"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Quoting gramhams' response to Chrono Archangel about the status of his Java-based Playstation emulator (whose source code is planned to be released at some time):
"Yes, the emu is alive and well, though I have not had much time to mess with it (been very busy)
I have asked a bunch of friends to help me get a website together, and
get it out there. A few people have pinged me online and I have even
sent a few the code to see if they can get it running AOK, but most
haven't checked back.
It works great... Vista & Java don't play well together with
DirectX which slows a few things down, so I want to throw together a
Java3D or JOGL display which does the 2d VRAM -> screen blit. This
may speed up OS-X which used to be slow too, but I haven't checked in a
while.
P.S. I really want people to work on this, so I want it out there (I
don't even really care about cleaning up some of the uglier code now),
I just haven't had much inclination to work on software outside of work
:-(
P.P.S. I talked to a buddy about making the website happen, so hopefully things are in motion"
Shendo has recently released a new version of his excellent memory card editor for the playstation called MemcardRex, increasing it's version counter to v0.7! You can use this utility to manage, copy and edit your savegames created with most popular psx emulators. Here are the changes for the latest version:
Fixed error with the "format slot(s)" function (some data was not deleted after formatting).
Fixed error with the "Paste from temp buffer" function (sometimes occupied slots were detected as free so pasted saves could overwrite existing ones).
Added flipping and rotation options to icon editor.
Added support for additional image formats when exporting the icon.
Added support for XPlorer, Action Replay, GameShark, Caetla, Smart Link and Datel single saves.
Should you get an error upon opening the tool, make sure you've downloaded and installed the Microsoft .NET Framework v2.0!
Pete has updated his GPU plugins for ePSXe, coincindentally with its long-awaited 1.7.0 release.
Pete's OpenGL2 PSX GPU v2.09:
- This release is basically an "ePSXe birthday" version: after a long time the ePSXe team wanted to make an update to their main emu, and to improve the compatibility with some games. One of the compatibility fixes had to be done in the gpu plugins, so, well, I had to fire up my compilers as well... I don't wanted to let 'em down, eh? :) Since my free time is somewhat limited, I have not made many other changes, though (at least in the last weeks... I cannot remember what I've done the last years in the gpu plugins, so I basically hope that I didn't mess something up, ehehe).
- First, the mentioned game fix. This will prevent lock ups in certain games (for example "Dukes of Hazzard" or "Hot wheels turbo racing"). The main emu can enable this fix by a new gpu interface function automatically, for other emus you can enable the "special game fix" manually in the gpu config window (the fix is called "Fake 'gpu busy' states").
- The main emu can use a new gpu interface function, to enable the gpu's "FPS limitation" automatically. Why? Because most new psx emu users seem to have problems with the "FPS" concept, and are unable to activate the correct settings (just as a reminder: "higher FPS" is not equal to "smoother display" in psx emulation).
- Nagisa from SSSPSX added new frame limit timings to the Peops soft gpu plugin. I have put this timings into my hw/accel plugins as well, let's see what will happen :) The differences are small, though: in non-interlaced modes the automatic FPS timings are now set to 49.76 FPS (PAL) or 59.82 FPS (NTSC).
- calb of the ePSXe team suggested to add a "visual rumble" feature to the gpu plugins: whenever the pad vibration kicks in, the display should also start to shake. Ok, done... just remember, you have to enable this feature in the main emu (pad configuration window), not in the gpu config. And, of course, in some games the visual rumble can get very annoying... :)
- Last but not least a "most wanted" feature for widescreen users: PSX games have usually a 4:3 width/height ratio. Therefore a 16:10 fullscreen mode (example: 1680x1050) will stretch the display in an ugly way. If your monitor or your gfx card driver has no option to display 4:3 modes correctly, you can now set a proper 4:3 "window size" (in our example: 1400x1050) and activate the new "Use window size in fullscreen mode" option in the plugin. That will produce a proper display, of course with black borders on the left and right sides of your monitor, but hey :)
- Ah, and another note for ATI users: please update to Catalyst 8.5 to avoid glitches!
Pete's OGL/D3D plugins v1.77:
- Most changes I have descriped in the OGL2 version file (OGL2 V2.09):
* Special game fix: "Fake 'gpu busy' states"
* Automatic FPS limit activation by the main emu
* Nagisa's FPS limit values in non-interlaced display modes
* Visual rumble feature with ePSXe
* NOT included in the OGL1/D3D plugins: the special widescreen option.
- "episiix" reported a crash with certain "screen smoothing"/"framebuffer texture" combinations in the D3D plugins. That's fixed.
P.E.O.P.S. GPU plugin v1.18:
- Pete added Nagisa's frame limit timings (done by Nagisa for SSSPSX). And the simpler SSSPSX frame limitation mode has been added as a gpu config option. Advantage: SSSPSX will not show a 100% cpu load in this mode, but it's slightly less accurate.
- Pete added MxC's changes to the display filters (from the 'm9' filter edition of the plugin). Please note that the HQ2X/HQ3X filters need a cpu with MMX extensions. Ah, and most of the filters are now available for Linux as well (the 'stretched HQ3x / Scale3x' Linux modes seem to be a bit unstable, though).
- Pete added "GPUsetframelimit" function, so the main emu can control the frame limitation.
- Pete added a new way to create the save state picture. This will fix crashes on Windows Vista when doing save states.
- Pete added a "special game fix" (called "Fake 'gpu busy' states") on request of the ePSXe team (calb and Galtor). This will prevent lockups in some games. The main emu can activate this fix automatically by a new "GPUsetfix" interface function.
- Pete added a "visual rumble" function to the Windows version of the soft plugin on request of calb from the ePSXe team. The main emu can call it to shake the display whenever the PSX pad vibration kicks in.
UPDATE: version 1.18b fixes an issue a "msvcr80.dll" dependency, and includes the GPU.DAT for epsxe in the same download.
The ePSXe team just released a new, eagerly awaited version of their Playstation emulator, after no less than a hiatus of 4 years. This version brings a very significant number of exciting updates to an already excellent emulator.
Note: if you are asked for zlib1.dll and/or wnaspi32.dll , these may be downloaded from here: ( zlib1.dll / wnaspi32.dll )
New in ePSXe 1.7.0: Changelog (short version):
Multiple changes has been done in the Pad support.
The internal SPU plugin has been updated to the 1.7.0 version.
The iso support code has been rewritten.
The MDEC decoder has been rewritten.
A new version of the Pete's Software Plugin is included.
The XA/CDDA support has been worked in this new version.
Many things have been fixed in the cd-rom decoder and the core.
Since version 1.6.0 (no less than 4 years), not much was heard about the current status of this great Playstation emulator. The ePSXe team just published an update recently, confirming that the project is NOT dead.
"It has been long time since the previous ePSXe status update. During this
time
the ePSXe development has been on hold and our lives have changed a lot,
probably just like yours. In summer 2007 we decided to continue working in
ePSXe
encouraged by the users support even after 4 years without updates. ePSXe
is currently in final testing and we hope to release a new version very
soon. We wanted
to thank you
for your support and show you some screenshots from games that should work
better
in the next release."
pSX Author has been silently working on adding PS2 emulation capabilities to his already excellent PS1 emulator! He revealed these screenshots yesterday, and I must say that it looks quite promising :) Check it out!
Shendo released a new version of his memory card managing utility, MemcardRex. Version 0.4 was rewritten from scratch, and features a number of additional capabilities. Note: .NET Framework 3.0 required.
Changes in 0.4:
Added comments support for dexdrive memory cards.
Added toolstrip informations.
Added support for simultaneous editing of 2 memory cards.
Added support for dragging-and-dropping of memory card files.
Saves can now be copied to the temp buffer and pasted to the selected card and slot.
Double click on the selected item now shows a save information.
Product code, Identifier and Region now shown in the list instead on the toolbar.
Editing operations are now save based instead of the slot based like in older versions.
Dropped support for .vmp cards until proper header reconstruction is possible.
The usual answer to "Can you send me the PSX BIOS?" is the hint, to dump it yourself from your console. Should you ever have wondered how to actual do this, then this guide and the PSX BIOS Dumper tool v1.0 made by Shendo and published over at Emuforums might be of interrest for you.
So let's take a look at the changes in the actual tool for v1.0:
Main menu now displays a region of the console and a BIOS version.
BIOS Merge application added so hex editing and manually joining files is no longer needed.
Another timely release for Xebra is now available. Here are the release notes.....and once again, we thank RockmanForte for the Japanese-to-English translation
CPU was fixed for 'DEWPRISM' (removing the entrance in the church)
'DEWPRISM' has a strange order of codes called 'branch in branch delay' which is not up to MIPS standard
For those wondering about AdriPSX's status since the 1.0.5 release, Roor dropped in our forum after a long absence, with a beta of AdriPSX released as well. Enjoy, and don't forget to post feedback in our forum, to help make the next final release a memorable one ;)
This is a beta release, without shell nor complete user interface; still needs some work... but it represents a lot of work put on the emu since last official release.
During emulation, you can use the following keys:
F1: SAVE GAME STATE F3: LOAD GAME STATE
F9: SWITCH EMULATED CDROM CASE OPEN/CLOSE ESCAPE: BACK TO CONTROL PANEL
This release is not backwards compatible with AdriPSX ILE Edition. PS1 CDROM is autodetected, so you do not even need to configure CDROM. Display is windowed only. Memory Cards are fully functional (HOT) GPU/SPU/CPU have been completely remade. All corrections produced for AdriPSX ILE 1.0.8 that was never released have been included. Please send me any comments, flames and/or wishlists to be included for first official release to be coming soon. Feel yourself free to use, host or redistribute.
Dr. Hell continues to fix remaining bugs in his PlayStation emulator. This release fixes CD problems for the game 'RESURRECTION - RISE2 -' making it now playable.
New release from Dr Hell. Xebra is one of the most active PS1 emulators, and keeps improving at a steady rhythm. This update
brings fixes to the CD seeking times.
Once again here is a new release of Dr. Hell's PlayStation emulator called Xebra. It's one of the most active PSX emulator at the moment and it just keeps getting better and better.
pSX Author let us know of a new release of his PlayStation emulator in this thread. As always, pSX tries to emulate the console as accurate as it can without any modifications or enhancements. Here are the changes for this release :
Added Korean, Bosnian, Serbian and Icelandic translations
Added some missing translations to Linux build
Debugger DMA capture buffer now autoresizes
Fixed streaming music in Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius
Fixed bug when setting sound frequency in Windows
Implemented volume and mute in Linux
Fixed "missing body parts" bug in Deception 3
Fixed bug that caused XA audio in Deception 3 to not stop correctly
Fixed random crash in Road Rash: Jailbreak
Fixed debugger crash when emulator is reading from CD
Fixed hang opening CD images in Linux
Per-user settings for Linux (.ini file is now stored in ~/.pSX)
Removed SSE instructions used during init (should fix crash on AMD CPUs)
Fixed GTK warnings when clicking window close button in Linux
