Emulators fine?

[Ashleyxoxo]

My mom gave away my ps2 without asking, so... I’m asking here if emulators are okay. Are they bad your PC? If not, what are the best ps1 and ps2 emulators? Roms?

[Onikaroshi]

Technically they are only "legal" if you own the base and games yourself and use them for backup.

Since you no longer have a ps2 it would not be legal for you to have the emulator, technically.

[Mysterymask]

Technically they are only "legal" if you own the base and games yourself and use them for backup.

Since you no longer have a ps2 it would not be legal for you to have the emulator, technically.

That is fully incorrect

EMULATORS are fine whether you own the system or not
Isos however are where the legal issues come in (even then its not like people search your pc)

Also be aware some ps2 games have issues with emulators so..yeah

[Onikaroshi]

That is fully incorrect

EMULATORS are fine whether you own the system or not
Isos however are where the legal issues come in (even then its not like people search your pc)

Also be aware some ps2 games have issues with emulators so..yeah

Pretty sure it's illegal to use the bios for playstation without owning a playstation, I know most of the emu's don't come with a bios because of it.

[Usernameforforums]

For the ps2, it is illegal to distribute the bios due to copyright but if I remember correctly its posted on the playstation site and you can obtain it there. As from roms/isos, illegal to distribute as well but you can rip them or play from disk.

Its been like 10 years since ive used psx2 so my knowledge may be outdated.

[SinR]

PCSX2 for PS2. Note for legality reasons you'll need your own ISOs (disc images) and BIOS Files.

The emulators themselves are completely legal. just do a bit of google looking and you can find the Emulator.

[bbr]

Emulators are fine and legal.
Youll have to own the CD itself to be covered.

getting rom copies of games you dont own is not legal however, and there is where the gray area starts.
most games you cant even get anywhere else, especially old games. so that's the only way you'd ever get to play them.

[hellhamster]

Emulators are legal, ROMs and BIOSes can be sketchy, unless you own both and can dump them.

If it's abandonware, no one will be mad if you download a ROM if we're being logical. It's asinine to think you will be paying a fine for playing a PS2 game on your PC almost 20 years after release.

[Azerate]

Yes, emulators themselves are fully legal, however for PS specifically, and maybe some other consoles, the BIOS file is the grey area.

But yeah, the police won't hunt you down for playing on an emulator, and most of the older games you can't even get in a legit way anymore, so there's nothing morally wrong with them.

[Tarba]

emulator : legal
rom : illegal. Even if you own the game.
But you don't risk anything downloading one. Distributing is dangerous.

[hellhamster]

I'd give anything to play 2005 nfs most wanted again but I dunno the first thing about emulators and I wouldn't wanna risk anything

There are guides on the Internets. If 12 year old me could figure it out, anyone can. Most are plug and play with some minimum changes in the settings. For PS2 use pcsx2 and for ps1 use epsxe, you might need some easy to find plugins for the latter from what I remember.

Emulators are a godsend, I recently finished Gamecube's Metroid Prime on 4k resolution and upscaled graphics on my 55 inch TV, an amazing experience that everyone should try.

[Mysterymask]

There are guides on the Internets. If 12 year old me could figure it out, anyone can. Most are plug and play with some minimum changes in the settings. For PS2 use pcsx2 and for ps1 use epsxe, you might need some easy to find plugins for the latter from what I remember.

Emulators are a godsend, I recently finished Gamecube's Metroid Prime on 4k resolution and upscaled graphics on my 55 inch TV, an amazing experience that everyone should try.

tbf Dolphin is like god tier when it comes to emulators...everything else is kinda crap in comparison

[Edge-]

Emulation discussion is fine in general, but just dropping a warning not to share links to emulation sites as the legality can get questionable. Otherwise, carry on.

[Bigbazz]

The emulators out today are great, but hell you've been able to emulate most PS1 games with superior visuals to the original and with decent FPS for about 2 decades. The tricky thing with emulators is that the bios files for each console are copyrighted so you will have to source them elsewhere usually, and then you have to fiddle about to optimise your settings, controls etc.

Once it's up and running though you won't get a better emulation experience, it's often superior to emulated ports that we see officially releasing. Though some emulators are more hit and miss depending on the game and your particular system, 3DS and Sega Saturn for example.

[bbr]

emulator : legal
rom : illegal. Even if you own the game.
But you don't risk anything downloading one. Distributing is dangerous.

Making backups of your own games / roms, is perfectly legal.

[Laytnor]

Emulation not only is fine, but should be encouraged, considering how consumer unfriendly is trying to acquire old stuff, or what a ripoff all re-releases are. Everyone else claiming otherwise is doing some impressive mental gymnastics.

[Attackrabbit]

There's probably better ones about these days but I still use PCSX2 to get my Dave Mirra 2 fix

[JohnyCge]

Sony itself used opensource emulator PCSX ReARMed for PS1 classic. Not pointing to anything, but it may show what Sony thinks about emulators.

[Onikaroshi]

Sony itself used opensource emulator PCSX ReARMed for PS1 classic. Not pointing to anything, but it may show what Sony thinks about emulators.

I really don't think sony will give too much of a bother over it, but be careful anyone who does anything with nintendo.

Not only is it a hard one to say "i ripped these roms myself!" as ripping cartridge games is a little harder than dropping a cd in the drive, nintendo has also been shown to come after people.

[bigbleach]

My mom gave away my ps2 without asking, so... I’m asking here if emulators are okay. Are they bad your PC? If not, what are the best ps1 and ps2 emulators? Roms?

I've been using emulators for nearly 15 years. Nes, Snes, GBA, DS, PS2, and Gamecube. Emulators are in an area of law where they don't really... have much of a way to mess with you. It's like downloading MP3s. Is it illegal? Sure. Do they actively do anything about it? No. If you are just using it for personal use and not burning disc and selling it and distributing, OR DOWNLOADING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF THEM ( and I mean a really dumb amount ), etc. You should be fine. I have played so many pokemon games over the years through emulators. I've owned most of the games but wanted to replay at some point and I have long since lost the cartridges since I was a kid so.

TLDR: Just don't go around trying to sell the crap. If you use a VPN at all, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Honestly, even without a VPN. GLHF