PCSX2

PCSX2

Screenshot of PCSX2
Developer(s)	15
Stable release	0.9.8 r4600 / May 1, 2011; 6 months ago (2011-05-01)
Preview release	0.9.8 r4912[1] / September 5, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-09-05)
Development status	Active
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, Linux
Size	3.91 MB (compressed as a 2.84 MB .7z file)
Available in	21 languages English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Type	Video game console emulator
License	GNU General Public License
Website	pcsx2.net

PCSX2 is an open-source PlayStation 2 (PS2) emulator for the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. In its latest stable release, many PS2 games are playable, and several games have full functionality.^[2] 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.

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 second 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.^[3]

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).^{[citation needed]} 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

See also: Megahertz myth

A common misconception regarding PCSX2 is that a processor with a relatively high clock speed, such as a Pentium 4 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.^[4]

Plug-ins

Several plug-ins are currently being further developed, for performance and compatibility enhancements.

GSdx[1] 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.

ZZogl[2] (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.

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 XIII and Monster Hunter. Other games have been reported as working.

System requirements

Following is a short list of system requirements for running PCSX2^[5]:

Minimum

• Windows XP Service Pack 2/Windows Vista or Linux 32bit/64bit
• CPU that supports SSE2 (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: Nvidia GeForce 9600gt or Better
• 2GB RAM (3GB or more if using Windows Vista or Windows 7)

References

1. ^ http://code.google.com/p/pcsx2/source/detail?r=4912
2. ^ "Compatibility". PCSX2. http://www.pcsx2.net/compat.php. 
3. ^ http://www.emucr.com/2011/08/pcsx2-svn-r4866.html
4. ^ "Blog". PCSX2. http://www.pcsx2.net/blog.php. 
5. ^ from the official PCSX2 wiki

External links

• Official website
• Official Wiki
• Official Facebook Group
• PCSX2 project page on Google Code
• The Official PCSX2 Archive, a collection of PCSX2 releases and Plug-ins
• irc://irc.efnet.org/pcsx2, unofficial PCSX2 support channel on IRC.