Setting up Sony PlayStation 1 Emulation on FreeBSD with Mednafen

 Mednafen is a multi-system videogame emulator which is using only command-line as main interface rather than using graphical interface. It usually supports ranges of retro videogame console systems such as Nintendo Famicom/Super Famicom, Sony PlayStation 1, Bandai WonderSwan, Apple II etc. While it seems harder and confusing to set up due to how confusing the guide or its documentation, here I'm gonna write on how to use it, but only covers emulating Sony PS1 games for now. 



1. Things what you need

    i) Sony PS1 BIOS, can be obtained here.

    ii) Compatible controllers eg. Sony DS4 controller

   iii) Sony PS1 game ROMs.


2. Installing Mednafen.

To install it, you can choose either installing it from pkg source or build it from ports collection. For ports collection, you can customize what kind of emulator that you want to be included inside Mednafen program.

             $ pkg install mednafen 

              OR

            $ cd /usr/ports/emulators/mednafen && make install


3. Setting up Mednafen for Sony PlayStation 1 emulation

Gather the downloaded BIOS into ~/.mednafen/firmware directory

              $ cp scph5500.bin ~/.mednafen/firmware

Launch the Mednafen program and load the PS1 game ROM. 

             $ mednafen [PSX-game-ROM].cue

By default, Mednafen uses keyboard controls for digital controller mapping. To use your USB controller, here's the steps:

             i) Press Ctrl+Shift+1 to select input device on port 1

             ii) Then, press Alt+Shift+1 to configure buttons. Follow the on-screen instructions for mapping. Rapid fire button controls need to hold down the button.

            iii) After finishing configurations, you can use the controller. 

To increase the window screen size, enter these command while launching the game:

           $ mednafen -psx.xscale 4 -psx.yscale 4 [PSX-game-rom].cue

To change the controller type, run this command below and you will required to reconfigure the controller mapping again:

           $ mednafen -psx.input.port1 [controller-type] [PSX-game-rom].cue

           Example:

            $ mednafen -psx.input.port1 dualshock "Gran_Turismo1.cue"

Other key buttons for settings and feature:

         i) Save/load states: F5/F7

         ii) Select save states: 0-9

         iii) Toggle full screen: Alt+Enter

         iv) Screen snapshot: F9

         v) Pause the emulation: PAUSE

         vi) Toggle FPS display: Shift+F1

         vii) Exit the program: Esc


Other information about Mednafen can be found here:

1. Mednafen Sony PlayStation documentation.

2. Mednafen General Documentation.


ADDITIONAL SECTION: Dumping the Sony PlayStation 1 Game Disc. 

1. Ensure that you have already setup the optical drive correctly. Refer to my guide here on how to setup optical drives for FreeBSD if you didn't setup it yet. 

2. Make sure that cd burning programs eg. cdrdao is installed. It can be obtained via installation of GUI-based burning tools eg. K3B, Brasero etc. 

3. Insert the Sony PlayStation 1 Game Disc into the optical drive.

4. Run the command below to run game disc ripping operation:

    $ cdrdao read-cd --read-raw --read-subchan rw_raw --datafile [PSX-game-title].bin --device /dev/cdX --driver generic-mmc-raw [PSX-game-title].toc

    Example:

   $ cdrdao read-cd --read-raw --read-subchan rw_raw --datafile Doom.bin --device /dev/cd0 --driver generic-mmc-raw Doom.toc

5. Load the ripped Sony PlayStation 1 ROM file with mednafen. You can load its TOC file, no need to re-edit into .cue file.

    $ mednafen [PSX-game-title].toc



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