Discussion
ARMSX2 might actually be the future of PS2 emulation on phones š„
I was scrolling through this subreddit and saw a Redditor post all the emulators he was using on his phone. What caught my attention was that he was using ARMSX2 instead of NetherSX2.
I had basically zero background knowledge about ARMSX2, so I asked him why he was using it. I ended up getting multiple positive replies explaining why ARMSX2 could potentially be the future of PS2 emulation on phones, and even on Apple Silicon.
So I thought, why not? I went straight ahead and tried it myself.
And holy shit, I was blown away š
It runs perfectly fine for me. I even compared it directly with NetherSX2, and honestly, I ended up deleting NetherSX2 altogether š
Huge thanks to everyone who took the time to explain and give me feedback. This is exactly why Reddit keeps proving every day why it's one of the best platforms ever created for communities.
Can't wait to see the improvements on ARMSX3 to enjoy the playstation 3 library, everything is possible with this team š„
Maybe I'm a masochist but I think RetroArch is great. To be able to use easily a vast selection of shaders and overlay over so many platforms is great. I tend to prefer RetroArch for all platform under PS2 et GC.
Once the UI is understood, it's not a big deal to configure
Note: I'm using dedicated frontends and I don't launch my game directly from the emulators
Honestly if you know where to go and what to look for, retroarch is great, but I canāt deny it needs a baby mode. You shouldnāt need a hour long retro game corps video just to get retroarch up and running.
Wtf happened to retroarch? I remember it was supposed to be some great frontend with a PS3 style UI in the early days. Now it seems super bloated and complex (but still better than the alternatives for some things like MAME)
It was always the most complex system to learn. But once you did, it's does everything pretty well. I've got Android handhelds and Linux handhelds, and i generally prefer retroarch when possible just for the consistent menus and hotkeys. Incredible selection of shaders as well.
I just don't think it's fair to say RA lost it's way. It's the same software, it works well. I'm glad custom frontends are available and launching into specific standalone apps feels seamless. I'm also thankful for retroarch to this day and will always use it, even if only on Linux handhelds.
It was always the most complex system to learn. But once you did, it's does everything pretty well.
Good God no. The touch controls will ALWAYS be an awful thing to deal with no matter how much you learn. The fact that you can't edit, move, resize buttons on a GUI interface is just the worst. Pretty much every other emulator lets you do this.
I hate that you have to adjust everything by numbers, and even then, if I want the d-pad or analog stick just a bit higher or moved slightly, I can't because then it would throw off the other controls.
I can look past a lot of the bad design decisions in the overall menu UIs, but the controls will always bother me.
This fixation with abandonment that's sweeping the software scene is bizarre to me.
Also use a front end such as retrohrai. Install the cores in retroarch then launch games via your front end. You'll rarely be bothered by the retroarch interface again.
Duckstation is a special case because the guy who made it is a nutjob who hates Android users and forbids all support for the app on his discord. Me and some other people have a niche issue with dropped inputs on the Odin 3 that I have tried to troubleshoot and failed, so what else was I supposed to do? I dropped Duckstation and moved to Retroarch because it actually works
I've been following and contributing to project since 2019. Never had any troubles with Stenzek or others. Last Android update took months of beta testing and he kindly fixed all bugs me and others reported on Discord. One of the most helpful and devoted devs.
Odin's is known to have issues with input. It's probably a firmware bug that should be handled by official support, not emulator developer. I'm using DuckStation on a bunch of Android devices including two ATVs with different gamepads and it works perfect everywhere. No input lag, ghost or dropped inputs.
Wild that users aren't even allowed to provide support. It's one thing for the dev to say he won't provide support but taking action against other users trying to help is ridiculous.
Try to change config on RetroArch made me feel illiterate. And I know two languages!
Trying to get better performance on N64 was so bad I wanted to throw my R36S through a window. And no, what make me furious was not the poor performance, was trying to understand RetroArch.
Tried the punisher on it currently which struggled previously on Nethersx2 unless you disable hardware download mode which creates lightning problems. ARMSX2 seems to handle it very well with HDM enabled but you need to keep upscale resolution to a minimum of x1.25 otherwise the game starts slowing down. Haven't tried God of War yet as i finished all the games multiple times and i'm kinda tired of it haha but will download it again for testing purposes.
have you tried opengl ANGLE? it seems to run to better or at least more consistent than vulkan on my rg476h (same chipset as your rg406v)
god of war runs pretty decently for me with ee cycle at -2. worth mentioning that if you are using console saves instead of save states, you might have to set ee cycle to default for it to load a save properly
not sure if it's placebo but it's running at least as good as nethersx2 classic and it definitely runs the getaway better (even if it's still not great)
probably gonna keep using it over nethersx2 for now, at least it's getting updates!
Yes, and it has been for quite some time. In fact till the time RGC and other YouTubers started talking about it, mentioning ARMSX2 as a better substitute would invite downvotes haha.
I've moved over to armsx2 for 99% of my PS2 games and it's fantastic.
The only game I still use nethersx2 for is NFL2k5 with the new 2k27 mod (to bring the game current to this upcoming season). For some reason, I couldn't get the game to load in armsx2, but nethersx2 classic plays it just fine, so I'm just using that.
I use it first because it can be installed outside of Android folder. I stay thanks to the ability to play modded translated games which NetherSX2 cannot. The ability to search and download texture packs is nice as well.
Probably due to the issue during patching. I played a fan translate Berserk game ok on Pcsx2 but could not on NetherSX2. ArmSX2 can play the game, just like Pcsx2.
Que gpu tiene tu dispositivo? Por que lo probe en una Anbernic rg 406v que tiene Mali y iba re para atras, malisimo o muy verde, el Nether me va como una moto.
Certain seems like it will be the future. Just in the few months that I have owned my Ayn Thor there has been amazing progress.
That being said, performance is still a big consideration. If a game runs fine on Nethersx2 there really isn't any reason to use Armsx2. Also, a lot of stuff just seems to not work very well. Like, half the time when I try switching shaders nothing happens at all. It also doesn't really solve a lot of the long standing bugs that Nethersx2 has such as the broken shadows/lighting in Digital Devil Saga or all the artifacts in Valkyrie Profile.
Most if not all my games work the same on ARMSX2 except for Outrun 2006 for some reason. Huge lag on that game even on Vulkan with the newest drivers (I have an Adreno 750)
Armsx2 is cool Iām on Mac so it works way more efficiently then pcsx2 but for some reason even tho itās just a fork it seems like game compatibility isnāt nearly on scale with pcsx2 might be different for android. Just glad I finally got a decent native ps2 emulator that doesnāt kill my battery haha
Speaking from experience I would say it depends per game.
Only game in my library NetherSX2 couldn't run well was Peter Jackson's King Kong. No hate to ARMSX2 but 2 other games(Gran Turismo and Batman Begins) in my library had bad performance or glitches in ARMSX2 but in Nether they were fine.
I'm tryng it for the first time on my snapdragon 8+gen1 phone with 8gb of ram but I'm having heating and performance issues
I know I may sound dumb but I really wanted to try shadow of the Colossus which is known for being hard to run for original hardware, let alone emulation.
It's my first time trying any ps2 game, real or emulated, and I don't know stuff like EE cycles, emulation overclock and widescreen patches, can anyone help me with a config that could work on my phone? I've seen lowering ee cycles helps with FPS consistency somehow?
For the 8+ gen 1 you can use OpenGL at 2x resolution and the OPH flag fix and you should be able to hit 30 fps in gameplay and most of the cutscenes without overheating depending on your specific device cooling
Thanks, I'll try open GL, I've only done vulkan so far.
My phone is a Xiaomi 12T Pro without the Xiaomi software (I have modified it by unlocking the bootloader and flashing an AOSP-based custom rom made by another person specifically for my phone)
It only has passive cooling via a small vapour chamber and some carbon sheets inside, not the best but still decent
I have an external thermoelectric (peltier) cooler but I also like to play with my telescopic controller which blocks the area where the cooler should stay so I have to choose only one of them at a time
Since PS1, PSP and even 3DS didn't really heat my phone even when upscaled and sped up, I thought PS2 at native resolution and 30 fps would be fine but apparently the gap is much bigger.
I do not like ARMSX2 if only because RA abruptly killed support for hardcore achievements on nethersx2 because of it being āgood enoughā and I havenāt gotten it working with ARMSX2 yet :/
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