PCSX2 Sofware mode

[SpaceCress]

So with the new Tales of Rebirth I came back to the emulator, now I've tried playing it with openGL Vulkan (for some reason in my laptop everythign I try with Vulkan in PCSX2 crashes/closes the emu) But I've been testing it with software renderer and it works like a charm, what should I know about software mode? Never really used it before and feel ignorant about it, I know upscaling isn't an option but I don't really mind.

 

[middler]

My PCSX2 defaults to open GL and i have no issues on my lappy. Does it not work for you?

to my knowledge open GL and vulcan are separate options.

 

[SpaceCress]

My PCSX2 defaults to open GL and i have no issues on my lappy. Does it not work for you?

to my knowledge open GL and vulcan are seperate options.

I haven't really used OpenGL that much I might have to test it with other titles I've been using 3d11 mostly and now Software renderer works pretty good with Tales of Rebirth

 

[middler]

I haven't really used OpenGL that much I might have to test it with other titles I've been using 3d11 mostly and now Software renderer works pretty good with Tales of Rebirth

Its been ages since i really dove into the technicals but it used to be that GL or glide was built around 3DfX/nVidia cards. While alternates (like software) worked best for diamond/AMD cards.

Been a million years though and i know that vulcan gets a fair bit of use on this lappy in other emulators

 

[ATenderLad]

As a general rule, software mode is the most compatible setting. Think of it like the "default", whereas off-loading the work to your GPU with a hardware renderer brings speed and upscaling but more possible issues.

The PCSX2 forums and wiki doesn't have much testing of Tales of Rebirth that I could find, that's bound to change since the translation patch so it may improve in the near future. There's at least one issue with the software rendering reported on the Github now, actually.

 

[RageBurner]

It's obvious, but it bears mentioning: are you using a recent version of PCSX2? it has much better compatibility, usability and stability than the older, pre 2.0 versions and it has a robust internal database that will, more often than not, set each game correctly for you out of the box.

 

[SpaceCress]

It's obvious, but it bears mentioning: are you using a recent version of PCSX2? it has much better compatibility, usability and stability than the older, pre 2.0 versions and it has a robust internal database that will, more often than not, set each game correctly for you out of the box.

Yes I'm using the nightly but I don't know what settings are those for each game I tinker with priorities for each game

 

[SkoomaCatJesus]

To be fair, the software mode with a CRT shader for a custom 640x480 screen... IS AMAZING!

 

[Mopeybloke]

Perhaps your PC is too old and your GPU doesn't support the Vulkan API. If it isn't, maybe chase some new drivers.

 

[SpaceCress]

Perhaps your PC is too old and your GPU doesn't support the Vulkan API. If it isn't, maybe chase some new drivers.

its an integrated one so I don't really know I think there's older laptops that are compatible with Vulkan so not sure, I've updated to the latest drivers too

 

[daratmp+wxqvs]

, what should I know about software mode?

Some games require software rendering mode to avoid bugs, heres a list of them:

https://wiki.pcsx2.net/Category:Software_rendering_only_games

There are people working on a compute shader renderer, which will basically allow the the software renderer to run on the GPU, and because that will be much faster, it will allow for upscaling(higher resolution) while still using the software renderer and thus also have accuracy benefits of software-rendering, so the best of both worlds (accuracy + upscaling).

GitHub - Arntzen-Software/parallel-gs: A compute shader emulation of the PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer

A compute shader emulation of the PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer - Arntzen-Software/parallel-gs

github.com

But don't expect it to be as accurate as the software renderer, I just read themeister's blogpost on it, and the amount of shortcuts and concessions he makes while developing it surprising to me.

However, the compute shader renderer will be using Vulkan to run the compute shaders on, so it might not work on your laptop still.

Spoiler: short off-topic mention

there is also work being done on a soft-FPU, which would fix nearly all of the floating point rounding errors that PCSX2 currently has due to the PS2's processor doing math in weird/forbidden ways.

for example:
On the PS2's processor, in some instances, multiplication is just plain WRONG.
On a normal computer: Something * 1 = something.
But on the PS2, it will go: Something * 1 = something-else.

This will lead to enemy AI being broken, enemies not spawning in, and ALL kinds of other weirdness that wont happen on a real PS2, but happens in PCSX2.