I discovered recently that my Macbook Pro Unibody (i.e. mid-2009
models, but anything with a 9600M graphic chip should do) is good enough
to run PS2 games at decent speed, provided you use a recent version
of PCSX2. I spent a few days tweaking the
settings - so here are my advices if you want to give it a try.
These settings are tested on a Macbook Pro Unibody 13” - but most of
them should be valid for other architectures. First, some general
configuration settings:
- Graphics:
- GsDX works well - go for it
- Use “Native resolution”
- Use DirectX 10 to prevent a few minor glitches (like a faint
grid around the characters). Plus it allows switching
windowed/fullscreen on the fly.
- Use F5 in-game to see which (de-)Interlacing mode works best for
you
- Sound:
- I didn’t played a lot with the settings, standard config will do
- CPU:
- Don’t forget to activate the Multithreaded GS : you have a Core
2 Duo, right ?
- Speedhacks:
- Generaly, you can check all the recommanded speed hacks - and
disable just the most dangerous ones
- “VU cycle stealing” as “Slight” is a good bet - try “Moderate”
if everything runs well
And now some Shadow of the Colossus-specific tricks:
- Graphics:
- You don’t have to use any (de-)interlacing mode : the game takes
care of this itself. There is an in-game setting for Progressive
Scan, which works well - but I personally thinks that the
picture looks crisper in Non-progressive (i.e. interlaced mode),
plus the game will produce a neat motion-blur instead of
unmatched horizontal lines.
- The game will be (very) slightly faster in 4/3 screen ratio
(this is an in-game setting, btw)
- CPU:
- MicroVU works fine - not really faster, but cleaner, they say.
Here we go.
- “Limit frames” if you want, but don’t use frameskip: the display
flickers, and SotC already skips frames if needed
- Speedhacks:
- SotC loves “x2 cycle rate”, and it is a big speedup
- You can set “VU cycle stealing” to “Moderate” without major
glitchs
- Advanced:
- A neat trick for SotC is to set all “Clamp mode”s to “None” :
big speedup expected
You should be able to play Shadow of the Colossus at somehow-full speed,
that is without slowdowns. The framerate itself is often not very high,
but I think the original game wasn’t much better : SotC is beautifull,
but resource-intensive, even on a real PS2.
I also tried a CD of Final Fantasy XII, which runs even better : it is
probably less resources-demanding. PCSX2 compatibility is very good
these days, so give a try to every PS2 game you own…
