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Sony PlayStation
The PlayStation (frequently referred to in shorthand as the PS1 or PSX) is a fifth generation console released by Sony Computer Entertainment on December 3, 1994 in Japan and September 9, 1995 in the US. It was retailed for $299.99. It had a R3000 CPU (which was used by NASA for a space craft to take pictures of Mars because of it's reliablity) at 33.8688 MHz with 2MB of RAM and 1MB of VRAM. It used a proprietary MDEC video compression unit, which is integrated into the CPU, allowing for playback of full motion video at a higher quality than other consoles of its generation. It actually had better stereo sound that other stereos at that time.
It was a commercial success, partly due to being relatively easy to program for compared to others at the time and because its CD-based media was cheaper than the competition.
| shortname | psx |
|---|---|
| emulator/core(s) | duckstation libretro/mednafen_px libretro/pcsx_rearmed libretro/swanstation |
| rom format(s) | .cue .img .mdf .pbp .toc .cbn .m3u .ccd .chd .iso |
Emulators
Duckstation
DuckStation is focused on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability. The goal of the emulator is to be as accurate as possible while maintaining performance on a broad range of devices. “Hack” options are discouraged, and the default configuration should support all playable games with only some of the enhancements having compatibility issues. 64-bit CPUs are required for recompiler support for maximum performance.
We use the latest standalone version of Duckstation. Runs also very fast on lower end x86_64 systems.
Configuration
| setting | description | recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| <config> | <description> | <recommended setting> |
libretro/mednafen_psx
Beetle PSX is a standalone fork of Mednafen PSX to the Libretro API. Offers a lot of options to enhance graphics and geometry. Highly recommended for x86_64 systems with a decent GPU.
Configuration
| setting | description | recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| psx.beetle_psx_skip_bios | Show BIOS animation when starting content | Can be disabled for the most games but should be enabled for copy protected PAL games. |
| psx.beetle_psx_cpu_freq_scale | Enable overclocking (or underclocking) of the emulated PSX's CPU. The default frequency of the MIPS R3000A-compatible 32-bit RISC CPU is 33.8688 MHz; running at higher frequencies can eliminate slowdown and improve frame rates in certain games at the expense of increased performance requirements. | Can lead to audio and video desynchronization on certain games. Leave at default for most games. |
| psx.beetle_psx_internal_resolution | Resolutions higher than 1x(native) improve the fidelity of 3D models at the expense of increased performance requirements. 2D elements are generally unaffected by this setting from the core's perspective. | Set to 4x for near 1080p resolution, depending on your hardware specs and personal preferences. |
| psx.beetle_psx_widescreen_hack | Forces content to be rendered with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Produces best results with fully 3D games. Can cause graphical glitches or alignment/stretching issues in games that mix 3D and 2D elements. | Leave off for most games. You must use a 16/9 ratio and disable bezels. |
| psx.beetle_psx_frame_duping | When enabled, provides a small performance increase by redrawing/reusing the last rendered frame (instead of presenting a new one) if the content of the current frame is unchanged based on the internal fps heuristic. | May cause inaccurate behavior or lost animation frames, so it is not recommended to use this unless necessary. |
| psx.beetle_psx_cpu_dynarec | Dynamically recompile CPU instructions to native instructions. Much faster than interpreter, but CPU timing is less accurate, and may have bugs. | Disable it if you have a powerful system. Enable it if you experience slowdowns. |
| psx.beetle_psx_dynarec_invalidate | Some games require Full invalidation, some require DMA Only. This option has no effect when CPU Dynarec is not enabled. | Enable it if you experience problems. |
| psx.multitap_mednafen | Enables/Disables multitap functionality and allows up to 8 players. | Only enable when needed. |
| psx.beetle_psx_controller1 psx.beetle_psx_controller2 | Enable rumble support for games that support DualShock. | Enable it by default and disable it for games not supporting analogue controls by choosing 'Digital Controller'. |
libretro/pcsx_rearmed
PCSX ReARMed is an optimized PCSX fork for ARM based systems like the Raspberry Pi.
Configuration
| setting | description | recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| <config> | <description> | <recommended setting> |
libretro/swanstation
swanstation is the libretro version of the standalone emulator DuckStation.
Configuration
| setting | description | recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| <config> | <description> | <recommended setting> |
ROMs
Place your Sony PlayStation ROMs in /userdata/roms/psx/.
The recommended format to save space maintaining full compatiblity is CHD.
Playing PAL copy protected games
PAL copy protected games need a SBI Subchannel file next to the bin/cue/chd files in order to get past the copy protection:
Game (Europe).bin Game (Europe).cue Game (Europe).sbi
For proper PAL game compatibility, the 'Skip BIOS' core option needs to be set to off.
Multi disc games
To automatically load the next disc of a game, you will need a .m3u file. To make one, simply create a text file and name it after your game. Within the text file, write the names of the .cue sheets or .chd files for your game discs as such:
Game (Disc 1).cue Game (Disc 2).cue Game (Disc 3).cue
Save the text file with the file extension .m3u and place it alongside the game ISOs. When you get to the end of that disc, the next disc will be automatically loaded.
Controls
The default button mapping to the PSX controller is as following:
- systems/psx.1622475840.txt.gz
- Last modified: 5 years ago
- by igno2k