This post was originally made by CKemu,whom we thank

Can I 'Play' Games?

If by 'playing' a game, you mean: at full speed with sound, perfect graphics, etc, then NO. Come back next year.

Since this release (PCSX2 0.9.4) compatibility has increased greatly. Many games will now go 'in-game' or at least to some form of menu. Whilst games may get 'in-game', they will not run at 'playable' speeds, due to the complex nature of PS2 emulation, and the lack of modern hardware that is powerful enough to emulate such a console.

Speed has recently increased significantly, for near 'full speed' games, we recommend you examine the 0.9.4 screenshots/videos thread for speeds.

Is game 'X' Working?

Before posting this, check the compatibility list, you will be able to see how far your game goes, if you can't get it as far as we can, check your configuration against the Configuration Guide, if you still have no luck, you may post the question. If your game is not in the compatibility list then I'm afraid you are on your own, we cannot guarantee it working either way so it is impossible to tell if we can help you at all.

Does PCSX2 play PlayStation 1 (PSOne / PSX / PS1) Games?

No, simple as that. PCSX2's primary goal is to emulate the PS2, which would eventually include PlayStation 1 games, however at this time the key focus is to make PlayStation 2 games 'run' with a high degree of compatibility, including support for such features as USB device support (EyeToy, Special Controllers), DEV9 (Network, HDD) etc.

If you wish to play PlayStation 1 games, there are extremely compatible, fast and stable emulators already in existence, and I recommend:

pSX - New emulator, with a growing level of compatibility and is very simple to use.
ePSXe - The famous and widely supported PS1 emulator, use this if you love features, and plugins!
PSXeven - Created by Xeven, supports the PSEmu Pro plugin system, and often has increased compatibility over ePSXe with some specific games.


My game worked in 0.9.2 but not 0.9.4 why?

Due to changes in the emulator some games may not work as well as they did in the previous release, as you will find with most emulation projects, you fix one game, you break another somewhere. So the best solution to this is, play your game on 0.9.1.

PCSX2 doesn't work on my Athlon XP (or other non SSE2 chips)

Due to the nature of the VM (pcsx2.exe), which heavily uses SSE2, this version of the emulator will NOT work for you, however the TLB (pcsx2t.exe) build should work for you. Note when using a non SSE2 cpu to run PCSX2, make sure you select the non SSE2 versions of the plugins.

ZeroGS looks REALLY ugly!! - What gives?

In short, zerofrog refuses to link Render Target to Window Size, and you're used to something different (I told him you'd moan...but noooo did he listen...pfffk! )

ZeroGS renders to native PS2 resolution, that is it's default render target, when you set the window size to say 1024x768, ZeroGS still renders to native PS2 resolution, but stretches that resolution to fit the window size. What you are used to is setting your window size to x*y and the target resolution also changes accordingly.

The so called 'AA' ZeroGS uses, isn't actually anti aliasing, it simply ups the render target size, so you end up with a higher resolution image, thus increasing it's quality.

Where is the BIOS?

It is Illegal to ask for a BIOS, as the BIOS is copyright of SONY. If you wish to use a REAL BIOS with PCSX2, you can dump it from your own PS2 (there is a guide here http://forums.pcsx2.net/thread-2329.html). Or find it by yourself.

No SCPH10,000 Support?!

The SCPH10,000 BIOS doesn't have all the libraries many games need to load, thus for better results, use a more modern BIOS version.

Do I need ROM1, ROM2, EROM?

If the console is warning you about not having these files, do not panic, all you need is the main ROM0 (the 4,096kb main BIOS file). You can dump the ROM1, ROM2, EROM from your own PS2 console, again guides and tools are on the internet, use Google.

Where can I get games?

From your local computer game shop, where else?

This forum does not support warez or piracy, helping someone get links to such files, asking for such files, or linking to illegal material will be warned then banned if the violation is repeated. There are MANY great games out there, and you owe it to the talented creators to buy their games, and many you can get very cheaply, in platinum editions or second hand.

Can I be a beta tester?

Ask this and the answer will always be NO. Keep asking it and you'll find yourself with a big fat ban.

What are the system requirements?

We recommend the following:

Minimum Specs:
AMD 64 or Intel Pentium 4 (VM Build will not work with non SSE2 CPU's)
512MB of RAM
Pixel Shader 2.0 supporting card

Recommended Specs: (For reasonable performance in many games, but not all)
AMD64 X2 or Intel Core 2 Duo E6600+ (Multi Threading is supported in PCSX2)
512-1024MB of RAM (more RAM allows for VM mode to be stable)
Pixel Shader 2.0 supporting card (recommended GeForce 6600-8800 or equivalent ATi card)

Possible Ideal Specs:
64bit OS such as Vista or winXP64, to allow for future support of 64bit recompilers.
Future AMD or Intel Quad Core maybe needed, but currently the support of 4 threads is not handled by PCSX2, and the effect of threading out EE / VU is not yet known.
We don't foresee you requiring a GPU more powerful than the current generation of cards, up to and including the nVidia GeForce 8800.

A more in-depth guide to system specifications can be found here.

How do I compile the SVN source?

We do not support SVN builds on this forum. Only official builds are permitted to be discussed. This is mainly to stop confusion, people 'handing out' betas, n00b questions when dealing with errors, as it's hard to keep track of multiple 0.x.x versions.
You can talk about this in our dedicated beta discussion forum

What is going on with PCSX2?
Why aren't we getting lots of info, or is PCSX2 dead?

• When something 'special' happens, one of the beta-testers will post shots and information.
• When something super-dupa mega super hyper turbo mega mega happens, shots will be posted like super mega lightning fast on the main news page.
• If no shots are being posted, assume that the progress is slow but steady, and whilst stuff is happening, it doesn't result in anything that you'd be able to see (eg techy nerd stuff).
• If nothing is being posted whatsoever, assume that A: The developers have lives (yeah I didn't believe that either), B: The developers are taking a rest.
• What if SHOCK HORROR no news has been posted for ages???!!!!!! Assume any of the above or most of the team was killed.
• What if I have programming knowledge, and could understand the technical changes being made? Well then go browse to the SVN, and acquire the changelog.txt.

When will the next version be released?

The authors are writing this in there spare time. If they knew, they would inform you, normally a release is made when significant progress and a big difference in 'output' is shown, e.g, when you the end user will be able to see more stuff running.

Why bother making releases when it is not finished?

In a nutshell, it keeps the "Gimme the next release NOW!" crowd from getting too annoying. More importantly it alls folks to see how things are progressing first hand.

How do I make a patch?

Making a patch will not make a game 'playable' but may allow you further into it. Patches can be used to skip videos that don't play, or other simple bugs, they will not make '3D' perfect or make sound super duppa!

Simple Guide for Video Skip Patches

My Sprites have black borders!

This happens when you have Linear Texture Filtering (LTF) turned on in GSdx, to solve this, turn off LTF. This is most often the cause of black squares or borders around sprites in 2D and 2.5D fighting games.

Every Game I run crashes the emulator instantly!

This is often caused by people having the NLOOP0 hack enabled in the GS plugin (ZeroGS KOSMOS / GSdx), and using the Run>Execute menu. By using Run>Execute the emulator first boots the BIOS, which will crash when you have NLOOP0 enabled. Simply use File>RunCD menu to avoid crashes, and this is the recommended option for any game.

If you wish to run the BIOS, simply DISABLE NLOOP0 in your GS plugin first!

How do I play online?

http://forums.ngemu.com/pcsx2-official-f...guide.html


Useful Links

BIOS Guides:
Reichfuher's guide to dumping your Playstation 2 BIOS

Error/Problem Guides:
Will PCSX2 run fast on my computer?
Why is PCSX2 Slow?

Memory Card Guides:
Convert GameFAQ saves to PCSX2 memorycard