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PlayStation 2 PCSX2 emulator: 99% PS2 games now Playable!

tusharngf

tusharngf

Member
The PlayStation 2, a console that defined an era of gaming, has seen its legacy preserved and celebrated thanks to the dedicated efforts of the PCSX2 team. This open-source emulator, born in 2002, has grown from strength to strength, reaching a remarkable milestone: the ability to run over 99% of the PS2’s vast game library.

PCSX2-emulator.jpg

But PCSX2’s ambition doesn’t stop there. The developers are now on the cusp of releasing a “completely stable” version of the emulator. This release promises to be a game-changer, offering a bug-free haven for every PlayStation 2 game. Imagine a world where every classic title you loved can be experienced without a hitch, free from the worries of glitches or compatibility issues.

While the “completely stable” version is still in development, the current state of PCSX2 is already impressive. Over 1.23% of games are now considered “Perfect,” meaning they run flawlessly and deliver an experience identical to the original console. Another 97.92% fall under the “Playable” category, allowing users to enjoy these titles with minimal or no issues.

PCSX2-Emualtor.jpg

This level of compatibility extends to even the most demanding PS2 games. Titles like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, God of War 2, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence can all be enjoyed with high frame rates and stunning visuals.

It’s worth mentioning that PCSX2 is not just about technical prowess. The emulator boasts a wide range of features that enhance the gaming experience. These include:

  • Custom resolutions and upscaling: Enjoy your favorite PS2 games with high-definition visuals and enhanced clarity.
  • Virtual and sharable memory cards: Save progress and share achievements with others.
  • Save states: Capture a snapshot of the game at any point for later resumption.
  • Patching system: Apply fixes and improvements to games, ensuring a smoother gameplay experience.
  • Internal recorder: Preserve gameplay moments with no loss in quality.

Full article : https://www.gizmochina.com/2023/12/12/playstation-2-pcsx2-emulator-99-ps2-games-now-playable/
 
Mr Hyde

Mr Hyde

Member
Sounds great. Loving PCSX2 so far. Of the few games I've played it's been a very solid experience. Way better than RPSC3 which I feel is more unreliable. Games can play great without a hiccup to being buggy and glitchy with low framerates to not even start. But I reckon PS3 emulation is way harder than PS2.
 
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Giallo Corsa

Giallo Corsa

Member
Got a new tablet recently with a Snapdragon 8 gen2 and i've tried AetherSX2 :

I really, really want to get into emulation again but it's all the usual problems that keep me from doing so...
You have games like Shadow of Rome or DMC3 for example running almost flawlessly while others like Outrun2 running at 10fps where you have to enter the emu's settings and faff with some VERY specific options as to have it run at an acceptable framerate.Then you have - say - Gungrave Overdose where it's just a black screen with broken textures and geometry here and there while the sound plays in the background.
Then there's also various bugs like distorted/warped textures/shadows, sound glitches, weird geometry in many games etc etc which drag the whole experience down.

I thought that i'd revisit some PS2 classics via the emulator but it's just too time consuming in the end gents having to find the proper settings for each game, fiddling with the emu's settings each and every time etc - it's absolutely not "plug n play".

Now, either i'm doing something wrong, or, AetherSX isn't as good as the latest PCSX2 versions, either way , it's way too time consuming and i don't know if i have the time or the will for that dammit.

Any insights/info/input would be appreciated, cheers ;)
 
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BlackSandrock10

BlackSandrock10

Neo Member
Okay.....now, we're talking! Got PCSX2 and since last year, loved playing on it! Using HD Textures on that emulator with certain titles like SFEX3, Tekken Tag and MGS2 does some justice....play it and you'll see what I mean! Good to hear that most if nearly all titles are playable!
 
Fabieter

Fabieter

Member
Giallo Corsa said:
Got a new tablet recently with a Snapdragon 8 gen2 and i've tried AetherSX2 :

I really, really want to get into emulation again but it's all the usual problems that keep me from doing so...
You have games like Shadow of Rome or DMC3 for example running almost flawlessly while others like Outrun2 running at 10fps where you have to enter the emu's settings and faff with some VERY specific options as to have it run at an acceptable framerate.Then you have - say - Gungrave Overdose where it's just a black screen with broken textures and geometry here and there while the sound plays in the background.
Then there's also various bugs like distorted/warped textures/shadows, sound glitches, weird geometry in many games etc etc which drag the whole experience down.

I thought that i'd revisit some PS2 classics via the emulator but it's just too time consuming in the end gents having to find the proper settings for each game, fiddling with the emu's settings each and every time etc - it's absolutely not "plug n play".

Now, either i'm doing something wrong, or, AetherSX isn't as good as the latest PCSX2 versions, either way , it's way too time consuming and i don't know if i have the time or the will for that dammit.

Any insights/info/input would be appreciated, cheers ;)
Click to expand...

There is a wiki where you can have settings for each game. I think its sad they never made their own bios like cemu. I dont have my ps2 anymore and without ripping my own games and bios it's piracy plain and simple.
 
Spyxos

Spyxos

Member
Are there any better Emulators? I tried True Crime Streets of La, i could play it. But it had a lot of problems.
 
Hugare

Hugare

Gold Member
I remember using it ages ago. Glad to know that they are still updating it.

As far as I know, AetherSX2 was based on this emulator, and despite being discontinued it's already amazing due to all the hard work devs have done across the years on PCSX2

Legendary emulator
 
StereoVsn

StereoVsn

Member
Giallo Corsa said:
Got a new tablet recently with a Snapdragon 8 gen2 and i've tried AetherSX2 :

I really, really want to get into emulation again but it's all the usual problems that keep me from doing so...
You have games like Shadow of Rome or DMC3 for example running almost flawlessly while others like Outrun2 running at 10fps where you have to enter the emu's settings and faff with some VERY specific options as to have it run at an acceptable framerate.Then you have - say - Gungrave Overdose where it's just a black screen with broken textures and geometry here and there while the sound plays in the background.
Then there's also various bugs like distorted/warped textures/shadows, sound glitches, weird geometry in many games etc etc which drag the whole experience down.

I thought that i'd revisit some PS2 classics via the emulator but it's just too time consuming in the end gents having to find the proper settings for each game, fiddling with the emu's settings each and every time etc - it's absolutely not "plug n play".

Now, either i'm doing something wrong, or, AetherSX isn't as good as the latest PCSX2 versions, either way , it's way too time consuming and i don't know if i have the time or the will for that dammit.

Any insights/info/input would be appreciated, cheers ;)
Click to expand...
AetherSX2 Is an older port of PCSX2 and overall is unfinished emulator. Unfortunately the developer has quite because people were assholes and would hound the f out of him.

So yeah, Android emulation will always be imperfect unless someone else decides to properly port PCSX2 over again from scratch since AetherSX2 isn’t open source.
 
pepodmc_

pepodmc_

Member
The only BIG problem left in this emulator is the input lag.

Depends of the game, and you can get used to it in some scenarios.

But games like God hand has so much input lag that is unplayable. Or disable vsync to make it barely playable but you will have to endure the tearing.

Perhaps in the future, pcs will be so powerful to use something like run ahead, but 10 or 15 years in the future i think.
 
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pepodmc_

pepodmc_

Member
Ev1L AuRoN said:
My issue emulation PS2 games if the annoying artifacts from interlaced signal on a flat panel, I know the emulator had a de-interlace option but its not perfect.
Click to expand...
some games have codes made by users to disable the interlacing, so you will be able to play in progressive (for example bloody roar 3) but not all games have this.
 
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nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
Giallo Corsa said:
Got a new tablet recently with a Snapdragon 8 gen2 and i've tried AetherSX2 :

I really, really want to get into emulation again but it's all the usual problems that keep me from doing so...
You have games like Shadow of Rome or DMC3 for example running almost flawlessly while others like Outrun2 running at 10fps where you have to enter the emu's settings and faff with some VERY specific options as to have it run at an acceptable framerate.Then you have - say - Gungrave Overdose where it's just a black screen with broken textures and geometry here and there while the sound plays in the background.
Then there's also various bugs like distorted/warped textures/shadows, sound glitches, weird geometry in many games etc etc which drag the whole experience down.

I thought that i'd revisit some PS2 classics via the emulator but it's just too time consuming in the end gents having to find the proper settings for each game, fiddling with the emu's settings each and every time etc - it's absolutely not "plug n play".

Now, either i'm doing something wrong, or, AetherSX isn't as good as the latest PCSX2 versions, either way , it's way too time consuming and i don't know if i have the time or the will for that dammit.

Any insights/info/input would be appreciated, cheers ;)
Click to expand...

Dunno, i only emulate on a desktop PC, with a CPU that supports AVX2 and an NVIDiA card. I only tried Outrun (from your examples) and it worked fine and full speed out of the box for me.

AFAIK, Desktop PCs are the "target" hardware most emulator devs aim at. Stuff like tablets, phones, snapdragon chips, etc, are more like an afterthought for most, sure many emulators support those but they are never the target platform. They always have additional bugs or features missing and that even counts for less complex to emulate systems. They are also not nearly as powerful. Complex emulation requires a CPU that can brute force with a constant flow of power, which is something phones/handhelds are really bad at.

IMO, the only platform where emulation of anything above PS1/SAT/N64 makes sense is a desktop PC (or a very good laptop at worse). I have an 8 year old intel desktop PC with an NVIDIA card and it's still more than good enough for PCSX2 and even stuff like Switch emulation and limited PS3/XBOX360 emulation. It's an 8 year old desktop that a modern equivalent would cost less than 300$ for the whole thing and it still does a better job with modern emulators than any brand new, 1000$+ phone/tablet.

TLDR: Emulation on phones/tablets is not as good as on PCs.
 
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TheUsual

TheUsual

Gold Member
The latest stable version has been great for me to relive and play PS2 games I never got the chance.
Played P3Fes through it late last year/early this year.

LOTR Return of the King still is a bit buggy with missing menu texts. In this case, an outlier, but hopefully fixed one day!
 
U n i o n 0015

U n i o n 0015

Member
Incredible stuff. I love emulation, I get more excited about developments in that world than I do modern AAA gaming. Being able to play classics beyond their original capabilities is just magic.

One thing I dislike about PS2 games is the deinterlacing. It just makes a ton of games look blurry, even if you're rendering them higher than native. Anyone know of any good methods to work around that?
 
I Love Rock 'n' Roll

I Love Rock 'n' Roll

Member
Geeat emulator. I love it my MacBook Air M2! I think I'll be selling my PS2 from Japan next year.

What I really enjoy are the HD packs and improvement packs for a lot of titles that make them very close to actual remasters.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Gold Member
TheUsual said:
The latest stable version has been great for me to relive and play PS2 games I never got the chance.
Played P3Fes through it late last year/early this year.

LOTR Return of the King still is a bit buggy with missing menu texts. In this case, an outlier, but hopefully fixed one day!
Click to expand...
The "stable" version is severely outdated, as it's usually the case with most emulators.
You should just use the last daily build.
 
killatopak

killatopak

Gold Member
Is Valkyrie Profile 2 still bugged? Last time I tried to play it, alpha effects like fog made unplayable graphical bugs.
 
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MadchesterManc

MadchesterManc

Member
I wonder if the WRC games will finally work. Honestly don't mind plugging in the PS2 to play but those vistas are screaming out for a higher res
 
Jinzo Prime

Jinzo Prime

Gold Member
If you want to use PCSXS2 or any modern emulator, make sure you use the "nightly" or development version. Stable is always way behind.

I thought my perception of imput lag was way off, but I guess PCSX2 just has bad input lag. Or are PS2 games just laggy?
 
Hugare

Hugare

Gold Member
nkarafo said:
Dunno, i only emulate on a desktop PC, with a CPU that supports AVX2 and an NVIDiA card. I only tried Outrun (from your examples) and it worked fine and full speed out of the box for me.

AFAIK, Desktop PCs are the "target" hardware most emulator devs aim at. Stuff like tablets, phones, snapdragon chips, etc, are more like an afterthought for most, sure many emulators support those but they are never the target platform. They always have additional bugs or features missing and that even counts for less complex to emulate systems. They are also not nearly as powerful. Complex emulation requires a CPU that can brute force with a constant flow of power, which is something phones/handhelds are really bad at.

IMO, the only platform where emulation of anything above PS1/SAT/N64 makes sense is a desktop PC (or a very good laptop at worse). I have an 8 year old intel desktop PC with an NVIDIA card and it's still more than good enough for PCSX2 and even stuff like Switch emulation and limited PS3/XBOX360 emulation. It's an 8 year old desktop that a modern equivalent would cost less than 300$ for the whole thing and it still does a better job with modern emulators than any brand new, 1000$+ phone/tablet.

TLDR: Emulation on phones/tablets is not as good as on PCs.
Click to expand...
Things are changing, handheld market is booming, and devs will go to Android more and more

There are more than a few handhelds today that can run even 360/PS3 emulators. Even Switch games at full speed + higher resolution.

With the recently announced Retroid Pocket 4+, PS2/GC/WII emulation will be possible under $200. Even some Switch games.

Yuzu recently came to Android, and its already running a lot of stuff despite the lack of optimization. Skyline was an amazing Switch emu, but Nintendo shut it down and devs have already started a new promissing one named Strato.

Android will become the main "target" real soon, if it isnt already. Even ignoring handhelds, phones are very powerful nowadays and well, everyone has one.
 
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RagnarokIV

RagnarokIV

Battlebus imprisoning me \m/ >.< \m/
It's a wonderful emulator.

On my desk I have a modern monitor and a CRT monitor next to it. I use PCSX2's software mode with the CRT and you basically have amazing visuals without any of the issues from hardware mode or upscaling the rendering.
 
nkarafo

nkarafo

Member
Hugare said:
Things are changing, handheld market is booming, and devs will go to Android more and more

There are more than a few handhelds today that can run even 360/PS3 emulators. Even Switch games at full speed + higher resolution.

With the recently announced Retroid Pocket 4+, PS2/GC/WII emulation will be possible under $200. Even some Switch games.

Yuzu recently came to Android, and its already running a lot of stuff despite the lack of optimization. Skyline was an amazing Switch emu, but Nintendo shut it down and devs have already started a new promissing one named Strato.

Android will become the main "target" real soon, if it isnt already. Even ignoring handhelds, phones are very powerful nowadays and well, everyone has one.
Click to expand...
Like you said, everyone has a phone. So nobody wants to deal with the average joes and the ocean of time wasting bug reports and discord posts. Ask any MAME developer about how RetroArch and it's Android/Retropie MAME oriented cores, made for the "wider audience", have made their job so much more difficult, to the point where they are in an open war against the project and it's devs. I do love RetroArch myself and use the main/current core on Windows but i understand their issues with it because RA devs kept the MAME name in the cores intact, even though the MAME devs have nothing to do with them and most of the bug reports and complaints for the unrelated cores get spilled their way. Which is an issue because Android/Retropie have also brought a legion of "normies" into the emulation scene that only cares about playing free games on their devices and never give anything back.

That's why the Android/phone/random Linux Chinese devices will never become the target platforms for any serious devs. Yes, there will always be support and any open source emulator will have a port/fork for that market. But the only original Android emulator i know of that had any worth was Drastic. That's the only one so far, after more than a decade of phones/tablets/handhelds dominating the market. And even that is on it's last legs because it's closed source (since it's a paid/commercial emulator, not surprisingly) and the author pretty much abandoned it AFAIK.


RagnarokIV said:
It's a wonderful emulator.

On my desk I have a modern monitor and a CRT monitor next to it. I use PCSX2's software mode with the CRT and you basically have amazing visuals without any of the issues from hardware mode or upscaling the rendering.
Click to expand...
Software mode needs some serious CPU grunt though.
 
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wvnative

wvnative

Member
What is the source? I haven't seen any recent announcements about an upcoming update on the PCSX2 discord.

Having said that, it's already great, just a few minor glitches on a few games. But if there is a confirmed update coming, that would be awesome to iron out remaining issues.
 
Hugare

Hugare

Gold Member
nkarafo said:
Like you said, everyone has a phone. So nobody wants to deal with the average joes and the ocean of time wasting bug reports and discord posts. Ask any MAME developer about how RetroArch and it's Android/Retropie MAME oriented cores, made for the "wider audience", have made their job so much more difficult, to the point where they are in an open war against the project and it's devs. I do love RetroArch myself and use the main/current core on Windows but i understand their issues with it because RA devs kept the MAME name in the cores intact, even though the MAME devs have nothing to do with them and most of the bug reports and complaints for the unrelated cores get spilled their way. Which is an issue because Android/Retropie have also brought a legion of "normies" into the emulation scene that only cares about playing free games on their devices and never give anything back.

That's why the Android/phone/random Linux Chinese devices will never become the target platforms for any serious devs. Yes, there will always be support and any open source emulator will have a port/fork for that market. But the only original Android emulator i know of that had any worth was Drastic. That's the only one so far, after more than a decade of phones/tablets/handhelds dominating the market. And even that is on it's last legs because it's closed source (since it's a paid/commercial emulator, not surprisingly) and the author pretty much abandoned it AFAIK.



Software mode needs some serious CPU grunt though.
Click to expand...
Never say never

You cant use the last decade as a metric 'cause the handheld scene has changed so, so much during the last 3 years or so. Retroid, Anbernic, Powkiddy and etc. are releasing a new console every few months, and they sell really well each time. Ayaneo is a big player, and have just released their first Android device just a few months ago (that will be already outdated after the RP4+ launches).

More "normies" = more popularity = more Patreon money and etc. Most devs will go where the public (money) is.

Sure, popularity also means some cons (like the AetherSX2 dev droping the project due to harassment), but that wont stop most devs from chasing more bucks. Yuzu came to Android in order to obtain more backers/patrons. More will follow. Even if 1/20 of the people contribute something to the devs, that would still be a lot of money.
 
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Tarin02543

Tarin02543

Member
Dr.D00p said:
Tearing?

Nope, learn how to configure an emulator properly.
Click to expand...

I've just learned that you can disable the framerate limiter and then use rivatuner scanline sync to dial it back down to your monitors refresh rate so i take my original statement back
 
Papa_Wisdom

Papa_Wisdom

Member
I just recently started playing around with this, how ironic that the ps2 emulator is the best way to play virtual on, virtua fighter 2, fighting vipers, nights, sega rally, last bronx, and nights! (Maybe the Xbox 360 version of nights and the model 2 emulator for the others but still)
 
Gp1

Gp1

Member
Outrun C2C has a fairly good Pc and a PSP version. No need to emulate the PS2 one.

I skipped the PS2 entirely and it may sound even ridiculous to ask this, but has the PS2 any real unmissable exclusive between all of the recent remasters and collections?

Some real good hidden gems ok, but big games?

Gran Turismo, Ace combat...
 
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