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View Full Version : What's the deal with all the emulation on PSP?

SamIAm
02-17-2007, 03:10 AM
OK, so I'm not asking about how to get emulators to run on a PSP. I sort of understand that anyway, and I don't really care about that right now. What I don't get is, why the heck are there all these emulators being made for the PSP for systems that seem like they shouldn't be emulate-able on the PSP? I've never even held a PSP, so I have no idea how these things actually run. But how is it that an N64 emulator is running on this thing at close to full speed? Why is there such a supposedly good PSX emulator on it? Does it have a PSX CPU inside of it like the PS2? And is this boob who is talking about doing a Saturn emulator for it totally off his rocker, or what? I mean, according to the spec lists, this thing only has a 333MHz CPU!

I've been doing emulation for years now, and all of this goes against the basic principles I had picked up about the constraints on emulators. Are these emulators compromised somehow? Is there something magical about the PSP? Seriously, what's the deal?
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puzzl
02-17-2007, 03:22 AM
I cant answer all of your questions, but regarding PSX on PSP, I can say that it does not have dedicated PSX hardware inside of it. All software. And it's not a "supposedly good" PSX emulator, it is a fantastic PSX emulator. I play my own dumped copy of Chrono Cross on it at full speed with no slowdowns. The reason why the emulator is so good is probably because it was coded by sony themselves, and they have full access to the hardware (kinda like the genesis emulator SEGA made for the Dreamcast). The homebrew community simply made it so that any PSX game dumped properly can run on it and not just those released by Sony (Again, much like the official SEGA genesis emu for the Dreamcast).

Also, N64 emulation is nowhere near fullspeed. Last i heard, they were at maybe 15FPS max on one or two games, and that's with a lot of glitches and no sound.

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SamIAm
02-17-2007, 05:11 AM
yeah, that's pretty much what I've heard about the PSX emulator. Still, though, in contrast to the Genesis emulator for the Dreamcast, we are talking about a phenomenal achievement. The Genesis has only a fraction of the power of the PSX, yet the Dreamcast is only a step or two behind the PSP in the same area. Could it be that there is similar enough hardware between the PSP and the PSX that this emulation is not as hard as it would seem?

And although I don't have the link handy, I do remember reading an N64 emu-dev saying he had 40 fps. No comment on the method or quality, though.
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AuroEdge
02-17-2007, 02:29 PM
The fact that the PSP has a processor capable of 333MHz does not mean that it is equal to say a Pentium 333MHz CPU. It has a MIPS R4000 processor. You're logic is that since the N64 had about 90MHz of power that it should only have graphics as good as any other system with a 90MHz processor. Very wrong. Next, you want to know why the PSP is capable of emulating N64 near full speed? For one, Daedalus or however it is spelled is not full speed but still very fast for the stage it is at. The N64 and PSP share a similar CPU architecture. The N64 had a 93.75MHz R4300 processor. So, you can see where I'm going with this.
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SamIAm
02-17-2007, 09:31 PM
I am plenty aware of the differences in power between CPU types. I was merely assuming that the 333MHz CPU in the PSP was not capable of as much raw calculating as, say, the 1.5GHz CPU that pSX really likes to have to run on a PC.

I believe I asked in my last post about whether it could be that the systems have similar hardware, and the answer appears to be yes for both the PSX and the N64. I didn't know all 3 CPUs were part of the same close family. In that case, these results are kind of like how it was so easy to get a Saturn emulator to boot on a Dreamcast - the Dreamcast's SH4 is a very direct descendant of the Saturn's SH2s.

And on that note, I'll go ahead and assume that Saturn emulation on the PSP is still not really feasible.
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icenine0
02-18-2007, 07:07 AM
http://www.zophar.net/wwwthreads/attachment.php?Cat=&Board=general&Post=293927

C:ServerxampphtdocszopharoldwwwthreadsattachmentsJ erry_Seinfeld_psp.jpg
Ernst
02-18-2007, 11:52 PM
> I was merely assuming that the 333MHz CPU in the PSP
> was not capable of as much raw calculating as, say, the
> 1.5GHz CPU that pSX really likes to have to run on a PC.

I have without problem run psx emulation on a 366mhz celeron clocked to 450 at full speed.
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juggaleaux
02-19-2007, 04:38 AM
No Saturn emulation.

N64 is 20-40 fps (depending on the game of course) with sound when the Daedalus R9 emu comes out, which should be any time in the next week or so.



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Kitsune Sniper
02-19-2007, 05:05 AM
> ... The reason why the emulator is so good is
> probably because it was coded by sony themselves, and they
> have full access to the hardware (kinda like the genesis
> emulator SEGA made for the Dreamcast).

Except the Genesis emulator SEGA used was not coded by them. And it's prone to slowdowns and it has horrible, horrible audio issues that literally make the games unplayable. :(
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Reaper man
02-19-2007, 02:33 PM
>
HAHAHAHAHA <img src=smilies/laff.gif>
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juggaleaux
02-24-2007, 06:50 AM
> N64 is 20-40 fps (depending on the game of course) with
> sound when the Daedalus R9 emu comes out, which should be
> any time in the next week or so.
>
R9 is out, Super Mario 64 has been confirmed to be playable to the point of getting all 120 stars. I tried it myself. It's damn-near full speed without sound, a little slow with sound.

Some more advanced games aren't as fast yet, but simple games such as Quest 64 run pretty well.
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SirDaShadow
02-25-2007, 12:28 AM
> Some more advanced games aren't as fast yet, but simple
> games such as Quest 64 run pretty well.
>
Hmm I only ran Banjo Kazooie to test it and it was walking at 2 fps :/
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juggaleaux
02-25-2007, 01:09 AM
> > Some more advanced games aren't as fast yet, but simple
> > games such as Quest 64 run pretty well.
> >
> Hmm I only ran Banjo Kazooie to test it and it was walking
> at 2 fps :/
>
Well yeah, some games, like GoldenEye and Perfect Dark, won't boot at all. It's pretty much a crapshoot ranging from "won't even try to boot" to "perfect"
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kingbarbarossa
04-10-2007, 03:48 PM
> I was merely assuming that the 333MHz CPU in the PSP
> was not capable of as much raw calculating as, say, the
> 1.5GHz CPU that pSX really likes to have to run on a PC.
> And on that note, I'll go ahead and assume that Saturn
> emulation on the PSP is still not really feasible.

Also there isn't just one CPU in the PSP. It also has dedicated graphics and sound processors. Though most people seem to use the graphics processor for sound and the main for everything else. I must admit this always confused me, but coding for multiple processors is supposed to be absurdly difficult, especially when you don't have access to a dev kit for said system.
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Fla Flash
04-11-2007, 12:37 AM
Totaly personal opinion here.
A vague attempt to distract dedicated emu fans from the GBA so they could grab a real foothold on the handheld market.
I wouldn't doubt that Sony backed half of them themselves.
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NappyHeadedHo
04-13-2007, 02:41 AM
> Totaly personal opinion here.
> A vague attempt to distract dedicated emu fans from the GBA
> so they could grab a real foothold on the handheld market.
> I wouldn't doubt that Sony backed half of them themselves.
>

Speaking of GBA and emulators on the PSP, there's a great one of those out too. gpSP v0.9 has damn good compatibility and speed.
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ToastyCheesy
04-13-2007, 03:33 AM
From what I've used, its got sound and some nice features to it too.
also reminds me of the SnesPSP-TYL. Not only is it really advanced, but it plays Background music in the menu!
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puduhead
04-13-2007, 04:01 AM
http://www.zophar.net/wwwthreads/attachment.php?Cat=&Board=general&Post=293927

Whaaat is the deal with emulation on PSP!?
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NappyHeadedHo
04-13-2007, 05:25 AM
>
> From what I've used, its got sound and some nice features to
> it too.
> also reminds me of the SnesPSP-TYL. Not only is it really
> advanced, but it plays Background music in the menu!
>

Yeah, I've played pretty much through Advance Wars 2 with it and it's amazing. Now all I need is a 8GB Pro Duo and I'll be good to go.
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