A pre-emptive post for ePSXE problems

[Code Monkey]

Sticky if you want to, Mr. moderator....

eSPXe rocks with the PEC plugin...Hands-down, when used properly..........

Never close the emulator with the "X" in the corner, close it by hitting ESC key and selecting exit from the file menu. (Anyone including the master himself, please disable this part of the title bar)..

If the game doesn't play properly, or simply crashes, my experience has told me to try another graphics plugin. Pete's GFX plugins work great, but in many cases, 1.76 is more generally compatible than 2.2. I play Gran Turismo 2 on this plugin, and get excellent performance without any need for any fixes on v1.6.0 of ePSXe.

As I have felt entirely stupid for being about to ask about 24 hours ago, press F5 to enable analog in the emulation. It is to the emulator as pressing the analog button on the controller is to the playstation. If you have a genuine PSX controller, or a clone, be sure the analog is activated on the controller itself before enabling analog control in the emulator.

If for any reason, you are starting a new game with [pec], and it says "transferring data", you have an instance of ePSXe running. If you cannot locate this instance, you may have accidentally closed it improperly, and should restart your computer to absolutely remove "ghost" instances of the program.

If you are having problems with a game running fine for about 5 seconds or so at a time, then stumbling, even when running from cd or ISO, simply restart and resume....Windows is bad at cleaning up memory after itself. Exit the emulation and be sure the CD is clean. Always wipe from the inside-out with the softest cloth available. A gentle touch with a 100% cotton T-shirt will suffice in most cases with minimal damage. Also be sure you close non-essential programs in your system tray.

Ensure that your cd-rom drive is set to no less than a 4X read-ahead in windows, preferably maxed-out for almost all systems except the extraordinarily-slow. My empathy for being stuck with such kit...

Don't count on your downloaded ISO's. You stole it, don't expect the real thing. If you have the real disc, go steal a decent disc burner like Nero and make an image, and then use a "nrg to iso" converter, or just image your originals to a cd-r or file. Make an ISO of your actual disc and play that, save your originals for an archival status, you have the legal right to do so with an original copy. By buying the disc, you have the legal right to make one working copy and keep the original as an archive in almost all regions and territories. Make sure you do so in any case, should a disc fail (I almost lost Gran Turismo 1 this way because the disc was critically-fractured from fatigue).

Different games may require different video plugins to work correctly, but never expect perfect results....If it plays in-time and is playable, consider yourself lucky, but keep that plugin in mind as you try others. Sometimes an earlier version works better for a game than a later version.

This is the price of emulation, so live with it and quit complaining. Cross-platform isn't easy, so just be happy if it even remotely works. The joy is in that you can play Gran Turismo 2 (or whatever), and hack codes from it, on your PC, without the limitations of the hardware that your setup emulates. That's far more than even a PS2 can manage, much less a PS3, unless you have the gold edition (I never told you that)

[Hard core Rikki]

uh, thanks, I suppose? ;P

[Shendo]

Thanks, but you are a little late.

[Squall-Leonhart]

If you are having problems with a game running fine for about 5 seconds or so at a time, then stumbling, even when running from cd or ISO, simply restart and resume....Windows is bad at cleaning up memory after itself. Exit the emulation and be sure the CD is clean. Always wipe from the inside-out with the softest cloth available. A gentle touch with a 100% cotton T-shirt will suffice in most cases with minimal damage. Also be sure you close non-essential programs in your system tray.

Correction

If you are having problems with a game running fine for about 5 seconds or so at a time, then stumbling, even when running from cd or ISO, simply restart and resume....Windows 9x is bad at cleaning up memory after itself. Exit the emulation and be sure the CD is clean. Always wipe from the inside-out with the softest cloth available. A gentle touch with a 100% cotton T-shirt will suffice in most cases with minimal damage. Also be sure you close non-essential programs in your system tray.