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Emulation is the Situation

Started by Mardroid, 23 April, 2017, 04:55:52 PM

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Mardroid

As I own a PS2, a PS3 and a laptop, I'm seriously considering selling my PS2.* Since my version of the PS3 (the super-slim. Yes they did an even slimmer version of their slim) is not backwardly compatible with PS2 games, and there are some I'd like to keep, I've been thinking of going the PCSX2 emulator route, essentially turning my laptop into a virtual PS2.

It's not a top range laptop, but it's far newer than the console, so I reckon it should handle it all right.

Trouble is, further investigation suggests it will be a right fiddly kerfuffle! Apparently the emulator isn't enough. I've got to extract the bios from my PS2 and install it. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done as to utilise the software that extracts the bios, I have to make the PS2 'homebrew'. ( I think that means, reconfigure the console so it will accept software not from Sony and commercial games companies).

I'll admit, I'm strongly tempted to just download a bios from the internet. Trouble is, that's illegal. It's not something I'd feel too guilty about since I bought the original console and the games, so I'm hardly conning Sony out of money. But I'd prefer to do things the legitimate route if I can.

So, the purpose of the thread: have any of you gone the PS2 emulator route?

How did you find the process? Any advice appreciated, but I appreciate this is primarily a comic book forum and there are other places I can find that information. (I have investigated although the job looks like a real headache.)

How did the games perform? Did they perform?

If you'd like to chat about your experiences with other emulators too, feel free to do that here too.


* More to free space rather than for the money, as I doubt I'll get much for it. Also thinking of getting a PS4 pro at some point, or maybe that new XBox when it comes out**, bit that will probably be a while yet.

** I feel more inclined to Sony than Microsoft, even when the latter produce better consoles. This new full 4K job does seem something special though.

WhizzBang

Is your PS2 a fat one (i.e. early model - not slim)?  If so then you could consider buying a network adapter and installing a 500 GB HDD inside it. You can put all your games on the hard drive and not need to use disks anymore and you do not need to chip your PS2 to do this. Games run flawlessly (and Gran Turismo 4 works better from HDD than from disk) plus you can have virtual memory cards on the HDD so no memory card fiddling is required. Get a wireless PS2 controller to top it all off.

Using real hardware is usually better than emulation.

Mardroid

Yes, it's first gen. I didn't know you could install a harddrive in the PS2! (I have installed a laptop harddrive in my PS3, but figured memory cards were the only option for PS2s).

Thanks for the tip!

Yeah, I guess it's a bit silly thinking of going the emulation route if the PS2 is still working fine. Mainly a space thing and dislike of multiple boxes, I guess.