PCSX2
Encyclopedia
PCSX2 is an open-source PlayStation 2
(PS2) emulator
for the Microsoft Windows
and Linux
operating system
s. In its latest stable release, many PS2 games are playable, and several games have full functionality. The main bottleneck in PS2 emulation is emulating the multi-processor
PS2 on a PC x86 architecture. Although each CPU
can be emulated well, accurately synchronizing the CPUs is very difficult.
PCSX2, like its predecessor project PCSX
, is based on a plug-in architecture, separating several functions from the core emulator. These are the graphics, audio, input controls, CD/DVD drive, and USB
and FireWire (i.LINK) ports. Different plug-ins may produce different results in both compatibility and performance. Additionally, PCSX2 requires a copy of the PS2 BIOS
, which is not available for download from the developers, due to the copyright concerns and legal issues associated with it. The emulator is incompatible with PlayStation games.
depending on the game, PC hardware, and plug-in configuration―with the PS2 BIOS
itself being one of the fastest pieces of software to emulate. Since the release of version 0.9 in April 2006, performance has greatly increased. Most 2D games and menus can reach 60-120 frame/s when specific plug-ins are used, and with the latest version, it is possible to reach speeds greater than the native PS2 frame rate of 60 frame/s (NTSC
) and 50 frame/s (PAL
). In version 0.9, PCSX2 also added support for dual-core CPUs, resulting in a very significant performance increase on systems with dual-core processors. As of beta build r4865, the MTVU (Multi-Threaded microVU1) speedhack has been implemented, which offers a speedup in many games for systems with 3 or more cores.
As of 0.9.1 in summer 2006, multi-core cpu's can run popular 3D games, such as Final Fantasy X
, at well over 60 frame/s (when combined with an adequate video card such as a Radeon
X1000 series or GeForce
6+ series, or midrange Radeon
HD 2600 XT or Geforce
8600 card). The developers and beta testers claim that Final Fantasy X is fully playable to completion.
As of 2009, the 0.9.6 version has dealt with numerous bugs and fixes and provides even more options regarding technical tweaks and speed-up in emulation - namely speedhacks. However, speedhacks show different results for different games.
As of September 2011, 1646 of 2295 tested titles (71%) are listed as playable, with other 398 of 2295 games (17%) reaching the ingame content, showing 88% of compatibility.
or Athlon
XP (the former with clock speeds as high as 3.8 GHz), should easily be able to emulate PS2 games at full speed. The PS2 has several processing units including a MIPS R5900 chip, MIPS R3000A chip, two custom vector units, and graphics chip (Graphics Synthesizer). With the exception of the MIPS R5900 (clocked at 294.912 MHz) and the MIPS R3000A (clocked at 36.864 MHz, selectable to 33.8688 MHz for PlayStation
(1) emulation), all other chips run at the bus speed of 147 MHz. There are several reasons which make emulation of the PS2 on a PC extremely difficult. Architectural differences between an x86
-based PC and the PS2 are substantial; emulating multiple chips running in parallel on a single-core processor is quite complex. Taking advantage of dual core processors on PCs is even harder due to the tight synchronization between the PS2 chips. The development team provides a blog, explaining technical details of emulating the PS2.
GSdxhttp://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-3031.html is the highest performing graphics plug-in for Windows and utilizes DirectX
. Development is tied to PCSX2's Google Code
project, so new builds will follow in step with PCSX2's project SVN
numbers. Hardware mode typically yields the fastest framerate and is accompanied with a texture resolution hack that can upscale to virtually any size (thus creating smoother lines and less jaggies
), but this mode is not always the most accurate and at times switching to the native resolution or software mode will create a more complete image. The speed in software mode heavily depends on the processor speed and the number of cores or threads, but it has the option of choosing the number of processor threads to use, which is optimally the maximum number of cores your processor contains. In November 2011 work began on an OpenGL fork of the plugin, giving Linux users an alternative to ZZogl.
ZZoglhttp://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-4108.html (based on Zero GS) is the most recently developed OpenGL
-based graphics plug-in, which is commonly used by Linux users, since DirectX is exclusive to Windows. By nature, it is noticeably slower than GSdx, since it doesn't efficiently offload enough tasks to the video card.
The OpenGL graphics plug-in has recently been integrated into the PCSX2 source code project hosted at Google Code, labeled as "zzogl-pg". Many fixes are being made that will allow it to function properly and receive updates for performance, hopefully bringing it closer to the level of the GSdx counterpart.
and Monster Hunter
. Other games have been reported as working.
Minimum
Recommended (Will run 50-60fps)
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
(PS2) emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
for the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s. In its latest stable release, many PS2 games are playable, and several games have full functionality. The main bottleneck in PS2 emulation is emulating the multi-processor
Multiprocessing
Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor and/or the ability to allocate tasks between them...
PS2 on a PC x86 architecture. Although each CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
can be emulated well, accurately synchronizing the CPUs is very difficult.
PCSX2, like its predecessor project PCSX
PCSX
PCSX is a free console emulator which allows software and peripherals designed to be used with the PlayStation to be used with personal computers. It is currently available for a number of different operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Xbox, the Dreamcast and various Linux...
, is based on a plug-in architecture, separating several functions from the core emulator. These are the graphics, audio, input controls, CD/DVD drive, and USB
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
and FireWire (i.LINK) ports. Different plug-ins may produce different results in both compatibility and performance. Additionally, PCSX2 requires a copy of the PS2 BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
, which is not available for download from the developers, due to the copyright concerns and legal issues associated with it. The emulator is incompatible with PlayStation games.
Performance
When PCSX2 was first developed it could only run simple homebrew applications. Speed prior to version 0.9 was between 2 and 15 frames per secondFrame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
depending on the game, PC hardware, and plug-in configuration―with the PS2 BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
itself being one of the fastest pieces of software to emulate. Since the release of version 0.9 in April 2006, performance has greatly increased. Most 2D games and menus can reach 60-120 frame/s when specific plug-ins are used, and with the latest version, it is possible to reach speeds greater than the native PS2 frame rate of 60 frame/s (NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
) and 50 frame/s (PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
). In version 0.9, PCSX2 also added support for dual-core CPUs, resulting in a very significant performance increase on systems with dual-core processors. As of beta build r4865, the MTVU (Multi-Threaded microVU1) speedhack has been implemented, which offers a speedup in many games for systems with 3 or more cores.
As of 0.9.1 in summer 2006, multi-core cpu's can run popular 3D games, such as Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth title in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and will be re-released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2012...
, at well over 60 frame/s (when combined with an adequate video card such as a Radeon
Radeon
Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by...
X1000 series or GeForce
GeForce
GeForce is a brand of graphics processing units designed by Nvidia. , there have been eleven iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for use on add-on graphics boards, intended for the high-margin PC gaming market...
6+ series, or midrange Radeon
Radeon
Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by...
HD 2600 XT or Geforce
GeForce
GeForce is a brand of graphics processing units designed by Nvidia. , there have been eleven iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for use on add-on graphics boards, intended for the high-margin PC gaming market...
8600 card). The developers and beta testers claim that Final Fantasy X is fully playable to completion.
As of 2009, the 0.9.6 version has dealt with numerous bugs and fixes and provides even more options regarding technical tweaks and speed-up in emulation - namely speedhacks. However, speedhacks show different results for different games.
As of September 2011, 1646 of 2295 tested titles (71%) are listed as playable, with other 398 of 2295 games (17%) reaching the ingame content, showing 88% of compatibility.
Misconceptions regarding speed
A common misconception regarding PCSX2 is that a processor with a relatively high clock speed, such as a Pentium 4Pentium 4
Pentium 4 was a line of single-core desktop and laptop central processing units , introduced by Intel on November 20, 2000 and shipped through August 8, 2008. They had a 7th-generation x86 microarchitecture, called NetBurst, which was the company's first all-new design since the introduction of the...
or Athlon
Athlon
Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices . The original Athlon was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and, in a first, retained the initial performance lead it had over Intel's competing processors...
XP (the former with clock speeds as high as 3.8 GHz), should easily be able to emulate PS2 games at full speed. The PS2 has several processing units including a MIPS R5900 chip, MIPS R3000A chip, two custom vector units, and graphics chip (Graphics Synthesizer). With the exception of the MIPS R5900 (clocked at 294.912 MHz) and the MIPS R3000A (clocked at 36.864 MHz, selectable to 33.8688 MHz for PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
(1) emulation), all other chips run at the bus speed of 147 MHz. There are several reasons which make emulation of the PS2 on a PC extremely difficult. Architectural differences between an x86
X86 architecture
The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 CPU. The 8086 was launched in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit based 8080 microprocessor and also introduced segmentation to overcome the 16-bit addressing barrier of such designs...
-based PC and the PS2 are substantial; emulating multiple chips running in parallel on a single-core processor is quite complex. Taking advantage of dual core processors on PCs is even harder due to the tight synchronization between the PS2 chips. The development team provides a blog, explaining technical details of emulating the PS2.
Plug-ins
Several plug-ins are currently being further developed, for performance and compatibility enhancements.GSdxhttp://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-3031.html is the highest performing graphics plug-in for Windows and utilizes DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
. Development is tied to PCSX2's Google Code
Google Code
Google Code is Google's site for developer tools, APIs and technical resources. The site contains documentation on using Google developer tools and APIs—including discussion groups and blogs for developers using Google's developer products....
project, so new builds will follow in step with PCSX2's project SVN
Revision control
Revision control, also known as version control and source control , is the management of changes to documents, programs, and other information stored as computer files. It is most commonly used in software development, where a team of people may change the same files...
numbers. Hardware mode typically yields the fastest framerate and is accompanied with a texture resolution hack that can upscale to virtually any size (thus creating smoother lines and less jaggies
Jaggies
"Jaggies" is the informal name for artifacts in raster images, most frequently from aliasing, which in turn is often caused by non-linear mixing effects producing high-frequency components and/or missing or poor anti-aliasing filtering prior to sampling....
), but this mode is not always the most accurate and at times switching to the native resolution or software mode will create a more complete image. The speed in software mode heavily depends on the processor speed and the number of cores or threads, but it has the option of choosing the number of processor threads to use, which is optimally the maximum number of cores your processor contains. In November 2011 work began on an OpenGL fork of the plugin, giving Linux users an alternative to ZZogl.
ZZoglhttp://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-4108.html (based on Zero GS) is the most recently developed OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
-based graphics plug-in, which is commonly used by Linux users, since DirectX is exclusive to Windows. By nature, it is noticeably slower than GSdx, since it doesn't efficiently offload enough tasks to the video card.
The OpenGL graphics plug-in has recently been integrated into the PCSX2 source code project hosted at Google Code, labeled as "zzogl-pg". Many fixes are being made that will allow it to function properly and receive updates for performance, hopefully bringing it closer to the level of the GSdx counterpart.
Netplay
PCSX2 Developer "Gigaherz" has created a plug-in allowing the emulator to connect to the PS2 internet service, enabling certain games to be playable over the internet with other players, even if they are playing on a PS2 console. The two games which the PCSX2 team have confirmed to be working with the netplay function on version 0.9.4 are XIIIXIII (video game)
XIII is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Ubisoft. It was released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube consoles and the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. The game is based upon the 1984 Belgian XIII comic book series.XIII was developed and published by...
and Monster Hunter
Monster Hunter
Monster Hunter is an action game for the PlayStation 2. The game was developed and published by Capcom. Monster Hunter was released in North America on September 21, 2004...
. Other games have been reported as working.
System requirements
Following is a short list of system requirements for running PCSX2:Minimum
- Windows XP Service Pack 2/Windows VistaWindows VistaWindows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
or LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
32bit/64bit - CPU that supports SSE2SSE2SSE2, Streaming SIMD Extensions 2, is one of the Intel SIMD processor supplementary instruction sets first introduced by Intel with the initial version of the Pentium 4 in 2001. It extends the earlier SSE instruction set, and is intended to fully supplant MMX. Intel extended SSE2 to create SSE3...
(Dual Core and up, Athlon64 and up) - GPU that supports Pixel Shader 2.0
- 1GB RAM
Recommended (Will run 50-60fps)
- Windows XP, Vista, 7 or Linux 32/64 bit
- CPU: 3Ghz Core 2 Duo or better
- GPU: 256-bit memory interface or Better
- 2GB RAM (3GB or more if using Windows Vista or Windows 7)
External links
- Official website
- Official Wiki
- Official Facebook Group
- PCSX2 project page on Google CodeGoogle CodeGoogle Code is Google's site for developer tools, APIs and technical resources. The site contains documentation on using Google developer tools and APIs—including discussion groups and blogs for developers using Google's developer products....
- The Official PCSX2 Archive, a collection of PCSX2 releases and Plug-ins
- irc://irc.efnet.org/pcsx2, unofficial PCSX2 support channel on IRC.