PS emulators

[nik0tine]

Before I start I should say that I only plan on emulating games that I already have. :p

With that said, how do I do it? I have Epsxe but I don't understand a damn thing. The farthest I can get is trying to load up a game and then a black screen comes up that tells me my FPS and stuff like that, but nothing happens. So, basically, help me.

[o_O]

With ePSXe, you need a few things:

A PSX BIOS image. You need this for any emulator, and while it's illegal to distribute freely, you can easily find one on Google or somewhere similar regardless. Note that the PAL BIOS is different to the NTSC BIOS. So depending on where the game is from, make sure you have the right BIOS.
A graphics plugin. This enables ePSXe to render the game on the screen. The most popular ones are Pete's D3D and Pete's OGL plugins, however for older graphics cards there are plugins like Lewpy's Glide2 plugin.
A sound plugin. I use SPU Eternal - It produces the most similar sound to the real PSX, in my opinion.

And that's all that you need, honest. The graphics plugins are the most difficult to configure, but hey, if you don't know what a setting does, leave it, and you'll be fine. Most GPUs these days can emulate PSX at full speed.
Also, I would definitely rip the PSX game to an ISO - It'll run a lot more quickly that way.

Hope that helps. :p

[Araciel]

emulators are awesome...they let you play your psx games on a digital screen...and if you have a good cpu and modern graphics card they run really well and are quite pretty!

[Rostum]

I knoe ePSXe has some trouble with some games, and it sucks to set up (although good once you do get it set up).

If you want, you can try to find "pSX", that one has been really good to play some FF games and Chrono Cross -- and requires no finding of bios or plugins.

[theundeadhero]

What kind of PS to USB accessories are there? I know you can plug a controller into a PC, but what about a memory card? Are there any others?

[Endless]

What kind of PS to USB accessories are there? I know you can plug a controller into a PC, but what about a memory card? Are there any others?

There are plenty of PSX/PS2 -> USB/Xbox/GC adapters (I have one, it's &lt;3), and a few <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DexDrive">memory card adapters</a>, though it might be hard to find a PSX->PC one now.

[Mirage]

emulators are awesome...they let you play your psx games on a digital screen...and if you have a good cpu and modern graphics card they run really well and are quite pretty!

I'm not sure if I understand... Can you define "digital screen" for me?

[o_O]

What kind of PS to USB accessories are there? I know you can plug a controller into a PC, but what about a memory card? Are there any others?

There are plenty of PSX/PS2 -> USB/Xbox/GC adapters (I have one, it's &lt;3), and a few <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DexDrive">memory card adapters</a>, though it might be hard to find a PSX->PC one now.

You could probably find an old DexDrive on Ebay or something.

Or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00000K4EI/ref=dp_olp_0/002-4554915-8937636?ie=UTF8&condition=all">Amazon</a>. :p

[Rostum]

Most emulators have their own memory card storage in the program. But yeah, if you want to get your own saved files onto the computer just follow o_O's advice.

[Endless]

You could probably find an old DexDrive on Ebay or something.

Or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00000K4EI/ref=dp_olp_0/002-4554915-8937636?ie=UTF8&condition=all">Amazon</a>. :p

Damn, when I wanted one badly a couple years ago, they were a pain to get, so I never bothered getting one. And now they're on amazon -_-

[Roto13]

I tried ePSXe but it didn't work right away so I deleted it. I could play every PSX game in the world, but I don't actually want to make the effort.

[Araciel]

you have to get more than just the emulator, it's so worth the ten minutes to find and setup the 3 other files you need

[nik0tine]

I have the other files, though. I just can't figure out what to do with them. Every time I try to load a game I just get a black screen.

[o_O]

I have the other files, though. I just can't figure out what to do with them. Every time I try to load a game I just get a black screen.

More than likely you need to configure your graphics plugin then. Note that you specifically need to choose a graphics, sound and BIOS file - none is set by default. Try opening up the graphics configuration for the emulator and setting everything to "compatibility", or "best speed" or something that reduces the graphics quality in favour of speed.
Also, if you're currently using a Direct3D plugin, like Pete's D3D, try changing it over to a GL plugin. I get better results on my laptop with Pete's OpenGL plugin, but D3D is better on my Windows desktop.

It could also be your PSX image file. Try ripping one of your own PSX games to an ISO and loading it. If that works, you'll know it is the ISO file.
Also, which game is giving you the blank screen? It could be the case that the game requires a patch, or a special graphics fix to run correctly. As an example, Chrono Cross won't run properly on ePSXe 1.60; it gives a blank screen before the first menu, or directly after leaving the first menu. You may need to use an earlier version.

Note: Don't run games from the CD, always rip to an image first - You'll have much lower loading times, etc.

[Levian]

Yep, I had that problem too. You have to run the wizard to configure the plugins. Don't get your hopes up though, it's not an actual wizard.

If the game is running to fast, you need to configure your graphics plugin and tick the box for Frame skipping something. Oh, and what game are you playing btw? Chrono Cross doesn't work with the latest version ePSXe.

[o_O]

[QUOTE=Levian;1881420]
If the game is running to fast, you need to configure your graphics plugin and tick the box for Frame skipping something.QUOTE]

Framerate limiting. :p