Which is currently the best emulator for PSX?

[Dranix]

Hello everyone! It has been difficult to find a "non-dead" forum where to talk about emulation.

Long time ago, when I used to play PSX emulators, I tried with ePSXe, Emurayden and pSX (PSXFin). Nowadays, I want to play again a lot of titles from PSX like The Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy IX, Parasite Eve 1 & 2, Digimon World 2003 and more.

I started looking for which was the best emulator for PSX. The majority of people recommend ePSXe. However, there are other that prefer PCSXR (PCSX-Reloaded).

Of course, ePSXe and PCSXR are plugin-based emulators. Investigating more, I found XEBRA and Mednafen, two emulators that seem to be more accurate than pSX.

I'm playing on a Laptop (Intel Core i7-2630QM 2.00 GHz / NVIDIA GeForce 540m 2GB VRAM / 4GB RAM / Resolution: 1366 x 768 / Windows 7 Home Premium). I have read about a Widescreen fix, but I don't know how it works exactly.

So, which is the best plugin-based emulator for PSX? ePSXe or PCSXR? Or is there another interesting one?

Which is the best accurate emulator for PSX? XEBRA or Mednafen? Again, is there another one (apart from pSX)?

Is better a plugin-based emulator or an accurate emulator? Could you tell me a good configuration for the emulator that you prefer? All the tutorials and guides seem to be a bit out dated...

Thanks in advance! And sorry for my english...

[Ziggy]

Wow, no one is into PS1 emulation? I was kind of interested to read replies.

[TSTR]

Best? I don't know really. I use ePSXe. Always have.

[ZeroAX]

Wow, no one is into PS1 emulation? I was kind of interested to read replies.

The polygon games look so shit to begin with, nobody notices the emulation errors.

[Sano]

Might I suggest picking up an actual PS1? Or maybe even a PS2 to play your PS1 games? If you're still wanting a good emulator, ePSXe is the way to go IMO. I've never had any trouble with it running games correctly.

[Dranix]

Thanks for the answers! So, if all of you prefer ePSXe, which plugin should I use?

I've been testing Pete's OpenGL2 2.9. It's apparently the most recommended. Do you use the same?

[TSTR]

Yep, Pete's OpenGL is the way to go. Allows for the use of all kinds of shaders. If you need shader packs, hit me up.

[Dranix]

Yep, Pete's OpenGL is the way to go. Allows for the use of all kinds of shaders. If you need shader packs, hit me up.

It would be interesting to try to use Shaders. I accept the offer!

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I have doubts about how to configure this plugin. I have come to the following configuration after searching the internet:

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.9
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
GFX card: GeForce GT 540M/PCIe/SSE2

Resolution/Color:
- 1366x768 Fullscreen - Use Window size in Fullscreen mode
- NO desktop changing
- Internal X resolution: 2
- Internal Y resolution: 3
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off
- No render-to-texture: þ
â

- Filtering: 4
- Hi-Res textures: 2
- TexWin pixel shader: on
- VRam size: 1024 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 1
- Framebuffer effects: 3
- Framebuffer uploads: 2

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Mdec filter: on
- Screen filtering: on
- Shader effects: 1/4
- Flicker-fix border size: 0
- GF4/XP crash fix: off
- Game fixes: off [00000000]

As you can see, I've only used Fullscreen Smoothing as my Shader. I put it at Level 4 because I don't notice much diference between each level.

I don't know if it's better to use Streteching Mode 0 (Stretch to full windows size) or 3 (Try to keep pixel ratio). I've noticed that the window is a bit smaller using the number 3.

Finally, I don't know what exactly change using Texture Filtering. I've read that people use, mostly, 2 (Extended - Remove Black Borders), 4 (Extended w/o sprites - Unfiltered 2D) or 6 (Extended + Smoother Sprites). Which is the best?

EDIT: I had a wrong picture. I was trying GLSlang Smoothing, but I see no difference from using FullScreen Smoothing.

[TSTR]

Here's some shaders, for you and anyone else interested:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5wDsc ... sp=sharing

I like the AA Shader v.2o-Natural Vision (Emu-France pack) at Level 3 or 4 with 3D games. With this, I don't mess with any texture filtering, Screen Filter is optional, and my resolution is set like yours, to a full 4:3 that fits on my monitor. Here's a shot of those settings:


I like the GPDP CRT shader (Emu-France pack, Cgwg crt folder) with 2D games. With this, you need to use a multiple of 320x240 for your resolution, leave the Internal Res to 0:Low, and run the shader at Level 1. Here's a shot of those settings:


Of course, this is just me. Feel free to play around with stuff, you might find some things you like better.

[Dranix]

Thanks for the shaders! I'll try it as soon as possible!

If you play games like Final Fantasy IX, whose graphics use both 2D and 3D, which setting do you use?