Emulation

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,729
5,558
Speaking of Final Fantasy and PCSX2... has anyone tried X-2 lately? Last time I played it, even the PAL (50fps) version was incapable of running the FMVs at full speed on hardware that was ridiculously overkill for the task. I really liked what I played of the game, especially compared to the shitfest that was FFX. The story was goofy as hell but I expect that from JRPGs and the battle/job system was one of their better ones. Just couldn't take the slo-mo FMVs, and there's no going back to actual PS2 hardware after you've played the games on the emu.
 

Lenas

Trump's Staff
7,670
2,377
If you're going to emulate FF12, do yourself a huge favor and convert the iso to IZJS first.
No. I made the mistake of doing that a year ago and fucking hated the game. It sucked because I really like FF12 and I thought the class system would be preferable, but I ended up hating that characters felt handicapped. I would prefer that everyone be able to buff themselves.
 

General Antony

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
1,276
5,179
No. I made the mistake of doing that a year ago and fucking hated the game. It sucked because I really like FF12 and I thought the class system would be preferable, but I ended up hating that characters felt handicapped. I would prefer that everyone be able to buff themselves.
Eh, buffs aren't needed for 95% of the content. Sounds more like youre an OCD nerd.

The biggest bonuses of going IZJS are the fast forward button and chests respawning after only moving 1 screen away.
 

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,729
5,558
No. I made the mistake of doing that a year ago and fucking hated the game. It sucked because I really like FF12 and I thought the class system would be preferable, but I ended up hating that characters felt handicapped. I would prefer that everyone be able to buff themselves.
So you want characters to all essentially be the same except for some stat variance? That's just... bizarre. IZJS actually makes you think ahead about proper synergy of your two teams (assuming that's how you set things up), especially in regards to esper/weapon/armor distribution.


And to answer my own question above -- yes, X-2's FMVs play perfectly now in the latest PCSX2. At least the PAL version anyway, I didn't try my NTSC disc. You still have to hit F9 to switch to software mode when the video starts, but I doubt that will ever change.
 

xrg

Golden Squire
180
59
Lyrical do you emulate any light gun games on your MAME arcade? If so curious what you use for display? AFAIK they don't work with modern TVs, and you need an old school CRT.
 

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
15,710
14,421
Was thinking about starting my Arcade Cabinet or Pinball build next weekend. There are two tables for sale around my area for about $450 a piece. A Gottlieb Totem and a Paul Bunyan, not sure the playing field size of them, but if it would accommodate a decent sized LCD might be worth it over building it from scratch like I'd planned. Unfortunately can't find many used arcade cabinets for under $1,000.
 

bytes

Molten Core Raider
957
638
Speaking of Final Fantasy and PCSX2... has anyone tried X-2 lately? Last time I played it, even the PAL (50fps) version was incapable of running the FMVs at full speed on hardware that was ridiculously overkill for the task. I really liked what I played of the game, especially compared to the shitfest that was FFX. The story was goofy as hell but I expect that from JRPGs and the battle/job system was one of their better ones. Just couldn't take the slo-mo FMVs, and there's no going back to actual PS2 hardware after you've played the games on the emu.
I played it a couple of weeks ago actually. I assume you're talking about the glitchty cut-scenes etc.? You have to switch back to software rendering for those, i think F9 is the shortcut for this. Found a topic on an emu board which gave a bit of an explanation why it is like that, long story short, PCSX2 can't deal with the scenes in this game for some reason.

So hit F9 when a scene starts, be amazed at how shitty the game actually looked and hit F9 again when the scene is over.
 

Lenas

Trump's Staff
7,670
2,377
Maybe I'm fucking dumb for wanting everyone to have the same abilities, but that's the FF12 that I played and farmed and loved. Grinding all your characters to 99 in IZJS seems like it'd be a real bitch, though it's probably alleviated by the fast forward button. Semi-AFK farming those vampire bats in the mines until 99 was as easy as it could get IMO.
 

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,729
5,558
X-2's FMVs don't look bad to me really, considering that it's a PS2 game. It was the audio playing at half-speed or so because the video got out of sync that I found unbearable, and that's fixed now. Still takes way more cpu power than it should, since I can't run the game at 4x Native with antialiasing, etc. like I can XII, and I actually have to use some speed hacks which I try to avoid. The game itself is pretty ugly at times, but it's a lot better if you use thewidescreen cheat, and enabling Hardware Hacks/Aggressive-CRC in GS Plugin seems to fix the weird ghosting effect during in-engine cutscenes. Neither of those things were available last time I played it.
 

foddon

Silver Knight of the Realm
747
5
Also, currently I use a dualshock but its kind of flimsy and cheap compared to Xbox controllers. What would be a good xbox controller to get? Is there one cheaper than the "xbox for windows" controller for $40? Does it have to say "for windows" or can you plug in any xbox controller?
Just get one of these (or similar) which will let you connect your wireless 360 controllers to your PC just as you would to your Xbox:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

I think the only other option is to order a wired controller.
 

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,729
5,558
The 'real' MS wireless receiver is only a couple bucks more than that random brand, so I'd go with that if I was buying one.

Personally, I despise everything about the 360 controller so I use a DS3 with MotionInJoy and a cheap ASUS Bluetooth adapter for wireless. Works great for emulation because the d-pad isn't shit, and also emulates XInput perfectly for regular PC games.
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,573
45,202
Was thinking about starting my Arcade Cabinet or Pinball build next weekend. There are two tables for sale around my area for about $450 a piece. A Gottlieb Totem and a Paul Bunyan, not sure the playing field size of them, but if it would accommodate a decent sized LCD might be worth it over building it from scratch like I'd planned. Unfortunately can't find many used arcade cabinets for under $1,000.
Pretty sure you can buy blank cabinet kits for under a thousand. I'm planning on building a cocktail cabinet for MAME this year. I just downloaded about 320 gigs of ROMS and HD images.
 

Kreugen

Vyemm Raider
6,599
793
I don't remember having any issue at all with FF10-2 over a year ago, aside from still needing to manually switch to software for FMV and the game being a linear retread of places from FF10 with dumbed down combat. (spam Dark Knight AOE, alchemist to complete heal group over and over, third person.. diddle herself)
 

Maul

Dental Dammer
3,736
11,153
I started building my own Hyperspin Cabinet last year, although I had to put it on hold for the time being due to moving homes and having a kid, but hoping to finish it by this summer. Went with 4 player which is the unpopular choice, but I have alot of people round and a retro TMNT and Simpsons arcade session would be awesome. Ignore the shitty pictures, its round my parents as they had the outdoor space to build it so I don't get cancer from breathing in the MDF dust.
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,573
45,202
Yeah, I have a MAME and SNES one on my Nexus 4, but no controller/joystick makes it whack.
 

Szeth

Trakanon Raider
2,270
1,061
I have SNES, N64, and NES on my droid phone. Biggest pita is the controls though.
That's what I'm worried about. I would kill for megaman or Mario RPG on my new Iphone, but I'm afraid megaman at least would be impossible on a touch screen.