Changes

The '''[[wikipedia:PlayStation_2|PlayStation 2]]''' (PS2) is a sixth-generation console released by Sony on October 26, 2000 , and it was retailed for {{Inflation|USD|299.99|2000}}. It has the Emotion Engine CPU based off on the MIPS R5900 at 300 MHz with 32MB 32 MBs of RDRAM system memory and 4MB 4 MBs of eDRAM (VRAM). Its GPU was a custom Graphics Synthesizer, which ran at 150 MHz. It became the highest-selling console of all time , with over 155 million units sold.

| [https://pcsx2.net/downloads/#nightly-anchor Nightly]<br/>[https://pcsx2.net/downloads/ Stable]<ref group=N name=pcsx2stable>The stable versions are years out -of -date and missing countless features and bug fixes. Nightly versions are a better choice for almost all users; the stable versions should only be used if you have a specific need for them.</ref>

::;[[AetherSX2]]:A closed-source freeware emulator, partially forked from PCSX2. It's designed to be more optimal for ARM-based platforms, primarily those running Android.

;[[Play!]]:Development is almost all done by the single maintainer jpd002. Compatibility information is located on the emulators emulator's [https://purei.org/ home page], ; [https://github.com/jpd002/Play-Compatibility/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Astate-playable 763 games are reported playable]. Also has a playable Android port.

;[[sourceforge:projects/hpsx64/|HPS2x64]] <small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18OtsWyo9pTJ7swAhUXa8c_J3qX0G_b4px24dFXeLPlw/ compatibility])</small>:Can also run quite a few commercial games, but probably less so, and at slower speeds, than Play!. It also emulates and focuses more on [[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]] emulation. There is also a [https://github.com/Zero3K/hpsx64 mirror] that has fixes done to it.

;[[DamonPS2]]:Closed-source payware/malware emulator only for Android, illegally based off of on [[PCSX2]], [[Play!]] and [[PPSSPP]]. '''It can hardly run any games''' and behaves very much like virus software. '''It is best NOT to NOT use this emulator'''. DamonPS2 uses un-necessary unnecessary DRM , making the emulator useless without an internet connection.

First of all: , many people believe that since the main CPU (Emotion Engine) runs at a clock speed of 294Mhz 294 Mhz (299Mhz 299 Mhz on later revisions), it would make emulation easy on recent hardware. But this is not isn't the case, because the clock speed of the emulated CPU is not necessarily indicative of the ease of emulation. Specifically, the PS2 's CPU contains a multitude of custom sub-components and chips such as the FPU co-processor, 2 Vector Units, IOP, SPU2, Graphics Synthesizer, and SIF which together work asynchronously to comprise the 128-bit Emotion Engine. To emulate Emulating them perfectly with correct timing requires an enormous amount of power. Moreover, the PS2 , just like PS1 , uses the MIPS architecture instead of standard x86 code, thus making emulation slower.<ref>https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Why-is-PCSX2-slow</ref>

Another big problem is the emulation of PS2’s own floating-point unit (FPU) because it doesn’t follow the IEEE standard. To keep it simple, just changing a couple of numbers will cause glitches to occur to the game’s graphic (VU) and logic (EE), resulting in things like broken AI, odd behaviors, and/or graphical bugs. While PCSX2 allows for the option of either clamping/rounding on both VU and EE as a solution to fix these glitches, it remains by far not the most accurate way to emulate the PS2 's FPU.<ref>https://wiki.pcsx2.net/PCSX2_Documentation/Nightmare_on_Floating-Point_Street</ref><ref>https://github.com/PSI-Rockin/DobieStation/issues/51</ref>

To conclude on the problems with PS2 emulation, we come to hardware rendering. The PS2’s graphics pipeline acts very differently from modern GPU cards , and emulating it in HW mode with any degree of accuracy is difficult. This is due in part to the versatility of the PS2, the fact that it doesn’t use fixed shaders, or that even the games themselves do not use a consistent formula to achieve different graphical effects. Various type of emulation enhancements like display resolution scaling leads lead to the typical “black lines glitch” because of the use of a non-integer resolution. While the OpenGL backend on PCSX2 greatly improved on many of these issues, most games still require “software rendering” to fix many common glitches, which in turn slows down the emulation. Although Games using mip-mapping mipmapping ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratchet_%26_Clank_(2002_video_game) ''Ratchet & Clank''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Combat#Games ''Ace Combat''], etc...) and games running on the Snowblind Engine are playable in OGL HW mode with minimal problems on high-end PCs.

In summary, it is not possible impossible to achieve close-to-perfection PS2 emulation with actual PC hardware, and even if it was were possible, the results would most likely be unplayable. The PS2 is simply a very complex machine that even game developers struggled to work with.

Some PS2 games make use of a USB adapter with a module/dongle consisting of two jack ports for microphones. [[wikipedia:List_of_songs_in_SingStar_games_(PlayStation_2)|Installments]] from the [[wikipedia:SingStar|''SingStar'']] series on the PS2 were able to could use microphones (Sometimes bundled with these game discs) with this method.

Steering wheels are also supported for a large number of many racing games via a USB adapter.

While PCSX2 isn't benefiting from a working USB plugin in its original release, Jackun, a PCSX2 plugin author, made a [https://github.com/jackun/USBqemu-wheel USB plugin] that supports a microphone in most games and even a steering wheel for racing games. The plugin is still updated nowadays.

A [https://github.com/987123879113/pcsx2 fork] of PCSX2 supports the emulation of the Konami Python 2. Notice this This fork requires extra BIOS files (civ.bin, cks.bin, eks.bin, and kek.bin).

''Not to be confused with the [[PlayStation emulators|original PlayStation]].''

The PSX is a Sony digital video recorder with a fully integrated PlayStation 2 home video game PS2 console, which is . It was also the first device to use Sony's XrossMediaBar (XMB) graphical user interface, which was later used on the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation 3, some Blu-ray Disc players, and 2008-era BRAVIA TVs.

Apparently, a Twitter user called @DiscoStarslayer is claims to be [https://nitter.pussthecat.org/DiscoStarslayer/status/1570428063502012417 working] on bypassing the HDD encryption of the PSX ], which could result in this hardware being emulated , and it would allow to replace for replacing the HDD in those consoles. This user also encourages to dump dumping the content of the HDD of your PSX using a [https://nitter.pussthecat.org/DiscoStarslayer/status/1592187362947526657 guide] made by a PCSX2 contributor called [https://nitter.pussthecat.org/_987123879113 987123879113]

* [https://psxdatacenter.com/psx2/sitenews2.html PlayStation 2 DataCenter] - Tons of PS2 -related things. Emulator files like plugins, game manuals, game configurations, and many tutorials are just some of the things you'll find here.