New beta version of Sony Playstation 2 emulator for Windows has been released. Changes:
- Removed 2 of the gamefixes, which are now simply included in the code in a more stable fashion;
- More frameskip/vuskip fixes;
- Fixed some potential VU micromem clearing problems;
- Some fixes for opcodes, should help a few games, including Naruto Shippuuden Narutimate Accel 2;
- Some cdvd fixes;
- Version numbers included when compiling files;
- Usual code cleanups and reorganizations.
P.S. This is the last beta before the merge. From now on, the beta program is on hiatus till authors sort out any and all merge issues.
Pad plugin for Sony Playstation 2 emulators has been updated. Changes:
- Will no longer hide the cursor when testing a force feedback binding and mouse mode is not set to disabled.
- Bug that required the GS window to be unfocused and then focused again for keyboard input to work when only one pad plugin was set to LilyPad fixed.
This has been considered for a long time and after the two teams met,we have come to a merge The new talented coders have already done great work on the emulator and will now be joined by the old PCSX2 team for an even better coding team!
This means that:
1)The PCSX2 - Playground project will be renamed and will from now on be the official PCSX2 project
2)The whole PCSX2 - Playground team will be added to the existing official PCSX2 team
3)The next PCSX2 release will replace the 0.9.4 version and the 0.9.5 beta which we provide will be replaced by new betas after the new release.This means that the current PCSX2-Playground build will not be provided as a download (since it will actually be an older version of the released PCSX2)
4)Our forum structure will be re-organized to match these changes after a new release has been made
On other news,we now host the PCSX2 Mac port made by Zendr0n in our forums here.Head there for the latest compiled build and try it on your Mac!
Many plugin updates,as usual grab them from our downloads section!
Krakatos has posted a new version of the PS2 Emulator for Windows:
Heres whats new:
Pcsx2 PLayground beta 681
Main changes are, God of War and Kingdom Hearts 2 are now playable. Kingdom hearts 2 requires the appropriate gamefix, same as God of War
Changelog
- God of War and Kingdom Hearts 2 now work if you use the appropriate gamefix
- New gamefix to be selected for tri-ace games. Be sure to enable both!
- Bugfix for emu crash after deleting the ini file.
- speed optimizations (as always, game dependant)
- fixes for some random and semi-random crashes
- implemented COP 2's branching instructions
- code cleanups
Updated plug-Pad for Sony Playstation 2 emulators. Changes:
- Creating a new force feedback binding while testing an old one will no longer cause a crash.
- Pressing a button after clicking on one of the bind axis buttons will no longer result in a crash.
- Disabled pads now have their tabs hidden.
- Sensitivity for DirectInput relative axes was set so low they were unuseable. Fixed.
- Replaced "Start in analog mode" with "use analog mode whenever possible". New option will auto switch pads from digital to analog after a mode change whenever the pad's mode is not locked.
Krakatos has posted a new version of the PS2 Emulator for Windows:
Heres whats new:
Once again, another beta release
Pcsx2 Playground beta 658
Biggest piece of news is, we have completely and permanently dropped support for the vm version, which has been removed from the build targets. From now on, vltb only people, be sure to report eventual bugs.
Also, check out the speed optmizations.
Changelog since 636
- Removed vm version once and for all, from now only vtlb will be developed
- A lot of speedups. Game dependent, this is especially true for 2d or low 3d intensive games
- Fixed games like drakan, soul calibur 3, tekken 4. These games had problems in the previous builds
- Temporary fix for many games that died with vtlbmiss error. Please try those again and let us know if they work now
- More fixes to savestates
- More fixes for vuskip
- The usual code cleanups
Krakatos has posted a new version of the PS2 Emulator for Windows:
Heres whats new:
Ok, here we go again.
Pcsx2 beta release 636. Vtlb only.
The big news is, memcards should be perfect now. However there may be problems, you MUST read this topic BEFORE trying this beta
http://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-3283.html
Changelog:
- Memcards should be fixed once and for all, be sure to test! Be sure to read the thread mentioned above first
- Temporary vuskip fix. Not perfect, may work well or not depending from game
- savestates should be more reliable
- some speed optimizations and code cleanups
kranoldweinreich has released a new port of Vice for the PS2.
Vice emulates the C64, the C64DTV, the C128, the VIC20, almost all PET models, the PLUS4 and the CBM-II (aka C610).
New features:
- Upgrade to vice-1.22.
- Use the analog joysticks on your PS2 controller pads as joysticks.
- Mass storage device support.
- Autostarting P00 files supported.
- True drive emulation somehow working.
- Config files (change default settings without recompiling.
- Ask for confirmation when quick loading/saving snapshots (optional).
- New keyboard for C64 (from PSPVice).
Krakatos has posted a new version of the PS2 Emulator for Windows, heres whats new:
OK, time to do it once again. Once again, Vtlb only
Pcsx2 Playground beta release 626
Well, the big news is, Tri-ace games now go in-game, if the appropriate gamefix is selected. Don't expect them to be perfect, they are NOT. But they go in-game! Huge improvement. You may have to skip movies with Start, but hey they go in-game.
Be sure to delete the ini, as always!
Changelog
- Tri-ace games now go in-game with the appropriate Gamefix selected. We're talking of Star Ocean 3, Valkyrie Profile 2, Radiata Stories
- More Fatal Frame 1 fixes
- More speed optimizations, varies strongly from game to game, some show no increase at all
- More code cleanups and optimizations
- Rogue galaxy no longer need the gamefix to work
- Changed default roundmodes, you will probably have to change advanced roundmodes a lot less in order for games to work
Krakatos has posted a nnew version of the PS2 emu for Windows and new plugins too:
OK, new beta posted. This is mainly a bugfix release for beta 599, to solve the most serious bugs. Still Vtlb only, Vuskip still doesn't work. I am removing 599 since as said this is a bugfix release.
Also, while I'm at it, I added to the first posts the plugins included into the playground svn as they are today. Don't expect great improvements, but you may as well use them. Be sure to reconfigure from scratch, delete the ini files. The plugins included are:
Linuzappz
Zerogs
Spu2ghz
Zerospu
Changelog since beta 599:
- major bugfix from rev 595. Solves Mgs3 crash and bios problems, may have been responsible for other quirky behaviours
- some hackfixes for Fatal Frame 1
- removed a typo in memory.cpp
- a few small optimizations tweaks
- a few small vumicro changes
Known issues:
Vuskip is still broken, frameskip may be quirky but seems fine for now
Krakatos has posted a new version of the PS2 emulator for Windows, heres whats new:
Ok, let's do this once again, as the stack problems have been solved. Here arrives another beta.
Note, this is Vtlb ONLY. Vm version is currently not working and very broken. More than half games won't work with it.
Pcsx2 Playground beta release svn599.
Changelog:
- vu flags updated
- code cleanups and reorganizations as usual
- restructured the entire initialization process of Ps2 memory and cpu resources.
- implemented COP0 and COP1 (FPU) opcodes in the new opcode table system
- fix for fatal frame 1 in vm version
- usual GUI fixes and code cleanups
- new exception handling implemented
- bugfixes for some games (like xenosaga 1, FF12 intro fmv)
- bugfixes for mtgs
- general improvements to the emulator's reset and recovery code
- renamed the solution configurations to release, development, debug.
- fixes for the interpreter
- Simplified/improved the memory protection model, and optimized the EErec's block fetch slightly
- FMV playback speed improvement of about 8-10% since latest beta
- General vtlb speedup since last beta, 563
Krakatos has posted a new release of the PS2 Emulator for Windows:
Another new beta up. We had some compatibility regressions problems, but they should be fixed with today's commits, and it seems stable enough, so here you go.
Beta release svn563.
Notable changes for normal users:
Added a couple new speedhack options, and also a new speedhack dialog box
Various Win32 GUI renovations
Some more fixes for the cdvd commands
Big and small code cleanups (amongst which, we finally removed the x64 build code)
More work on sync issues
Green console text, heh
Added a toggable menu option to print cdvd reads to console
Shadow hearts 2 now works
I hope everybody out there is enjoying 0.9.4 and trying our new online functionality, but for those of you who just managed to get some clean underwear on after the excitement, we have some more news for you, so underwear draw on standby.
From today we will be doing occasional public beta releases! Meaning whatever is on the SVN, you will not have to wait for a year for us to release it. But i will make one note *prepares bold, large text for the few idiots who manage to miss it*
WE WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING BETA BUILDS ON THE FORUM!
I hope everybody can read that, we will not tollerate it, any threads relating to it will be closed and unanswered.
That aside i hope you enjoy your new builds, but be sure to check back occasionally as i won't be informing you of any updates Wink
Head over to the new "Public Beta" section of the downloads page to grab it.
Just a quick one, now i'm not suffering so badly from post traumatic release disorder, I thought I better just make a note saying to you guys the release builds were updated yesterday (if you didnt realise there was edit's) due to a bug making the TLB release extremely slow. This has now been fixed.
I have just updated the packs again to include Linuz ISO plugin version 0.7.0, seem's we accidently packed 0.6.0 with the earlier builds! sorry about that!
If you already have the slowness bug fixes (or you only use VM), you can download the Linuz ISO plugin update from our plugin downloads section, else feel free to redownload the packs, preferably from the mirror, as some of you may have noticed due to the volume of downloads we had, the site was grinding to a halt!
Well ladys and gents, here it is, the brand spanking new PCSX2 0.9.4. We have lots of new stuff for you people to try out, some of the major features included in this release are:
- ZeroSPU2 - new SPU2 plugin from zerofrog. It is the most stable SPU2 plugin. Also has a time-scaling feature which slows down sound when the frame rate is too low (instead of hearing popping sounds). The time-scaling feature works best under Windows, but is also implemented in Linux. This new plugin also fixes the voices on the Japanese release of Final Fantasy X
- VU recompilers - games like Kingdom Hearts II, Metal Gear Solid III, and Katamari Damacy are now playable.
- ZeroGS 0.97 - ZeroGS DirectX has gone open source! You can download it from sourceforge. A lot of bug fixes in this release and the added support of AA modes up to x16! One new feature is the ability to tweak ZeroGS options, which were internal up to these release. Read more about this feature in the help guide for how to patch up games.
- Path3 GS fixes - Fixes corrupting textures on many games.
- Memory Card Fixes - Now you can save your games in games like Resident Evil 4 and others which refused to see memorycards!
- Dual Layer DVD reading support for games like Xenosaga.
- Windows x64 and Linux x86-64 support - The recompilers are not optimized yet, so don't expect major speed improvements. However, pcsx2 can now natively run on these platforms as well as the x86 platforms.
- Real Time Clock - Silly as it may seem, this actually makes Metal Gear Solid 3 and Katamari Damacy work, plus your ps2 says the actual time!
If you get a d3dx9_36.dll not found error, you need to update your directx from here.
Over on the PCSX2 (PlayStation 2 emulator) site I had the pleasure of posting current WIP news!
GiGaHeRz did it!! *hic* *wobble*...erm, oh I'd best explain I suppose!
DEV9 is a section of the PS2 which handles a variety of things; HDD, USB and ethernet. GiGaHeRz has been working on one aspect of DEV9, ethernet!
PCSX2 now supports PS2 ethernet, so what does that mean? ONLINE PLAY BABY. On August 30th 2007 GiGaHeRz successfully logged on to the official Capcom Monster Hunter servers and entered a town, briefly after his success I to logged in and joined him!
Subsequently most of the betatesting and development team have logged onto Monster Hunter, interacted with people playing on their real PS2's and even gone questing with each other; including other Monster Hunter players.
This is a significant moment for PCSX2, as we are perhaps one of the first emulation projects to ever let the emulator user connect to a real live official server and play their game online. The only other project we are aware of; that has even come close to this feat would be nullDC (a Dreamcast emulator for Windows).
Testing is ongoing with a variety of online games, and the lack of USB keyboard and mouse support (hopefully to be resolved soon), means PAD typing messages is the only way to communicate online.
This advance towards emulating some of the more "unique" features of the PS2 has once again put into sharp focus the need for you to dump your own BIOS. The specifics I won't detail here, however those of you downloading your BIOS will suffer the consequences.
We shall let you know of further progress with any games we get to go online, but Monster Hunter is a fantastic example of how well PS2 emulation can work, average framerates of 50-70 FPS, with lows of 35 in intense moments. Monster Hunter is utterly stable, I myself have been playing it for some time only noticing minor visual issues on rare occasions.
So here for your pleasure is a video of us just saying hello, and 80 (both general and online) screenshots!...now if you don't mind, we've got alcohol to consume *hic*
(Going online with PCSX2, see, lack of constant news means something big is happening!)
(Big group photo session, oh boy did this take some arranging!)
(Everyone in the tavern, drunk and horny! Note drkIIRaziel in the second tavern shot, thats the drkIIRaziel from nullDC!)
Over on PCSX2.net - home of the PCSX2 emulator (A Playstation 2 Emulator for Windows and Linux), I have posted news of current development going into the next version!
Refraction, what have you done? You've changed history. You've created a Time Paradox!
Real Time Clock (RTC) has been recently implimented by Refraction. PCSX2 now takes the current system time from your OS and inserts the value into PCSX2 upon launch, from that point onwards the emulated RTC counts independently from the OS.
So? you wonder, well apart from the BIOS now displaying the correct time and date - you would think this is a minor addition to PCSX2, nothing more than an addition to authenticity? Well you're in for a suprise!
It struck me when talking to Refraction over a cup of coffee, Metal Gear Solid 3 uses system time for various fun aspects of the game - Such as being able to kill The End from old age if you set the RTC 1 year ahead after saving during the battle.
Metal Gear Solid 3 had never done anything under PCSX2, so with the RTC addition to PCSX2 in mind, I popped the disc into my drive, and eureka it booted!! This however was only the beginning of an epic saga between Zerofrog and the Konami programmers!
Zerofrog has spent days wrestling with Knonami's ability to push the PS2 hardware to it's limits by making zeroGS KOSMOS push the limits of GPU's, Metal Gear Solid 3 certainly loves it's post processing! Not only has he managed to get the game looking ..well from absolute garbage to gorgeous, he's also managed to stop Snake from slipping through holes in the universe instantly.
The game still has issues, Snake still manages to find holes in the universe (falls through geometry), and he still likes to get stuck inside trees, rocks or just teleport off the edge of the world (the video demonstrates the latter beautifully!). The game also still suffers from visual issues, such as missing textures and the specular lighting overlay being drawn wrong, hopefully by the time the next incarnation of PCSX2 comes out, these issues will be mostly resolved.
So to celebrate this game going from nothing to ingame and the challenges it threw at us, we're releasing a video and 63 shots! Not all 63 are here though, General Emulation run by our betatester General Plot has 31 exclusive shots, so head there for the rest!
All this maybe great news (especially for MGS fans), but there is more, you may have noticed the nothing status games have been decressing steadily and the playable count is going up on our on site compatibility list, including some rather nice games...and there is a new plugin coming up...but you'll have to wait! ;)
Now enjoy the video which you can grab from here (it's a torrent so please seed, and check out our other torrented videos here)
Click on the thumbnails below to see larger versions of each image, and head over to General Emulation for the rest!
Just posted news over on PCSX2.net showing current development towards PCSX2 0.9.4 (A PlayStation 2 Emulator for Windows and Linux):
I have also provided a YouTube video for those who don't want to download the High Quality Video: here
Busy is certainly one way to describe PCSX2 development currently!
Progress on PCSX2 0.9.4 is coming along nicely with several members of the team making some significant additions to the project!
Zerofrog has fixed the SPS (Spikey Polygon Syndrome) that plagued Kingdom Hearts 2, making the game much more viewable and almost playable!
To demonstrate this, below are 10 High Quality shots from various areas of the game, but take special note when viewing the images...why?
ZeroGS development has also continued during this hectic time, and those of you with great GPU's can enjoy 8x and 16x render target (referred to as AA within the plugin).
Also head on over to our videos section to get a video of Kingdom Hearts 2 being played! Video is provided as a torrent so please seed!
Saqib has recently been working hard on memory card issues, testing is still under way however thanks to his work games like Phantasy Star Universe are now getting ingame and the ever popular Resident Evil 4 can now load saves, and if all goes to plan - save to!
Refraction is also busy and after his success with Path 3 work has turned his attention to other issues, thanks to his work Tekken 5 is now getting ingame! Currently Tekken 5 can't be classed as playable as characters are totally lacking in the Y dimension!
Plenty more where all this came from...watch this space!
Direct link to Kingdom Hearts 2 video torrent: here
The official PCSX2 (a PlayStation 2 emulator) site is demonstrating WIP going towards version 0.9.4
Whilst the Linux users out there get to enjoy PlayStation 2 emulation for the first time in awhile with PCSX2 0.9.3, I'm sure both Windows and Linux users wonder what lies in store with PCSX2 0.9.4.
First off, before I get to the seductive eye candy, a small but important note for our Brazilian users:
The VM (PCSX2 Virtual Memory Build) issues under Windows XP you have experienced with PCSX2 0.9.2 have been fixed in 0.9.4 thanks to some work by Refraction.
I dare say the term "Path 3" doesn't mean a great deal to most of the people visiting this site, however "Path 3" is part of GS/GIF (the interface for GS) and is often used in the handling of textures and enviroment effects.
Refraction has been doing a great deal of research / coding with regards to path 3. Many games now are no longer suffering from garbage textures, texture flicker and other miscellaneous issues.
Whilst these fixes have far reaching effects, from games no longer displaying "split-repeating IPU" (multiple copies of the same frame on screen), to subtle fixes like Final Fantasy 12 having fixed menu backgrounds, below is a selection of shots from games that have seen dramatic improvement! Click on Image to See Larger Version!
• And1 Streetball
• Bloody Roar 4
• Bomberman Hardball
• Burnout 2 - Point of Impact
• Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas
• Lemmings
• Metal Slug 3D
• Need for Speed Carbon
• Need for Speed Most Wanted
• Street Racing Syndicate
• Swords of Destiny
• The Fast and The Furious - Tokyo Drift
• The Punisher
• Torino 2006
PCSX2 0.9.2 a PlayStation 2 emulator, just got a quick upgrade to sort some bugs out, heres whats on the official site:
This fixes an assortment of issues found briefly after 0.9.2's original launch. It is strongly advised that people get this build of 0.9.2 over the initial release.
• Compatibility regression with Vampire Night resolved.
•Final Fantasy X now works for most regions.
• Fixes Crash when using config>patches • Frame Limiting is now more accurate.
• Improved zeroGS, Disgaea 2 menus are now solid.
• P.E.Op.S SPU2 updated to include threaded mode (usefull for video recording).
• Screen Saver / Power Saving now disabled when running PCSX2.
Just to cure our collective headaches "warnings about default.xml" being blank, or "patches not found", are mearly information, they do not in any way effect PCSX2's compatibility or performance.
We are releasing via torrent and http, please seed for as long as possible with the torrents, we recommend uTorrent as a client!
PCSX2 0.9.2 a PlayStation 2 emulator is here! Here is what the official site had to say:
This release brings several important changes to PCSX2, enhancing compatibility and adding several new aspects to the emulator.
• ADMA has been added to PCSX2, most (if not all) game videos will playback audio, many games now have their music and speech effects.
• Counter fixes stopping games hitting long pause syndrome, or crashing.
• Enhanced MTGS / DC stability, great for those with Dual Core CPUs.
• IPU improvements, more game videos will now run.
• VIF fixes, allowing for many games to run or look better.
• VUrec fixes, improving ingame graphics when under VU recompilation
Also included with this release is the new Patch Browser and Patch Finder, the patch browser, allows you to search memory with the tools and functions you would be used to with a cheat searcher.
The Patch Browser will allow you to enable and disable parts of the patch during gameplay, eg; enabling Infinite Lives etc!
HOWEVER!! - These features are not completed yet, enumerator's and other features are not present, and the patch browser lacks functionality! You can still use the patch finder, and an example XML file with notes is included with this release (in the root dir of PCSX2), and the new format XML files can be used by PCSX2!
PCSX2 0.9.2 also comes with a new zeroGS plugin, which increases graphical support for several games and fixes some of the bugs found in the previous version(s).
We're going to save ourselves some hassle next! We're aware many people want to play Final Fantasy X on PCSX2, as you maybe aware the game is now fully playable, however we would like to make two very important notes:
• PEOPS CDVD plugin must be used!
• MTGS can cause some crashes, they are rare, but if the game crashes, switch to single core mode for awhile!
We are releasing via torrent initially, please seed for as long as possible, we recommend uTorrent as a client! Direct download from the site will be available once initial flood has hit!
PCSX2 (A PS2 Emulator) has updated it's news page with the following:
To celebrate the upcoming PCSX2 0.9.2 release we have recorded a 7 minute 38 second long video of Tekken 4's arcade mode being completed with Nina!
Head over to the Downloads>Videos section to grab it or click here!
PCSX2 0.9.2 will add increased compatibilty, improved graphics for many games, improved MTGS stability and an abundence of features that you'll get to see in the future.
For now bask in some Tekken 4 action and note the fighting wigs (ahar now you get the title) are no longer present - as zeroGS has also had it's fair share of improvements!
Refraction has been 'abit' busy! He's been 'in the zone' for the past few nights fixing VIF Unpacks, which decompress then send texture and vector data to the VUs.
Such fixes have a wide impact on games, some initial results below:
Clocktower 3 - SPS (Spikey Polygon Syndrome) fixed!
Grandia III - Random crash fixed!
Sega Rally 2006 - SPS fixed!
Super Monkey Ball - Graphics looking 'significantly' improved!
X-Men Legends - Graphics completely fixed!
Oh and for racing fans, there is one other game showing significant progress...
In the Good News for 0.9.2! post, made on 16th August, Refraction hinted at progress being made with the audio side of PCSX2, as many of you will of guessed - the clip posted was from Final Fantasy X, more importantly from an FMV, which in all previous versions of PCSX2 had no audio (99% of the time).
To elaborate on this further; GiGaHeRz and Saqib have fixed large portions of ADMA support, allowing for all videos to have audio and many games now have full background music!
Alittle work has been done by Saqib today which allows for audio and video sync when recording, so I can demonstrate with a small video (xVid) - the results of their hardwork.
ZeroGS KOSMOS 0.95 is a Graphics plugin for the PlayStation 2 emulator PCSX2:
ZeroGS KOSMOS 0.95 written by ZeroFrog is out! This is the plugin of choice for people using graphics cards supporting Pixel Shader 2.0 or 3.0.
ZeroGS KOSMOS has greatly improved over it's previous release, it is significantly faster, an example would be 'Final Fantasy XII', which is now 3x faster!
Less graphical flaws are present with many games looking absolutely stunning, and even the least capable PS2.0 supporting cards, such as the nVidia 5xxx series will show little to no loss in quality.
ZeroGS KOSMOS also supports the MTGS (Multi Threaded GS) feature of PCSX2, this allows users with Dual Core or Multi CPU machines to get even more speed out of PCSX2, however until the next release of PCSX2, the current MTGS issues will persist.
ZeroGS KOSMOS supports various features, including video recording, Bilinear Filtering, 2 and 4xAA, wireframe mode and more!
Note that the newest DirectX Runtime is required to run ZeroGS KOSMOS.
:: Visit the Official PCSX2 site here :: Download ZeroGS KOSMOS 0.95 here :: Feel free to post shots from ZeroGS KOSMOS here
Posted on PCSX2.net, the official site of PCSX2 a PlayStation 2 emulator:
Final Fantasy X: 35-128 FPS
Grandia 3: 37-60 FPS
...Yes you read that correctly, and no it's not April 1st!
WAIT!!..Okay so you knew there would be a catch :P
MTGS (Multi Threaded GS) has recently become much more stable thanks to zerofrog and his recent improvements to zeroGS (a GS plugin for PCSX2). MTGS allows for people with Dual Core CPU's to run PCSX2 at significantly improved speeds by putting the graphics side of PCSX2 onto a seperate core.
zeroGS itself has also gone through a major overhaul, making it significantly faster, even without the use of MTGS, so the Single Core crowd will also see a speed boost via this plugin!
zeroGS offers more features in the up coming release, with improved AA, wireframe mode, video recording, bilinear filtering and pre-defined resolutions to choose from.
So whats the catch? Well zeroGS requires Pixel Shader 2.0, so you need a graphics card capable of this shader model (I recommend the GeForce 6600GT for budget users).
The other catch is somewhat obvious, you will need a Dual Core CPU to support MTGS mode, eg; AMD X2's, Opterons and of course the new Conroe.
So when does this new zeroGS come out? Well for now no ETA, and please don't be nagging us about it!
Enough of the text, lets move onto my favourite section - eyecandy!
The shots where taken on the following spec machine:
PCSX2 a PlayStation 2 emulator, is as ever getting constant development, recent WIP has been posted on the official site:
Work has never stopped since the release of PCSX2 0.9.1, infact it rarely does :)
Refraction has made significant fixes to counters, making games much more stable, for instance Final Fantasy X-2 is now stable enough to be classed as "playable". Disgaea will play story scenes without freezing, and Resident Evil 4 is much more stable during gameplay!
Saqib, has been bustling away with IPU, more and more games are playing videos, without looping or crashing mid-way through playback, effecting games such as Grand Theft Auto III, Final Fantasy X and WipEout Fusion.
Zerofrog, busy as ever has been fixing vuREC0/1 issues, and making those games that do go 'Ingame' look correct, including Rayman M, Silent Hill 2, and a personal favourite WipEout Fusion.
Saqibs IPU fixes combined with ZeroFrogs work on the graphical issues (I bugged him to death about this game :P ) have made WipEout Fusion playable! So head to the Videos section to watch this game for the first time running brilliantly on PCSX2, also checkout the recent Final Fantasy X-2 Video.
PCSX2 a popular PlayStation 2 emulator has just been updated to version 0.9.1, this release of PCSX2 offers a significant speed increase over the previous version and further adds to it's compatibility.
This release brings a significant speed increase to the majority of games, this is due to a complete rewrite of the EE and VU recompilers. Various other improvements have increased compatibility with games, you will be able to check your game against the included compatibility list, which lists nearly 1000 titles (Please note at time of release list is not guaranteed 100% accurate).
Whilst the new recompilers are a major improvement, the recompilers are not 100% accurate at present, this may result in a number of broken games.
A further release will be created in the future enhancing upon the overall compatibility of the new recompilers. This is part of a new release schedule, where we plan to be releasing more frequently; however, do not make requests for releases or ask when such a release will be produced.
As ever we have opened a 'screenshots' thread for you to post in, and the forums are there for you to discuss the project and ask questions.
You will also be aware that the Hot Shots Contest started earlier this month. Given the lack of entries sofar, we are extending the contest deadline until the 15th July 2006, you may enter shots from PCSX2 0.9.1 (recommended) or 0.9, those of you who have already entered are allowed to update your posts with new submissions if you wish.
Hopefully people are more imaginative, and post less Final Fantasy shots ;)
:: Visit the official PCSX2 homesite here :: Download PCSX2 0.9.1 here :: Browse the official PCSX2 forums here
Over at PCSX2.net we hit our 100,000th unique visitor in just 13 days after the new site design was launched, which seemed the perfect time to spring alittle video and some 'tantalising' news about current 'experimental' progress!
With 100,000 unique visitors having visited this site in it's short time online (13 days), both myself and Falcon4ever are happy it's gone so smoothly.
So a video of Makai Kingdom in action has been recorded for you lot to download and enjoy, including audio (speech, music, sound effects).
So you are thinking woopiee a video, wow, thats shocking... :rolleyes: , well hold that thought, what if I told you that the video only had to be sped up by about 10 FPS to get to 60 FPS, eg; what you see is practically what it's emulated at!
What?!! near full speed emulation?!! impossible I hear you cry, well I did tell you that zerofrog was re-writing the eeREC and vuREC ;) There's alot to do, as in all honesty many games got broken with bugs during the transition from the old rec, to the new, but he's still not blinking, and he is avoiding sleep, so hopefully more news eventually!
Enough of that for now, enjoy the video, which you can grab on this page (click the 'DOWNLOAD' image to the right of the details ;) ).
PCSX2 - Official Site
Torrent - Direct link to Makai Kingdom Video
As promised by lead developer Saqib, PCSX2 has been released 0.9 this weekend.
Due some site troubles we had some delay, but now the moment has finally come:
PCSX2 0.9 - Posted by CKemu @ 5:22 03-04-06
Yes folks PCSX2 0.9 is here, by no means gracefully, but it is here!
You can now enjoy PCSX2 0.9 a faster and more compatible PS2 emulator, it's been a year since 0.8.1 was released so you will see many dramatic changes!
Many games are now going ingame, and some are even playable (check out games like Disgaea, or Silent Hill 4!)
On behalf of all the team I would like to say a big HELLO to linuzappz, and a large thankyou for everything he's done for us prior to him leaving the team!
Given the site troubles over the past 24 hours, I can assure you that myself and several devs right now are totally bald from ripping our hair out!
Update: Updated the download to the latest release that should help with some problems. Also be sure to grab the lates P.E.Op.S Sound plugin from here which fixes a problem when running the bios. (Keith)
ChaosCode sent me a message letting us know he has released his CDVD plugin for PCSX2. The special thing about his plugin is that it will play games being streamed over the internet, i.e. a server will stream demos that you play in PCSX2.
You can read more in the release thread and on the D.M.E.S. (Direct Media Emulation Streaming) forums.
Various miscellaneous pieces of new posted by myself on PCSX2.net, here is a direct quote:
PCSX2 Beta v0.9 is going to be on display at FAST-NU Lahore, Pakistan by Saqib Akhtar (One of the main developers) on the 24th and 25th of March, 2006.
PSEmu.pl run by the respected and fine admin winter_mute, will be providing the official Polish language forums for the PCSX2 project!
Some of you may of been expecting a release the end of last month, this was the original intention of the team, but recent changes caused compat issues and needed further indepth testing. The aim is to get a release out soon, but how soon depends on various major changes!
Some of these changes if fixed and tested to be 'stable' will provide a good deal of ....well dare I say it... speed!
As a bonus check out some shots from Final Fantasy X (the ever popular game!) over here, showing the game running at 20-51 FPS!!!
Posted over on PCSX2.net, General Plot has been busy testing and 'playing' Grandia 3, here's what was posted:
General Plot has been strangely happy these past few days, slowly taking screenshots and recording a video from Grandia 3, betatesting has warped his mind, now he finds 0.x-2 FPS 'fun' :P.
So yes you guessed it, there's a video with this news post, but you have to admit, seeing something in motion truly gives a better impression of what it looks like!
Video is AVI using xVid so you will need a media player capable of playing back this format. This file is being shared using Bit Torrent, so you will need a torrent client, such as uTorrent to download this video.
Its been an extremely long while since we had any new emulators for PS2 but we have a new Vectrex emulator now, heres the details.
Jum has released a Vectrex emulator for the PS2, heres the details:
Released VecX PS2 version 0.2 for PS2. This is an enhanced port of the Vectrex emulator "VecX". It will only run Vectrex roms stored on a memory stick (flash drive).
Taken straight from my news post on the PCSX2 site:
Not going to say much really, I think the video does that ;)
These videos are AVI (Xvid) and should be playable under any decent media player and are being shared using Bit Torrent, thus you will need a Bit Torrent client such as uTorrent to get these videos! Please seed for aslong as possible!
Musical Score / Mental Support During Rendering Refraction (BIFCO Records Ltd.)
Painful-to-Record Video Clip Staff ChaosCode (Devil May Cry 3)
CKemu (Capcom Fighting Jam, Capcom Vs SNK2, Final Fantasy X-2 / 12, MGS2 - Skate, Monster Hunter G, Rumble Roses, Virtua Fighter 4)
General Plot (Kingdom Hearts)
Nachbrenner (DDR Party Collection, Gran Turismo 4, GTC Africa, Second Sight)
Parotaku (Biohazard 4, Bloody Roar 3, Nightmare Before Christmas- Oogie's Revenge, R-type Final, Rez)
Refraction (Final Fantasy X, Makai Kingdom)
Rudy X (Frequency)
Laz0r Team Gabest (Needs to fix LOTS)
Refraction (Scratching his balls, pondering pizza)
Saqib (Currently in the distant past fighting time distortions)
Shadow (Kidnapped by his girlfriend, tortured, perhaps dead)
In Memory Of Linuzappz (Needs to pop by and say hi! - lazy sod)
PCSX2 progresses further with Tekken 4 'playable', here is what General Plot hed to say on the official site:
Nachbrenner made this video from ingame on Tekken 4. Game looks very good, with only slight graphics issues which rarely occur.
Video is WMV using Windows Media codec, so you will need a media player capable of playing back this format. This file is being shared using Bit Torrent, so you will need a torrent client, such as uTorrent to download this video.
The PCSX2 team are busy at the moment, not just on Final Fantasy games I assure you, but hey when it's this sexy!
ZeroFrog has once again been working on PCSX2, and has managed to fix the once present 'holes' in the terrain models of Final Fantasy X, making the game look excellent. This fix also has a wide range of effects on other games, so don't worry folks there will be news soon which doesn't involve a Final Fantasy! :D :P
Whilst the game certainly now looks beautiful, it's still not playable from start to finish, due to various 'looping' issues and video playback, speed is of course an issue with such a complex emulation task, but will be improved upon in the future, keep watching this space!
To celebrate this bit of progress, we have a large selection of screenshots, and one of the sexiest videos I've recorded from PCSX2 in awhile ;) :blush:
This video is a AVI (Xvid) and should be playable under any decent media player and is being shared using Bit Torrent, thus you will need a Bit Torrent client such as uTorrent to get this video!
Final Fantasy XII Demo that was released with Dragon Quest VIII in North America goes ingame! :O
Thanks to some recent work by Refraction and a new contributor ZeroFrog, we can now walk around the first demo area of this game. Given this is VERY early work in progress (W.I.P), there are some major bugs to be ironned out, like various graphical issues!
However to celebrate this breakthrough, there is a video and several screens, and be sure to check out the official forums for some up-and-comming new shots, progress and general discussion!
This video is a AVI (Xvid) and should be playable under any decent media player and is being shared using Bit Torrent, thus you will need a Bit Torrent client such as uTorrent to get this video!
