EPSXe playstation emulator

About

This is a guide to install the freeware Playstation emulator ePSXe. It is based on this guide, which is a bit outdated.

Legal note: The installation and use of this emulator requires a Sony PlayStation BIOS file. You may not use such a file to play games in a PSX emulator if you do not own a Sony PlayStation, Sony PSOne or Sony PlayStation 2 console. Owning the BIOS image without owning the actual console is a violation of copyright law. You have been warned.

Installation

ePSXe is now in AUR here. Manual installation as described below is no longer needed. Please skip ahead to Configuration. Many plugins can also be found on AUR here.

Installation from AUR

 cd /path/to/your/build/dir
 wget http://aur.archlinux.org/packages/epsxe/epsxe.tar.gz  
 tar zxvf epsxe.tar.gz
 cd epsxe
 makepkg -csri

Manual Install (deprecated)

First, open a console and install the packages that you will need:

pacman -Sy unzip gtk

Get the ePSXe base package:

wget http://www.epsxe.com/files/epsxe160lin.zip

Extract the ePSXe package and set up permissions:

mkdir /usr/share/epsxe
export EPSXE='/usr/share/epsxe'
unzip -d $EPSXE ~/epsxe160lin.zip
cd $EPSXE
chmod 777 cfg sstates snap memcards
touch memcards/epsxe000.mcr memcards/epsxe001.mcr .epsxerc
chmod 666 memcards/* 
chmod 666 .epsxerc

If you own a Playstation system, get the PSX Bios _somewhere.around.the.internet_ put it in your home folder and:

mv ~/SCPH1001.BIN $EPSXE/bios/

You can run the emulator with either software render or hardware acceleration plugin. The latter requires a NVIDIA, ATI, or similar card with working OpenGL drivers. You can install both and use the one that works best for you. The hardware acceleration plugin in this how-to apperantly requires a quite new card (not known how new though). If it doesn't work there is an older plugin that uses MesaGL. Look here.

Install hardware acceleration plugin:

cd ~
wget http://www.pbernert.com/gpupetexgl208.tar.gz
tar xfz ~/gpupetexgl208.tar.gz -C $EPSXE/plugins/
mv $EPSXE/plugins/cfgPeteXGL2 $EPSXE/cfg/
mv $EPSXE/plugins/gpuPeteXGL2.cfg $EPSXE/cfg/
chmod 666 $EPSXE/cfg/gpuPeteXGL2.cfg

Install software render plugin:

cd ~
wget http://www.pbernert.com/gpupeopssoftx117.tar.gz
tar xfz ~/gpupeopssoftx117.tar.gz -C $EPSXE/plugins/
mv $EPSXE/plugins/cfgPeopsSoft $EPSXE/cfg/
mv $EPSXE/plugins/gpuPeopsSoftX.cfg $EPSXE/cfg/
chmod 666 $EPSXE/cfg/gpuPeopsSoftX.cfg

Install audio plugin (uses the OSS sound daemon):

cd ~
wget http://www.pbernert.com/spupeopsoss109.tar.gz
tar xvfz ~/spupeopsoss109.tar.gz -C $EPSXE/plugins/
mv $EPSXE/plugins/cfgPeopsOSS $EPSXE/cfg/

Create a shell script that will start ePSXe:

nano /usr/bin/epsxe

and paste this:

#!/bin/bash
export EPSXE='/usr/share/epsxe'
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$EPSXE
cd $EPSXE
./epsxe
chmod 666 $EPSXE/cfg/*.cfg $EPSXE/sstates/* \
$EPSXE/memcards/*.mcr $EPSXE/snap/* 2>/dev/null

Save it and change permissions for the new file:

chmod 777 /usr/bin/epsxe

You can now start by typing 'epsxe' in the terminal.

Configuration

• In the menu, open "Config -> BIOS", and set it to /usr/share/epsxe/bios/SCPH1001.BIN

• Open "Config -> Video", and select either "Pete's XGL2 Driver 2.7" or "P.E.Op.S. Softx Driver 1.17". Click configure, then OK to write a config file. Verify that it is working by clicking the Test button.

• In "Config -> Sound" select "P.E.Op.S. OSS Audio Driver", Configure, OK. Verify with the Test button.

• In Config -> CDROM, set the path to your CD/DVD-ROM. In most cases it should be /dev/cdrom but in some /dev/hdc. You can check your path by typing "mount |grep cd" in a console.

• In Config -> Game Pad -> Pad 1 menu, you can set up the controls.

Now you should be all set.

If you want to use an original PSX CD-ROM, insert it and select "File -> Run CDROM" It might take a while for the game to load, so be patient.

You can load backup ISO:s from your hard disk with "File -> Run ISO.

When you are running your game you can press Esc any time to exit, save/load game states, or change discs. To get back, select Run -> Continue.

Problems and Workarounds

Plugins are not listed

Sometimes epsxe will not recognize your plugins even though they may be correctly installed. They should be installed to /opt/epsxe/cfg and /opt/epsxe/plugins a solution to this is to run epsxe once (if you have not already) and the files epsxerc will be generated in ~/.epsxe open it and it will list plugins is may say "DISABLED" or list a pluging that dose not exist (libgpu.so or libspu.so) simply change the string to the plugin you have in your plugins folder. Run epsxe and it should be working.

NOTE: If your are running epsxe from a 32bit chroot you will need install nvidia-utils (pacman -S nvidia-utils) to use the xgl2 plugin.

,File not found

Sometimes the symlinks in ~./epsxe will not let you run the epsxe executable even if the permission are correct and the link is working. You may simply copy the epsxe executable from /opt/epsxe to ~/.epsxe this can also be done for any other files or folders whose symlinks are not working correctly.

Links

• ePSXe - http://www.epsxe.com/
• Pete's PSX plugins - http://www.pbernert.com/index.htm
• ePSXe on AUR - http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=10745