Play PS2 Games on your PC

[-Yard-]

I thought I'd bring my vast interest of console emulation to NB.

So, 1st we'll start with possibly the most famous of console emulators "PCSX2".

Pcsx2 allows you to play ps2 games on your computer. This is a heavy task for computers as emulation is forcing something to work on something it wasn't completely made for. Like turning your hard drive into a cd player of course you can do it, but it will take tools and work to get it accomplished.

First you'll need.

CPU:

PCSX2 only recognizes 2 cores, so anything higher than a dual core CPU will not be used. I could explain why this is but I'll just get to the point.

The latest version of Direct X. Pcsx2 will not run with/o the recent version.
Get it HERE

WinRAR Archiver 32BIT DOWNLOAD MIRROR
WinRAR Archiver 64BIT DOWNLOAD MIRROR


At least a 2.4 GHZ Dual-Core CPU (Intel is pefered)

RAM: 1GB of RAM

Graphics Card: This is important as much as the cpu as it plays a big role as well. You will need at least an ATI Radeon 4650 Graphics card for decent game play. As for Nvidia: Nvidia 8800 GTS and/or 9800 series or higher will be best. 8800 series isn't that great but it's performance in pcsx2 is similar to the 9800 series so I included it.

Hard drive: Depends, if you download your games or rip them from your ps2 games to ISO format then you will want at least a 40GB hard drive if you want to play about 5 or 6 games.


And of course you'll need a DVD player if you plan to rip games to your computer.

Short Guide

Required Files:

PCSX2 0.9.8 DOWNLOAD MIRROR
WinRAR Archiver 32BIT DOWNLOAD MIRROR
WinRAR Archiver 64BIT DOWNLOAD MIRROR
Playstation 2 BIOS from your PS2

Instructions:

Create Folders
Create a Folder and Name it PS2
Create a Folder in /PS2/ and Name it BIOS
Create a Folder in /PS2/ and Name it GAMES

Extract PCSX2 0.9.8
Install WinRAR Archiver
Open pcsx2-0.9.8-r4600-binaries
Click FILE -> SELECT ALL -> Click EXTRACT TO
Locate the /PS2/ Folder in the Middle-Right Box
Click OK

Add Playstation 2 BIOS
Extract BIOS from your PS2 (Guides available)
Copy BIOS Files into /PS2/BIOS/ Folder

Opening PCSX2 0.9.8
Open /PS2/ Folder
Double Click pcsx2-r4600
Click NEXT -> Click NEXT
Under "Select a BIOS rom" Click a BIOS and Click FINISH

Running a Game
Make an ISO of one of your games with IMGBurn DOWNLOAD MIRROR
Paste Game ISO in /PS2/Game/ Folder
Click CDVD -> ISO SELECTOR -> BROWSE...
Locate Game ISO and Double Click to Select the Game
Click SYSTEM -> BOOT CDVD (FULL)

Additional Options
Press ALT and ENTER Keys Simultaneously for Full Screen Mode
Connect a USB GamePad (PC GamePad or XBOX 360 GamePad)
Click CONFIG -> CONTROLLERS (PAD) -> PLUGIN SETTINGS -> PAD1 TAB to Modify Settings that will Allow you to Use the Controller

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Detailed More Helpful Guide

1. Download the newest version here


If you use Linux here are the binaries


2. Run the installer (if you downloaded the installer) or if you downloaded binary open the archive and extract its contents into a folder. e.g. C:\PCSX2)



3. Run PCSX2 which should be in the folder you installed it to. It should be in your start menu after installation.

For Linux Users:

Get the binary from here or the source from Google Code. To compile from source, follow the instructions in the Compilation Guide for Linux.
You need the following installed: libasound2-dev, libbz2-dev, libgl1-mesa-dev, libglew1.5-dev, libglu1-mesa-dev, libgtk2.0-dev, libjpeg-dev, libsdl1.2-dev, libsoundtouch1-dev, libsparsehash-dev, libwxbase2.8-dev, libwxgtk2.8-dev, libx11-dev, nvidia-cg-toolkit, portaudio19-dev, zlib1g-dev.

Plugins generally used Linux include: ZZOgl-pg (or ZZOgl), SPU2-X, ZeroSPU2, OnePad, Linuz Iso, EFP Iso, and EFP Polling.

Ok, once you have installed it, which the installer is very user friendly and should be fairly simple. If you run into any problems during installation I am both an Ubuntu Linux and windows user so I will help you with your problem regardless of the operating system.


So during installation it will ask you for a ps2 bios. What you will need to do is get one from your own ps2 or download it somewhere off google which I won't go into for legal purposes.

Dumping the bios

For dumping your bios, everything you need can be found here: PS2DEV: PS2 Programming - Loaders. Grab PS2Link 1.22 and XLink Beta 1.

1. Power on your ps2 and use ps2menu to browse to your BADATA-SYSTEM directory on your memory card.

2. Find EXECFTPS.ELF and hit X to execute it. If all goes well it should come up saying "FTP Server initialized on port 21…!”

3. Now open up your favorite FTP Application and ftp into your ps2. Any
username/password combo will work. You should be presented with a mc
folder. Double click into the mc folder and you will see a 0 folder.
When you are inside your memory card, locate the BADATA-SYSTEM folder
and create a new folder called ps2link.

4. Now use winrar to extract the ps2link_122.tar.gz archive you
downloaded from ps2dev. Delete the licenses folder, and the README file
to save the most space on your memory card.

5. Open the IPCONFIG.DAT from the ps2link_122.tar.gz with notepad. Just
like before, fill out the ip information like we did above for the
memory card exploit.

6. FTP all the files from the ps2link archive into the ps2link folder
you created on your ps2 memory card. After the transfer is complete,
turn the ps2 off with the switch at the back. Then boot back into
ps2menu.

7. Once back into ps2menu, browse to the BADATA-SYSTEM folder and go
into your newly created ps2link folder. Find and highlight the
ps2link.elf and press X to execute it.

8. Once the ps2link server is started, unpack the xlink_win32_beta1.zip archive you downloaded from ps2dev.

9. When you open XLink it prompts for the ps2 ip information. Fill that in and press save. Next go to PCSX2.net - News and grab the dumpbios archive.

10. In XLink, make sure it says Connected at the top, then press Run.
Locate your DUMPBIOS.ELF and set any options you would like (such as
shutting down the ps2 after your file has been run).

11. Congratulations, after a few minutes you should have dumped your
ps2’s bios! You also have setup your ps2 to run pretty much anything
you throw at it.

Note: I take no responsibility for you breaking your ps2, burning bad cd’s etc.

Now, once the bios is dumped you'll just need to copy the location of the bios

Then, uncheck the box that says "Use default settings" and paste the link when it asks you for a bios.

Then click "Ok".Now all you need to do is either download a game iso off google or use your own games by Placing a game in the disc drive, opening Pcsx2, clicking "System> Boot CDVD".
Now, you will notice the game will be slow depending on your computers hardware. However, there are speed hacks to help with this. Click "Config"> "Emulation Settings" > Click the "Speed hacks" Tab> Check the "Enable Speed Hacks" Box. Then to just make things easier, check the boxes and move the sliders to the exact way mine looks.

This should give a decent boost. Now, if you are playing from a disc, your speed slowed due to your drive. It's easier to copy the data on the disc to your computer by making an ISO file of the game on your computer. You can do this by using Image Burn

See This guide for how to make an ISO file of the game. It basically saves the game onto your computer so that PCSX2 can read the game much faster.


Once you have made the ISO file of the game do the following


1) Paste Game ISO in /PS2/Game/ Folder

2) Click CDVD -> ISO SELECTOR -> BROWSE...

3) Locate Game ISO that you made and Double Click on it to Select the Game

4) Click SYSTEM -> BOOT CDVD (FULL)


There, you have then successfully got a better frame rate. Also this means you no longer need the disc to play the game.

Graphics Plugin Settings

Now if you have Direct X 10/11 you will want to configure the graphics plugin and set it to Dx 10/1. This should give a decent boost in speed as well.


Click:

Config> Video > Plugin Settings.


Click the drop down box where it says "Renderer" and then select Direct3D11 (Hardware).
Select this even if you only have Direct X 10. Then click "Ok".

Controller Setup

Next I'm sure you have a game pad if you are following this tutorial and are actually wanting to play ps2 games. So to set up your game pad follow this:

First Controller/Second Controller:


Click "Config"> "Plugin/Bios Selector" > Click the "Plugins" Tab.

Click the drop down box beside where it says "PAD" then click "SSSPSX Pad" and click the Configure button.

You'll see a window like this:




Here, you simply click on each button's name and input the key you want to assign to it. If you want to clear a key from being assigned somewhere you can click on the respective button and wait until the "Timeout: " timer reaches 0.Then the selected key will be assigned to NONE again.

It's that simple.

Additional Info

This info isn't required but it can be useful.

Game fixes

As the name implies, these are special game fixes for some games which for some reason emulating them requires something special. Note that the team has no intention of keeping hacks for specific games, these are there temporarily until a proper fix is found so they can be removed.

FPU Compare hack: This hack is needed because of the limited range of floating point numbers defined by the IEEE standard that the PS2 doesn't follow. Enable it only for 'Digimon Rumble Arena 2'.

VU Add/Sub hack: This hack is also needed because the PS2 doesn't follow the IEEE standard on floats.
Enable it only for 'Star Ocean 3','Valkyrie Profile 2' and 'Radiata Stories'.

Speed Hacks

The new version of PCSX2 comes with a few hacks which you can use to speed up your games. Be aware that all these hacks lower compatibility, cause bugs, crashes and all kinds of unexpected behaviour so use them with caution. Also note that these affect certain games only, so you might not get any speed up depending on the game.
Emotion Engine Sync Hacks: These hacks increase the time an emulated operation takes, thus the task is easier to do for your CPU. Anything other than default can break your games, make them appear sluggish or make them start skipping frames.

Default Cycle Rate: This is not a hack. Have this selected to disable the EE sync hacks.
Use x1.5 Cycle rate: Moderate speed increase, small compatibility hit.
Use x2 Cycle rate: Big speed increase, moderate compatibility hit. Also can cause stuttering audio in game videos.
Use x3 Cycle rate: Big speed increase, huge compatibility hit. This will break most games, cause stuttering audio in game videos and even make the FPS counter report false values.


INTC Sync hack: This hack takes a shortcut in a known situation PS2 games do when they idle. Instead of doing the idle loop it just jumps to its' end and continues from there.
Can give big speed boosts but only in a few games. Very safe hack, it almost has no compatibility hit.

Enable IOP x2 Cycle rate: Same as the EE Sync hacks but for the IOP. Gives a slight speed increase and lowers compatibility.

WaitCycles Sync hack: This hack lowers the usually very tight synchronization between the EE and the IOP. This can help the speed a bit but could cause a few games to crash.

Escape hack: Not really a hack, does what it says. It makes it possible to close PCSX2 completely when running a game in full screen by pressing the ESC key.

Note:

Here is a list of compatible games.
http://pcsx2.net/compat.php?c=key