EDITED: closed, move to the new stickied thread

As of now, we have decided to start a Pcsx2 Playground beta program.

In this thread, beta versions will be posted. To keep confusion at a minimum, they will be named as the svn revision they are compiled from.

These files are betas, so there are no guarantees of them running games. Basically, once in a while I'll put up some very lightly tested builds as betas. You can use them to see the latest progress and the new bugs .. errr... features introduced You are all encouraged to try the latest beta available from this thread before posting a bug report. If it works in the latest beta, it's most likely fixed.

Regarding the frequency of these "betas", I will basically put them out whenever there is some decent amount of relatively stable changes for you people to test. Most commits are not actually worth it, they add up in the long run but give no immediate benefits. At the pace the emulator is progressing now, expect them once/twice a week. Should the pace slow, so would the betas.

Installation instructions:
- You must have the latest pcsx2 playground official release as a base. If you don't, download the package from pcsx2.net. Refer to the announcement topic.
- Download the latest beta from this topic. Extract the files and copy them to the pcsx2_Pg folder
- Use them to run games
- If you have problems in starting up the emulator, try deleting the .ini files in the inis folder and reconfigure the emulator.

About vm/vtlb versions
We have completely dropped vm support. From now on, there will only be vtlb releases.

Vtlb is still not completely implemented and its' still not optimized, so it's a little slower than vm in some cases, but it's the only supported version noe. We are really interested in eventual bug reports about the vtlb version.

Ok, new beta up. Compiled from svn revision 528. Get it from the first post of the topic!!!!

Notable changes:
- rewritten elf loader (better behaviour when running through the bios)
- improved cdvd handler (speed is back up to what it was at svn 459 for pure 2d)
- the odd behavior of Run->Execute may be solved, please test
- fixed some memory allocation issues
- vu micro lower instruction changes
- changed the ini file name, since its incompatible with official pcsx2.ini
- fixed some minor gui bugs
- several cleanups

And last but not least, Shadow Hearts 2 boots! It doesn't run, but it boots! It never did before!

For now, I'm leaving the old versions too, just be sure to always download the newest one (in this case, 528)

Happy new year everyone

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

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

Enjoy

Known Issues:
Metal Gear Solid 3 crashes
Vuskip is not working correctly. If you have trouble with it, don't use it
Some users reported problems entering bios. Well, at this point it's a minor problem...

Pcsx2 Playground beta release svn609.

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

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

Known Issues:
Still no vuskip....

Enjoy

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

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

Enjoy!

Another beta up.

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

Enjoy

Ok, this is the last beta before the merge. From now on, the beta program is on hiatus till we sort out any and all merge issues.

Pcsx2 Playground svn 708
Nothing revolutionary here, mostly fixes and tweaks, but still, play to your heart's content and report any new bugs you may find

Changelog:
- 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