PCSX2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| PCSX2 | |
 The interface of PCSX2 |
|
| Developer: | Linuzappz |
|---|---|
| Latest release: | 0.9.2 / November 18, 2006 |
| OS: | Linux, MS Windows |
| Use: | Emulator |
| License: | GPL |
| Website: | PCSX2.net |
PCSX2 is a PlayStation 2 emulator for the Linux and Windows operating systems. The emulator has been improved greatly since its first release, though it is still in beta as of July 2006. As of July 2006 and version 0.9.1, many PS2 games are playable (though speed limitations have made play-to-completion tests impractical), and a few have full functionality. The main bottleneck in PS2 emulation is emulating the multi-core PS2 on PC architecture. Although each CPU can be emulated perfectly, getting the synchronization and timing between them to be accurate is difficult.
PCSX2, like its predecessor project PCSX, is based on a plugin architecture, separating several functions from the core emulator. These are graphics, controls, CD/DVD drive, USB, sound and Firewire (iLink) ports. Different plugins may produce different results with one game, in both compatibility and performance.
Performance before 2006 was between 2 to 15 FPS (frames per second) depending on the game, PC hardware, and plugin configuration, with the PS2 BIOS itself being one of the fastest pieces of software to emulate. Since release 0.9 in April 2006, performance has greatly increased. Most 2D games and menus can reach 60-120 FPS, though ingame 3D is still slow in many cases. In this release, PCSX2 also began supporting dual core CPUs, resulting in an effective doubling of FPS on systems with dual core processors. As of July 2006, the fastest dual-core CPUs can run popular 3D games, such as Final Fantasy X, at over 60 frames per second. PCSX2 is under active development.
[edit] Trivia
- Sven Goran's World Manager 2002 was the first commercial game to 'do' something in the emulator, thus making PCSX2 the first PlayStation 2 emulator to emulate a commercial game.
- Since PCSX2 0.9, many popular games have had varying results from near-perfect emulation to some games that still do not work at all. Of the rest, many do work, but with graphical and timing issues.
- Linuzappz, the head coder of the team, left the PCSX2 project in 2005.
- Zerofrog joined the team in January 2006. Since then, PCSX2 has had steady and rapid increases in performance.
[edit] External links
- PCSX2, the official PCSX2 website
- PCSX2 Source Code
- PCSX2 For Unix, a project aimed towards Unix compatibility
- NGemu, a website with plugins, utilities, and PCSX2 source code downloads
- General Emulation, an emulation site with a sneak peak at PCSX2's progress through regularly updated beta screenshots and news posts
