Picodrive for PS2 OH BABY!

[nightrnr]

Okay, I'm about a month late to the party on this, but haven't seen any discussion here.

Finally, there's a worthy Genesis emulator for PS2! I liked PGEN (previously the only option for PS2) well enough, but Pico just blows it out of the water.
So who else is excited/impressed?

Some features I like:
-More options than PGEN (like ability to re-map controller).
-Supports Sega CD games
-More usable USB and HDD support (without the long start delay of PGEN on a large HDD)
-Compatibility is very high and most games run full speed

A couple links:
-Version based on 1.35 (the one I'm using)
http://www.dashhacks.com/ps3/emulators/ ... lator.html

-Version Based on 1.51 (beware the ad videos on site or turn speakers down)
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f19/picodri ... rt-117263/

Ithink 1.51 adds ability to save on HDD (if that makes a difference to anyone). Saving on USB is good enough for me.
This version does not even recognize the HDD in my testing.

Also, it seems to be picky about the file where the roms are stored, so don't give up if a game fails to load, just try a different file name.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Picodrive on PSP has served me well for a long time. Never knew there was a PS2 version, or that people were still developing PS2 homebrew. Pretty cool, although I'll never use it. I have a laptop.

[Kkasino]

Can i use this also with modded PS2 (play burn disc)
Or it is only for Free MC BOT?
Srry for engrish

[Valkyrie-Favor]

You'll need some way of launching the emulator. You could burn a disk, but getting MCBoot would be convenient for you. You'll have to store your save states and SRAM on a USB stick anyway.

[samsonlonghair]

I honestly did not realize the PS2 has an active development community.

[nightrnr]

I honestly did not realize the PS2 has an active development community.

It's been pretty stagnant for a while now. This is a pop fly to right field.
Hence why I was so excited about it.
It would be neat if this re-ignited the scene a bit. There's also a fresh version of an NES emulator that was recently unleashed (which is only notable to me because it makes Dragon Warrior IV work). So maybe a better SNES emulator is around the corner too (wishful thinking).

You'll need some way of launching the emulator. You could burn a disk, but getting MCBoot would be convenient for you. You'll have to store your save states and SRAM on a USB stick anyway.

Saves can be stored on memory card, if desired...
But I think it needs all the files of the emulator stored there too (including the elf), so burning to a disc might not allow it to save.
FreeMCboot/Ulaunchelf is still the way to go.

[d123456]

Does the emu feature a 480p option or does it need to be run through GSM to get 480p?
Thanks for the tip, will try it out someday and play some Shadow Dancer.

[nightrnr]

Does the emu feature a 480p option or does it need to be run through GSM to get 480p?

Indeed, there is a 480p option. I do not use the feature...yet, but would/will definitely employ the option if/when I obtain an LCD TV.

[nightrnr]

Just tried a couple Sega CD games. You really need to learn the options and what each game needs to run (or doesn't need), but it works pretty well.

Gameplay seems fine in the games I tried (Sonic CD and Popful Mail);
However, video scenes are very choppy unless you increase the read-ahead buffer (default is 128k, but can be doubled several times up to 16MB). The problem with making it bigger, is that it pauses longer to load, which gets really annoying when it has to load more in the middle of a video (pauses and sound stutters for at least a half minute on the 16MB option).

In short, I don't recommend the emulator for games that you expect to perform well with video (Time Gal is right out of the list I will be playing, but then there's always the Xbox for that).

But hey, I never expected to even play Sega CD games on PS2.
Also, I've been loading everything off a USB stick. Maybe playing from my HDD would fix issue .

[noiseredux]

can you play actual Sega CD discs, or only ISO's?