EPSXe
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- The correct title of this article is ePSXe. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
| ePSXe | |
 Screenshot of ePSXe running under Windows Vista |
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| Developer: | calb, Galtor and _Demo_ |
|---|---|
| Latest release: | 1.6.0 / August 5, 2003 |
| OS: | Linux, MS Windows |
| Use: | Emulator |
| License: | Freeware |
| Website: | www.epsxe.com |
Enhanced PSX Emulator most known as ePSXe is an emulator of the PlayStation video game console. Its initial release was on October 14, 2000 [1]. ePSXe is freeware currently available for download. For almost half a year, emulator was worked on as a silent project. When it was finally released, it was a major breakthrough in the psx emulation scene, and boasted a revolution in compatibility and speed as compared to other emulators of the Playstation. Today, 7 years after its initial release, ePSXe is still among the fastest and most compatible Playstation emulator known to the public.
As with most modern emulators, ePSXe requires the use of plugins to emulate GPU, SPU, and CD drive functions, a requirement first established with PSEmu/PSEmuPro. ePSXe also requires the use of a BIOS file dumped from a PlayStation. This is to avoid a legal problem, as it is copyright infringement to provide the Sony's BIOS for download, and unlike some other emulators, ePSXe cannot high-level emulate the BIOS. Technically, the only legal way to use ePSXe is to dump the BIOS from a PlayStation you own.
ePSXe can read from CD and run many types of CD images directly from the user's hard drive. With few exceptions, it is capable of nearly flawlessly emulating many PlayStation games. Of course, this is dependent on the plugins used and how they are configured. Games that do not necessarily run properly or even start at all, however, can still be fixed and played via the use of ePSXe patch files in .ppf format. On the latest version of ePSXe (and possibly some older versions), there's a patching feature that allows you to patch certain games. Not all games prone to bugs have ppf patches written for them, but for a select collection of ppf patches for some notable games that have errors, you can find them at this website.
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[edit] Minimum system requirements
- Processor: Pentium III or higher recommended
- RAM: 128 MB (256 MB or more is recommended)
- Graphics Card: 3D acceleration supported, openGL support can help
- OS: Windows 9x or higher/Linux
- DirectX: DirectX 7a or higher, with Direct3D supported
- CD-ROM: 16x or faster (optional)
Please note that if you just meet the minimum system requirements, ePSXe will emulate games very roughly, it is recommended that you have hardware moderately/greater in power than the minimum in order to play games at smooth speeds (most of the time)
[edit] Plugins
- GPU: Most GPU plugins run with either Direct3D, OpenGL, or Glide, and are available freeware or open source at various websites.
- Sound: The SPU plugins can emulate everything from music to sound effects.
- CD-ROM: ePSXe comes with a core CD-ROM plugin, but many others are available for freeware download to emulate up to seven different types of read modes.
- Input: The core plugin is sufficient, but there are others that allow for more functionality. It is even possible to plug in and use a DualShock controller with a USB adapter.
[edit] Trivia
It still remains uncertain whether ePSXe development has ceased. However, due to its plugin-based architecture, portions of the emulation may be updated by third-parties at any time.
[edit] Speed
If you just meet the minimum system requirements of ePSXe, most games will be choppy, but they will run fine, with some glitches, and slow framerates during intense areas of games like for example, the battle-swirl effect on various RPG's (Role Playing Games), or CGI sequences (cutscenes) of most PSX games.
[edit] Compatibility
Prior to the release of ePSXe version 1.6, about 95% of all games run perfectly, provided you change your plugin settings depending on the game. Most games that are otherwise incompatible have .ppf patches written for them (see near the top of this page) that fix certain bugs of certain games. Some compatibility relapses occurred however with the release of version 1.6. For example, Chrono Cross is fully playable to completion on ePSXe version 1.52 (providing that you hit the F7 key of your input device [keyboard] when using the teleporter), but on version 1.6 Chrono Cross has very choppy sound in most plugins, and the emulator freezes when you try starting a new game from the main menu. This is solved by adding -noauto to the end of your shortcut to the program. Another example is that Final Fantasy 9 usually freezes on many CGI sequences under ePSXe version 1.6 (and yes, the F7 key often failed as well), while on 1.52 it was yet again a simple case of just pressing F7. Although, this isn't a reason not to use version 1.6. The simplest way around many compatibility relapses in 1.6 is to just use version 1.50 or 1.52 for games that became broken in version 1.6.
