Guide: Make PS1 Games Beautiful Again
By Jeffrey | March 17, 2008
You know the feeling: you have some old games that you loved to play long ago, and you want to get them out again for nostalgic value, but there’s just that haunting thought that seeing the outdated graphics will lower your fond memories of the experience. But, thanks to the glory of emulation, and ePSXe in particular, the Playstation is one system that doesn’t have to suffer that fate, at least not yet.
Read on for the full scoop.
At its prime the Playstation’s graphics were fairly cutting edge, although the N64 and modern computers at the time blew the PS1’s capabilities out of the water. Still, the system had some excellent games, that looked pretty good at the time.
In order to get that effect again, here’s what you’ll need:
Requirements
Processor: Anything above 2ghz should be fine
Video Card: Geforce 5200 or above, or Radeon 9500 or above
RAM: At least 512mb
That’s about it; nothing too strenuous - most current computers should be far above those specs.
Software
The Emulator: ePSXe - This guide was created with 1.6.0 (the latest release)
Playstation BIOS: To run the emulator. You can find it here.
Pete’s OpenGL2 PSX GPU: For the graphics. Download From Here.
Pixel Shaders: We’ll be using is ShadX’s Natural Vision Shader - Download From Here.
A Playstation Game: Any PS1 game should work, so this part is up to you. Ideally it should be an image file, rather than an actual disc, but that’s up to you.
Setting It Up
Extract ePSXe to any folder you’d like. My folder looks like this:
Copy the BIOS file you downloaded - scph1001.bin - into the bios folder of ePSXe. It should be the only file in that folder.
Now extract the opengl2.zip file you downloaded into the plugins folder of ePSXe.
Then create a folder named shaders in the plugins folder. Copy the files from the Natural.zip file you downloaded into the shaders folder. Mine looks like this:
The Fun Part
Open up ePSXe and click Config >> Video. Make sure that Pete’s OpenGL2 Drive 2.8 is selected. This window looks like this:
Click Configure. Instead of walking you through the settings one by one, just set up your options to be the same as the ones in this image.
Note - If you have an older graphics card (Geforce 5 or Radeon 9 series) you might want to change the Internal X and Internal Y resolutions to High instead of Very High.
Make sure that the Shader Effects box is checked and set to 3. ARB program, with the Shader Level on 4. Maximum.
Click the dotted icon next to the Shader dropdown box. This window pops up:
This is where you’ll need to put the path to your shaders folder. It will most likely be different than mine. Make sure this is right, or the shaders won’t work!
That’s It!
You’ll obviously need to set up the sound and controller options for ePSXe - which this guide won’t delve into - but as far as we’re concerned you’re done! Click File >> Run ISO - or Run CDROM if you’re using an actual Playstation disc - and select your game.
The graphics should blow you away. Not on the same level of an XBox 360 or a PS3, but compared to the original the difference will astound you.
For comparison, here is the PS1’s Tekken 3 compared to the Dreamcast’s Soul Calibur:
Tekken 3 vs. Soul Calibur
Question or Comments?
If you have any thoughts or problems you need help with, feel free to comment below or e-mail me at:
Topics: Guides |
Brilliant! Thanks so much!
Posted by: JohnnyW on March 24th, 2008 at 4:29 pm[...] programs to make those older games’ graphics look better - such as Doomsday for Doom and ePSXe for my Playstation games - and those programs and games often use OpenGL to display their graphics. [...]
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