons, only triggers.
Yea bro it all works
I’m going to get a 1600x1200 CRT monitor and PCSX2 is one of my reasons for doing so. Deinterlacing and dodgy widescreen hacks won’t be a problem for me, and artefacts brought in by upscaling may be hidden by the attributes of a CRT(not sure about that last part).
Good idea, I still remember when I couldn't give CRT's away for free, now they are like gold dusk lol
@@5izzy557 if you knew what they used to solder things you wouldnt want to be anywhere near a crt turned on in a closed unvented room.
totally different world today much less cancer than the early 90s late 80s... if you wanna be careful try making sure it's not from 85-93.
PCSX2 is incredible, but the most frustrating thing that ruins it for me is the noticeable input lag that it has. It seems to be baked into the emulator, as no matter what settings i try or how powerful of a computer i play on it always has some noticeable input lag. For that reason i will always prefer playing on a real PS2, once they somehow fix the input lag though it will 100% be the best way to play as playing ps2 games in 4k is a dream come true.
Thats how emulation works.
It adds an extra step to every process
Translation. Translating your input into a ps2 input
if there's thing I think PCSX2 could need it's some sort of other alternative upscaling methods like FSR for example, as I sometimes find that I end up preferring to use my mcable to upscale PS2 games on my TV as some PS2 games don't like the higher internal rendering resolution.
you just figured out why the original hardware firmware software combination of ps2 wins.
congratulations.
@@springchickena1 that... isn't relevant in the slightest to my comment, other than running games in native resolution, there is a software renderer to fix a majority of the issues in PS2 emulation, there are still some lingering issues like having to correct the fps in the emulator when running Tekken 1, Tekken 2, or Tekken 3 via Tekken 5's arcade history (as it will run slow by default for some reason), but otherwise my experience with Software renderer has been pretty good.
The fact that I was just looking up videos on the PS2 YESTERDAY and this man uploads this today is insane lol. PS2 in my opinion had the best games ever made. I purchased a PS2 to HDMI converter but I'll watch this video entirely if it means I can revisit my childhood on my PC. 🙏🏽🔥
To be fair with Soul Calibur 3, playing it on my fat PS2 on a Sony Trinitron with S-video hooked up it had pretty gnarly screen tearing.
My copy doesn’t seem to do that :O
@@EposVox I was hooking it up using a Monster multi adapter hook up which had PS2 Nintendo Multi, and Xbox connector on one end, and on the other had standard RCA red, white, and Yellow, AND S-video.that could have been part of the problem, but also, there is a option in BIOS to change the disk read speed: normal and fast. I always kept my PS2 on fast.
22:12 Launch box is a good option for managing ps2 games and it is constantly updated and while I haven't explored this option myself i think it does support some per game settings as well. the interface kinda looks like steam as well.
0:39 Also had the best console advertising ever!
Really wanted to go to 'The Third Place' as a kid
An awesome video as per usual, Adam 😄👍👍 as ever, I appreciate you for going into such a high level of detail and througherness with your content. 🙂👌
The PlayStation 2 was also my favourite games console from my late childhood and teenage years. 😁🎮 I’ve just now bought a satin silver slimline PS2 off of eBay in order to replay some of my favourites as well as a few new games (well, new to me in terms of titles I didn’t check out back in the day)
I’ll definitely be checking out Curiosity Stream and Nebula when my next payday rolls around as I could definitely do with a more in depth video on how to convert the games that I currently have into ISO files to play them through the emulator. 🎮📀💻
Cheers to you, my man! 🥃🥃
I need an EDGE BROWSER version of the PCSX2, where it uses an EDGE browser minimalistic and it runs directly as a plugin, so it automatically runs the physical game and install it.
Loved the part where you played PCSX2 on a CRT Monitor. Have you ever tried playing it on a CRT Tv via CRT Emudriver, soft15khz, or by manually defining custom resolutions?
regarding per game config, the way I do it (on linux) is through Lutris (a game library program that tries to make it as easy as possible to install and run games on linux). I don't use the pcsx2 binaries downloaded by lutris, but install it my own way and have lutris launch that. Then in the configurations of the games, I set arguments so that they run with their very own config files, saved in the same folders as the iso files.
This is what I do for Dolphin as well, because I prefer opening lutris and seeing all my games there, rather than opening different clients.
I’ve been thinking about setting this up to revisit some games! Thanks for the vid. Maybe I’ll try them on drums, too!
A CFWed PS3 is just as good in my opinion if not better. Only downside is that compatibility for PS2 isos isn't 100% depending on what model of PS3 you have. I have a Slim 2501A and I haven't run into any problems so far.
Wow I was amazed by your video. Need a video on rpcs3 now. 👍
22:10 that's what emulator frontends are for, like Launchbox or Daijisho. That way you have all your games in one place, not just a single system.
The new QT builds of PCSX2 now support per-game settings. Since pretty much every issue with emulation can be fixed with one tweak or another, it’s now possible to get 99% perfect emulation across pretty much all of the PS2 library, given that you tweak every game individually.
Not every game can be fixed that way, but it is a major step
Looking forward to the PS2 Softmod, i had my FAT ps2 die not long ago shamefully just when i wanted to do the HDD expansion bay thing since you dont get jumpy cutscenes unlike using USB 1.0 due of the bandwith limitations. And good luck finding an OG 80gb PS3, had one but shamefully had YLOD twice even after seding it to be reballed/refurbished, last time i saw one where i live they costed around 600 dollars, ouch...
Also wished i had so many physical copies like that, specially ones i saw like Digital Devil Saga, those are literal gems, shame that Raidou Kuzunoha games alone are now 200 dollars each, crazy high prices since they are just so rare!
My biggest regret is selling my Time Crisis 2 with the Guncon II after i got the PS3, now i just wished i had it back with my old TV :C
There's a new mod that puts an SD adapter on the memory card and runs as fast as with the internall HDD and it doesn't have the issues of the USB stuttering
I love messing around with emulation, but it's going to be a long while before emulation replaces actual hardware for me. The main issue for me is just when I think I have everything nailed down, a new game disrupts it, forcing me down the path again for 'best settings'. Sometimes having something just work is more desirable.
With how beautiful Valkyrie Profile 2 was on native hardware, I wonder how it would look on the PCSX2.
it actually has this ghostly artifact to most, if not all, character models. it can be very distracting
@@drone124 yup and its exactly that reason why i ended up hunting down a pvm crt monitor to run my ps2 in rgb on that crt screen because that game as well as tales of the abyss and some others had that issue. On a nice pvm or crt monitor Valkyrie profile 2 looks so crisp and clean it almost looks like an HD remaster in and of itself!
@@matics28 i think valkyrie profile had a mode to run in 1080i so i am not surprised. there is hack in PCSX2 to sort of fix the ghost imaging but then you have to change it for every game
I use to think the fully backwards compatible ps3 60 gig models were the best way to play ps2 games, but now now I think pcsx2 has surpassed it. The original backwards compatible models were over 99% compatible, but now so is the pcsx2. I even know of one game spartan total warrior that didn't work on the backwards compatible ps3's that the pcsx2 has managed to get working that's an impressive achievement to me.
@TH4U Are you sure you got the 60 gig backwards compatible model? They did make non backwards compatible 60 gig models too. If you want a console like experience you could do what I do. Which is run an hdmi cable from your pc to tv. You can also get a bluetooth dongle so you can use your controller can wirelessly.
18:49-20:18 this is incorrect, the motion looks blurry because you are using the wrong deinterlacing setting (probably automatic or blend) for GT4 and many other games that are interlaced the best setting is bob bottom field first.
I played onimusha on my 750 tvl "pvm style" jvc crt monitor for the first time a few days ago and i have to say.... Literally no amount of ai upscaling or hd textures on the prerendered backgrounds that I've used with pcsx2 can compare to how CLEAN that game looked interlaced at 480i on my screen, i was absolutely blown away by it. I'll even go as far as saying it looked cleaner to my eyes than even the hd remaster they did on modern consoles, but that's just me personally, i know everyone has their personal preferences and i respect that.
Hey man thanks for the video, the ps2 emulation scene is amazing, everyone provides imput and is constantly evolving, too bad nowadays is hard to afford a pc, I can't get one myself so I have to use my phone to do light gaming. I saw the ps2 emulator working on Android and it seems like the app is very good compared to the pc version. The missing features you named are all avaible on android (I think).
I will keep an eye on this amazing emulator, someday I will get a pc and hopefully the emulation gets better then. Much love from Colombia, I will sub and stay around to see what you post
One day, Battlefield 2 Modern Combat will be playable in the other renderers I really hope they can solve that issue.
Shotty deinterlacing is one of my worst nightmares, I hate it when those bouncing artefacts are present in text and textures. I hope they improve on it soon.
Dragon Ball Budokai 3 is absolutely gorgeous cranked up.
It's been better than the PS2 for a long time assuming you have the hardware to play it. Sandy Bridge i7 or Skylake i5 is the bare minimum to play everything from what I can tell. Gran Turismo 4 was the hardest to emulate at full speed, they got that sorted around 1.5, AVX2 support helped tons.
Hey Addie, awesome video! I was wondering about how you script or prepare for your videos. How much of it is improvised or just some basic bullet-points and how much do you fully script or at least have a guideline?
The custom config for individual games would be useful and is unfortunate that they haven't or won't implement it but if you use retroarch you can actually do that you can create a per game configuration on each game its very limited but its pretty good for basic stuff like widescreen hacks and internal resolution
My experience, is that original hardware is the way to go if you have a FAT PS2 + Upscaler for modern LED TV. Its smoother, some games look different on emulator (missing graphics) and performance. You need a powerful expansive CPU, to run emulation, and it will always slowdown, sometimes even run too fast. Its still a pain for PS2. PS1 Duckstation is perfect, but PS2 is still to complex for an average PC. Emulator was nice but never run as original hardware. Its expensive to get a scaler, but its better then emulation in my opinion. Or just by an old CRT.
I'd take compatibility and playability over graphics and visuals. They should bring back 32 bit support. There's another PS1 emulator called ePSXe. As for PlayStation Plus, why would anyone buy a subscription to play PS2 games when they can just download an emulator and play for free?
Darkcloud baby, I was ten and my mind was blown !
They should add progressive scan for all games since most game are 480i
Forcing progressive scan on PS2 is a lot less trivial than it is for something like Xbox or GameCube.
True that a lot of games already use a full framebuffer. A lot of games on PS2 render interlaced (so 640x240, but it was usually 512x224).
pcsx2 is prob one of the best emulators of all time. Its still fun to have a native ps2 though just for nostalgia. plus with freemcboot you could have every game
Bruh i didn't know theres a new mac version. I just deleted my old one I installed using wine to run on my MacBook and it's so flawless now, the graphics could use some work tho
Playing on a Mac Mini M2. It truly does play better than the original hardware, and looks better with all these hd texture packs 🤌 nothing but chef's kiss for me
Lool ayye I legit got this emulator just to play midnight club 3!! Surprised to see it as an example lol
Thank you. You saved me the trouble of buying a ps2. Subbed.
Buying a physical PS2 is good if you're a collector. If you just wanna enjoy and play games then playing on the emulator is your best choice
@@sebastiangonzales46 thank you, my man. Grateful.
15:10 Burnout 3 does already run at a stable 60fps on an actual PS2 though. With the exception of the menus, crashes, and split-screen which are all capped at 30.
I've played so many games on PCSX2 over the years and was wondering if it was worth getting my old PS2 hardware up and running with a modded HDD and HDMI convertors... It just still will never come close to the graphical fidelity that PCSX2 can bring to these old games with upscaling.
Yes. The PS2 hardware has really bad video quality when hooked up to anything outside of a 640x480 CRT.
Emulation (and upscaling) enable MUCH better video quality, which makes the PS2 library so much more fun.
I love original hardware and still using freemcboot with Ethernet, can’t say why but emulators are not for me, so I hunt for hardware constantly. For more sane person, this emu is gold, my PC master friends can play GOW, MGS, Silent Hill (although fog is still better on hardware) and enjoy it. The thing i don’t understand is resolution race, ps2 is 480/576 vertical resolution machine, there is no point to push it, just enjoy the games behind the pixels, not the pixels. I think it’s just showing what’s possible. Anyway, let’s just play some games and have a good time, regardless of emu or hardware.
I think it's cool to see games with more clarity, specially in modern lcd displays wich tend to be way bigger, GT4 looks insane when theres a little more sharpness, models are really good
No, stop it with your native resolution elitism. Many games on higher than native resolution screens look really bad and blurry and it's really hard to make out stuff (mainly for 3d games, 2d sprite based games are fine) so increasing the resolution to actually see is very reasonable.
@@thegamerfe8751 It's not elitism, I just said that I don't understand it, I'm not against it in any way. Furthermore, I think having more options is a very good thing in an emulator.
@@emilkharisov7031 Well since I explained it for you so hopefully you know see the importance of resolution scalers.
Amazing what they have achieved considering the difficulty.Runs excellent on Linux with the newer versions.
Used it to play those expensive game...Haunting Grounds and Rule of Roses...almost $800 each
4:15, (Maybe this might help someone idk lol) For anyone that uses Linux PCSX2 and wants to make an image file, use the "dd" command (e.g dd if=/dev/cdrom of=whateverisonameyouwant.iso, or dd if=/dev/sr0 of=whateverisonameyouwant.iso)
PCSX2 might be my most used emulator but that is because I play PS2 games more than any other "retro" libary.
The deinterlacing is my biggest issue. If it could not suck and be progressive like dolphin I'd be fine with 99% of the other minor things
this ^ the ps2 didnt have many games that could suppoert 480p you can use cheat codes to force some games to run in a progressive mode but they are not available for every game
scanlines are a must IMO.
Interlaced content barely have scanline effect
Yeah scanlines are for fake nostalgia, most people on consumer sets with 480i content basically never saw them
PC CRTs have visible scan lines for resolutions that the PS2 ran at but the main issue is that it output 480i which wasn’t supported on the vast majority of PC CRTs so most games wouldn’t work. The one that did 480p and higher would have no issues though.
Damn 20 years. I definitely did not use it back in those days definitely around the 2010's when i first discovered it.
For help with the memory card management you can use mymc ps2 memory card utility. I had done so mainly because i found my childhood ps2 memory card recently so i was transferring into pcsx2 for use with my Steamdeck.
Mymc’s features are now baked into PCSX2 so it doesn’t really offer anything
@@EposVox oh lol. I didn't know
Believe per game settings are actually gonna come with the new qt ui overhaul Stenzeks working on
While players may feel differences in their experiences, in my case, PCSX2 is unplayable for all games. I don't understand when PS2 games became a means of graphic benchmarking.
Play Berwick Saga with the english patch, save state is a must hahah 😂
Pcsx2 upscaling is like magic until it glitches, then it’s back to soft mode.
I dunno if I'd say the BEST way to play PS2 games is with an emulator. Personally, I'd leave that up to a real PS2 that's been modded with an SSD, the ability to play iso files, and HDMI out. Or something similar.
But what I WILL say, is that an emulator is convenient, and allows for upscaling to higher internal resolutions. Playing PS2 at 1080p or higher is pretty nice, especially when playing on a modern TV. I'll also say, it's nice to have all my games just, tossed onto an external hard drive where I can pick the one I want to play from a big ol' list. It's also nice being able to use widescreen patches and stuff. There's also, nowadays, a version of PCSX2 (called XBSX2) that works on Xbox Series consoles, which is super nice for those of us that don't have a good enough PC for PS2 emulation. (Also, XBSX2 allows per-game settings).
Honestly, I still say the best way to play PS2 games is with a modded PS2 console. But, at the same time, that's just an opinion. I'm all for emulation. My external hard drive has like, 2.5tb worth of roms, for like 30 different consoles. I even have a small emulation handheld for when I'm out and about, or just wanna chill with some Game Boy while I watch UA-cam. I'm mildly obsessed with emulation. BUT, I'm also of the opinion that the best way to play a game, is on original hardware when possible. In my case, I don't have that luxury. I don't have the means to hook up a ton of old consoles, or the money to buy massive game collections to play everything I want. So, I emulate. But with all my 2D console emulation, I always do my best to use filters, shaders, and image borders, to try and make it look and feel as close to real hardware as possible. So I at least get the same feeling out of it. Even my Game Boy games, if I play on my TV, I use a TV-Out shader and the original Super Game Boy border, along with a custom Super Game Boy Color border for GBC games, and the original Gamcube Player border for GBA.
Makes me want to see how the rcps3 emulator is doing. Did a full playthrough of the godfather a couple years back on stream and it was good but had some graphical issues.
I know the Darkness was basically unplayable last I checked due to lighting issues.
Been playing Demon's Souls on RPCS3 recently at 60fps and it runs flawlessly.
What bothers me about GT4 is that the other racer's times are STILL not shown
before checking pcsx2, try Dolphin emulation. Most games which came out for PS2 and Gamecube the GC version is superior.
Does wide screen actually make it look wide screen or just stretches out the image like watching the Simpson’s in Disney plus. I don’t like stretch and prefer the standard look, but if it does it properly the im all fkr it
It’s actually rendering in widescreen
PS2 games use anamorphic widescreen which means it squishes the image. The squished image becomes the correct aspect ratio when it gets stretched to 16:9 which is how PCSX2 works as well. But yeah if the game has no support or hacks available it'll just be straight up stretched. You can press F6 to quickly switch between 4:3 and 16:9 in that case.
Also worth saying that not all widescreen support is made equal. Games like God of War or Ratchet & Clank used Vert-. Which is still viable if you care about filling your screen (without making it distorted), but gives a smaller viewing area than 4:3 since its cropped. Other games have proper widescreen, but stretch the HUD. Then a few games like Ace Combat have awesome support that actually widens the FOV and properly scales the HUD.
Hey @EposVox where can I find a link to your Lost Saves channel? Searching on UA-cam doesn't bring it up and I don't see a link in the description? :)
edit: Nevermind. I found it under the "alt channel/clips" title in your description :)
The referenced video is also the first link in the description heh
The input delay in pcsx2 is so bad it's actually unplayable for me when it comes to fighting games because timing and perfect frame inputs are everything when it comes to fighting games
Not if your offline
@@supermetroid009 I only play pcsx2 offline
@@Teflon_274 It randomly happened real bad to me with San Andreas at first but the percievable lag went down significantly after some time for some random reason.
Emulators should always have input lag though, especially PCSX2. Some people like me might just not be sensitive to it and don't notice it's there.
Casual simulation RPG gamers who are not sensitive to these issues simply look down on such criticisms and only point out that there is a problem with your settings. lol
I wish I can use it on a chrome book
Too much input lag for me. Especially on burnout 3
PC out of action to test it myself but have they fixed the Burnout black sky bug in hardware mode yet? That's been an issue since 2004 it feels like.
Great vid. Thank you.
Now android phones have Aethersx2 as well. Every PS2 fans should known this.
AetherSX2 on Android is amazing as well! I'm blown away!
AetherSX2 is a port of pcsx2
@@JohnSmith-qt4pv yeah, I know.
Hey, you know how you were complaining about a lack of per-game configs and poor UI?
Well guess what the PCSX2 team just fixed in the newest qt nightly?
8:05 Aether is the same word as ether, and they are both pronounced the same.
You should look into spectabis it’s a launcher for pcsx2 and it’s not bad plus it saves per game settings