| paleface [sys=PC; cat=Emulation; reg=WLD] |
| | | https://pcsx2.net/
PS2 emulator--the only PS2 emulator listed on Wikipedia.
With min input delay and graphics settings, preliminary rough input lag test showed 1-2 additional frames of delay on my set-up.
Note to self: apparently ImgBurn is widely used for "good enough" PS1/PS2 game dumping: https://ninite.com/ImgBurn/ |
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| | | | PCSX2 can read ROMs compressed to CHD (by CHDMAN--see entry 1742); it can't read zipped ROMs, so this is handy for saving HD space. |
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| | | | Covers downloader URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xlenore/ps2-covers/main/covers/default/${serial}.jpg |
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| | | My impression was that duckstation was fairly new, so I'd assumed (:p) the close similarity in UI between it and long-running PS2 emulator PCSX2 meant duckstation had just swiped PCSX2's UI ideas--but it looks like what actually happened is that the developer of duckstation, Australian stenzek https://github.com/stenzek, started helping out on PCSX2 by 2022-ish; so PCSX2 got *duckstation's* UI: https://www.resetera.com/threads/so-ps2-emulation-got-way-better-recently.564466/?post=83960653#post-83960653
Hm and it sounds like PCSX2 got native DualShock 4 & 5 support around that time: https://www.resetera.com/threads/so-ps2-emulation-got-way-better-recently.564466/post-87026714
Apparently, months before this, in Feb 2022--I guess a bit after stenzek put Vulkan support into PSCS2, the duckstation dev had had a falling out with popular multi-emulator front-end RetroArch, which was incorporating duckstation; he felt RA, or someone or someones there, was ripping off his stuff, including leaking and taking credit for uncommitted code, and harassing him; a fork called "Swanstation" had been made that apparently wanted to take his work and go commercial with it. Frustrated, he put the duckstation github in read-only mode for a while and said the project was on hiatus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-iRW7BAoOU |
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| | | | PCSX2 requires a PS2 BIOS. Fortunately, one can be extracted from a PS3 BIOS made publicly available by Sony themselves, and processed through the PS3 emulator PCSX3 (see entry 1745). |
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My PS2 and its aging laser are in the cupboard now alongside a PSOne, PC Engine Duo, Dreamcast, and NEOGEO CMVS--because the emulator PCSX2 runs Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution with exactly the same input delay as the PS2 itself on my set-up--5 frames--and with far greater screen resolution and convenience. Huzzah! = D
I measured this very crudely by pressing Jacky Bryant's punch button in VF4E on a PS2, and with a rip of the PS2 disc under each of PS2 emulator PCSX2's five renderers on a Windows 11 PC, all recorded in 60 fps cell phone video. After recording, I play the video back frame-by-frame and count the number of frames between the button being fully down, and Jacky's punch starting to animate. You can do this in YouTube by making sure you're getting 60 fps playback, pausing, and, on PC, pressing the "." (period) key to advance the video frame-by-frame.
This comparison is NOT scientific or conclusive and probably won't reflect whatever you get on your own set-up.
My ~4 year old mid-range gaming laptop: a "Sager NP6858CQ 15.6-Inch Thin Bezel FHD 144Hz Gaming Laptop, Intel i7-10750H, GTX 1660Ti 6GB, 16GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089KW3Y1R bought in summer 2020, outputting to a 60 Hz 1080p Asus 5ms monitor. Component output via OSSC for the PS2. Hori Real Arcade Pro V 2017 PS3/PS4 arcade stick--through a Brook Super Converter on the PS2.
I ripped the game disc with ImgBurn and compressed the .iso with CHDMAN. I got the PS2 BIOS PCSX2 requires by downloading PS3 firmware from Sony https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/hardware/ps3/system-software/ , processing it in PCSX3 https://rpcs3.net/ , and extracting the PS2 (and PS1) BIOS from it with PC BIOS Claim Tool - https://archive.org/details/firmware_bios_claim_release1 : Copy the .bat and .ps1 files into the PCSX3 folder and run the .bat--that dumps one ps3_ps1* and a bunch of ps3_ps2* .bin files into the PCSX3 folder; those are PS1 and PS2 BIOS files.
The game had the same input delay on the PS2 and in all five PCSX2 renderers--and turning FXAA on didn't make a difference.
PCSX2's interface is very similar to that of the PS1 emulator duckstation because duckstation's developer, stenzek, has been contributing to PCSX2 since early 2022 or so. Rather curiously though, Vulkan and OpenGL are in the opposite order in the Renderers list in PCSX2. 'p' Also, while D3D11 is the default renderer in duckstation (maybe for compatibility reasons? but it had twice the input lag in my test with Darkstalkers 3 in that emulator; in duckstation, all but the OpenGL renderer had an additional 1 or 2 frames of lag on my set-up), Vulkan is the default in PCSX2. I couldn't see any real difference between the renderers in these tests, so I'm just doing to leave PCSX2's renderer set to Default.
I had the Emulation - Optimal Frame Pacing setting checked, and internal resolution set to 4K, while running the game full screen at 1080p, 4:3 aspect ratio. |
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| | | Download added: 03_4xRGSS.jpg (295587 bytes)
"4xRGSS downsampling (no FXAA) in VF4"
Game boot "hold [x] buttons to enable progressive mode" functions still operate, but don't seem to make any difference, ie PCSX2 is automatically progressive-izing games...even games that don't have their own built-in progressive output option, I think. : )
The FXAA Graphics - Post-Processing option is pretty weak on its own. It can stack with the two stronger options, though: Filters - TV Shader - "4xRGSS downsampling (4x Rotated Grid SuperSampling)" and "NxAGSS downsampling (Nx Automatic Grid SuperSampling)."
4xRGSS is the smoother-looking of the two; that stacked with FXAA seems good for games without any AA of their own, like VF4 and OutRun 2006--but I found it a bit too strong for VF4E, which has its own built-in, rather strong AA, so for that I use NxAGSS on its own; my eyeballs seem happier when there's just a HINT of pixelization remaining--they start thinking the image is blurred or out of focus if it's too smooth, which is what happens in VF4E with FXAA+4xRGSS.
Tested input delay with FXAA plus both of the downsamplers and found no additional input lag.
I'm going to leave FXAA and downsampling off by default, and enable them on a per-game basis; they'll blur 2D games like SVC Chaos if left on, for instance. |
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| | | | The 3D backgrounds of The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout (see entry 765) have all kinds of rendering problems in PCSX2 in all but Software renderer. ; ) Software renderer seems fine. |
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| | | | (Since I'm probably not going to use Re-Bout with the 3D backgrounds, I'll leave it on Auto renderer to get the increased pixel accuracy of the 4K Internal Resolution setting.) |
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| | | | According to https://www.emulation64.com/spotlights/1/ , co-creator Linuzappz is from Argentina. |
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| | | PCSX2 can't set buttons to act as toggles as far as I can tell, so for racing games where I want Accelerate to be a toggle, I can run PCSX2 through Steam as a non-Steam game and use Steam Input to set toggles; currently I'm using a combination of in-game options and PCSX2's game profiles to put Accelerate on [], Handbrake (or Brake if there is no Handbrake) on O, and Brake--if there was Handbrake--on X, and using Steam Input to set PCSX's [] as a Toggle.
So for instance in OutRun 2006, I tap [] to start accelerating, tap it again going into a turn to toggle it off (because OR2006's braking and accelerating clash), tap O to start brake and start drifting, then [] again to toggle accelerate back on and continue the drift.
Takes a bit of getting used to but means I don't have to hold gas! |
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| | | PCSX2's (and probably duckstation's?) button mapping works backwards from how my brain keeps thinking it should work: in PCSX2's button mapping UI, the button labels/diagrams represent what the game THINKS is the button you're pressing, while the button mapping on them represents the button you're actually pressing to activate them.
This is the opposite of how button mapping works say in Steam Input, where you find the control on your controller that you want to map to something, then select what it maps to in the game. |
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Comparing input delay between emulated PS2 and PS3 Sega Model 2 fighting game ports of Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.19 on PS2) and Fighting Vipers (Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.19 on PS2), in the PCSX2 and RPCS3 emulators.
I also compared the lag in RPCS3's two renderers: the default Vulkan, and OpenGL.
I was off by one talking about delay variation: the emulated PS2 games varied in their delays by ~4 frames from punch to punch, while the emulated PS3 games varied by ~3 frames.
In past comparisons, I've found that on my set-up, PCSX2 has about the same input delay as the actual PS2. I have not done a comparison between RPCS3 and the actual PS3 because I'm just sick of worrying about the PS3 dying (it's running fine, this is just paranoia on my part) and RPCS3 seems to run be running the games well so I'm just going with RPCS3 for PS3 stuff anyway.
In RPCS3, the OpenGL renderer was *maybe* a hair slower in some cases, but not others. And thanks to accidentally testing it twice for FV, I did notice variation when using it, which could just be down to the different random backgrounds: sometimes 6 or 7 frames delay in the airport stage, with its long-range background view, and sometimes as low as 4 frames in Honey's walled-in stack with oddly projected shadows. Probably kind of a wash but I'd have to do way more testing to verify and I don't feel like doing that; I'll just stick to the default Vulkan renderer.
So overall, in emulation the PS3 games had a response about 2 frames faster than the PS3 games--which to me is pretty significant, so I'll be sticking with RPCS3 for VF2 and FV. I'll miss the funky 3:2 (1.509~) aspect ratio the PS2 ports run in by default (they claim real hard it's the "arcade" aspect ratio; but even the screens on the backs of the game cases are the straight pixel 496/384 1.29 aspect ratio, and all the photos and videos I could find of (US, not sure I found any Japanese ones) have them running at either 1.29 or 4:3 (mostly 4:3 for the actual Model 2 board videos as far as I could tell)), but I won't miss their letterboxed displays, slightly juddery framerates, and--for VF2--lack of move lists. The PS2 versions are good ports, just not as polished as the PS3 ones. (
(Curiously, although they all default to 30 second rounds, the MAX time limits you can set for 2P Vs rounds varies from game to game and port to port, except it's always 60 seconds max for VF2--but you can go up to infinite time for FV on PS2, and 90 seconds for FV on PS3.)
It's definitely emulated rather than actual PS3 for me from here on out. Unlike the PS2 though, the real PS3 is NOT going in the cupboard, 'cause it's used for dumping/ripping the games.
RPCS3 stands for "Russian Personal Computer Station 3" (https://rpcs3.net/blog/2018/01/). |
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