Setting up Windows version: Difference between revisions

===EE/IOP===

EE/IOP tab stands for ''Emotion Engine / Input Output Processor'' which are the core components of the PlayStation®2. The tab contains 4 settings.

*''Emotion Engine'': Enables or disables ''recompiler'' (i.e. the program that translates the native PS2 code into the native x86 code, instead of slowly interpret each PS2 command) for PS2 ''Emotion Engine'' (EE) processor emulation. ''Interpreter'' mode disables the recompiler making the emulation painfully slow. ''Recompiler'' mode is extremely compatible, so the ''interpreter'' mode shouldn't be used for anything but debugging purposes.

===VUs===

VUs stand for ''Vector Unit''s which are the PlayStation®2 co-processors working in parallel with the EE and IOP CPUs. The PlayStation®2 has two VUs called ''VU0'' and ''VU1''.  

* You can change VUs compilation modes independently for VU0 and VU1 (although it makes sense to set them to the same value). As with ''EE'' and ''IOP'' CPUs there is an old and very slow ''interpreter'' mode which is useful only for debugging. VUs however have two different ''recomplilers'' -- ''microVU'' (more compatible default recompiler) and ''superVU'' (legacy less compatible recompiler used mainly for debugging, but it can be slightly faster). It is recommended to leave both settings at their default ''microVU Recompiler'' value.

===GS===

GS stands for ''Graphics Synthesizer'' PlayStation®2 co-processor responsible for rendering the graphics (but is also used by some games for additional calculations and other purposes). The PCSX2 will work in conjunction with the selected GS plugin (like for ex. [[#GSdx|GSdx]] plugin) to emulate PS2 graphical co-processor and convert its output into input understood by the PC video cards.

*''Framelimiter'': The options in this group can be used to control the frame rate of your games in various ways.

===GS Window===

This tab will allow you to control the PCSX2 GUI game window (video output window) behavior:

*''Aspect Ratio'': You can select the window aspect ratio (shape) here. If you have a widescreen (16:9) monitor you may want to remove the left and right black bars to get a better experience. Unfortunately many games do not natively support wide screen aspect ratio and selecting it here will cause the image to stretch which may not be a desirable side effect. Some games however may be helped to support 16:9 resolution by special ''widescreen patches'' made by the community. If the game neither have the native 16:9 support nor the patch to overcome this your only options are to play it with 4:3 aspect ratio with black bars or bear with image stretching whichever option is the best for you. You can choose ''Standard (4:3)'', ''Widescreen (16:9)'' or ''Fit to Window/Screen'' here. In the latter case image will always be stretched.

===Speed Hacks===

Speed hacks are various techniques used to speed up emulation at the cost of emulating accuracy. All of these options '''can cause severe bugs, crashes and other abnormal behavior''' so use them with caution! Some games may benefit from these settings immensely while others can be slowed down or broken. Read the on-screen hints and messages to get more information (especially if you're new to this) they will help you not to break anything.<br />

If your system is '''powerful enough''' to emulate your game in full speed '''you do not need to enable anything here''' because none of these options can improve compatibility.

*''Enable speedhacks'': You can disable all speed hacks in one click by unchecking this box. This may be useful if your game is unstable and you are narrowing down the possible cause of this.

===Game fixes===

This tab contains some game-specific hacks and fixes. These fixes are disabled by default but enabled automatically if the game in question is detected to be running. The ''Automatic Gamefixes'' option can be also switched off (although it is not recommended) in ''System'' sub-menu of PCSX2 main menu. You should not enable these hacks unless you have a game that somehow was not detected by PCSX2 automatically (note also that some of these fixes are not applied automatically).  

The game-specific fixes are temporal solutions to some unresolved emulation issues. PCSX2 developers provided them to increase compatibility levels so some games, otherwise broken, can still be enjoyed. As the emulation compatibility will continue to improve some of these options may become obsolete and will be removed.  

Most of these hacks are needed because the PS2 has different float arithmetic than x86 CPUs. Some of these differences do not lead to any problems, others however may cause serious issues in certain games. You can read hacks descriptions and hints to get more information.

*''VU Add hack'': Enable it only for [[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]],[[Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria]] and [[Radiata Stories]].

*''VU Clip Flag Hack'': This hack is only needed when ''superVU'' is selected as [[#VUs|VUs]] recompiler. Needed for [[Template:Megami_Tensei_series|Persona]] games.

*''Switch to GSdx software rendering when an FMV plays'': This will allow [[GSdx]] to automatically switch to a software renderer when FMV starts to play and back to hardware renderer when the video is finished. This option is very useful considering the number of games that have issues with videos in GSdx hardware mode.

*''Preload TLB hack to avoid TLB miss on Goemon'': Helps to fix [[Bouken Jidai Katsugeki Goemon]] TLB miss issue.

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