PlayStation 2 owners have some great news heading their way. The popular emulator for the console, PCSX2, has reached a landmark and has released its first public version, version 1.0.
According to the team behind it, PCSX2 runs a great majority of the games and no important issues exist (which, if needed, could possibly be fixed without major modifications to the emulator). Therefore, the team decided to polish the constancy, compatibility, and existing features and release the result as the first major version of PCSX2, rather than working on something new.
“There have been tons of changes since the last release, including improvements to Jake Stine’s wxWidgets GUI overhaul, cottonvibe’s new multithreaded VU core and improvements on the primary plugins,” the team states.
The changelog for the version 1.0 is as follows (for both Windows and Linux).
Windows
Core:
- Adjustments in video timing
- microVU fixes for Metal Gear Solid 2 and others
- General speedups
- microVU speedup
- New GIF unit that mimics the real one better
- Fixed microVU elementary function bug (affecting Valkyrie Profile 2, Radiata Stories and Star Ocean 3)
- Implemented Multi-Threaded VU! A new speed hack with almost 100% compatibility with games, using a third core to run the VU1 unit separately
- CDVD fixes (Time Crisis boots now)
- Added support for progressive scan timings
- Path 3 arbitration and timing refinements
- Added Finnish, Malaysian, Korean, French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, and Polish translations
SPU2-X:
- Configurable output volume.
- Fixes to reverb.
- Various fixes to sound looping.
- Improved time stretcher.
- Improved reverse phase audio quality.
GSdx:
- Fixed RGB mode movie recording.
- Texture cache change that fixes some black screening games.
- Implemented NVidia FXAA 3.10, page up key activates it.
- Improved multi-threading.
- Arc the Lad bad fog fix.
- Fixed shadows in software renderer.
- Implementation of GSdx “Shadeboost” project (saturation, brightness, and contrast settings).
- User configurable hacks in the GUI.
- Fixed flickering in many FMVs.
- Implementation of GSdx “Cutie” project (various extra CRC hacks).
Lilypad:
- Pad state getting stuck with savestates bug fixed.
USBqemu:
- Has been revamped slightly.
Linux:
OnePad changes:
- New dialog configuration panel.
- Improved support of various pad (sixaxis)/mouse/wiimote.
- Added support for more controllers.
- Added support for pressure-sensitive buttons.
GSdx:
- GSdx ported for Linux, based on OpenGL 3.3 with some 4.x hardware independent extensions. Requires OpenGL 4.2 drivers and is still in experimental stages. Don’t expect the hardware renderer to run properly, but the Software renderer should be fine.
- Added support for configuration and keyboard shortcuts from PCSX2.
ZZogl:
- Added support for configuration and keyboard shortcuts from PCSX2.
- Added a GLSL backend to replace CG. Like GSdx, it requires OpenGL 4.2 drivers. Only available with PCSX2 self-compilation.
PCSX2 GUI:
- Added thread timing information to see the CPU usage in the status bar.
- Fix multiple frame/box letters sizing.
You can download the emulator here. Check out the PCSX2 videos below.
