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. The main bottleneck in PS2 emulation is emulating the
multi-core PS2 on a PC x86 architecture. Although each
CPU can be emulated well, accurately synchronizing the cores 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. A free clone of the official BIOS is in development.
Performance
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 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 HD2600xt or Geforce 8600 card). The developers and beta testers claim that Final Fantasy X is fully playable to completion.
As of now, 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.
Misconceptions regarding speed
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.
Plug-ins
Several plug-ins are currently being further developed, for performance and compatibility enhancements.
GSdx 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. Software mode is necessarily slower in nearly all cases, 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 (this is currently the only method for utilizing more than 2 cores/processors with PCSX2).
ZZogl (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, but there are currently no known working servers left for PS2 games.
System requirements
Minimum
Windows XP/Windows Vista or Linux 32bit/64bit
CPU that supports SSE2 (Pentium 4 and up, Athlon64 and up)
GPU that supports Pixel Shader 2.0
512MB RAM
Recommended
Windows XP/Windows Vista or Linux 32bit/64bit
CPU: Core 2 Duo 3.2 GHz
GPU: GeForce 8600 GT or better
1GB RAM (2GB if using Windows Vista)
References
External links
Official website
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.
Category:Linux emulation software
Category:PlayStation 2 emulators
Category:Windows emulation software
