-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
PS2 Emulation with PCSX2 - share your game configs!
- Thread starter ExMachina
- Start date
SH2 runs quite well in my experience on defaults. And controller support is great as well. Haven't tried 3 yet, but when I do I'll report back.
this is going to sound like very nooby questions.
I am playing running pcsx2 on a gateway from 2011 with all stock components (obviously not the most powerful rig out there). I run everything on the lowest settings possible (except my clamp settings, I set those to the highest choices because it seems to give me a framerate boost).
I don't get very good performance on the games I have tried (2 to 40fps depending on the game). but I want to play them anyway because I don't have my ps2 hooked up at the moment. my question is, if I keep playing these games, am I putting unnecessary wear and tear on my processor/graphics card? could I be causing permanent damage to my pc's components, since it seems like my pc is struggling to run these games?
I only have a dual core processor, and I misread the op and chose 2 render threads in the software video settings. after re reading the op I quickly realized that since the program needs a core to itself to run, I should have chosen 1 thread. I played about 10 minutes before I realized this. could I have possibly fucked up my processor in that 10 minutes? I don't see any difference in performance when performing regular pc tasks but I am worried.
I am playing running pcsx2 on a gateway from 2011 with all stock components (obviously not the most powerful rig out there). I run everything on the lowest settings possible (except my clamp settings, I set those to the highest choices because it seems to give me a framerate boost).
I don't get very good performance on the games I have tried (2 to 40fps depending on the game). but I want to play them anyway because I don't have my ps2 hooked up at the moment. my question is, if I keep playing these games, am I putting unnecessary wear and tear on my processor/graphics card? could I be causing permanent damage to my pc's components, since it seems like my pc is struggling to run these games?
I only have a dual core processor, and I misread the op and chose 2 render threads in the software video settings. after re reading the op I quickly realized that since the program needs a core to itself to run, I should have chosen 1 thread. I played about 10 minutes before I realized this. could I have possibly fucked up my processor in that 10 minutes? I don't see any difference in performance when performing regular pc tasks but I am worried.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Somebody more experienced should probably weigh in on this, but I think the only real risk of damage is heat output. A struggling processor generates a lot of heat. Sufficient levels of heat can definitely cause damage.
If you have an adequate cooling solution installed, it should probably be okay. For many years now, computers have had temperature monitoring systems installed, and if the system gets dangerously hot it will usually trigger a failsafe -- either the computer will automatically shut off, or it will simply reboot.
Of course, that's a last-ditch safety measure. High-but-not-too-high temperatures can cause damage slowly. That's what happened to the Xbox 360 -- it would run so hot that the plastic would flex until eventually it started loosening microchips off the motherboard. But it all depends on how hot is too hot. Computers can and do run warm all of the time and be just fine.
There's software out there that will actually tell you what your system's temperature monitoring sensors are saying, if you're really worried about it running super hot. I use Lavalys Everest to monitor my temperatures, and I've also had friends suggest something called CPUID HWMonitor.
Tidus_Great
Banned
how do the following games run now?
Valkyrie profile 2
Xenosaga 1,2,3
Shadow hearts 1,2,3
Dragon Quest 8
Wild Arms 3,45
Valkyrie profile 2
Xenosaga 1,2,3
Shadow hearts 1,2,3
Dragon Quest 8
Wild Arms 3,45
Short answer: you generally can't break hardware with software, especially an emulator.
Nuanced answer: An emulator like PCSX2 on a 2-core system and a weak video card is going to put a high workload on your components, and in theory doing so for a long period of time may shorten the lifespan of those components. However in practice, your PC has safeguards in place to prevent actual damage, and even with the increased thermal output, your CPU and graphics card are still going to outlive your HDD by a wide margin, so it's really not something to worry about.
lightchris
Member
As an addition to the previous answers:
Clamp settings..? The only clamp settings I know of are in the EE/IOP/VU tabs of the emulation settings. All the options selectable there don't need to be touched at all; they are not for improving performance. Should you have selected Interpreter instead of Recompiler at the top, that's your main reason for slow performance in PCSX2. Just hit the restore to defaults button if you changed any of those settings.
You should only worry about the Speedhacks tab. Just select a preset from the bottom that isn't too extreme and works with your game.
Just because you get low fps doesn't mean it stresses the hardware more than any other game/application. The hardware always tries to render as fast as possible (as long as you don't reach a frame lock). So, 1 fps isn't more stressing than 10 fps or 50 fps.
Different applications can still cause different levels of heat to your CPU and GPU, depending on where the bottlenecks are and what type of instructions are actually issued most of the time (but they can never exceed 100% load). As an example, video encoding is probably more stressing on your CPU than PCSX2 will ever be.
That setting only affects software rendering though. Are you using software or hardware mode in the video plugin settings? Hardware mode is usually faster if you don't have a very slow GPU.
Clamp settings..? The only clamp settings I know of are in the EE/IOP/VU tabs of the emulation settings. All the options selectable there don't need to be touched at all; they are not for improving performance. Should you have selected Interpreter instead of Recompiler at the top, that's your main reason for slow performance in PCSX2. Just hit the restore to defaults button if you changed any of those settings.
You should only worry about the Speedhacks tab. Just select a preset from the bottom that isn't too extreme and works with your game.
Just because you get low fps doesn't mean it stresses the hardware more than any other game/application. The hardware always tries to render as fast as possible (as long as you don't reach a frame lock). So, 1 fps isn't more stressing than 10 fps or 50 fps.
Different applications can still cause different levels of heat to your CPU and GPU, depending on where the bottlenecks are and what type of instructions are actually issued most of the time (but they can never exceed 100% load). As an example, video encoding is probably more stressing on your CPU than PCSX2 will ever be.
That setting only affects software rendering though. Are you using software or hardware mode in the video plugin settings? Hardware mode is usually faster if you don't have a very slow GPU.
texhnolyze
Banned
1. Forest glitch still exist, game runs great at full speed overall.
2. Don't own the games.
3. Don't own the games.
4. Runs great but with minor slowdown (50 fps) at open field. Might be my PC's problem.
5. Wild Arms 5 runs great. It's been 2 years since I emulated WA 3 and I don't own the 4th one.
manipulate
Member
You can check the wiki for the playability of games
Even though I only have a 3 ghz processor I was able to get some results out of PCSX2. I match the rest of the minimum requirements. I set the video to Direct3D 9 (Hardware) and enabled the hacks. So far I could only get 2D games to run at fullspeed most of the time.
KOFXI I got running at fullspeed. Some stages lag and dip the FPS to 50-55. Others like Shuttle 1 have zero lag. Have experienced zero lag in any other areas. Fully playable for me.
Contra: Shattered Soldier varies from 40-60 FPS depending on the stage. Most of the time, I want to say maybe 80% of the time, it runs at 60FPS. Have yet to try it with Co-op but it doesn't seem like the weapons you use effects the speed very much.
Gradius 5. Had to disable all the speedhacks in order to get it to work. Almost full 60FPS the entire time. But admittedly the game is hard as balls and I haven't gotten too far into it. Only one boss lagged to about 30FPS and then it cleared itself up by phase 2 of the boss.
Neo Contra just crashes randomly and I've given up on it.
KOFXI I got running at fullspeed. Some stages lag and dip the FPS to 50-55. Others like Shuttle 1 have zero lag. Have experienced zero lag in any other areas. Fully playable for me.
Contra: Shattered Soldier varies from 40-60 FPS depending on the stage. Most of the time, I want to say maybe 80% of the time, it runs at 60FPS. Have yet to try it with Co-op but it doesn't seem like the weapons you use effects the speed very much.
Gradius 5. Had to disable all the speedhacks in order to get it to work. Almost full 60FPS the entire time. But admittedly the game is hard as balls and I haven't gotten too far into it. Only one boss lagged to about 30FPS and then it cleared itself up by phase 2 of the boss.
Neo Contra just crashes randomly and I've given up on it.
What do these offer? Better compatibility or what?
brianmcdoogle
Member
I could never get this running on my Mac. it's a shame it's just a wrapper and nothing native-ish like pcsxr, open-emu, or others.
Ingueferroque
Banned
Bootcamp it!
Ivan Amiibo
Banned
Silent Hill 2 has extra content, though I don't think fans find that content to be amazing.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance might have some extra stuff
Virtua Fighter 4 is a greatly expanded revision of the game and far superior to the original in every way.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Need some help guys, is PCSX2 able to run on the following laptop.
- Core i5 2.2Ghz, (can go to 2.7 with OC, but i would rather avoid that), 5200u
- 4GB RAM
- 2GB Intel HD 5500 graphics chipset
I can add 4~8 more GB RAM no problem, and don't really want to run games at 4K and 60 FPS, just 720p and 30 fps will be fine (I'm eyeing FFXII Zodiac, Tales of Abyss and other RPG's as the main intended games).
Am I good to go ?
- Core i5 2.2Ghz, (can go to 2.7 with OC, but i would rather avoid that), 5200u
- 4GB RAM
- 2GB Intel HD 5500 graphics chipset
I can add 4~8 more GB RAM no problem, and don't really want to run games at 4K and 60 FPS, just 720p and 30 fps will be fine (I'm eyeing FFXII Zodiac, Tales of Abyss and other RPG's as the main intended games).
Am I good to go ?
lightchris
Member
Both CPU and GPU are a bit weak, so it will depend on the game and your standards. Most games will probably run at full speed most of the time, but not all and not always (FF12 is not the most demanding game for PCSX2 so it should be playable at least). The GPU will hold you back from running games at high resolutions/proper anti-aliasing, 720p should be okay though.
More RAM won't help at all, 4 GB are more than enough for PCSX2.
You don't want to run games at anything but their intended framerate. Everything is tied to it, audio, game logic, etc. Cutting it in half would mean everything would run half-speed as well. It's like playing in slow-motion.
Given that, just try it out. It costs you nothing but time. Check the wiki for your desired titles if you run into issues. There's often a little table with submissions from people who briefly list their system and how the game runs. Pay attention to the version of the emulator they used.
Given that, just try it out. It costs you nothing but time. Check the wiki for your desired titles if you run into issues. There's often a little table with submissions from people who briefly list their system and how the game runs. Pay attention to the version of the emulator they used.
Elaugaufein
Member
The integrated graphics may cause some issues but with most modern systems its more a matter of what game than if PCSX2 works at all. Things like FFX will likely run perfectly but more graphically intensive stuff won't. RPGs are generally pretty safe though (but check the Wiki, a lot of RPGs have specific issues that need working around). I'm pretty sure that Tales of the Abyss has such.
Text issues can be fixed in Dragon Quest VIII. There have been some advancements to deal with things like this in the past week. Some experimenting on your end would be required to see how much can be fixed with the new hacks, but Dragon Quest VIII has minimal issues now.
Ivan Amiibo
Banned
edit: i keep getting the PS2 Appreciation Thread and this one mixed up lol
RoninChaos
Member
How do you fix them? I gave up on hoping to get my phat ps3 fixed so emulation it is.
For Dragon Quest VIII specifically? Use the HW hack WildArmsOffset. You'll also need to enable SkipDraw at 1, to regain stencil shadows.
The most recent builds of PCSX2 have some added hacks from developer Gregory, who has been working on sprite scaling and other things, allowing annoying issues to be fixed. I personally haven't tried the new builds yet, but I could take a look into them and test out some things.
Is there a way to play online with PCSX2? I know we can simulate the hard disk and servers with game that support official online game (MGS3, etc) but I just want to simulate local multiplayer but online (we can do it wit snes emulators, etc)
So, is there a net play support for PCSX2?
So, is there a net play support for PCSX2?
I've never used any sort of online gaming for PCSX2, but I believe there is a way, if you're really dedicated to trying it out.
I won't be of much help getting it setup though, may have to wait for someone who's worked with this before.
I believe this is what you're looking for, this build of PCSX2 should be able to do local multiplayer in an online situation, but it hasn't been updated in years and it supports a very small list of games. https://github.com/alexsharoff/pcsx2-online
The links below are for getting PCSX2 to work online like a normal PS2 would.
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-How-To-Play-Online-Guide
http://pcsx2.net/download/viewcategory/9-plugins.html (Find the DEV9giga-razi - Version:5-6-2014 GIT plugin)
NOTE: I don't have experience at all with online stuff regarding PCSX2, you're on your own essentially; unless someone here can offer you their wisdom.
Bandersnatch1
Member
If you use scaling there are a few flashback scenes that will just show up as a black screen.
I use custom res because I find it looks better and allows me to make the image the native res of my monitor instead of some multiple of the PS2's output which either causes me to be rendering higher or lower than I need to. Basically it's the perfect level of performance because I'm not pushing too many pixels at once or too few. Add a couple passes of MSAA and it looks great.
The main reason though is the screenshot function doesn't output correctly without it.
Just remember, using a custom res can cause issues sometimes, that's why scaling is recommended, a little lower or higher than 1080p isn't going to be that big of a deal anyhow, right?
If it does cause issues I will adjust it the performance bump is worth it.
Multiples don't work correctly with the screenshot tool also which is a big thing to me.
lightchris
Member
MGS2 is fine in PCSX2.
MGS3 is missing a lot of post-processing effects in hardware mode and can be slow in software mode. So the HD collection would be worth it for MGS3 if you don't want to compromise.
Not to mention that running MGS2 at full-speed constantly in PCSX2 at 1080p is basically impossible, or that controlling the game without pressure-sensitive buttons makes the controls even worse, or that the games are on 4:3 with black bars top and bottom during cutscenes, basically reducing the screen to half its size whereas the HD Collection is full screen 16:9 during both gameplay and cutscenes. Go for the HD Collection, it will save you a lot of trouble and you will enjoy the games a lot more.
Boulotaur2024
Member
Agreed. I just tried MGS3 subsistence and while the MTVU speedhack helps a lot I can still see some stuttering during cutscenes (I didn't know it was missing effects in hardware mode).
It was even worse with MGS2 I remember playing it in november and I was never able to get stable full speed especially during boss cutscenes (god the audio stretching is annoying, kills the immersion)
So yeah the HD collection still seems like a better choice
EDIT : A bit late but I didn't remember I had posted settings for Yakuza 2 on PCSX2. Here you go
It was even worse with MGS2 I remember playing it in november and I was never able to get stable full speed especially during boss cutscenes (god the audio stretching is annoying, kills the immersion)
So yeah the HD collection still seems like a better choice
Yakuza 1 is 100% fine iirc but 2 has that issue. You can somewhat fix it with hardware hack and Skipdraw = 1 or something like that. But it's very hacky. Checking 'alpha' in hardware hack might help as well
EDIT : A bit late but I didn't remember I had posted settings for Yakuza 2 on PCSX2. Here you go
Thanks guys, not the answer I would have liked but hey ;-)
PSN cards bought and HD Collection soon to be purchased.
By the way, can anyone tell me if Yakuza 1-2 still have these weird intermittent light bars appearing on top (and bottom ?) of the screen or is the emulation of those titles spot on nowadays ? (yeah, I'm on a 'play your classics' trip, if it isn't apparent ^_^ )
PSN cards bought and HD Collection soon to be purchased.
By the way, can anyone tell me if Yakuza 1-2 still have these weird intermittent light bars appearing on top (and bottom ?) of the screen or is the emulation of those titles spot on nowadays ? (yeah, I'm on a 'play your classics' trip, if it isn't apparent ^_^ )
petran79
Banned
MGS2 is also available for Windows, with patches to make it compatible with modern hardware
lightchris
Member
I was playing it at 1080p a year ago or so (i5 2500K @ 4GHz, GTX 460). I couldn't swear, but I think it was full-speed all the time (even during cutscenes), higher resolution or MSAA was a no-go though. I tried MGS3 lately and had a lot more trouble..
Anyway, bottom line is to get the HD collection for the best experience.
Really? I have an i7 4700k@4.2Ghz and a 980, so I must have been doing something wrong. May give it another try. However, my other points still stand and the HD Collection is the way to go. Crossing my fingers that it will release on PC next year after MGSV.