PCSX-Reloaded

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PCSX-Reloaded
Pcsx.jpg
Developer(s) PCSX-Reloaded Team
Latest version 1.9.95
Active No
Platform(s) Windows
Linux
macOS
Emulates PlayStation
Website CodePlex.com
Programmed in C
License GPLv3
Source code GitHub (Active)
GitHub (Old mirror)
BIOS/Keys Optional

PCSX-Reloaded, also known as PCSX-R or PCSXR, is a discontinued open-source, plugin-based PlayStation emulator.

Download[edit]

Windows PGXP fork
GitHub
Windows Dev Builds
Compiled by emucr

macOS Dev Builds
Compiled by consoleemu
Linux Launchpad Repo (Ubuntu)
Linux Arch Linux builds
Pandora PCSX-ReARMed Pandora port
PCSX-ReARMed Source

Overview[edit]

PCSX-Reloaded is a plugin-based PlayStation emulator created in mid-2009. It was based on PCSX-df 1.9, with, in its early times, support for Windows, GNU/Linux and Mac OS X (at the time) as well as many bugfixes and improvements. The old PCSX-df branch is a fork of the PCSX PlayStation emulator designed specifically for GNU/Linux (and probably other similar systems). It has a completely reworked and modernized GTK2/Glade GUI, integrated plugins, an improved system for classic PSEmu plugins, better configuration tools, support for translation, easy installation, and support for AMD64.

The initial base of the current emulator, PCSX, was first released for the PC on August 31, 2000. Official development ceased on September 17, 2003, and development shifted to the new PlayStation 2 emulator, PCSX2. Coder linuzappz[1] from Argentina worked on both PCSX & PCSX2 and co-founded at least the latter one with another team member named Shadow[2] from Greece.

PCSX-Reloaded was once the best choice to play 3D games at higher resolutions and with other enhancements, using the configuration at Recommended PS1 Plugins. However, increased internal resolution and PGXP are now available in DuckStation and the RetroArch fork of Mednafen. It is also less accurate than Mednafen or XEBRA, which were previously recommended over it for 2D games, so the only advantage of PCSX-Reloaded now is its speed on older systems that only support OpenGL.

PGXP Fork[edit]

The PGXP fork[3] adds texture perspective correction, reduced polygon culling, and reduced polygon jitter (more so than mainline PCSX-Reloaded's GTE hack). Mainline has a major issue where a hack written for WipeOut causes slowdowns in many games. This is fixed by making the hack an option (in CPU settings; off by default), and also adds an option for CPU overclocking. It is recommended to use this fork instead of the main upstream version.

Features[edit]

  • Support for PeteOpenGL2Tweak
  • Native multitrack Cue sheet support
  • Disk tray opening and closing for games that require it
  • A widescreen hack in the CPU options (3D games only)
  • Controller plugin support
  • Compatibility with anti-jitter options in graphics plugins, such as GTE accuracy in the default Peops OpenGL plugin, or Improved coordinate accuracy in Edgbla gpuBladeSoft and it also supports Pete OpenGL2 plugin.
  • Support for ECM files (currently only macOS and Linux version)
  • Support for Libarchive (currently only macOS and Linux version)
  • Save Rewind feature (currently only macOS and Linux version)
  • Snapshot feature (Currently only Windows version)

PCSX ReARMed[edit]

PCSX ReARMed is a fork of PCSX Reloaded and only available as a libretro core (e.g. RetroArch). It differs from the Reloaded version in that it has special optimizations for systems that have an ARM architecture-based CPU. It is available to run on various handheld consoles with fairly strong specifications (Think 2010's-onwards) like the Sony PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch. This emulator in the libretro build initially used the P.E.Op.S. graphics plugin (reasonably accurate, but slow) from around 2010 to 2019; now it uses a port of PCSX4ALL's Unai renderer, which is less accurate, but much faster (eg. 10-20fps faster) in normal situations, aside from FMVs, loading, and special effects. Following that, the CHD compression format, that shrinks disc images into more manageable sizes, has been enabled on this emulator on RetroArch (And later on 3DS), and these images will load and run much faster than '.bin/.cue' files - greatly reducing framerate dips, i.e. in FMVs & loading zones.[4]

PlayStation Classic[edit]

To commemorate the 24th anniversary of the original PlayStation (and to capitalize on the recent trend of classic consoles produced by Nintendo for their consoles), Sony released the PlayStation Classic on December 3rd, 2018. However, unlike Nintendo's "Classic Edition" consoles, which run their own in-house developed emulators Kachikachi and Canoe, the PlayStation Classic uses PCSX-ReARMed due to its performance on lower-end devices and open-source license. The fact that it was commercializing an already free emulator, combined with a poor selection of games, ultimately lead to an unsuccessful launch week for Sony.

Keybinds[edit]

  • F1: Save state
  • F2: Switch to next save slot
  • F3: Load state
  • F4: Display state screenshot
  • F5: Toggle SIO IRQ
  • F6: Toggle Black & White decoders
  • F7: Toggle XA
  • F8: Take a game screenshot (Windows Version only)
  • F9: Open the Disc tray
  • F10: Close the Disc tray
  • ESC: Return to the main window
  • Ctrl 1 to 5: Save state 1 to 5
  • Alt 1 to 5: Load state 1 to 5
  • Alt 0: Load state from last ESC quit

Issues[edit]

Keybinds in LilyPad[edit]

To get hotkeys to work, like using the ESC key: in the keyboard Input API (radio buttons in the top left of the LilyPad options), choose raw input.

Default plugin on Windows[edit]

The default GPU plugin that comes with PCSX-Reloaded mostly doesn't work on Windows. Check Recommended PS1 Plugins for plugin configurations.

Changing discs[edit]

Some games (like Final Fantasy) allow you to save in the "Disc Change screen". For games that don't allow that (like Metal Gear Solid), disc switching can be a bit tricky:

  1. Press F9 to open Disc tray
  2. Press Esc to go to PCSX-Reloaded menu
  3. Emulator → Switch ISO...
  4. Emulator → Run
  5. Press F10 to close the Disc tray

macOS disc switching[edit]

The process for switching discs on macOS is slightly different:

  1. Go to File → Eject…
  2. For physical CDs:
    1. The physical CD will eject.
    2. Replace the CD that was ejected.
    3. Close the drive: PCSX-Reloaded will wait for a new CD to be inserted and resume when a new one is available. NOTE: The current release version does not wait for a new CD. An SVN build will work better.
  3. For ISOs:
    1. A file selection window will come up.
    2. Select your new ISO.
    3. Click the "Open" button.

References[edit]

  1. Spotlight on linuzappz. Emulation64 (February 04, 2004, article from January 24, 2003)
  2. Spotlight on Shadow. Emulation64 (February 11, 2004)
  3. Perspective Correction Comes To Sony PlayStation Emulation Via PCSXR-PGXP. RetroCollect (2016-05-17)
  4. RetroArch 3DS: Full speed PS1 now possible with PCSX ReARMed w/ Unai renderer!. Libretro (September 25, 2019)