Can someone explain in whatever terms are easiest why emulators can support some games and not others? My logic to this question is that Sony didn't have to write more code every time a game got released for their console.

*shrug* I am just trying to understand why things must be the way they are.

you first need to understand what a emulator is: [emulator]

and then you need to understand pcsx2 is a work in progress...

in that article that you have linked there it says that it should be called simulator instead of emulator

(02-04-2009 04:42 AM)LuisR14 Wrote:  in that article that you have linked there it says that it should be called simulator instead of emulator

well...u can see it as a simulator in parts... as the vg is the real thing and the computer is trying to act like the vg...

Thanks, but not really what I was asking. I'll try again...

What changes from game to game so dramatically that the creators of the emulators have to spend time on each game to make it compatible with the emulator?

Another way would be to ask... How can FFX, FFX-2, and FFXII run near perfect, and lets say Star Ocean 2 can't even start up?

I am not trying to rude or ungrateful, btw, I love playing FFX on the emulator, it looks way better than the console. I am just trying to understand.

(02-04-2009 04:54 AM)dashrem Wrote:  Thanks, but not really what I was asking. I'll try again...

What changes from game to game so dramatically that the creators of the emulators have to spend time on each game to make it compatible with the emulator?

Another way would be to ask... How can FFX, FFX-2, and FFXII run near perfect, and lets say Star Ocean 2 can't even start up?

I am not trying to rude or ungrateful, btw, I love playing FFX on the emulator, it looks way better than the console. I am just trying to understand.

ure being rude and ungrateful

...hehe..just kidding

as far as my "super-understanding" of emulators go, i think that since the games usually have different engines and stuff, that probably ends up with how the vg (the emulator in that case) will respond...And the guys who are trying to discover how to emulate as close as possible from the vg will always have some problems since the games aren't all the same.....

something like that

My take on it would be that there are different effects, mechanics, engines, encryptions, and styles as to how a game is created. The way I see it the PC games Half-Life 2, Gears of War, and Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion all have different engines in order to be created. These engines have coding styles and carry out instructions differently than each one; i.e half life 2's engine tends to be very streamlined, compatible, and easy to mod but tends to lack in the GFX department when it comes to special effects, detail etc. GoW is built off the Unreal engine which, imo, provides very grainy graphics, great effects, and its a different style altogether sacrificing compatibility and performance for these things. Many games are based off of this but not all. In my eyes the creators of the ps2 games do the exact same thing and some implement creative new flashy effects or a new type of encryption (Tri-Ace) or a new type of physics a new type of way to render an FMV that type of thing. Seeing as how the creators don't have documentation as to styles of coding Sony allows to be used on their machines they have to guess and do their best to backwards engineer things in order to play a game.

Idealy, PCSX2 will have a database large enough to be able to play whatever game is thrown at it because it knows how to interpret all kinds of code and it knows what to expect. Right now, if a game throws a curve ball at it, it has no idea how to handle it and it crashes, doesn't run, gives an error etc. Relatively speaking, FFX and the other examples you gave aren't complicated games from a coders stand point; they don't have major transperency, shadow, collision, physics, shader coding that needs to be emulated. To be honest, the graphics in those games are just high resolution versions of the PS1's with some added fluff.

In short, each game is different and the emu does what it knows and right now it doesn't know a couple different things here and there.

Thats how I view it anywho, I very well could be wrong and I apologize for any missinformation no I don't have any method of backing this up ATM, but feel free to correct me . Just my two cents.

@foulusama. You beat me to it as I was typing my story lol.

The main issue is people didn't just write high level code. They exploited all the quirks bugs and functions of it often in ways it wasn't designed for.

(02-04-2009 05:17 AM)dralor Wrote:  The main issue is people didn't just write high level code. They exploited all the quirks bugs and functions of it often in ways it wasn't designed for.

Do you mean the game designers?

Yes they take a behavior of the system and exploit it for something that Sony didn't dream of it being used for.