PS2PSXe - cleaning the house

[Echo]

=[ I was looking forward to PSX emu too, but I guess these things happen sometimes. Ah well, not like I can't play PSX games on my computer or PSP for now.

Also, is there any kind of project page for that? I looked around but couldn't find anything, I only knew about it because someone from another forum mentioned it to me. (I know it's supposedly stalled for now, but still just wondering.)

[dlanor]

=[ I was looking forward to PSX emu too, but I guess these things happen sometimes.

Even so, I won't 'write it off' unless ffgriever himself tells me he has really dropped the idea, which I hope he never does. When last we discussed it he still wanted to go through with the project, though he couldn't dedicate time for it right away.

Ah well, not like I can't play PSX games on my computer or PSP for now.

There are some good PSX emulators for PC, but IMO they've stagnated since most of their developers passed on to other 'pastures'. As for PSP, I have no real idea since I have no interest in that platform.

Also, is there any kind of project page for that?

PS2PSXe never was a public project, and in fact no information about it was released to the public until after it went into a 'frozen' state (due to ffgriever being busy with other projects).

I looked around but couldn't find anything, I only knew about it because someone from another forum mentioned it to me. (I know it's supposedly stalled for now, but still just wondering.)

It has never been available for public download, but was only made available to selected beta testers. So don't waste time searching for it. If ffgriever decides to release it at all, I expect he will do it here on this site, and in any case it will certainly be reported here if/when it happens.

Best regards: dlanor

[ffgriever]

Well, it's being actively developed (even right now, as we speak ). Not that actively like two or so years ago, when new build was available every day, but I'm working on it. Right now I'm stuck with the textures. The use of vram is a lot different in both psx and ps2 (though they both use texture pages layouts, and I don't know of a possibility to somehow switch to psx mode in this case). So my attempt to make it both working and quite efficient was as follows:

I keep lookup table with pages. Every contains location of page in memory, in vram and dirty flag. If a texture (or vram area during move to frame buffer, etc.) is being used I upload it into vram. It stays there as long, as possible. If there is a write to the page, it's being marked as dirty, and sent again into vram when it is to be used (if the depth of texture is the same, otherwise it's being freed on vram side and uploaded anew). When there is no more place for textures, the vram manager tries to find the places that are big enough to hold a texture page of said depth, and replaces the least recently used one with the new one. The problem is that:

1. Not everything is implemented properly yet.
2. It isn't always as efficient as I thought it would be.
3. Everything gets screwed more often than not.
4. Quite often the vram gets too fragmented, which makes the manager free some used textures (whole texture pages, as they can contain few textures with the same depth but different cluts), while there would be much more than enough place if the vram has been defragmented (it tries to intercept such cases, then frees all vram and just puts all the needed textures anew - which seems to be faster in most of the cases). Yes, I know PS2 has more Vram than PSX, but we need quite a big (two of them ) framebuffer and the manager/lut thing isn't perfect.

Anyway, I'm working on it from time to time, though it has a long way to go (and it's sharing the time with two other projects, one of which many of you could be interested in).

[dlanor]

Well, it's being actively developed (even right now, as we speak ).

I'm very glad (and relieved) to hear this, as I was worrying about the long (though necessary) pause in PS2PSXe development, due to your other high-priority projects. I'm glad you've picked it up again, and hope the work will proceed smoothly from now on.

Not that actively like two or so years ago, when new build was available every day,

Those were exciting days alright. I'll never forget the feeling when I first managed to boot FF7 in a PS2PSXe beta...

----- re: texture vram usage

1. Not everything is implemented properly yet.

That is always the case at an early stage (and often in late releases of some emus too).

2. It isn't always as efficient as I thought it would be.

We seldom achieve all our hopes for efficiency, but it can probably be improved over time.

3. Everything gets screwed more often than not.

That is frequently the case for early stages of a new implementation, but I have every confidence that you can solve these problems.

4. Quite often the vram gets too fragmented, which makes the manager free some used textures (whole texture pages, as they can contain few textures with the same depth but different cluts), while there would be much more than enough place if the vram has been defragmented (it tries to intercept such cases, then frees all vram and just puts all the needed textures anew - which seems to be faster in most of the cases).

Efficient defrag can be very tricky, so for many cases your 'free-all' method can the best choice, at least while other aspects of the project are more important (no point in having perfect defrag if there is nothing to work with). And better defrag methods can be added later too.

Yes, I know PS2 has more Vram than PSX, but we need quite a big (two of them ) framebuffer and the manager/lut thing isn't perfect.

Even so, the larger capacity of the PS2, both in RAM/VRAM, and other respects, is of course what makes an emulator of this kind possible. But it may be hard to balance off differing needs for the same resource, to avoid letting one of those needs consume so much (VRAM for example) so that the other needs suffer from it. This is a generic problem for all programming approaching the limits of a given platform.

Anyway, I'm working on it from time to time, though it has a long way to go

The important thing to me is that the work is progressing again

(and it's sharing the time with two other projects, one of which many of you could be interested in).

I'm sure we will all be interested in any projects you release, though I'm not quite sure what you refer to here...

Best regards: dlanor

[Badcrew]

I'd be content with even a very early Beta release of PS2PSXe! Even if there are some glitches or missing features, it would be like a dream come true to boot my favourite classic PS1 games from the large HDD (750 GB) that I invested in.

Would it be possible to release the emu now, even in in this very early stage? Perhaps even recruit more Beta testers or developers (which I'm sure some would be willing to help with) with this project? I would love to help in anyway possible.

[Bayron]

Thanks for the great apps. Any news on PS2PSXe?

[Gnom]

Sorry to intrude with a non FF12ZJS-related question, but I didn't know where to ask it else, and since the title includes "PS2PSXe"... So, a very dumb question : will PS2PSXe support rumble feature ? (And where should we post further PS2PSXe-related questions ?)

[ffgriever]

Sorry to intrude with a non FF12ZJS-related question, but I didn't know where to ask it else, and since the title includes "PS2PSXe"...

It's just that this thread was not meant to be "FF12ZJS Eng Patch thread". I just deleted the offtopic and responded to some questions. It was meant to be buried along with other threads . Yet, for some odd reason, I got to the point and completed an alpha patch.

Both topics do not really belong to this subforum, but I don't mind. They'll be moved to the correct place if the need arises. I guess I'll just create a new thread about FF12 and move all the ff12 related posts there (and always update with the most recent version in the first post).

But right now, it is a place as good as any.



But to the point.

So, a very dumb question : will PS2PSXe support rumble feature ? (And where should we post further PS2PSXe-related questions ?)

No, it doesn't. I never really use vibrations on any consoles. It's freaking annoying, not to mention that it burned fuses on my mainboard few times (not a problem, since I don't use vibration anyway, but I like to have everything in good shape).

But it could, if there really is a need for such feature. The controller is handled almost directly (commands for the sio caught by emulator are just slightly preprocessed and sent to iop side to be executed), so it's not like vibrations are not implemented... It's more like I turned them off .

At some point I even thought about releasing one of the previous builds, but I decided to not do that. Why release something that is quite slow and incompatible? On the other hand, completing the current "branch" to the point when it will be ready for (even pre-alpha) release might take some time... Plus most of the users would not even know how to use it, as it is still cmd line only and requires use of ps2client or any kind of ps2 shell that allows for hdd or usb access and arguments passing (eg. radshell). I had some simple "gui", but I threw it away.

[Gnom]

Quite a complete answer... I guess we can live without rumbling, the question just popped up as I was reading this thread

And you're right not to hurry. Better have something finished (or at least that you're proud enough of) than a half working version, I reckon this would be disappointing for those whose heart started beating when they downloaded it, and worse I'm pretty sure that some morons would come and keep whining until it's working well... Anyway, I for one is willing to wait and really enjoy my old games when it's time

[pietrak90]

When is PS2PSXe beta version?
Sorry my englisch is bad :P.