Playstation On Gp2x

[/\/\att]

I have a PocketPC (Dell Axim x50v) for which there is an emulator which apparently runs almost full speed. I've never been able to get it to work (never put a whole lot of effort into it, my PocketPC is mainly for other stuff) but people report that it works well. The Axim has a single XScale 624MHz processor, so I believe that PS1 would be workable on the dual processors of the GP2X.

There are even linux based emulators out there already, how possible would it be to just compile one of those for the GP2X's processor? Of course it wouldn't be dual processor aware without modification, but would this work?

A portable version of Final Fantasy VII would be beautiful, I eagerly await the day...

 

[OrR]

It might be possible but it will take time. No use discussing, really. Either a dev feels up to it and sees how far he can get or not. It'll be possible when it's done.

 

[AireTamStorm]

They DO NOT run at full speed on the Pocket PCs.

The way the Dual CPU works is different than dual CPU PCs, the second CPU does most of the drawing work.

To quickly answer: PSX Emulation CAN BE DONE. At full speed? Almost certainly not. However, it'll be better than most handhelds do it ^_^

 

[gp2brew]

I have a PocketPC (Dell Axim x50v) for which there is an emulator which apparently runs almost full speed. I've never been able to get it to work (never put a whole lot of effort into it, my PocketPC is mainly for other stuff) but people report that it works well. The Axim has a single XScale 624MHz processor, so I believe that PS1 would be workable on the dual processors of the GP2X.

There are even linux based emulators out there already, how possible would it be to just compile one of those for the GP2X's processor? Of course it wouldn't be dual processor aware without modification, but would this work?

A portable version of Final Fantasy VII would be beautiful, I eagerly await the day...

​

Before anyone else jumps in and flames you for not searching the forums (as is the custom in these parts), the GP2X has two 200MHz ARM cpu, which combined don't even actually add up to one 400Mhz cpu.

That said, and this has been said, of course PSX is possible on GP2X. Not that it would actually be playable :rolleyes:

Edit: doh, beaten to it. good to see no knee jerk flaming reactions tho, maybe things are calming down now craig has sent out the first batch

 

[/\/\att]

I'm trying to remember how to PS1 handled graphics, whether it had a dedicated graphics processor, or whether it was all software based. I'm leaning more towards the dedicated (not necessarily 3D accelerated, but offloaded from the main proc), but really don't know. Anyone?

 

[OrR]

I'm pretty sure it had some 3D hardware because I don't think a single 33 Mhz CPU can do graphics of that complexity.

 

[/\/\att]

I also think that the Emulator for PPC uses frameskip, so while it isn't full speed, as it would be played on the PS1, it plays about the same.

 

[/\/\att]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_%...#Specifications

appears that it did have dedicated graphics, along with a vector math module on the processor (I'm answering my own questions here...).

 

[Dr.Zaius]

reading the same post like this one over and over makes baby jesus cry

 

[no_skill]

in case you feel like asking compiler questions ever again:

gp2x dev wiki EMULATION POSSIBILITY / STATUS page

 

[iignotus]

I you no_skill

 

[Squidge]

Hmmm, the Axim X50V has a dedicated 3D co-processor and floating point support, so quite a bit more powerful than the 2x, as it has to emulate both the 3d and floating point in software. So the Axim is probably around 6 - 8 times faster.

 

[Miner49er]

I have been playing with ePSX on linux recently and it runs like a dog on my PIII 533 with 64 Meg Graphics card.

 

[Jarska333]

What kind of dog?

Say, I had a thought in my last spiritus delirium. I've been told, that 2D games on PSX would not be great deal less demanding, because the GPU actually draws polygons, and just displays a texture on a polygon, as opposed to sprite...

Par example, in a game of Castlevania, the CPU tells the GPU to draw a cube on x/y/z co-ordinates, with one side of the cube turned towards the player, with Mr. Belmont drawn on it, as a texture, or a skin.

Now, what if the emulated GPU just ignores the z co-ordinate, and all other instructions regarding polygons, and simply plops the required texture to the x/y co-ordinates? Then tells the CPU that it's done, give me something else to do? Could an emulator be programmed to do this, and would it actually have any effect on required horsepower?

 

[Draken]

Err, not that I really know anything valuable, but the zod currently runs psx games on a 480x320 screen with palmos at 60-70% speed, and it's 8mhz slower then the gp2x (without dealing with the second core). And the only special thing is that it has a 2D graphics chip...

The developer of this (ZodTTD) is getting a gp2x (and probably planning on porting some stuff like the psx emu). =P

 

[Numpsy]

It was a long time ago, but i vaguely remember one of the PS1 discworld games (a 2d adventure game) being useable on my old P120, and that only had a crappy cyrus logic 2d gfx chip. :blink:

Think that was using Psyke as the emu (if anyone remebers that!)

 

[Jurrasic]

Since the second CPU of the gp2x is supposed to be handling the graphics, I don't see why it couldn't handle the polys in software rendering.

Also, couldn't the principle behind UltraHLE (emulating only what is necessary to get a certain game running) which allowed n64 emulation for a few games on fairly modest PCs at the time when the n64 was still a current console and caused such a firestorm when it was released be applied on a PSX emu?

I ask from the point of an end-user rather then a dev, but that might be somthing for programmers to consider.

 

[nickspoon]

As many have said:

PSX Emu?
Possible: Yes.
Playable: Maybe.
Existing: Depends on developers.

No more threads about this please.

 

[AireTamStorm]

What kind of dog?

Say, I had a thought in my last spiritus delirium. I've been told, that 2D games on PSX would not be great deal less demanding, because the GPU actually draws polygons, and just displays a texture on a polygon, as opposed to sprite...

Par example, in a game of Castlevania, the CPU tells the GPU to draw a cube on x/y/z co-ordinates, with one side of the cube turned towards the player, with Mr. Belmont drawn on it, as a texture, or a skin.

Now, what if the emulated GPU just ignores the z co-ordinate, and all other instructions regarding polygons, and simply plops the required texture to the x/y co-ordinates? Then tells the CPU that it's done, give me something else to do? Could an emulator be programmed to do this, and would it actually have any effect on required horsepower?

​

If it tried to do that, nothing would display correctly. To blit the textures to the screen, you need to know what angle of depth they're at, so you can transform it. Either the 3D dedicated graphics controller does this or the CPU does it. In any case, you can't just IGNORE depth.

Edit: Oh. As in draw a 2D game in 2D space rather than 3D space. The only game I know that do that is StepMania, and it wouldn't make much sense for an entirely 2D PSX game. If anything does that, you'd have to write an emulator SPECIFIC to that game. Although you could prerender alot of things before they hit the screen to speed it up a bit.

 

[Jarska333]

I think I almost understand that. B)

Why did my post not bump the thread? Why does it even not show up as "Last Post By"?