Play PlayStation 2 Games On PC – What will you need?
- A fairly decent PC configuration, with a recommended rig consisting of at least a Core2Duo Processor, upwards of 2 GB of RAM and a graphics card at or better than the GeForce 8000 or 9000 series or the ATI equivalent.
- PlayStation 2 BIOS files, which you can find all over the internet with a simple Google search or dump them right from your or your friend’s trusty old PS2.
- The latest version of the PCSX2 emulator available here.
- Latest plugins, available here.
- A copy of the game you want to play on DVD or in ISO format.
- Joypad or joystick (optional)
- Intermediate level PC skills and some luck (the latter is optional).
Play PS2 Games On PC – Getting Started
After you’re done downloading and installing the emulator, you will be presented with a configuration wizard to help you configure it easier so we’ll first go through that. First, simply select the language and choose the directory where you want to install the emulator.
You will now be presented with the graphics, sounds and various other plugins that you are gong to need in order to get the job done. Check the versions of the plugins carefully and go to the above link to download the latest versions in case you’re lagging behind. For the GS plugin, select the one with SSE2 in its name in case you’re using an older generation processor, but unless you’re using ancient tech, select the SSE4 version from the drop down menu.
Next, select the BIOS USA or Europe BIOS version that you just downloaded or dumped. You can uncheck the “Use default setting” checkbox at the bottom and select a folder of your choice by clicking Browse. The Japanese BIOS works fine in most cases, but is known to produce some problems, so we’re skipping it here as the USA and Europe BIOS have the highest compatibility ratio.
Finish up the configuration wizard and you will now be presented with the main interface of PCSX2, which has undergone a severe overhaul in order to increase ease of use and user friendliness. I found this version of the emulator much more easier to configure and use mostly because of the increased compatibility with almost all famous games and a much cleaner and less cluttered plugin configuration interface.
More Configurations Needed To Play PlayStation 2 Games on PC
Now, the default settings should be fine for most tinkerers, but if you to play PS2 games on your PC at the full 60 frames per second, you are going to have to delve deeper to make some changes.
GS Plugin
GSdx v0.1.16 is a DirectX 9 and DirectX 10/11 plugin that recently recently received a great improvement in both speed and image quality. It requires pixel shaders 2 and SSE2 to work and Vista/Windows 7 with a DirectX 10 compliant graphics card for the DirectX10/11 mode.
Select the Direct X 9 mode if your graphics card is not fully compatible with Direct X 10, but both modes should be fine and provide you a with fairly accurate representation of colors and graphics on the PS2. The native resolution mode should be selected if you want the plugin to closely mimic the capabilities of the PS2, reducing lags and most importantly giving you accurate emulation of the console. But if accuracy is not your priority, you can select higher resolutions, depending on your monitor and graphics card.
Sound
SPU2-X is the latest and greatest sound plugin at the time of this write up. It is also the most advanced in emulating the chip correctly and many games, such as the God of War series, only work with SPU2-X.
If you have a fast computer and want the best audio quality possible, select theCatmull option from the Interpolation drop down menu, otherwise linear interpolation remains the best and fastest option available to emulate the sound of the PS2 system. Other settings should be left at their recommended and original spots unless you get in-game errors, in which case, the only option is to try and test all possible settings for a fix.
Keyboard/Joypad Plugin
The Lilypad plugin has undergone yet another overhaul and is now much more compatible with third-party joypads and joysticks, and at the same time perfectly mimics the feel of the movements on the PS2 console, even adding custom vibration options to emulate the PS2′s excellent Dual Shock vibration system.
Just select the Pad 1 tab to configure your keyboard or joypad/joystick. The plugin’s interface is intuitive and self explanatory, and should not require much expertise to set up.
DVD ROM Plugin
The Gigaherz plugin is the perfect tool for this job as it can load games from both the DVD-ROM drive and from ISO files as well. No configuration is necessary for the plugin. Just make sure you selected it in the Wizard process I mentioned in the start. If not, just open up the Plugin/BIOS selector from the main interface and select the plugin.
Emulation Settings Required To Play PS2 Games On PC
Those breathing a sigh of relief should stop immediately. We’re not done with all the configurations yet, because even though the emulator has undergone a complete overhaul, emulating the PlayStation 2 is not as easy as emulating Nintendo’s Wii. But fret not, we’re not far from our final goal. Open up the emulation settings from the main interface and get cracking on the final phase of the configurations.
Mess around with the EE/IOP setting only if you’re a tech wizard. The only thing you will want to know here is that the Clamping Mode produces more accurate results on Full and faster results on the Normal setting. The None setting is known to cause bugs and should be avoided like the plague.
Clamping Mode settings mentioned above also apply in VUs. You can select the legacy recompilers only if you feel like a dare devil, because even though they produce better speeds, they’re also notorious for messing up games.
Nothing to see in GS except the infamous frame skipping and turbo options folks. Frame skipping definitely is not recommended, unless you want your game to start acting crazy, but Turbo is known to produce big speed ups in some games, so give it a try and check out if it works for you.
GSWindow just provides some scaling and resolution options in addition to the GS plugin’s own interface. Stick to the norm if you don’t know what you’re doing, but advanced users can select resolutions that will work the best with their PCs.
Speed hacks provide some much needed improvement in game speeds, but at the cost of accuracy. The best method is to check out the settings that work the best for you according to the speed of your PC and find a compromise between speed and accuracy. As always, stick with the recommended/default settings if you don’t know what you’re doing, but I definitely recommend enabling this feature.
Don’t touch the game fixes section unless a game is particularly being tough to run, because PCSX2 now uses its built-in game fixing methods to automatically apply changes to the game being emulated.
Play PS2 Games On PC – Running the game
Just select the appropriate boot option from the system menu in the main interface – full if you want to see the pretty start up animations of the PS2 and fast if you want to skip all the formalities and get to emulating. That’s it! You are now finally able to play PS2 games on your PC.
To see which games are compatible at the moment, check out this
compatibility list maintained by the dev elopers. As the emulator is still a work in progress, it is always possible that your favorite game might not run on the current version, but the developers are rolling out releases as soon as the find fixes to games and come up with new features, so fret not as your favorite game might be the next one on the emulation scene.
How was your experience with the emulator? Do you like emulating PS2 game on your PC? Please let us know in the comments.
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