Being sick and tired of waiting when my PS3 firmware will finally get PS2 backward compatibility, I decided to try out the PS2 emulator for my computer.
Thankfully, out of all the vast PS2 library I really wanna play 3 titles only. The emulator itself caused zero issues, since you can get a ready to play package with all the necessary BIOSes and all that. However, out of the 3 games only one runs somewhat smoothly, but I guess that’s hardware limitation on my laptop. Need more processing power. But there were problems while connecting PS3 Dualshock 3 gamepad to my PC. For some unknown reason, Sony, while using standard USB connection, did not make the gamepad a standard wired game controller. Same with wireless connection – while using standard bluetooth technology, the gamepad is not visible for standard bluetooth device. A really think manufacturers should be prosecuted for using proprietary interfaces and connections. Sony may have done this in fear of loosing the aftermarket for its own device, which it is somewhat proved by removing third party USB game controller support from later versions of PS3 firmware. However, this doesn’t really prevent China from making shitload of compatible gamepads for the PS3. Microsoft went to even higher lengths in their proprietress. Beside the standard USB connection soldered in a non-standard way, they also used a proprietary protocol for wireless connection, which is claimed to have less latency. The funny thing is when you plug this controller to the console for charging, it indeed uses USB for power, but the data connection remains wireless. A wireless XBOX 360 gamepad can not be detected as a USB device at all. However, a wired XBOX360 controller gets detected as a Windows game controller no problem, and you can use this controller in PC games.
This is not true about Sony. You’ll have to pull tricks here. The trick is called motioninjoy. This is an utility from China, which, in awkward way, but does implement PC support for Dualshock 3 controller. It’s worth mentioning that even though the utility is free, it was not created to bring you the joy of PC gaming. The very essence of its existence is to show Google Adsense adds to as much viewers as possible, to financially support the developer. So the program doesn’t even work without active internet connection, keep that in mind. Apart from PCSX2 emulator and motioninjoy, you will also require a modified pad plugin for the emulator. Download it, the archive will have two files. One is a .dll which you must unpack into PLUGINS folder inside PCSX2 folder, and the other is key bindings configuration file, which you should place into INIS folder. Now run motioninjoy and connect a PS3 Sixaxis or Dualshock 3 controller to the PC using a USB cable. The gamepad will start to blink all four LEDs simultaneously. After you plug in the controller, Driver manager section of motioninjoy should get a new entry. Tick it and click Load driver. Device Manager should have a new device – motioninjoy virtual xinput, and the gamepad will now blink the 4 LEDs one by one, indicating that it is charging. On the Profiles tab the gamepad will appear in as a connected devices, however the emulator will still have it as Detached. You probably thought of pressing PS button to wake the controller up, but it does nothing. So how do you force PCSX2 to attach you gamepad? It’s simple. In motioninjoy, choose Playstation 2 for PCSX2 profile. Now click Vibration testing. As soon as you click this button, the emulator will list Dualshock 3 as an attached device. The only thing left to do is to clock Load bindings and use the .lily configuration file that was inside the modified pad plugin package. You’re ready to play. Vibration, analog sticks – it all works.