PS Emulation

[jmorhus]

Just a quick question: What playstation emulator would you recommend for Fedora? I have searched and found ePCSX but I noticed that it has been collecting mothballs for a long time. As well, is it possible to use a PS2 emulator?

[phorneker]

Though you can use an emulator for Playstation games, Red Hat supplied the embedded Linux software that is inside the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. The newest versions of PS2 and the upcoming PS3 have built-in Ethernet ports, and Sony has released a version of Red Hat Linux for the game consoles, in addition to a hardware component that supplies a VGA connector, hard drive, keyboard, and serial and parallel ports, making these consoles Linux machines.

As for the emulation software, I have yet to see any suitable package besides the ePCSX for running PlayStation games.

[Thetargos]

For PlayStation games on Linux nothing beats (IMO) ePSXe, and PCSX (both have their strenghts and weaknesses) they both use the same scheme of plugins as the old PSEmu, and they both can use the very same plugins. Game compatibility is another issue too, I have found that ePSXe is the most compatible, but some games run better on PCSX (like my all-time-favorite PS game, Silent Hill, which runs best on PCSX), but some other popular games (like FF VII, VIII & IX) run best on ePSXe. If you want further input and instructions on how to get them working just drop me a line in a PM.

[JLF_65]

PCSX is a nice PSX emulation, but get the 32bit version. It's not 64bit clean and will almost certainly segfault if you try using the 64bit version.

[Thetargos]

I couldn't agree more. And building the plugins for 32-bit on 64-bit is possible.

[jmorhus]

Thanks for the advice, lads. This is on my "to do" list, but right now I am attempting to rewrite the Compose key patterns to make writing Latin/Greek/Math easier.

While I'm here, does anyone have suggestions for a game pad?

[3006828]

yes get a usb - ps2 inverter plug.

i got mine for about $10aud from some random ebay store :P and it even has N64 input plug aswell ')

or im sure you could be mega leet and buy a usb plug, get a wiring diagram for the controller and make one ;) i was lazy. :'( and couldnt find a wiring diagram :(

[Thetargos]

Yeah dual shock gamepads are sweet, but if you want something more on the layman's arena, you may want to get a WingMan Rumble pad (wireless or otherwise), as they're pretty good.

I don't know of any plugin that will support the vibration functions on either a dual shock or a WingMan which would work with the emulators (or any other program, for that matter). The kernel does support vibration function and force feedback, but the plugins don't make use of that (yet?).

[Trek1701]

Hi,

ePSXe and PCSX can play PS2 games?

[Thetargos]

No. I'm not aware of any working PS2 emulators yet. There are a few floating around, but to the best of my knowledge, they don't work with games, only some tech demos.

[Coolerthanyou]

Epsxe I think is the better one when it comes to speed and compatibility with most games. But you will probably run into a game or two which epsxe can't play and Pcsx can. I only ran into one. Pcsx does have a better gui though.

As far as PS2, there are no working linux emulators as far as I know. And even outside of linux, there is I think one but it's still upstart.

ed: I believe it's PCSX2 for windows. Maybe it can run on wine? I'm not about to bother trying though. :cool:

[Thetargos]

Actually PCSX2 does run on Linux, but it is not functional (yet)

[rappermas]

I still haven't found anything that will run Castlevania: Symphony of the Night well. OMG, best side-scroller ever made. It's just that, I want to play it at regular speed and with sound, that's all, so I'll continue to wait for something better to come along, while still using the old PS box.

[Trek1701]

Ok, thanks guys for the clarification.

[Coolerthanyou]

I still haven't found anything that will run Castlevania: Symphony of the Night well. OMG, best side-scroller ever made. It's just that, I want to play it at regular speed and with sound, that's all, so I'll continue to wait for something better to come along, while still using the old PS box.

I was able to play that game from start to finish without much problem, speed, sound and all. You have to get plugins and set things up to work right though. Otherwise, all games will run strange. Opengl is better for video in the linux ports even for 2d games. Otherwise, there's tearing. I haven't run into a game that is not fully playable in either epsxe or pcsx (albeit some visual or sound bugs), except for one: Bust a Groove 2, not playable.

[Thetargos]

I still haven't found anything that will run Castlevania: Symphony of the Night well. OMG, best side-scroller ever made. It's just that, I want to play it at regular speed and with sound, that's all, so I'll continue to wait for something better to come along, while still using the old PS box.
As strange as it may be, I found that PCSX runs this title better than ePSXe. Also, it's been brought to my attention that apparently the BIOS image you use with the emulator has a major influence on how will it perform. In my case, I did it the old-fashioned-way and ripped the BIOS out of my PSOne and saved the image on my HDD, later I found that the very same image was floating around the ether of the Net. But just like the rules of emulation, as I already own the original product I'm entitled to have a "backup" under the terms of "fair use"... If you have the right BIOS and the right plugins, you should be all set to go and play this nice title.

As far as the plugins go, pretty much all there is for PSX emulation on Linux works great. Pete's OpenGL plugins are very nice, although the OpenGL 2.0 plugins (with shaders) may take away some effects like AA or AF (reminds me of Halo PC on Windows). For sound I use Eternal which allows for some rather nice control, you may use either OSS/SDL and under Windows, DirectSound. Pretty much any CD-Rom plugin works, though some will read sub-channel data better than others. For control, nothing beats the OmniJoy plugin, simply the best there is... If it only supported vibration functions on my WingMan Rumble Pad, I would be set!

[iwasapenguin]

Before I get to my point, I am the sort of Linux user who would sign up to a crusading contract if I could find one BUT I'm pretty sure there is some legall complications to using emulators such as these seeing that if a game is rellesed to PS only Sony probably has some documents some place that says it can't be run on a PC.
I'm not sure on this but keep it in mind.

[Thetargos]

According to the "rules" of emulation, as longa s you: 1) own the original title and 2) own the system the title is supposed to run on, it doesn't matter if you run it on the system or your PC, and in the case of the playstation, there's a third condition: You can only use a BIOS if you have the original system (which is kind or a 2-bis point). There even were instructions on how to save a binary copy of your PSone BIOS to your computer and how to use that with any of the emulators. I've even considered that these points were valid under the terms of "fair use", you are not infringing on any laws, as you own both the system and the title. And for PS One games, playing them on your PC can actually ADD quite a bit (graphically and to the experience as a whole)

[Enji]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I went script hacking and I want to share my work.

Found a really nice script for install epsxe and plugins in Linux from here (http://forums.ngemu.com/generic-epsxe-queries/93859-epsxe-install-script-gnu-linux.html)

So I took it and add an uninstall, small GNOME intergration and system wide install to it. Also installs gtk1.2 automatically via yum.

Installs the following:

ePSXe (duh!)
Pete's XGL2 gpu plugin
Pete's MesaGL plugin
PeoPs softx gpu plugin
PeoPs OSS spu plugin
PeoPs ALSA spu plugin (I complied this myself, so it may not work for you)
padJoy 0.82
global script for executing ePSXe including persmissons based on the linux epsxe howto (http://terror.snm-hgkz.ch/gaming/linux/epsxe_howto/)
a shortcut link for ~/.local/share/applications and /usr/local/share/applications

What it will NOT do:

Install a BIOS (you still need to dump one or download one)
Configure your plugins for you!
Install any other library dependency other than gtk1.2
Any games you want to play

to use go to Terminal and execute from where you saved the downloaded file

tar -xz installepsxe2.tar.gz
su
./installepsxe -i 152 (or 160 if you want version 1.6.0)

to remove run

su
./installepsxe -r

edit: there seems to be a problem with the attachment system so I'll link to a rapidshare page instead
http://rapidshare.com/files/200713211/installepsxe2.tar.gz.html

[josh24]

I recommend Crash Bash on the PS1... absolute blast :D

[Replicant10000]

I've downloaded epsxe160lin.zip from ePSXe.com and I have all required files (BIOS, sound, gpu, CD plugin) but when I try to run the executable from terminal nothing happens -- it ends without a word.

Is something wrong?

[jamesjones]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I didn't want to start a new one since there is already one here. My problem is that I'm using ePsxe1.60 but whenever I try to run the Pete's XGL2 Drive 2.9 the emulator crashes. I'm running it on a Hp Compaq dc5100sff that has P4 processor @ 3.00GHz and a NVIDIA Quadro NVS 280 64MB PCI low profile dual head GFX card. Does anyone have an idea as to why the emulator may be crashing?

[Thetargos]

Do you have any sort of error message that might indicate what is exactly going on when the emulator crashes? Also, t would also may be beneficial to know what software combination you are trying to run the emulator in (kernel, graphics drivers, distribution version, etc)