• Sonu Sharma

How to play PlayStation 2 games on PC

The PlayStation 2 was the best-selling videogame in the world and to this day one of the most beloved of players of all ages. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find a functional Sony console currently on sale or fix a broken device that is stopped at home. In these cases, the user can opt for PS2 emulators for his computer.

Before you begin though, the user should keep in mind the use of these emulators itself is not illegal. However, it is necessary that the BIOS and the games run on these virtual machines are original or have been obtained from original disks owned by the individual. That said, here’s how to run PlayStation 2 games on your computer.

Preparation

To run the PlayStation 2 games, the machine must meet the minimum requirements. Are they:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo processor clocked at 3.2GHz;
  • 8800GT video card;
  • 2GB of RAM.

While these listed requirements are already met by most of today’s computers, remember that the more powerful your machine is, the better the game’s performance and options for making graphics upgrades on it, explained below.

Configuring the emulator

The emulator to be used will be PCSX 2, where its plugins need to be configured individually. Check out:

  1. Download the emulator through this link in the session “PCSX2 1.4.0 Windows Binary”;
  2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file. After unzipping it, create a folder named “Bios” and place your file in it.
  3. Run the emulator for the first time and see if the language was detected correctly. When it is correct, click “Next”.

Plugins

From this point on, the plug-in settings begin, which are used to define your graphics, controls, and other items. The first one that should be configured refers to the graphical options of the emulator. Look:

  1. Next, to “GS”, a list will display the plugins available for different processor technologies. In most cases, it is recommended to choose the option of SSE 4, which is for processors created after the year 2008. Now click the “Configure” button.

This is an optional step, but it is recommended to have a nice graphics experience, since the PlayStation 2 graphics, without improvements, do not look good on modern monitors. Check out:

  1. Next, to where you defined the plugin for your processor, click on “Configure”;
  2. In the “Adapter” section, select your video card. Already in “Renderer”, choose Direct X supported by your video card;
  3. Now, leave the “Internal resolution” option with the value 4x, change the “Anisotropic filtering” to 8x and enable the “Configure hacks” option. Your screen will look like the image below;
  4. Finally, click on “Configure hacks” and leave the “MSAA” with the value of 4x. Go to “Ok” in the current window and OK again to go back to the plugins screen.

If the games do not rotate in a satisfactory way, decrease the values of these last changed options. As a last resort, recommended only for PCs with a weaker configuration, use the options with the “Software” feature in “Renderer”, which will leave the graphic highly serrated but will perform well.

Configuring your control and other options

To play in the emulator, it is recommended to use a control, since the games of the video game do not look cool with the combination of keyboard and mouse.

If you have an Xbox 360 joystick or Xinput support, you do not need to make any settings. But if you’re using an alternate control, follow the steps:

  1. On the plugins screen, under “PAD”, select the “LilyPad” option and click “Configure”;
  2. Go to the “Pad 1” tab, click on one of the control options and press the desired button in your control. Click “Ok”;
  3. Finally, back to the plugins screen, select the option “Linso Iso CDVD” to use ISO format images or “CDVD Gigaherz” if you use a disk and go next;
  4. In the list, select your “BIOS” and click “Finish”.

How to load the games

Now that the emulator is already configured, the process for loading a game is done in two steps. Look:

  1. In the “CDVD” menu, select your ISO or DVD drive;
  2. Load the game through the menu “System> Load CDVD (Complete)”.

As PlayStation 2 has had many games released, it may be that some titles require some different settings to run without errors. If you find one of these cases, access this link from the PCSX2 Wiki which has the recommended settings for the games.

If you need help, have doubts or concerns, do not hesitate to leave a comment in the comment box below and we will try to help you as soon as possible!

Sonu Sharma: Sonu Sharma is Founder of 'TechKhiladi'. An enthusiast entrepreneur and blogger. He has a very deep interest in learning things related to the digital world and love to sharing his knowledge with others through blogs.

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