Playstation 2 (PS2) Emulator for PC: PCSX2 (Install guide: setup / config / tutorial)

Hi all, in this video I go over the best Playstation 2 (PS2) Emulator for PC. PCSX2 is an incredible emulator that has a TON of options.

Included in this video is a tutorial / installation guide with the settings that I use/recommend in order to get your games up and running great!

Please note that most PC setups vary in some way, shape or form, so your settings may differ slightly from mine.

PCSX2:

PS2 Bezel:

From the Wiki page:

Minimum (most games will be unplayable slow)

Windows/Linux OS
CPU: Any that supports SSE2 (Pentium 4 and up, Athlon64 and up)
GPU: Any that supports Pixel Shader model 2.0, except Nvidia FX series (broken SM2.0, too slow anyway)
512MB RAM (note that Windows Vista needs at least 2GB to run reliably)

Recommended

Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit) with the latest DirectX
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.2 GHz or better OR i3/i5/i7 @ 2,8 GHz or better OR AMD Phenom II @ 3,2 GHz or better
GPU: 8800gt or better (for Direct3D10 support)
RAM: 1GB on Linux/Windows XP, 2GB or more on Vista / Windows 7

PCSX2 is a Playstation 2 emulator for Windows and Linux. It was started by the team behind PCSX (an emulator for the original PlayStation) back in 2002, and as of late 2013 development is still active. The emulator achieved playable speeds only by mid-2007 and subsequent versions have improved speed and compatibility making it both the ultimate solution for PS2 emulation and the instrument to keep and preserve the PS2 legacy in the modern world. Though not yet perfect the program can successfully emulate most commercial PS2 games at playable speeds and good visuals (often better than the original PS2).

[MrSujano]

If you're curious about the PS2 Bezel in the thumbnail, check out this video here:

[DaveLivesInACave]

wow!! An actual good tutorial that is in the present and not made by a 12 year old Russian boy lol.. great vid man

[anonymoussurfer]

0:49 Very few people, a handful from what I've experienced so far, take the responsibility and actually tell people about this. You, I can see you walk a golden path.

[zombieprodigies]

Yo you are the man, iv'e been troubleshooting for hours i recently seen a live stream of a ps2 game and i really wanted to play it lol so ive been watching tutorials all night and finally yours helped me out thank you a million times over!

[traviswhite]

Even though I was aware, that was a good tip about the ad downloads buttons.

[KeeteleKeet]

Thanks for the video! easy to follow and easy to understand I also like the fact that you cover everything that one may want to know about the emulator. Thank you.
Persona 4 Here i come!

[Heinousness]

thanks for the 'idea' of what a bios looks like =P

[KingTrue]

an acutal tutorial that is not to long with bs and not to short with no info.... you sir r a legend!!

[ikerbelles]

Thank you!!! Now I can finally play MGS2 and 3. This is the best tutorial I have found.

[TheRealClaylex]

Dude you are the BOSS when it comes to emulator tutorials!

[RRRRLLLLYYYY]

it was a bit of a struggle seeing that i'm not really keen with pc's, but i got it to work. thanks for this vid my guy

[lurkerrekrul]

Some notes:

You can press F9 in the game to swap between hardware and software renderers. The software renderer is also significantly slower than the hardware renderer, which may make a difference on lower-end systems. For some games, you can fix glitched graphics by switching between modes. For example, the later Burnout games will have a black sky if you load the race in hardware mode, but if you switch to software mode in the menus, load a race and switch back to hardware, the sky will be fixed until you switch games or quit the emulator. This trick also works with the game Portal Runner.

You can sometimes fix minor graphics problems by enabling HW hacks on the video plugin, going to configure and increasing the Skidraw setting. This will get rid of the ghosting effect in the Burnout games.

You mention that games can run slower in full screen mode. That's because in full screen, the image is being stretched to whatever size screen your system is currently set to. With today's monitors, that's usually something like 1920x1080, so in effect, you're telling the emulator to render the game at that resolution, and when you increase resolution, you decrease speed. This can be mitigated by setting your resolution lower before going into full screen.

Finally, while I agree that PCSX2 is a great program, it should be noted that it is not 100% compatible. Even some games that seem to run may have problems that aren't immediately obvious. For example, in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, you're unable to pick up objects, so you can't even get out of the first room. As I recall, Spider-Man 3 goes off into limbo while trying to start a game and Ultimate Spider-Man crashes near the start. Some games will be playable, but have glitches. In the later Burnout games and Downhill Domination (probably others as well), the sun is visible through objects like mountains and tunnels.

[MacKaPacKa]

Last time I tried roms and emulation, I had no clue what I was doing even with all the information that was out there regarding roms etc, + my computer at the time ran like crap.
Safe to say I no longer have that problem with today's technology. Everything runs perfectly thanks to your tutorial. Thank you kind sir! :D

[kIDNEYKid-xtuc]

I didn't know Deej made youtube videos...thanks for this video. super helpful

[barracudabossgaming]

I was battling to get pcsx2 working for hours until i came across this video, realised my bios files were missing. Nice clear instructions excellent video, thanks a ton you really helped me out. My ps2 emulator is now working, many thanks buddy !!!

[artsyryder]

Thanks for making this video! People like you who make tutorials with decent quality like this are really helpful for me, who has a lot of trouble trying to figure out online downloading stuff like this.

[ryan_d.v]

Thank you so much. I finally found out the name of a game I remember playing when I was maybe 2-3 years old and it has been bothering me ever since- I just had to get an emulator to play it again LOL. Cheers

[Daltongaming]

your not explaining the main thing with the BIOs????

[DreamerSouls]

Woah....i got this in my recommendations, you sound very different now compared to then

[SuperSikarlo]

Amazing job, clear quality, easy directions and advice. Way to go.