How to use and configure a PS2 emulator on PC (2024)

Feel like getting some nostalgia for the best PlayStation 2 games that weren’t released for PC? Don’t worry, today we will teach you how to emulate these games.

Do you want to have that nostalgia with the best PlayStation 2 games that weren’t released for PC? Don’t worry, today we will teach you how to emulate these games and if your PC is strong enough, even play them in much higher resolutions, such as Full HD or even 4K.

Remembering that the performance of each game will vary a little bit and what will influence the resolution and amount of FPS you see will be your PC, then the more processing power it has, the better!

How to emulate PS2 (PlayStation 2) on PC

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So let’s go to our tutorial on how to emulate the PlayStation 2 on your PC, some programs and files will be needed for you to be able to do the emulation, I will follow step by step presenting each program to make it simpler for you!

1 – Download PCSX2

The first step to do the PS2 emulation on your PC is to download PCSX2, it is probably the most famous console emulator currently and also the most reliable. You will probably run any PS2 game with this emulator.

Download PCSX2

you can also run this same emulator on both Linux and macOS, but the steps will be different (of course), so I let you know.

2 – Download the PS2 BIOS

This step is extremely important, without this BIOS you can not run any game by the emulator. You can download the BIOS from several sites because it is easy to find, but if you are not sure where to download it, I’ll leave the link below where we downloaded it.

Download PS2 Bios

3 – Install the PCSX2

  • To install is pretty simple, just open the executable you downloaded in the first step and install, note that you can choose the installation location, I for example decided to install on my Local Disk D because it is easier to get there when needed.
  • Create the bios folder inside the installation folder
  • To do this it is very simple, just access the PCSX2 installation location on your PC and inside the main folder create a folder called “bios” (without quotes), like in the image below. The default installation location is C: Program FilesPCSX2.
  • After creating the track, move the PS2 BIOS that you downloaded in the second step of this tutorial into the folder, in my case I am using the bios scph10000.bin.

4 – Start and configure PCSX2

  • The next step is to open the emulator and make some settings that are required at the first startup of the program, are simple things but they need to be done correctly so that everything works perfectly. In the first tab, you only need to select Next.
  • On the second configuration page, we will make a change in the first option that is GS. If you have a newer processor – from AMD Ryzen 2000 or Intel Core 8000 upwards – you should select the third option, SSE4. If you have a processor that was released before these two models, select the SSE2 option.
  • In the third tab, you must choose where we put our BIOS, as you may remember, we put it in the installation location of the program, so uncheck the circled option below and select the bios folder in the PCSX2 installation.
  • After selecting the BIOS location, it should appear as shown in the image above, and then just click Finish!

After these steps, the emulator is already configured and should run most games smoothly. Now if your computer is not very powerful or you have some problems running some games let’s go to the settings that can help solve these problems. Go to the main tab of the program and select Config> Emulation Settings.

After going to Emulation Settings, see that there is the option Presets at the bottom of the window, and that is where you should fix most of your problems. By default, the emulator already comes in Safe which is the most balanced set of all, but if you have any problems when running a game with low FPS, select Balanced or Aggressive, just slide the small arrow to the right in 1 or 2 steps.

5 – Play!

To start playing is very simple, let’s first in the CDVD tab> ISO Selector> Browse. There a new window will open and in it you should find the .iso file that is the game you downloaded, simply select the game.

After selecting the game you want to start (remember to always repeat this process when selecting a different game), you will click System> Boot ISO (Fast). Select Fast so you can go straight to the game, if you select Boot ISO (Full) the emulator will go through the Bios first.

And that’s it, your emulator is completely ready and configured to run PS2 compatible games, just download the ISOs of the games you want to play and enjoy the nostalgia that titles like Midnight Club 3 and Black (PS2 exclusives) will bring.

If you have any questions, comment below, we will answer everything possible!

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