PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 plays discs from roms/ps2/ on LRPS2, a PCSX2-derived core. RetroXR downloads its own build of it, which adds the console’s i.LINK port and network adapter. It is a heavy machine to emulate: it runs best on a PC, and a standalone headset will struggle with many games.

Out of the box the console is a procedural stand-in; modeled PS2 shells are published as mods.

The BIOS is required

Unlike the PlayStation, the PS2 will not boot without a BIOS dump from your own console. Put it in the core’s BIOS folder:

libretro/system/pcsx2/bios/

PCSX2’s game database (GameIndex.yaml) is downloaded for you; the BIOS is not, and cannot be. See BIOS files.

Memory cards

As of v0.7.0 both of the console’s memory card slots work, and PS2 cards are real objects, as the PlayStation’s are: spawn a Memory Card from the PS2’s spawn card, push it into a slot, and the game saves to it.

Point at a card and open its menu to see what is on it. The save viewer lists each game’s save with its own 3-D icon, the way the PS2’s browser showed it. The icons are the models the games themselves stored on the card, not pictures.

Each card is an ordinary 8 MB .ps2 image, the format PCSX2 and every PS2 card tool on a PC uses, kept at:

libretro/save/memcards/playstation2/

Swap cards with the console off

The core reads which card is in which slot when the game starts. A card swapped while the console is running is picked up at the next power-on.

The GunCon 2

The PS2 has two USB sockets on its front, and as of v0.9.0 light-gun games work through them: the GunCon 2 plugs into a USB socket, not a controller port. USB socket 1 is player 1’s gun and socket 2 is player 2’s, and the pad in the matching controller port keeps working alongside it. See light guns.

Linking consoles

The PS2 had two ways of putting several consoles in one game, and both are in the room.

i.LINK

As of v0.9.0 the fat PS2’s i.LINK port works. Run an i.LINK cable between two consoles, or plug up to six into the i.LINK hub. Both are on the PS2’s spawn card. Gran Turismo 3’s i.LINK Battle, Time Crisis II and others see each other as they did on the hardware.

Network adapter and LAN

As of v0.11.0 the PS2’s Network Adapter works. Seat it in the bay at the back of the console, then run an Ethernet cable from it to an Ethernet hub, or straight to another console. Gran Turismo 4’s Multi-LAN race links up to six consoles that way, and a GameCube with its Broadband Adapter goes on the same kind of LAN.

Seat the adapter before you switch on

Seating the Network Adapter is what switches the console’s network on, and the core reads that as the game starts. Moved while the console runs, it counts from the next power-on, and you get a message saying so.

Both links are local only: the PS2 is not one of the netplay consoles yet, so every linked console has to be in the same room on the same machine. Each console is a whole PS2, so in practice that means a powerful PC. See link cables.