Mednafen PSX - Possibility to add pbp support?

Libretro Cores
#1

I’m not sure who makes the cores, or ports them, or however that works. I was told the Retroarch team ports them over. If not I apologize in advance.

Some friends recently introduced me to the pbp format which can cut PSX file sizes 25-85% (30-50% on average) which can be run by pretty much any emulator, except mednafen. I asked on their forums if they would add support but they said no.

Curious if that’s something that the RA team could do…OR if there were maybe plans for any other PSX cores like ePSXe or something (since they support pbp files)

Thanks :wink:

#2

Interesting, werent pbp for the psp? You tell me emulators like epsxe and pcsx rearmed can run those too? Smootly?

#3

That’s the same reaction I had. But yep, ePSXe, PCX and pretty much any other emu (as far as I know) except Mednafen funs that format.

Google psx2psp you can convert one to test. I ran Vagrant story which went from 700mb to 70mb and it ran fine in PCSX and ePSXe. Apparently it’s very similar to CHD compression but it was Sony’s own compression which as you mentioned was designed to make PSP games fit on their smaller discs.

To convert simply load up a BIN file and hit convert. Then load the .pbp file in ePSXe or whichever.

#4

I’ll throw my hat in for this, too. Anything to losslessly save space with ISO-based games is a plus in my book.

#5

[QUOTE=NewYears1978;33797]That’s the same reaction I had. But yep, ePSXe, PCX and pretty much any other emu (as far as I know) except Mednafen funs that format.

Google psx2psp you can convert one to test. I ran Vagrant story which went from 700mb to 70mb and it ran fine in PCSX and ePSXe. Apparently it’s very similar to CHD compression but it was Sony’s own compression which as you mentioned was designed to make PSP games fit on their smaller discs.

To convert simply load up a BIN file and hit convert. Then load the .pbp file in ePSXe or whichever.[/QUOTE]

Wow it works better than I expected, I take my hat off to you sir this method just saved me 6gb of space on my android and the games run great. For those interested this tool worked perfectly to convert my psx bins: [http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/playstation/psp-homebrew/psx2psp-v142-convert-psx-games-to-psp/

Remember to also download the “bios” file in the link comments](http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/playstation/psp-homebrew/psx2psp-v142-convert-psx-games-to-psp/)

#6

[QUOTE=talos91;33806]Wow it works better than I expected, I take my hat off to you sir this method just saved me 6gb of space on my android and the games run great. For those interested this tool worked perfectly to convert my psx bins: http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/playstation/psp-homebrew/psx2psp-v142-convert-psx-games-to-psp/[/QUOTE]

So I am going to assume you are using ePSXe now and not retroarch? hehe

#7

Nope using the PCSX Rearmed core in retroarch, it runs those ps1 pbp games smooth as butter on my archos gamepad 2.

#8

I wanted to do that, but there’s no PC core :frowning: They didn’t make a Windows one only ARM :frowning:

#9

Looking at all of the features that have suddenly popped up in the Mednafen PSX core, I have a feeling that it’ll be much more likely that PBP support be put into that core than the PCSX core coming to PC. Having both cores on PC would be preferable, though, for people using lower-end systems.

#10

Except that the mednafen admin over on their forums pretty much told me they aren’t adding pbp support…sounded like ever.

#11

Twinaphex has said he would like to integrate a dynarec into mednafen-psx and vectorize the newly-added upscaling with SSE/NEON, just like Exophase did with PCSX-ReARMed. This would be better and easier to maintain than having the existing PCSX core over on x86.

The upscaling and widescreen hacks that were added are never going to be accepted back into mainline, so adding non-bin/cue formats may be more likely to happen here than in mainline, as well.

#12

Just like how that same person said that widescreen support and resolution increases would never be added?

I specified “Mednafen PSX core” for a reason. I don’t doubt that Mednafen PSX itself will never see any quality-of-life features implemented beyond what’s necessary for 100% accurate emulation. However, even if it is staying relatively up-to-date with the emulator itself accuracy-wise, it’s clear that the Libretro port of it is taking its own approach to extra features.

#13

[QUOTE=bleakassassin;33901]Just like how that same person said that widescreen support and resolution increases would never be added?

I specified “Mednafen PSX core” for a reason. I don’t doubt that Mednafen PSX itself will never see any quality-of-life features implemented beyond what’s necessary for 100% accurate emulation. However, even if it is staying relatively up-to-date with the emulator itself accuracy-wise, it’s clear that the Libretro port of it is taking its own approach to extra features.[/QUOTE]

I didn’t know if the cores were made by other people or not, I think I mentioned that in my first post :slight_smile: I am new to all this Retroarch stuff.

#14

Oh, I’m sorry about that. Welcome!

Yeah, the Libretro cores can vary wildly from the main emulators themselves. Sometimes for the better (Mednafen PSX, for example), other times not so much (the PPSSPP core hasn’t been updated in a long while and probably won’t be again until the next stable release of PPSSPP).

#15

[QUOTE=hunterk;33893]Twinaphex has said he would like to integrate a dynarec into mednafen-psx and vectorize the newly-added upscaling with SSE/NEON, just like Exophase did with PCSX-ReARMed. This would be better and easier to maintain than having the existing PCSX core over on x86.

The upscaling and widescreen hacks that were added are never going to be accepted back into mainline, so adding non-bin/cue formats may be more likely to happen here than in mainline, as well.[/QUOTE] Awesome, what about adding support for pbp to the scan directory function in retroarch? pbp works so well to save space but the scan directory function to add a ps1 tab does not detect that format.

#16

Not going to happen unless pbp has the same sort of predictable identification bits that a regular CD image has. That is, we need to be able to look at the same spot on every file and be able to read a name/code.

#17

The PBP format has the full game name in it for use in the PSP/PS3 menu so you wont even need a database file.

#18

PBP support already added, awesome job devs!

#19

Does this mean I can merge my multi disk games into a single PBP and they will work without issue ?

#20

Yes, Zapeth added multidisc support a few days ago.