Difference between pages "WonderSwan emulators" and "PlayStation 2 emulators"

From Emulation General Wiki
(Difference between pages)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(converting to png)
 
(→‎Emulators)
(Tags: Mobile edit, Mobile web edit)
 
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{Infobox console
 
{{Infobox console
−
|title = Bandai WonderSwan/Color
+
|title = PlayStation 2
−
|logo = WonderSwan-Black-Left.png
+
|logo = PS2-Fat-Console-Set.png
−
|image = WonderSwan-Color-Blue-Left.png
+
|developer = [[:Sony]]
−
|image2 = WonderSwanCrystal.png
+
|type = [[:Category:Home consoles|Home video game console]]
−
|image3 = SwanCrystal-Wine-Left.png
+
|generation = [[:Category:Sixth-generation video game consoles|Sixth generation]]
−
|imagecaption = '''Top:''' The WonderSwan.<br/>'''Middle:''' The WonderSwan Color.<br/>'''Bottom 2:''' The SwanCrystal <small>(Blue Violet & Red Wine).</small>
+
|release = 2000
−
|developer = Bandai
+
|discontinued = 2013
−
|type = [[:Category:Consoles|Handheld game console]]
+
|predecessor = [[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]]
−
|generation = [[:Category:Fifth-generation video game consoles|Fifth generation]]
+
|successor = [[PlayStation 3 emulators|PlayStation 3]]
−
|release = 1999 <small>(WonderSwan)</small><br/>2000 <small>(WonderSwan Color)</small><br/>2002 <small>(Swan Crystal)</small>
 
−
|discontinued = 2003
 
 
|emulated = {{✓}}
 
|emulated = {{✓}}
 
}}
 
}}
−
The '''WonderSwan''', '''WonderSwan Color''' and '''SwanCrystal''' are the fifth-generation handheld game consoles produced by [[wikipedia:Bandai|Bandai]] in 1999, 2000 and 2002, respectively. It is the brainchild of Game Boy/Color creator, [[wikipedia:Gunpei_Yokoi|Gunpei Yokoi]]. There were three versions eventually released: A black-and-white version, a color version, and a  '''Crystal''' version with an improved screen.
+
 
 +
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 at 300 MHz with 32MB of RDRAM system memory and 4MB 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 160 million units sold.  
  
 
==Emulators==
 
==Emulators==
 
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
 
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
 
|-
 
|-
−
! scope="col"|Name
+
!scope="col"|Name
−
! scope="col"|Platform(s)
+
!scope="col"|Platform(s)
−
! scope="col"|Latest Version
+
!scope="col"|Latest Version
−
! scope="col"|Open-Source
+
! scope="col"|[[libretro|Libretro Core]]
−
! scope="col"|WS
+
! scope="col"|<abbr title="Free/Libre and Open-Source Software">FLOSS</abbr>
−
! scope="col"|WSC
+
!scope="col"|Active
−
! scope="col"|[[Libretro|Libretro Core]]
+
!scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
−
! scope="col"|Active
 
−
! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]
 
 
|-
 
|-
−
! colspan="9"|PC / x86
+
!colspan="7"|PC / x86
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[[Mednafen]]
+
|[[PCSX2]]
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
+
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}
−
|[{{MednafenURL|releases/}} {{MednafenVer}}]
+
|[https://pcsx2.net/download.html 1.6.0] (stable)<br /> [http://buildbot.orphis.net/pcsx2 SVN]
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
+
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[[higan]]
+
|[[Play!]]
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
+
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS}}
−
|[http://byuu.org/emulation/higan/ {{higanVer}}]
+
|[http://purei.org/downloads.php Builds]
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
+
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[[BizHawk]]
+
|DobieStation
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
+
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}
−
|[http://tasvideos.org/BizHawk/ReleaseHistory.html {{BizHawkVer}}]
+
|[https://github.com/PSI-Rockin/DobieStation Git]<br /> [https://ci.appveyor.com/project/PSI-Rockin/dobiestation/history Builds]
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
+
|{{✗}}
−
|-
+
|{{✓}}
−
|[https://www.zophar.net/ws/wscamp.html WSCamp]
+
|{{✓}}
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
+
|{{✗}}
−
|[https://emulationrealm.net/downloads/file/237-wscamp 0.21]
 
−
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}}
 
−
|-
 
−
|[[MAME]]
 
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}
 
−
|[http://www.mamedev.org/release.html {{MAMEVer}}]
 
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}
 
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[[Cygne]]
+
|[https://sourceforge.net/projects/hpsx64 hpsx64]
 
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
 
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
−
|[http://cygne.emuunlim.com/ 2.1a]
+
|[http://www.emucr.com/search/label/hpsx64?&max-results=16 {{hpsx64Ver}}]
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
+
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[http://sourceforge.jp/projects/oswan/devel/ Oswan]
+
|orbum
 
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
 
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows}}
−
|[http://sourceforge.jp/projects/oswan/releases/p5046 1.7.3]
+
|[https://github.com/marco9999/orbum git]
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
+
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[http://wsonline.emuunlim.com/ WonderScott]
+
!colspan="7"|Mobile / ARM
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Web}}
 
−
|[https://www.zophar.net/ws/wonderscott.html 0.54b]
 
−
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
 
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20141105014113/http://www.xe-emulator.com/ Xe]
+
|[[DamonPS2]]
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}
+
|align=left|{{Icon|Android}}
−
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20141022230129/http://www.xe-emulator.com/index.php?m=download 2.16.2]
+
|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.damonplay.damonps2.free 4.0.1]
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
+
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✗}}
 
|-
 
|-
−
! colspan="9"|Mobile / ARM
+
|[[Play!]]
 +
|align=left|{{Icon|Android|iOS}}
 +
|[https://purei.org/downloads.php Builds] [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.virtualapplications.play 0.43 (Android)]
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 +
|{{✗}}<small> (WIP)</small>
 
|-
 
|-
−
|[[Mednafen]]
+
!colspan="7"|Consoles
−
|align=left|{{Icon|Android|Linux}}<ref group=N name=libretro>Only available as a libretro core (e.g. [[RetroArch]]).</ref>
 
−
|[{{MednafenURL|releases/}} {{MednafenVer}}]
 
−
|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}
 
 
|-
 
|-
−
! colspan="9"|Console
+
|[[Official_Sony_Emulators#PlayStation_2|ps2_emu]]
−
|-
+
|align=left|{{Icon|PS3}}
−
|[http://dev-e.sakura.ne.jp/ eSwan]
+
|FW 4.78
−
|align=left|{{Icon|PSP}}
+
|{{✗}}
−
|[http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/eswan.shtml 0.09]
+
|{{✗}}
−
|{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}
+
|{{✗}}
 +
|{{✓}}
 
|}
 
|}
−
<references group=N />
 
  
−
==Notes==
+
===Comparisons===
−
;WSCamp:A WonderSwan and WS Color emulator written by Toshi.  This was the first WonderSwan emulator to feature sound as well as gamepad support, and it has a very high compatibility rate and excellent speed. It was the most accurate WonderSwan emulator at the time in the early 2000's, beating out [[Cygne]] and Oswan.
+
;[[PCSX2]]:The first and only PS2 emulator currently worth using. That said, it is underwhelming in the accuracy department, with thousands of bugs and graphical glitches. However, since version 1.6, the accuracy has greatly improved. The emulator is capable of playing 2608 games without any major glitches (regardless of speed) and playing 29 games at a non-playable speed or with major graphical or accuracy glitches.  Check the [[Game problems FAQ#PS2|Game Problems FAQ]] for the most difficult titles.
−
;[[Cygne]]:The first WonderSwan emulator created on the Windows platform, written by DOX and released under the GNU General Public License. It had undergone massive improvements over its original DOS beta form in the early 2000's, including better timing and fixes to the SRAM. Cygne has a high compatibility rate, but lacks in speed and does not offer any sound support. Cygne supports both the original WonderSwan and the WonderSwan Color. However, it was abandoned in 2002.
+
;[[DamonPS2]]:Closed source emulator only for Android. Starting from the v4.0.1 version , [[DamonPS2]]'s compatibility is close to [[PCSX2]], and the frame rate has also been greatly improved. Almost all the triangular chaotic BUGs have been fixed, and most of the game crashes or hang have also been solved. Some players said that after testing more than 350 games, they found that the latest DamonPS2 v4.01 version can run 80% of them perfectly, the remaining 10% are flawed, and the other 10% can’t run (half of which PCSX2 also can’t run)[https://4pda.to/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=877775&view=findpost&p=107993361 4pda]. But although it is much faster than [[Play!]], compatibility still Slightly behind [[PCSX2]]. [[PCSX2]] believes that [[DamonPS2]] stole their source code [https://pcsx2.net/286-the-pcsx2-team-s-statement-regarding-the-damonps2-emulator.html Pcsx2].  DamonPS2 developers believe that the evidence given by PCSX2 is wrong.[https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5540262646 Site Tieba] [https://www.zhihu.com/question/267082985/answer/323834856 zhihu.com Zhihu] Therefore, the team of lawyers in the Google Play Store did not recognize the DMCA application submitted by [[PCSX2]] to them for the removal of DamonPS2. In addition, DamonPS2 might steal your data (sends data to it's remote servers, nobody knows why and for what purposes). But in Baidu Post Bar, Developers said that real-time user data is obtained to better prevent piracy. The software will continuously check whether it is cracked, and upload the software data to the server for anti-piracy monitoring, so this emulator cannot be run offline
−
;Oswan:Oswan is a WonderSwan/WS Color emulator based on the Cygne source code and authored by David Raingeard. Improvements upon the original Cygne source include the additional of sound support and many speed improvements. Oswan also features the ability to apply several video filters as well as color schemes to add color to WonderSwan Classic titles. It has been abandoned as two variants of it were released in 2007 and 2010.
+
;[[Play!]]:Can run quite a few commercial games but is still pretty far behind [[PCSX2]].
−
;WonderScott:The second WonderSwan/WSC emulator, this WonderSwan emulator written in JavaScript was authored by Julien Frelat (Gollum) and released by the same team that made Boycott Advance. An online web format of WonderScott was also available at its official website, but is probably permanently inaccessible. It was somehow abandoned after its last version, v0.54b, was uploaded near the end of 2001 with poor compatibility.
+
;[https://github.com/PSI-Rockin/DobieStation/ DobieStation]: Hundreds of titles go ingame, more accurate than Play! and even PCSX2 in some cases, but way slower than both at the moment. Designed to be fast, accurate and easy to use. An [[Android emulators|Android]] port is planned.
 +
;[[sourceforge:projects/hpsx64/|hpsx64]]: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.
 +
 
 +
==Emulation issues==
 +
 
 +
Despite a large interest in PS2 emulation due to its sizable collection of games, it is still one of the hardest consoles to emulate for a number of reasons.
 +
 
 +
First of all: many people believe that since the main CPU (Emotion Engine) runs at a clock speed of 294Mhz (299Mhz on later revisions), it would make emulation easy on recent hardware. But this is not the case, because the clock speed of the emulated CPU is not necessarily indicative of the ease of emulation. Specifically, the PS2 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. In order to emulate 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 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 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 PS2, 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 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 (Ratchet & Clank, 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 to achieve close-to-perfection PS2 emulation with actual PC hardware, and even if it was possible, the results would most likely be unplayable.  The PS2 is simply a very complex machine that even game developers struggled to work with.
 +
 
 +
==EyeToy==
 +
 
 +
The [[wikipedia:EyeToy|EyeToy]] is a device similar to a camera or a webcam. It's an accessory developed by Sony and manufactured by Logitech. It is used in some PS2 games to interact physically through motion detection. The EyeToy can be used on PC with [https://web.archive.org/web/20070327192750/http://eyetoy8057.sourceforge.net/cms/ unofficial drivers]. It also works natively with the [[PlayStation_3_emulators|PS3]].
 +
 
 +
As for now, there are no emulators that can play EyeToy-only games or EyeToy enhanced events and modes in other games. You can find more informations about said games on this [https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/525 PCSX2 GitHub issue].
 +
 
 +
==USB Plugin==
 +
 
 +
Some PS2 games make use of an 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 use microphones (Sometimes bundled with these game discs) with this method.
 +
:These adapters could either formally or informally be called:
 +
* SingStar USB Converter (Official)
 +
* SingStar USB Converter Box (Official)
 +
* SingStar USB Microphone Converter
 +
* SingStar Microphone USB Adapter/Converter
 +
* SingStar USB Converter Microphone Adapter
 +
Steering wheels are also supported for a large number of racing games via an 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 steering wheel for racing games. The plugin is still updated nowadays.
 +
A compatibility list of the working titles with this plugin can be found [https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Qemu-USB-Wheel-Storage-mod-Singstar-test?pid=320737#pid320737 here].
  
−
'''Features & pages on recommended/available WonderSwan/WS Color emulators:'''
+
==External links==
−
* [http://www.racketboy.com/retro/bandai-wonderswan-101-a-beginners-guide BANDAI WONDERSWAN 101: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE] (July 6th, 2007 by racketboy; updated June 19th, 2018. Old feature covering early WonderSwan emulation. Oswan and WSCamp were the recommended emulators according to the article. Both are too old by now and not recommended.)
+
* [http://wiki.pcsx2.net/index.php/Main_Page PCSX2 Wiki] - For checking if your games work and any fixes, tweaks, or settings you should know beforehand. The wiki is very outdated and unfinished, so personal testing is usually a must.  
−
* [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/PSP/Emulation_List#Bandai_WonderSwan Wikibooks.org] (PSP/Emulation List. 5 old emulators and ports for the PSP.)
+
* [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.  
−
* [http://www.vtemulation.net/emulators/windows/ws.php VTEmulation.net] (Old list of 3 old, early 2000's recommended emulators. Site no longer maintained.)
 
−
* [http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/emulator.asp?c=1175&st=2 Old-Computers.com] (List of 5 old, early 2000's emulators. For reference only.)
 
−
* [https://www.zophar.net/ws.html Zophar's Domain] (List of downloads for 5 old, early 2000's emulators.)
 
  
−
==Debugging==
+
==References==
−
;[[Mednafen]]:This multi-system emulator is said to have great debugging and cheat engine features but, unfortunately, has a [https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/3llkck/comment/cv78kj7 CRC check function] similar to default MAME. A CRC check analyses a game ROM file for any change to its data and size, so a fan-translator or ROMhacker would have to edit filenames every time for every change, which is incredibly tedious. This is likely the reason why there have not been many hack and fan-translation patches being provided publicly for any game on several systems that are covered by Mednafen such as Wonderswan (this page's topic), Neo Geo and PC Engine/PCE CD. These systems don't tend to have many good alternative emulators, let alone ones with good quality debuggers.
+
{{reflist}}
−
;[[MAME]]:This well-known emulator of thousands of systems also has a normal CRC check algorithm to insure that the ROM file(s) of any supported game or clone, depending on the database/ROMset for a MAME version, match the data integrity and size of the same game/variant in the records. However, this does make it rather prickly for an aspiring ROMhacker. The MAME developers partly wanted this to reduce the nasty incidences of some sellers pawning circuit boards that were actually stuffed with user-made ROMhacks. There are a few ways around that - note that MAME developers still support genuine fan-translators, even for arcade games.
 
−
::1) Try using the HBMAME or MAMEUIFX frontend, which may support loading modified ROMs.
 
−
::2) If you don't zip the set and instead make a folder with the zipname inside your rompath with properly-named loose files inside there, MAME will fuss up, but it will run the game even though the CRCs don't match.
 
−
::3) With the new GEnie build system, it's pretty easy to build a one-game-off version of MAME that builds in seconds on pretty much any worthwhile PC.
 
−
:::''make SUBTARGET=rom_name DRIVERS=src/mame/drivers/whatever.c REGENIE=1''
 
−
;Oswan:A very old, broken and dead emulator. But it has a (poorly working) debugger, so making a hack patch on a WS game can be a lot smoother process with this software's tool than Mednafen's.
 
  
 
[[Category:Consoles]]
 
[[Category:Consoles]]
−
[[Category:Fifth-generation video game consoles]]
+
[[Category:Home consoles]]
 +
[[Category:Sony consoles]]
 +
[[Category:Sixth-generation video game consoles]]
 +
[[Category:PlayStation 2 emulators|*]]

Revision as of 14:06, 7 August 2021

PlayStation 2
PS2-Fat-Console-Set.png
Developer Sony
Type Home video game console
Generation Sixth generation
Release date 2000
Discontinued 2013
Predecessor PlayStation
Successor PlayStation 3
Emulated ✓

The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a sixth-generation console released by Sony on October 26, 2000 and it was retailed for $299.99. It has the Emotion Engine CPU at 300 MHz with 32MB of RDRAM system memory and 4MB 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 160 million units sold.

Emulators

Name Platform(s) Latest Version Libretro Core FLOSS Active Recommended
PC / x86
PCSX2 Windows Linux macOS 1.6.0 (stable)
SVN 		✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Play! Windows Linux macOS Builds ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗
DobieStation Windows Linux Git
Builds 		✗ ✓ ✓ ✗
hpsx64 Windows v0430 ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗
orbum Windows git ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Mobile / ARM
DamonPS2 Android 4.0.1 ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗
Play! Android iOS Builds 0.43 (Android) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ (WIP)
Consoles
ps2_emu PlayStation 3 FW 4.78 ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓

Comparisons

PCSX2
The first and only PS2 emulator currently worth using. That said, it is underwhelming in the accuracy department, with thousands of bugs and graphical glitches. However, since version 1.6, the accuracy has greatly improved. The emulator is capable of playing 2608 games without any major glitches (regardless of speed) and playing 29 games at a non-playable speed or with major graphical or accuracy glitches. Check the Game Problems FAQ for the most difficult titles.
DamonPS2
Closed source emulator only for Android. Starting from the v4.0.1 version , DamonPS2's compatibility is close to PCSX2, and the frame rate has also been greatly improved. Almost all the triangular chaotic BUGs have been fixed, and most of the game crashes or hang have also been solved. Some players said that after testing more than 350 games, they found that the latest DamonPS2 v4.01 version can run 80% of them perfectly, the remaining 10% are flawed, and the other 10% can’t run (half of which PCSX2 also can’t run)4pda. But although it is much faster than Play!, compatibility still Slightly behind PCSX2. PCSX2 believes that DamonPS2 stole their source code Pcsx2. DamonPS2 developers believe that the evidence given by PCSX2 is wrong.Site Tieba zhihu.com Zhihu Therefore, the team of lawyers in the Google Play Store did not recognize the DMCA application submitted by PCSX2 to them for the removal of DamonPS2. In addition, DamonPS2 might steal your data (sends data to it's remote servers, nobody knows why and for what purposes). But in Baidu Post Bar, Developers said that real-time user data is obtained to better prevent piracy. The software will continuously check whether it is cracked, and upload the software data to the server for anti-piracy monitoring, so this emulator cannot be run offline
Play!
Can run quite a few commercial games but is still pretty far behind PCSX2.
DobieStation
Hundreds of titles go ingame, more accurate than Play! and even PCSX2 in some cases, but way slower than both at the moment. Designed to be fast, accurate and easy to use. An Android port is planned.
hpsx64
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 emulation.

Emulation issues

Despite a large interest in PS2 emulation due to its sizable collection of games, it is still one of the hardest consoles to emulate for a number of reasons.

First of all: many people believe that since the main CPU (Emotion Engine) runs at a clock speed of 294Mhz (299Mhz on later revisions), it would make emulation easy on recent hardware. But this is not the case, because the clock speed of the emulated CPU is not necessarily indicative of the ease of emulation. Specifically, the PS2 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. In order to emulate 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.[1]

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 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 FPU.[2][3]

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 PS2, 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 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 (Ratchet & Clank, 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 to achieve close-to-perfection PS2 emulation with actual PC hardware, and even if it was possible, the results would most likely be unplayable. The PS2 is simply a very complex machine that even game developers struggled to work with.

EyeToy

The EyeToy is a device similar to a camera or a webcam. It's an accessory developed by Sony and manufactured by Logitech. It is used in some PS2 games to interact physically through motion detection. The EyeToy can be used on PC with unofficial drivers. It also works natively with the PS3.

As for now, there are no emulators that can play EyeToy-only games or EyeToy enhanced events and modes in other games. You can find more informations about said games on this PCSX2 GitHub issue.

USB Plugin

Some PS2 games make use of an USB adapter with a module/dongle consisting of two jack ports for microphones. Installments from the SingStar series on the PS2 were able to use microphones (Sometimes bundled with these game discs) with this method.

These adapters could either formally or informally be called:
  • SingStar USB Converter (Official)
  • SingStar USB Converter Box (Official)
  • SingStar USB Microphone Converter
  • SingStar Microphone USB Adapter/Converter
  • SingStar USB Converter Microphone Adapter

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

While PCSX2 isn't benefiting from a working USB plugin in its original release, Jackun, a PCSX2 plugin author, made a USB plugin that supports a microphone in most games and even steering wheel for racing games. The plugin is still updated nowadays. A compatibility list of the working titles with this plugin can be found here.

External links

  • PCSX2 Wiki - For checking if your games work and any fixes, tweaks, or settings you should know beforehand. The wiki is very outdated and unfinished, so personal testing is usually a must.
  • 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.

References

  1. ↑ https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Why-is-PCSX2-slow
  2. ↑ https://wiki.pcsx2.net/PCSX2_Documentation/Nightmare_on_Floating-Point_Street
  3. ↑ https://github.com/PSI-Rockin/DobieStation/issues/51
Retrieved from "https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php?title=WonderSwan_emulators&oldid=38999"