PCSX is a

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

video game console emulator A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass ...

that allows software designed to be used with the

Sony PlayStation is a Video game, video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of Home video game console, home video game consoles produce ...

to run on

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s. Over the years, development changed hands several times with PCSX-Reloaded (PCSXR) now being the main version. As of 2021, the emulator seems to be no longer under active development. A newer, actively maintained fork of PCSX-Reloaded is PCSX-Redux. PCSX has a high compatibility rate, and is currently available for a number of different

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s including,

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

. It is released under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

History

Development for the emulator started in July 20, 1999, The emulator was first released for the PC on August 31, 2000. Official development ceased on September 17, 2003, and development shifted to the new

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

emulator,

PCSX2 PCSX2 is a free and open-source emulator of the PlayStation 2 for x86 computers. It supports most PlayStation 2 video games with a high level of compatibility and functionality, and also supports a number of improvements over gameplay on a trad ...

. PCSX-df was created in 2006 and added new features, a new

GTK GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both Free software, free and ...

-based interface,

AMD64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit extension of the x86 instruction set. It was announced in 1999 and first available in the AMD Opteron family in 2003. It introduces two new operating modes: 64-bit mode an ...

support, and corrected some bugs, but was developed mainly with only Linux compatibility in mind. Version 1.10 was released on March 29, 2009. PCSX-Reloaded is a new project created in mid-2009, which is based on the work of the PCSX-df branch, completely independent, and works on bug fixes while maintaining Windows and OS X compatibility alongside Linux. PCSX-df and PCSX-Reloaded coexisted for a while, with PCSX-df merging changes of PCSX-Reloaded back into ''df''. In 2019, another fork PCSX-Redux was started. It can be seen as the latest iteration of the original PCSX codebase. This fork has the goal of a complete redesign along more up to date code standards. Everything should be implemented on top of

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

3+/ ImGui. Additionally, the plugin system will be replaced through a single monolithic codebase that handles all aspects of the PlayStation emulation. In this context, PCSX-Redux shares several approaches with the PlayStation 2 emulation successor project PCSX2.

Features

PCSX supports network play and external plugins as used by ePSXe. As with many modern emulators, PCSX-Reloaded supports savestates and also has Save Rewind feature (currently only OSX and Linux version), Support for ECM files (currently only OS X and Linux version), Support for Libarchive (currently only OSX and Linux version), widescreen hack and makes use of plug-ins to emulate

GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal ...

, SPU, and

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

drive functions, a model first established in PSEmu Pro, it uses Peops OpenGL plugin for graphics on default but can also use Pete's OpenGL2, gpuBladeSoft,

graphics plugin GSDX, AmiDog GPU plugin, Asmodeans PSXFX shader pack, input plugins such as Lilypad and Pokopom Pad Plugin. It also has multi-track cue support and is the only PS1 emulator with compatibility with anti-jitter options in graphics plugins, such as GTE accuracy in the default Peops OpenGL plugin, or Improved coordinate accuracy in Edgbla's gpuBladeSoft and it also supports PeteOpenGL2Tweak plugin. Additionally, PCSX seeks to simulate the functionality of the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is a type of firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization d ...

and consequently does not require a

file dump to operate, making it easier to emulate legally, however, Bios emulation is still incomplete so it is better to use dumped BIOS to avoid various bugs and reduced compatibility.

Ports and commercial usage

OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

-based computers are the main development focus of PCSX-Reloaded but various PCSX iterations have been

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

to other platforms as well, including

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

, and various ARM-based platforms (PCSX-Rearmed fork) such as

BlackBerry Playbook The BlackBerry PlayBook is a mini tablet computer that was developed by BlackBerry. It was manufactured by Quanta Computer, an original design manufacturer (ODM).

and

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

Usage

PCSXR was used for an official

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

and commercial re-release of N2O: Nitrous Oxide on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

on June 29, 2015. It is also used as the emulator on Sony's PlayStation Classic

dedicated console A dedicated console is a video game console that is limited to one or more built-in video game or games, and is not equipped for additional games that are Digital distribution in video games, distributed via ROM cartridges, Compact disc, discs, d ...

Reception

Tom's Guide ''Tom's Hardware'' is an online publication owned by Future plc and focused on technology. It was founded in 1996 by Thomas Pabst. It provides articles, news, price comparisons, videos and reviews on computer hardware and high technology. The s ...

'' featured PCSX Reloaded in a feature about the best PlayStation emulators, scoring it at 4 of 5 points. Kator Legaz reviewed the Mac OS version as "good".

References

External links

* * (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:PCSX Free software programmed in C PlayStation emulators Software that uses GTK Software using the GNU General Public License Free video game console emulators