PCSX/PCSX-Reloaded for Mac OS X: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to play PSone games in Mac OS X
Update: Added PCSX-ReloadedVideo Tutorials
PCSX Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-skM9xr_-A
About
PCSX/PCSX-Reloaded is a PlayStation (PSone) emulator for Mac OS X. I've been experimenting with it a little and I've made a guide for anyone who wants to play PlayStation games on Mac OS X.
Key Things
- PCSX/PCSX-Reloaded
- PlayStation BIOS
- ECM for OS X
- cdrmooby PCSX Plugin (*only if running PCSX)
PCSX-Reloaded
http://pcsxr.codeplex.com/releases/37759/download/98565
(or)
http://www.mediafire.com/?35wf0lkojjuxa6b
ECM for OS X
http://www.neillcorlett.com/downloads/ecmosx.sit
(or)
http://www.mediafire.com/?3jhi03zw0dc6eiv
http://www.mediafire.com/?ud7r8l06a4u8d1l
cdrmooby PCSX Plugin (*only if running PCSX)
http://www.mediafire.com/?ud7r8l06a4u8d1l
PlayStation BIOS
I am not legally obliged to give links to the PlayStation BIOS file, so use your preferred Internet search engine and search for “PlayStation BIOS” or “PlayStation BIOS Download”. There’s quite a few websites that have the PlayStation BIOS for download so you shouldn’t have trouble finding this.
Just to clarify things,the name of the file you need is called "SCPH1001.BIN".
The Guide
One
1. Open PCSX.
Two
1. Open PCSX to create a Pcsx folder in Application Support. Go to: Finder>Home>Library>Application Support>Pcsx>Bios
2. Copy the PlayStation BIOS file "SCPH1001.BIN" into the Bios folder.
Three
1. Open PCSX.
2. Click PCSX in the Menu Bar to bring up a drop menu. From this menu select Preferences.
3. A window should appear called PCSX Preferences. It should be on the Emulation tab. Under the Options, Game Fixes, and Hacks panes... uncheck all of the boxes. Having these checked may reduce game quality.
4. Select the Plugins tab. Under the Graphics pane, click Configure.
5. A new window will appear. Uncheck all of the boxes except for Enable Hacks. Some games may work better or worse with the Hacks enabled.
6. Return to the Plugins tab and under the Sound pane, select Configure.
7. A new window will appear. Move the sliders all the way to the right. Under Misc check the High Compatibility Mode box. Under XA Music check the Enable XA Playback box.
8. Return to the Plugins tab and under the Controller pane, select Configure.
9. A new window will appear. Here you can configure the controls to your keyboard or joystick, and select between a Digital controller and an Analog controller. You can also change the controls for Controller 2.
Playing PCSX via CD
At this point you are ready to play PSone games on your Mac provided that you have a CD. Simply pop it in the CD-ROM and wait for it to mount... then in PCSX, under File, select Run CD. The game should play. If not, try again.
Playing PCSX via File
At this point you are ready to play PSone games on your Mac provided that you have a file of a PlayStation game. Simply go to File in the Menu Bar, and select Run ISO (or Run CD if playing on PCSX). A browser window will appear, find the PlayStation file, select it, and click Open. The game should run.
**if you are using PCSX, open the cdrmooby PCSX Plugin folder, copy the cdrmooby.psxplugin, Secondary-Click the PCSX icon to bring up a drop menu. Select "Show Package Contents" and open Contents... Plugins... paste the cdrmooby.psxplugin into the Plugins folder. When you are playing a game from a file, open PCSX, go to Preferences... then click on Plugins. Under the CD-ROM pane, select "cdrmooby disk image driver". When you have a PlayStation file, go to File and select Run CD (⌘R) a Open Image browser will appear. Find the file and click on Open. The game should load.
Downloading PlayStation Games
It's illegal to download PlayStation games, and I'm not obliged to give out links to websites to download. Use your preferred Internet search engine and search for "PlayStation ISOS" or "PlayStation ROMS" and there's quite a few websites that have almost every PlayStation game for download.
Not so fast...
Even if you download a PSone game file... many of the files end in .ECM and PCSX will not run it.
So what do you do if the file extension ends with .ecm? Remember ECM for OS X?
Four
1. Return to the Desktop and open the ECM for OS X folder. Inside this folder is an application called ECM GUI. Open it.
2. A window appears and has some information on it. Click on the Un-ECM bubble first.
3. Click Select File. A browser window appears. Find the .ecm PlayStation file and click Choose.
4. Once you see text in the field at the top, click Begin. Wherever the .ecm file was, there will be a replacement file that excludes the .ecm portion and then it will run perfectly in PCSX.
Issues
If all you see is a black box when you load a game check the Preferences and Graphics Configurations and make sure all of the boxes are unchecked. Also, make sure (if you’re playing from a file) that the file extension doesn’t end with .ecm. And if it still isn't working, go back to the cdrmooby PCSX Plugin folder and open compressIt again.
If PCSX crashes when you select Run CD... reopen and try again.
If PCSX crashes when you select a PlayStation file... reopen and try again.
If PCSX crashes on one particular game try playing another game that does work and then retry the game that wasn’t working. This has helped me the most.
If PCSX crashes on one particular game, try changing the file extension to .ISO, .BIN, TOAST, .IMG, or MDF.
If you ever get an Error message, just quit and reopen PCSX and it should work again.
In some games, things are gone or missing... I haven't found the solution to this issue, but it's only happened on one game so far (tested on Loony Tunes Sheep Raider).
The key is persistence! PCSX/PCSX-Reloaded is stubborn occasionally and you need to continue retry loading the games.
