Playstation 1 Emulation - ePSXe 1.7.0 & PSX 1.13 FAQ & Walkthrough

**curryking1** · 08-26-2009, 09:36 PM

Notice: Please do not mention any methods to illegally download any copyrighted games or files

Resources & Helpful Links
PCSX2 Emulation FAQ - PS3 Controller on PC FAQ - PS/PS2 Emulation Screens - ePSXe Homepage - pSX Homepage - General ePSXe Plugins - Pete's ePSXe Plugins - ePSXe Custom Shader Info - ePSXe Custom Shader Resources

-Updated Aug 26 2009-

Note: BIOS files are NOT INCL. at the following links

ePSXe w/ necessary files... plugins incl.: Pete's OGL2, Soft, DSound, CDR... Eternal SPU, SPU Lite... Sapu's CDR... default pad plugin... custom shaders for use with Pete's OGL2
Download ePSXe 1.7.0 here!

pSX w/ necessary files... no plugins required
Download pSX 1.13 here!

Click here for more ePSXe plugins

Click here for Pete's ePSXe Plugins

Click here to download zlib1.dll for ePSXe

(please download 7zip (FREE freeware compression program) to open .7z files and other compressed file extensions (e.g. zip, rar) quickly and efficiently)

-Updated Aug 28 2009-

What is ePSXe/pSX?

ePSXe and pSX are emulators designed to run Playstation 1 games on PCs. ePSXe and pSX are available in Linux, Mac, and Windows flavours.

ePSXe is an acronym for 'Enhanced PSX Emulator.' This means that ePSXe has, with the appropriate plugins and settings, the capacity to greatly increase the image quality of your Playstation games. However, to use these settings you will need appropriate hardware. The preferable solutions are a relatively modern Nvidia GPU and more or less any low-end CPU from recent years or greater. ePSXe can also be configured to run games without 'enhanced' image quality for use on PCs that don't have the capability to run the emulator in the enhanced modes (e.g. Intel graphics chips are not capable of handling the enhanced configuration settings).

pSX is another amazing Playstation emulator. pSX is specifically designed to render Playstation games on PC as accurately as possible. Therefore, you will not see greatly 'enhanced' graphics with this solution. Nevertheless, pSX is a great option for emulating Playstation games. Similar to ePSXe running in a 'non-enhanced' mode, pSX will offer great performance on even the lowest end computers.

Both emulators have extremely high compatibility rates and can perform exceptionally well on even low-range hardware of today or from recent years. We will see an example of why having two great Playstation emulation solutions is advantageous soon.

Can I use ePSXe/pSX?

Yes, you may use ePSXe or pSX provided you own a Playstation and the games you wish to play. You will need to extract a BIOS file from your Playstation and get it onto your PC in order for ePSXe or pSX to work. This process will not be described here.

How do I choose which one to use?

You should choose either based on only your own preference.

The only exception to that rule is when a particular game 'breaks' or refuses to run on one emulator. The best solution is to simply try the other and see if you can start/continue playing. An example would be the following: Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit does not work on pSX 1.13. However, the same game works perfectly on ePSXe. Examples in the other direction also exist.

The memory card formats (.mcr & .gme) ARE interchangeable between emulators, so serially continuing in a game may be possible if one emulator hangs during emulation. Save States ARE NOT interchangeable between emulators.

ePSXe & pSX 1.13 in curryking's experience!!

You see... it is quite simple. My philosophy on the matter is that Playstation games are awesome. The only thing that could make Playstation games more awesome is Playstation games on demand, all in one place, and even more accessible and possibly even with enhanced visuals. There is little else, if anything at all, I could ask for regarding Playstation.

-Updated Aug 28 2009-

Mission Statement of the following ePSXe and pSX Guides

The goal of this document is to help those interested in playing their own Playstation games on their PC. The guides to each emulator are designed to offer settings to offer the highest compatibility, performance, visual quality (with and without higher internal resolutions), and accuracy of emulation over as many games as possible. To that end, I wish anyone who uses this guide the best in their zeal to play Playstation games on PC

-Updated Mar 24 2010-

Getting Started... & things you may want to know...

1. This guide will ONLY be focusing on using ePSXe or pSX on WINDOWS (XP, Vista, 7)

2. Both emulators use the same memory card format, so you can exchange and alternate memory cards and files saved on memory cards between the two.

3. When you start up the emulator, it will automatically create memory cards in the 'memcard' folders in your ePSXe/pSX folders at the location and with the names listed in the configuration (Config --> Memory Cards). You can create a fresh blank memory card whenever you wish in this way.

4. It is a good idea to make ISOs of your game discs when you play. Both ePSXe and pSX have functionality to run games from ISOs stored on your hard drive. In addition to the extra performance running a game from a hard disk drive (HDD) has, you will also not run the risk of damaging your precious Playstation format discs as they may not be designed to run in PC CD/DVD drives for extended periods of time.

4a. Avoid using Daemon tools/image file mounting programs with ePSXe and pSX. These programs may interfere with ePSXe's or pSX's processes and reduce compatibility or performance. It is advised to simply use the GUIs and plugins included with ePSXe and pSX to pick and play CD image files from your HDD.

5. To install ePSXe plugins, put newly downloaded plugins (XXXXXXX.dll files) in the plugins folder of ePSXe. The location will look approximately like the following: C:\Program Files\ePSXe or pSX\plugins\. If you ePSXe folder is located elsewhere, simply substitute C:\Program Files\....\ with the location of your ePSXe folder.

To designate new ePSXe plugins for use, make sure to use the GUI. Select 'Config' and click on Video, Sound, or Cdrom to select the plugin you wish to use for each purpose. When you first start ePSXe you will be asked to use the Wizard Guide to configure plugins and you may wish to do so. If you would like to start the Wizard again for configurations, select 'Config --> Wizard Guide.'

8. You NEED a PS1 BIOS to use either ePSXe or pSX. There is no way around this. If you have a BIOS file, place it in the BIOS folder of ePSXe or pSX at C:\Program Files\ePSXe or pSX\bios\.

9. If you are having difficulties making save states or creating memory cards in pSX or ePSXe, then 1. make sure ePSXe or pSX is configured to 'Run as Administrator' in it's properties box. To enable this right click the emulator .exe or it's shortcut --> Properties --> Compatibility --> check mark 'Run as Administrator. Additionally, make sure the folders storing save states or memory cards or the memory cards and save states themselves are not set as 'Read Only' (this will impair saving capabilities). To avoid this right click the parent folder containing the files (or the files themselves if they are individually set to read only) --> Properties --> make sure the Read Only checkbox is empty or has a aqua green square, not a checkmark.

10. If you are having difficulty with saving and memory cards, please consult this post by Matt. You may also use the same method to create new, blank memory cards. This capability to produce memory cards is native to both ePSXe and pSX.

11. It is a good idea to use the console when having problems with ePSXe. The console will log the errors of the emulator to help guide you to finding a solution. Enable the console by clicking 'Run --> Enable logs.' The console in pSX is enabled by default.

If you do not understand the technical descriptions described from the console, you can always write down the error(s) and describe the issue you are having in your game. Then you can take these notes and search them with Google, post them on Playstation emulation forums, or even post them in this thread to receive some help.

It is very likely that someone has experienced the same issue you have with virtually any PSX game in either ePSXe or pSX--these programs have been around for a while, and hey, Playstation games are popular

--so on the vast internet it is almost sure the issue has been discussed and with a solution described to resolve said issue.

12. Memory card formats (.mcr & .gme) are interchangeable between ePSXe and pSX. Save States, however, are not.

13. Whenever a game asks you to save before switching disks, ALWAYS take the opportunity to do so. This will reduce the risk of game data loss during advancing through a game over a disc swap. -- IMPORTANT NOTE: ePSXe 1.7.0's built-in disc switcher is known to cause issues (File --> Change Disc operation), be sure not to depend on it to switch discs. This is why it is very important to save your game before changing discs, especially in ePSXe 1.7.0.

14. You may need to download zlib1.dll to get ePSXe 1.7.0 running. After downloading it, simply extract and place zlib1.dll in your ePSXe folder and in the same folder ePSXe.exe is located in. Download zlib1.dll here!

15. Having controller input problems? A game not responding to configured controls? The game you may be playing might only support the original Playstation controller, and not the Dualshock. Go to ePSXe's or pSX's controller configuration menu, and switch from a Dualshock or Analog setting to the Digital controller (in ePSXe, press F5 to alternate between Dualshock and Digital controller, NOT THE SAME IN pSX, F5 in pSX is used to quick save!)... e.g. Final Fantasy VII requires you to play using the Digital controller setting... on the other hand, games may require the Dualshock controller setting e.g. Ape Escape games

16. Some games, to work 100%, may need special command lines. For example, -i or -no auto. These command lines are applied to shortcuts to your ePSXe executable. They can increase compatibility with certain games or let you pass certain points you wouldn't otherwise be able to access. Please also note command lines are just like special settings, and they may be helpful in some games and deteriorative in others, so please use them appropriately and as cautiously as you would other settings. Please see the 'Special Command Lines' section for ePSXe for more information.

...more suggestions as they come to mind...

-Updated Aug 27 2009-

How to Install Newer Versions of ePSXe/pSX

You won't need to know this because you won't need to install newer versions of ePSXe or pSX. The current executables included in this post are all the latest materials for Playstation emulation. These materials have not been updated in quite some time and likely will not ever be updated again, of course barring some unforeseeable circumstances. The plugins included are also the latest models of their type (e.g. the Eternal SPU, Pete's OGL and Soft, and Sapu's Cdrom).

To find the latest emulators and plugins, please scroll up to the top of this post.

However, you may be interested in Installing ePSXe Plugins, alternate to the ones provided in the ePSXe and pSX download links here, that you may have downloaded from elsewhere. There are alternate graphics, sound, and Cd plugins you may wish to try. There are graphics plugins which use DirectX instead of OpenGL for example (please note the quality and/or accuracy of emulation will not be consistent over all plugins).

1. Download new plugins, such as in the links provided at the top of this page leading to ngemu.com or pbernert.com. You will have to extract the plugins from the archives provided. Please download winrar or 7zip to do this. The freeware 7zip is linked to at the top of this post.
2. Locate your ePSXe folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\ePSXe\plugins\)
3. Copy and paste your plugins into your ePSXe plugins folder
4. Double click your ePSXe.exe and click 'Config ---> Wizard' or Video, Sound, or Cdrom and use the GUIs provided to designate the appropriate plugins

-Updated Mar 24 2010-

ePSXe Main Window Guide

***Please note: pictures included are consistent with the 1.7.0 version of ePSXe, these pictures may not apply to older versions

Executable -- ePSXe 1.7.0

Main Window (w/ console) & Controls - File, Run, Config, Options

File
'Run CDROM' -- Run CD from assigned disc drive (from CDROM plugin settings)
'Run ISO' -- Pick Playstation game image file (e.g. ISO, BIN, may also run from CUE or SUB) from hard drive
'Run PS-EXE' -- Runs an .exe file (I imagine of specialized sorts for ePSXe)
'Run BIOS' -- Runs the Playstation BIOS (you may access your memory card files and perform delete/copy functions through the Playstation BIOS)
'Change Disc' -- Changes disc ePSXe is running from, used to swap discs to continue some games (you may choose to change disc to/from CD drive or ISO)
'Exit' -- Closes the ePSXe emulator completely

Run
'Continue' -- Continue a 'paused' game session (a game must have been running, and then 'escaped' to the main menu, for this function to operate--press ESC to 'escape' a Playstation game to pause emulation at any time
'Reset' -- Resets the emulator and begins emulation from beginning
'Save State (F1)' -- Press F1 to save States, this will save your game at any point in any PSX game you wish, press ESC and use the GUI here to create a Save States, or press F1 during emulation to create a Save State, choose slot 1 to 5 in which to create Save States
'Load State (F3)' -- Press F3 to load Save States, this will load your game at any point in any PSX game you made a Save State (note: does not appear to work correctly in Policenauts), press ESC and use the GUI here to load a Save State, or press F3 during emulation to load a Save State
'Enable Logs' -- enables the debug console, useful for identifying errors in ePSXe's processes

***NOTE: You may press F2 to cycle between states during emulation, to a maximum of 5 Save States, press F1 to save, and F3 to load -- these keys are close together so always be careful while saving/loading/switching Save States
***NOTE: Save/Load Save State is done on per game basis, so in a multidisc game each Save State only corresponds to the respective disc (you may have up to 5*X save states in a X disc game, but Save States do not work across discs)
***NOTE: Save States MAY OR MAY NOT work correctly in a choice few games, or may infrequently result in locking the player at a particular scene/area, so please be cautious when using save states. Although these errors are infrequent, it is a good idea to use the Memory Card functions in addition to Save States (or Save States in addition to Memory Card saving) in ePSXe to further insure yourself against game data loss. ALSO PLEASE NOTE it is best to save on the Memory Card FIRST, and save on a Save State SECOND (please see Matt's post for more details)

Config
'Wizard Guide' - use the user friendly Wizard Guide to re-assign plugins and manage settings
'Video' -- Select this to manage video plugin settings
'Sound' -- Select this to manage sound plugins settings
'Cdrom' -- Select this to manage CD plugin settings
'Bios' -- Select this to manage BIOS settings
'Netplay' -- Select this to manage Netplay settings (not discussed in this walkthrough)
'Memory Cards' -- Select this to manage Memory Cards
'Game Pad' -- Select this to manage controller settings, use Ports 1/2 to configure for player 1/2, to add up to 4 players checkmark the 'Multitap' option

Options
'Auto load ppf files enabled' -- Auto-loads useful patch ppf files to increase Playstation game emulation compatibility and accuracy
'Country' -- Designate the primary mode of emulation between NTSC/PAL or allow ePSXe to autodetect region format

Recommended ePSXe Special Command Lines

To apply special parameters for ePSXe, please follow these instructions:

1. Highlighted in BLUE is the shortcut to ePSXe 1.7.0 executable, the executable itself is highlighted in ORANGE.
1a. If you do not already have a shortcut, you can easily create one. Simply right click the ePSXe.exe icon, highlighted in ORANGE, and, using the context sensitive dropdown menu, select 'Create Shortcut.' A fresh shortcut will be created in the same directory as your .exe and will be ready to modify.
2. Right click the shortcut, highlight in BLUE, and select 'properties' using the context sensitive dropdown menu.
3. In the newly opened window, select the 'Shortcut' tab. Next, find the 'target' line, highlighted in RED. Here you will see the exact location of your ePSXe executables, constrained by quotation marks on either side.
4. AFTER the quotation marks, put a space and then type in your desired command line parameter (e.g. -i, -noauto). In the picture below, you can see an example finished target command line modified with the '-i' parameter.

Common Command Lines for ePSXe
Condition "-i" -- ePSXe is put into a mode of higher compatibility ('i' may mean interpreter), not recommended for slower PCs... helps in Legend of Dragoon on ePSXe 1.7.0 to advance through certain scenes
Condition "-noauto" -- disables automatically applied patches... helpful in older versions of ePSXe with some games such as Chrono Cross

Recommended ePSXe General and Plugin Settings

Graphics -- Use the primary windows to select the plugin, then press configure to access the secondary windows to manage settings
Graphics -- Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.9 -- Regardless of settings, it is a good idea to have the 'fullscreen resolution' at your monitors maximum resolution to increase PQ -- Use higher 'X, Y internal resolution' to increase PQ -- ATI cards will not support the highest internal resolutions and neither the 'faster render modes (use render modes 1 or 2 to increase performance)' -- Choose a 'texture filtering' option to smooth textures [although this may drastically reduce performance in some areas of games (e.g. FF VIII world map) or cause artifacting (e.g. green lines on FF VII town backgrounds)] -- Custom shaders will be discussed in the quote box following the pSX emulation settings section -- Turn on 'Scanlines' if you wish to give your game an interlaced look reminiscent of typical CRT displays (the textbox to type in a number will tell ePSXe how bright to make the scanlines, 0 being the darkest, 255 being the brightest... too low or too high brightness of scanlines will dim/washout the screen respectively)

***Please Note: If you get one or more of the following errors when using the above settings in the Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.9...:

1. 'Render Mode' is set to '0: Render to pbuffer-texture (standard) --> Error: 'Missing render texture extension!' and 'No pixel format available!'
2. 'Render Mode' is set to '1: Render to pbuffer, copy to texture (support by most cards) --> Error: 'No buffer available!' and a white screen/screen partially covered with white block
3. 'Render Mode' is set to '2: Use Framebuffer object (fastest mode, if supported) --> Error: blank screen slowly alternating between grey and black

Then you may try one of the following to solve your issue:

1. If you have the third error, try switch the render mode to '0' or '1' and/or changing the internal X and Y resolution to 1 and 1 OR 1 and 2 respectively, this issue may be because you have an older ATI/AMD graphics card (this issue may still recur with newer AMD graphics cards, unknown if this is still the case)
2. If you have one of the other two errors OR if you have all three errors: you may be using a very low-end graphics card or Intel integrated onboard graphics and you need to default to the 'Alternate Graphics' method described below

*modern Nvidia cards should have none of the above issues and users with these cards should be able to use any settings under the Pete's OpenGL2 graphics plugin

Alternative Graphics -- P.E.Op.S Soft Driver 1.18 -- Use a 'stretching filter' to smooth out rough edges, use 'colour dithering' to modestly increase PQ without sacrificing integrity of the native PSX resolution -- regardless of settings, it is a good idea to have the 'fullscreen resolution' at your monitors maximum resolution to increase PQ

Sound & CDROM
Sound -- Eternal SPU Plugin 1.41
CDROM -- Sapu's CD-ROM Plugin 1.10

***NOTE: Also make sure the 'Wait for XA Buffer is free' is UNTICKED, this will make FMVs audio and video play with far fewer hiccups, you have to select another option such as Thread or Timer to untick this box

BIOS, Memory Cards & Config Controller
BIOS -- Use the GUI to select the appropriate Playstation BIOS
Memory Cards -- Use the GUI to select the appropriate memory card files in .mcr or .gme format
Config Controller -- Configure controller settings between Digital PS, Digital/Analog PS, Dualshock PS, Mouse PS, and Namco GunCon controllers

***NOTE: Some games ONLY support the Digital (original) Playstation controller, press F5 in-game to alternate between Dualshock and Digital controller settings (alternatively, use the controller settings page at Config --> Gamepad --> Port 1 --> Pad 1 and change the dropdown to the appropriate setting for the game you are playing)

***Click here for a guide on how to use the Playstation 3 SIXAXIS or Dualshock 3 on Windows PC

-Updated Mar 24 2010-

Recommended pSX General and Plugin Settings

***Please note: pictures included are consistent with the 1.13 version of pSX, these pictures may not apply to older versions

Executable -- pSX 1.13

Main Window (w/ console) & Controls - File
File
'Insert CD image' -- Pick Playstation game image file (e.g. ISO, BIN, may also run from CUE or SUB) from hard drive
'Insert CD Drive' -- Pick a drive containing a Playstation game disc, can be a real or virtual drive
'Eject CD' -- Ejects CD during emulation (can be used to skip FMVs in games like FF IX)
'Reset' -- Resets the emulator and begins emulation from beginning
'Load state' -- Use GUI and Windows Explorer to load a state, can be used to load states outside of pSX's assigned save state folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\pSX\saves)
'Save state' -- Use GUI and Windows Explorer to save a state, can be used to save states outside of pSX's assigned save state folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\pSX\saves)
'Configuration' -- Takes you to the Configuration menu
'Convert .BIN to/from .CDZ' -- Converts image files between the two formats
'Language' -- Choose from a variety of languages to display the pSX GUI in
'Exit' -- Closes the pSX emulator completely

Quicksave & Debug
Quick
'Quick load 1 to 5 (F1 to F5)' -- Press F1 to F5 to load Save States, this will load a Save State at any point in a PSX game you wish, press ESC to use the GUI here to load a Save State, or press F1 to F5 during emulation to load a Save State (F1 to F5 correspond to save state slots 1 to 5)
'Quick save 1 to 5 (F6 to F5)' -- Press F6 to F10 to create a Save State, this will save your game at any point in any PSX game you wish, press ESC and use the GUI here to create Save States, or press F6 to F10 during emulation to create Save States (F6 to F10 correspond to Save State slots 1 to 5)
Debug
'Monitor' -- Options: r3000, r5900, vu0, vu1, allow debugging of the listed Playstation emulated compartments

***NOTE: You may press create a maximum of 5 Save States, press F1 to F5 to load, and F6 to F10 to save -- these keys are close together so always be careful while saving/loading/switching Save States
***NOTE: Save/Load Save State is done on per game basis, so in a multidisc game each Save State only corresponds to the respective disc (you may have up to 5*X save states in a X disc game, but Save States do not work across discs)
***NOTE: Save States MAY OR MAY NOT work correctly in a choice few games, or may infrequently result in locking the player at a particular scene/area, so please be cautious when using save states. Although these errors are infrequent, it is a good idea to use the Memory Card functions in addition to Save States (or Save States in addition to Memory Card saving) in pSX to further insure yourself against game data loss. ALSO PLEASE NOTE it is best to save on the Memory Card FIRST, and save on a Save State SECOND (please see Matt's post for more details)

Recommended pSX General and Plugin Settings

Recommended Graphics, Sound & CDROM -- Use the Main Window GUI and press 'File --> Configuration' to access pSX Configuration, and then use the Tabs to navigate to the appropriate sections

Graphics -- Check 'Bilinear Interpolation' to increase PQ without sacrificing integrity of the native PSX resolution, set 'full screen resolution' to your monitor's native resolution for maximum PQ, 'Pause when not focused' will automatically pause emulation if you change the primary window/focus to another program, 'Status Icons' will display info informing you of when pSX is reading a game disc and performing some other functions, check 'Vsync' for maximum PQ, use the sliders for 'Gamma, Brightness, Contrast' to adjust colour settings
Sound -- Select the device to output sound, make sure to check off 'Reverb' and 'Interpolate' to increase the sound quality, make sure to check 'Sync Sound' ('Sync Sound' is absolutely necessary for pSX to emulate Playstation games accurately), use the sliders to adjust latency of regular and XA (exclusive Playstation audio format) sound
CDROM -- Select the 'Driver' and 'Subcode' reading settings

BIOS, Memory Cards &Controllers
BIOS -- Use the GUI to select the appropriate Playstation BIOS
Memory Cards -- Use the GUI to select the appropriate memory card files in .mcr or .gme format
Config Controller -- Configure controller settings between Normal pad, Digital/Analog pad, Dualshock pad, and Namco GunCon controllers

***NOTE: Some games ONLY support the Digital (original) Playstation controller, go to File --> Configuration --> Controllers to change the controller type to the appropriate setting for the game you are playing

***Click here for a guide on how to use the Playstation 3 SIXAXIS or Dualshock 3 on Windows PC

Paths & Miscellaneous (Misc)
Paths -- Select the default pathing for pSX to search for 'State saves,' 'Memory cards,' 'CD images,' and 'Screenshots' (the default directories are (C:\.....\pSX\saves\ + C:\.....\pSX\cards\ + C:\.....\pSX\cdimages\ + C:\.....\pSX\screenshots\ respectively... denoting simply 'saves' will default pSX to save in the folder 'saves' within the pSX directory
Misc -- Select the hotkeys for various functions, assign the function of the 'ESC' key

-Updated Aug 29 2009-

How to use Custom Shaders with ePSXe and Pete's OGL2 Graphics Plugin

***Please note: pictures included are consistent with the 1.7.0 version of ePSXe & the video plugin Pete's OGL2 Driver 1.9, these pictures may not apply to older versions

**To use Custom Shaders you must be using Pete's OpenGL2 Video Plugin

1. First start by downloading the custom shader files. You can download the files by visiting this link or the ePSXe Custom Shader Resources link at the top of the page.
2. Extract the contents of your download to a location which you find convenient. One option is to extract all of your shaders into a single directory in your ePSXe folder. ***NOTE: shader files are all kept in pairs. The pairs are as follows: a .vp and .fp file OR a .slf and slv file. It is important to know these file extensions for the shader you wish to use, the purpose for which we will see soon.

Also, you must keep these pairs in separate sub-directories in your 'shader' directory for them to work correctly (e.g. C:\....\ePSXe\customshaders\Shader-n\[shader files for shader 'n']). The pairs are already together in individual folders, so you needn't match them yourself. An example of how to organize your directory is given as the first picture in the picture guide row below.
3. After organizing your shaders into convenient locations, open ePSXe, click 'Config --> Video' and select 'Pete's OGL2 Driver 1.9' from the dropdown menu and select 'Configure' to reach the video settings menu.
4. To begin choosing a shader we start by looking at the area enclosed by the GREEN BOX. This is the panel to control 'Fullscreen filters.' First plan which shader you wish to use, and take note of it's file extensions. Using the dropdown enclosed by the RED BOX, choose the appropriate shading method as follows:
4a. If the pair is .vp & .fp, choose '3. ARB program (gpuPeteOGL2 vp/fp)' from the dropdown
4b. If the pair is .slf & .slv, choose '5. GLSlang files (gpuPeteOGL2 slv/slf)' from the dropdown
5. After selecting the appropriate setting from the dropdown, click the '...' GUI key highlighted with the BLUE ARROW to open a new window. You may use this simple GUI to type in the specific directory address holding the pair of shader files if you have it handy, or you may click the '...' GUI key highlighted by the PURPLE TRIANGLE to use Windows Explorer to aid you.

If you chose to use the '...' GUI key, then with Windows Explorer locate the directory of the shader you wish to use (e.g. if the pair of shader files are located in C:\...\ePSXe\Customshaders\Shader-n\, simply navigate to that folder and double-click it in Windows Explorer). After this step your shader will be functioning the next time you start ePSXe using the OGL2 video plugin.
6. If you wish to adjust the 'strength' of the shader, click the dropdown next to the 'Shader Level' text highlighted by the ORANGE OVAL within the GREEN BOX. To assign the OGL2 plugin to use the lowest strength of the shader, select '1: Minimum' from the dropdown. To assign the OGL2 plugin to use the highest strength of the shader, select '4: Maximum' from the dropdown.

***NOTE: Some shaders come with easily adjustable settings within the .slf file such as with the .slf file of the Cartoon Shader III of Class B or C Cartoon Shaders. For example, the C-III shader allows you to manually adjust contrast and saturation, and B-III allows you to adjust contrast, saturation, and the intensity/sensitivity/thickness of the Cartoon Shaders' black borders. To edit these files simply open the .slf files as 'Microsoft Notepad' or other simple text documents.

Original Shader Folder Name & Effects
Guest's Shader Collection
Storybook Shaders I & II -- simulates the look of worn, tan-coloured paper
ColoredStorybook shader -- simulates the same effect as above, except with more shades of different colours
SaL GLSL shader -- smoothes out the entire screen and edges by anti-aliasing
OGL2Lookup Shader -- used as a diagnostic to check game resolutions (will give you a big, green screen)
Color shader -- allows user to adjust RGB channel intensity, brightness, contrast, saturation (use the .slf file in a notepad editor to change settings)
Cartoon Shaders Class C -- will draw black lines between contrasting objects and colours to simulate a cartoon, can adjust contrast and saturation with Shader III within Class C
Cartoon Shaders Class B -- a more intensive but accurate simulation of the above, can adjust contrast, saturation, and intensity/sensitivity/thickness of Cartoon Shaders' black borders with Shader III of Class B
Advanced Cartoon Shaders I & II -- employ much stronger and more vivid techniques to apply a cartoon look
AA-Color Shader -- applies some type of anti-aliasing, best suited for PCs running ePSXe & the OGL2 plugin at lower resolutions
4xGLSLScale shader -- applies anti-aliasing on sprites/textures, best on sprite games and high internal resolutions
4xGLSLHqFilter shader -- applies anti-aliasing on sprites/textures, best on combined sprite/3D games and high internal resolutions
4xGLSL shader -- applies anti-aliasing on sprites/textures, best on sprite games and high internal resolutions
2xGLSLHqFilter shader -- applies anti-aliasing on sprites/textures, best on sprite games and mid-level internal resolutions
2xGLSL shader -- applies anti-aliasing on sprites/textures, best on sprite games and mid-level internal resolutions

ShadX's Natural Vision Shader (Modded by SimoneT)
Natural -- increases saturation of colours

SimoneT's Bump Map Shader
BumpMAP -- simulates the effect of bump mapping by adding superficial contrast on textures on 3D objects and 2D backgrounds

-Updated Aug 28 2009-

Game Specific Help & Tips

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and many Square Games - for perfect emulation, use 'Eternal SPU' for the Sound plugin --> make sure 'Update before accessing register' is checked (***These are recommended settings anyway, they shouldn't impact emulation of other games under ePSXe so for convenience you may decide to leave this as default)
Legend of Dragoon, The - issue parameter "-i" in the command line for your ePSXe 1.7.0 shortcut, will help advance through some scenes in ePSXe 1.7.0
Metal Gear Solid - in ePSXe, to get perfect emulation use 'Eternal SPU' for the Sound plugin --> Set 'Audio Out Method' to SPUasync, 'Async Mode' to Simple, and check the boxes with 'Update before accessing register' and 'SPU IRQ - Wait CPU action' (***These are recommended settings anyway, they shouldn't impact emulation of other games under ePSXe so for convenience you may decide to leave this as default)
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit - use ePSXe, does not work correctly in pSX (causes 100% CPU usage)
Policenauts - use ePSXe, there may be issues changing from Disc 1 to Disc 2 under pSX according to this post by Freeman_JI -- Save States do not work correctly in Policenauts (you may make a folder named 'S' within your Save States folder to get Save States to write to disc, but upon loading a Save State you will be stuck in a scene and without music

Changelog
Aug 28 2010
1. Added a command line section for ePSXe

Mar 24 2010
1. Added suggestion about controller switching between Dualshock/Digital in both ePSXe and pSX

Jan 5 2010
1. Added some information on errors which can be had with the Pete's OGL2 graphics plugin on some hardware

Dec 8 2009
1. Some minor housekeeping things like grammar and made some stuff a little more explicit and hopefully easier to understand in the 'Getting Started' section

Oct 21 2009
1. Made a very, very important change to the sound settings section of ePSXe (added recommendation to untick the XA buffer checkbox)

Oct 6 2009
1. Changed ePSXe Sound Settings to give more information
2. Changed ePSXe Sound Settings, Eternal SPU Plugin settings, from 'Simple' to 'Smooth' for better emulation. See the ePSXe Sound & CDROM settings section for details.

**curryking1** · 08-26-2009, 09:36 PM

Reserved if necessary...

**curryking1** · 08-26-2009, 09:37 PM

Reserved......

***masteratt*** · 08-27-2009, 12:51 AM

You should choose either based on only your own preference.

PSX fo' life

F the "enhanced" PS1 games, old/ classic look FTW.

As for Memory Card, I've just been using the "save current state" or "quick save" options within PSX emulator.
No harm in these, right?

**Kiwi** · 08-27-2009, 01:59 AM

I personally use the memory card way, but I doubt there's any problems with using save states. For the most recent version of ePSXe, there's a particular way of setting up the memory cards, otherwise they won't save data. So you may want to put this somewhere in one of your posts, curry.

This is from a FAQ thread on emuforums:

I saved my file in the emulator..but when i replay the game later, my saves aren't there!

* Open the emulator and go to Tools > Enable Logs (if you haven't already) which will enable the logger window (the "DOS window" behind the gameplay screen). Now restart ePSXe and start the game again. If you see "MEMCARD HAS NOT WRITTEN TO DISK" then restart the emulator, go to Config > Memory Cards and confirm each card's location and file name. You can type whatever you want; the default is simply memcards\epsxe000.mcr -- simply confirm this window and restart ePSXe to play again.

ePSXe holds the memory cards in memory while playing, and when the emulator closes it writes it to the actual memory card file. So, here's what you can do:

* After you save your game, make sure to exit the emulator properly--this means pressing escape to exit to the GUI, then closing the GUI. Do not just close the "DOS window".
* If you use save states, use them after you save to the memory card. If you do save state then memory card save, it will mess up your memory card saves when you reload the save state. in other words, the correct procedure would be to first save to the memory card, and then save the state.

**curryking1** · 08-27-2009, 02:44 AM

Thanks man. I'll work some more on this tomorrow, and I'll add that in for sure.

As for Memory Card, I've just been using the "save current state" or "quick save" options within PSX emulator.
No harm in these, right?

Nope. Only very rarely will it break in ePSXe/PSX. Only as often as the memcards themselves will break, so really you're not losing or gaining any security.

Best bet is to use both... or at least that's what I do.

For games I play often I have 4 or 5 save states per disc. Over all games, I have 7 memory cards. Not all cards are full, it just happened like that somehow. Everything is named appropriately...

I have a savestate right before the ending scene where Cloud Omnislashes Sephiroth into oblivion (literally).

Oh savestates...

***masteratt*** · 08-27-2009, 09:17 PM

Hey curry, after you PM'ed me about Freeman's warning that I skipped over for some reason, I switched to ePSXE (from PSX) and I gotta say PSX looked much better.

In full screen especially, despite me putting all the settings to max quality, video/ cutscene and text quality is worse in ePSXE (video/ cutscene less sharp and darker and text is WAYY to jaggy) when compared to PSX1.13 (where cutscenes are nice and colourful, and the text is smooth and easy to read).

So is there a plug-in to improve the full screen quality for ePSXE?

**Kiwi** · 08-27-2009, 09:38 PM

There's a ton of settings you can fiddle about with to improve the quality. It's really just a case of trying them all out, and seeing which best fit your setup. You can also download some pretty nice shaders. This is how I have mine at the moment.

***masteratt*** · 08-27-2009, 09:50 PM

When i copied your settings i got a "missing custom files!" error but anyway yes in window mode it looks better than PSX but my eyes get tired quick on window mode so i was looking to improve it's full screen performance and i know there are probably lots of stuff i can do to make that happen so i was asking curry where i should go

**Kiwi** · 08-27-2009, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by masteratt

When i copied your settings i got a "missing custom files!" error but anyway yes in window mode it looks better than PSX but my eyes get tired quick on window mode so i was looking to improve it's full screen performance and i know there are probably lots of stuff i can do to make that happen so i was asking curry where i should go

OK, the reason why you're getting that error is because of the fullscreen filter option that you selected. The one that says "3. ARB program", or something.

That's where the shaders come in. So if you want to try it out without the shaders, then turn that option off. If you want to use shaders, then you can download some from here. Then all you'd have to do is click the box with 3 dots next to the drop down box, and find the shaders that you've downloaded. You have to change the drop down option depending on the extension of the shader. ARB for files ending in .vp or .fp, and GLSlang for anything ending in .slv or .slf.

***masteratt*** · 08-27-2009, 09:58 PM

hm, didnt like those shaders so just selected the 'smoother' one (one option under yours).

woot, smoothing worked. a bit more blurry but MUCH like PSX now. awesome.

**curryking1** · 08-27-2009, 10:10 PM

Also masteratt if you want to use ePSXe and still have the native resolution of the games, you can use OGL2 and use Level 1 of the X and Y resolution (regular PSX res).

Or you can use the Pete's Soft Plugin.

For OGL2 I like the SAL shader the best, just AA or whatever.

For Pete's Soft plugin I use the Super2xSAL (on my laptop, can't handle high internal res or OGL2 at all).

Correction: I use SuperEagle Stretching, not Super2xSAL. The other stretching modes cause discolouration in FMVs and impact the smoothness of colour gradients, SuperEagle does not.

Neither is necessary.

***D3adcell*** · 08-27-2009, 10:13 PM

I have tried this a few time for a few games, final fantasy 7, chrono cross, and vagrant story. I could get them to run ok sometimes, but then at others they would have glitches in them or something weird would happen. Though that has been a while since I used it. Now I have a ps3 I can use them on though.

**Kiwi** · 08-27-2009, 10:15 PM

Pretty much every RPG I've tried out on ePSXe has some kind of problems. I think the only one that's been OK so far is Star Ocean. Maybe it's just my crappy laptop.

***D3adcell*** · 08-27-2009, 10:16 PM

Yeah I was also running on a laptop. Though I had a really good setup, but something with those games was weird. Soul Reaver did run fine though.

**curryking1** · 08-27-2009, 10:20 PM

I'll post some settings in like an hour or two which work on basically everything

Except Legend of Dragoon... no idea wtf is up with LoD. It works perfectly except I can't get past one scene....

Edit - Btw, it's best to have a Nvidia card for this. With an ATI card I think it works as well except you can't put the internal resolution as high and the performance is a bit lower.

**curryking1** · 08-29-2009, 02:34 AM

Alright... finished the guide pretty much. Not bad for 3 days, right? That's what happens when you have free time

If anyone is using it and finds any errors, or thinks something is ambiguous or should be added, let me know.

Game specific stuff would be great, I'm sure there could be lots to add there, I wouldn't know nearly the half of it I'm sure.

Edit -- I should make a contents box... shouldn't I... there is always tomorrow =D