So, a few years back I was feverishly looking online for an emulator for PS2. Since EPSXE, we've been able to play RPG Maker 1 titles without having to fumble around with memory cards or dex drives. And for those interested in JUST playing RPG Maker made games, was always the best way to go. I wanted to do this with the PS2.

I gave up on my search a few years back because it seemed all the PS2 emulators were very fickle. Some BIOSes only worked with certain games and RPG Maker 2 and 3 weren't on any of these BIOSes compatibility lists. Besides, even if I found an emulator that would run those games, there's no guarantee that they'd support memory card saves from the Mag.

Well, that kind of changed. I should have stayed vigilant because there's been an emulator out like this for a while now... and I'm just now running across it. Before I came to the Mag with my findings, I wanted to have both RPG Maker 2 and 3 up and running a game from the Game Vault here at the Mag. And I've done just that.

Below is attached a .rar file that has everything you'll need to get this running. I had to do a little work to get everything working, but now you won't have to. The file contains the install for PCSX2, the correct version of Direct X to run it, the proper plugins and BIOS to run RPG Maker 2 and 3, and a program to convert ANY PS2 game save into the proper format to run in the emulator.


So, here we go:

1. After you extract the file attached below, go ahead and install Direct X. If it tells you that you have the latest version, then don't bother. You're good to go.

2. Install PCSX2. Use the default settings as it's nothing really complex.

3. Seeing as posting my own BIOS or plugins is illegal, I won’t be able to include them in the file. What you need to do is either dump your own BIOS or go online and search for “PCSX2 0.9.6 Bios and Plugins” and replace them with the Plugins and Bois folder in C:/Program Files/PCSX2.

4. Launch PCSX2. It'll tell you that you need to configure the emulator. Tell it okay. A new window will pop up and at the bottom left, it'll ask you to select a default location for the plugins and bios. I went in and manually pointed it to C:/Program Files/PCSX2/plugins and C:/Program Files/PCSX2/bios so I'd suggest you do the same.


After this, you are now free to throw in RPG Maker 2 or 3 and run the game. You can do this with RUN>CDROM.

But seeing as this is mostly for playing RPG Maker made games, you'll probably want to load up a save from the mag. This is where MyMC comes into play. PCSX2 only reads .ps2 files for memory cards and nothing else. There are several types of PS2 memory card utilities such as Xport, Max Drive, Shark port, etc. But MyMC can work around this. It's not a converter, it just takes PS2 game save blocks from these files and adds them to an already formatted .ps2 file.


Here's how to do it:

1. For me, MyMC did not like the .ps2 files that came with the emulator, I had to find someone online who had properly working blank .ps2 saves... so go to C:/Program Files/PCSX2/memorycards and delete the two that are in there... and replace them with the two saves I provided in the attachment.


2. Download a game you want to play from the Game Vault here at the Mag.

3. Run MyMC-gui.exe from the MyMC folder. It'll ask you to load a .ps2 file. So select one from C:/Program Files/PCSX2/memorycards. These files should work fine since you replaced them.


4. After the .ps2 file is loaded, hit the import button and browse to the game you downloaded from the Mag. The second you double click on it, it'll copy the game blocks from that memory card file to the .ps2 file... and that's it. It's done.

All you need to do now is just run the RPG Maker game from the emulator and the game will be waiting for you in which ever slot you put it in. This may seem like a lot, but it's really not. And now we can play every single RPG Maker game ever made on PC with EPSXE, PCSX2, and (of course) the PC Makers.

Here's the downside to all of this.... the system requirements are a little high:

Minimum

* Windows XP/Windows Vista or Linux 32bit/64bit
* CPU that supports SSE2 (Pentium 4 and up, Athlon64 and up)
* GPU that supports Pixel Shader 2.0
* 512MB RAM

Recommended

* Windows XP/Windows Vista or Linux 32bit/64bit
* CPU: Core 2 Duo 3.2 GHz
* GPU: GeForce 8600 GT or better
* 1GB RAM (2GB if using Windows Vista)

And finally, here's a video of me playing SD Paradise and showing how to get games at the Mag onto the .ps2 memory cards for the emulator:

That's a loooong post on the front page, there.

Nice to have this available now, especially for PS3 owners. Better yet, we don't have to worry about memory card swapping with this emulator.

Yeah, the front page doesn't take kindly to long posts, but this is pretty important.

In my own personal experience I've found the PCSX2 to be anything but useful. It emulation is spotty at best and its extremely non-user friendly for the uninitiated.

I've already played both a RM2 and RM3 games and the worst that I've seen with 0.9.6 was that is was a little laggy on the video. I remember having a horrible time with older versions, but this seems to be working for the most part, just fine.

Now if you are talking about actually WORKING on a game in it... absolutely not. I can imagine that being a horrible idea. Besides, no one uses EPSXE for working on RM1 games. So it stands to reason that PCSX2 won't be for anything other than playing as well. Though the master compatibility list at PCSX2's web site said that RM2 and 3 were fully functional.

I just wanted to say that this was a fantastic find, Lantis!

Deeper set his new laptop up with this information and we were able to play RPG Maker 3 games without a problem. I didn't try RM2, but the set up should be about the same.

This is going to be epic.

Yeah, and Kajak informed me that he was also able to emulate other PS2 titles with little to no incident as well. I think we're pretty much set.

I'd been trying for YEARS to get this thing to work with RM2 & 3, with no luck. Then I saw it here, and got carried away with the idea of using those 2 disks in my PC all over again. They still didn't work. I just gave up for a long time. But just today, my bf was running PTO IV on his laptop. All casual like. I was like "WTF...HOW?" He'd been trying to run that disk forever with no luck. He simply replied "I ripped the ISO from the disk. Now it works fine."



So I ripped my RM2 and RM3 disks to ISO. AND NOW THEY WORK!!!

YAY! See, my PS2 has been locking up when I used RM3 ever since I first brought the maker home. I still made 4 games with it, but you honestly can't fathom the frustration I had to endure in order to do that. Seriously. My PS2 also only played the RM2 disk for a couple of months before it never loaded again.

I'd been saving up for a PS3, but then they phased out the backwards-compatible models before I had saved enough money, and used PS2's with a guarantee are getting harder and harder to find. I WON'T buy a used PS2 without some guarantee that the store will take the thing back!

Anyway, I really hope that, considering the horrible situations that I've made games under before, that people are wrong about making games under emulation. It HAS to be better than a console that locks up constantly...right? I hope so, because I've been wanting to make a game with RM2 for so long...so very long.

I just wanted to say thanks to Lantis for posting this, and to say to people that are having trouble to try ripping the ISO from their game disks and try again!

About the PS2, I had the same problem with my RPGM2 disc. It worked perfectly for awhile and then never again. I asked for help here at the Mag and someone suggested turning the PS2 on its side and it worked! (Thanks to whomever that was!) That is the only way I can get the RPGM2 disc to read but it still reads just fine. Something to consider if you haven't already tried this.

About the PS3, "It only does EVERYTHING!"...(um, except play PS2 games!!!) Not only doesn't it do everything it doesn't even do the one blankin' thing you'd expect it to (other than play PS3 games).

It is good to know that there is still emulation because some people here (myself included in some senses) probably won't finish our games until the PS4 and you can bet that won't play PS2 games.

One of the main reasons why I needed to emulate it was because I'm over at my dad's place taking care of him, and the PS2 is at home. But you can bet when I get home I'm going to try that, thanks! In the mean time, I've loaded up a couple of RM3 games just to test...and they both work great.

I've been running the ISO of my RM1 disk on my PSP, and now all I need to find is a virtual DEX drive (or something like MyMC for PSX) to get those saves working! THEN I'LL BE IN BUSINESS.

Me too. I had problems getting my saves formatted correctly. I was crying about it one day and turns out, Lantis already discovered how to transfer saves from PS1 Memory card to PSP save data for ISO use. Here's the PM he sent me on how to do it. I hope he doesn't mind my sharing of this information.

Actually, I PM'd it too him already. But it's good to get this out there anyways.

Um...do you mind if I share this over at the pavilion?

I was under the impression that the Pav prided it's self for not using RPG Maker 1 anymore...

They pride themselves on not using any of them any more.

Except me. And like 10 people.

And out of those ten, how many of them have PSPs? lol. But yeah, go right on ahead. I have no reason to keep this information to myself.