I trust you guys more than I do with google search or reddit. So my question is: Where can I download (safely) a ps1 emulator and software for ps4 controller. Assuming I can use a ps4 controller for ps1 games.
Keeping in mind the legal grey area involved here…
ePSXe is generally regarded as one of the best PSX emulators. It’s fair to say that it isn’t 100% accurate, and still requires some tweaking for a few titles, but can generally be made to work whatever you feed into it. It also supports “overclocking” but that’s more likely to cause problems than improve game performance.
Latest version is 2.0.5 available from the website of the same name.
Alternatives are RetroArch and Mednafen, both of which may be slightly more accurate. But I don’t have much experience with either of those. There’s also PCSX but I haven’t used it in a very, very long time.
NB I believe all of these require a genuine PSX BIOS image in order to run. You must extract this from your own PSX, and even that’s not entirely certain to be legal.
Using a DS4 is simply a matter of plugging it in via USB or syncing via BlueTooth, then configuring the emulator appropriately. They’re HID devices, which makes them DirectInput compatible. If you want to use them with other modern software you might take a look at DS4Windows (latest version 2.1.0) which also adds system-level XInput compatibility; though I recommend also using HIDGuardian to get rid of potential double-input situations.
As Asterchades alluded to, DualShocks are pretty easy. Both the PS3 and PS4 versions are bog standard bluetooth which means they’ll hook up to just about anything. IIRC it’s also true of the Wii nunchucks, Wii/Switch Pro Controller, and newer Xbone controllers (older ones used the funky RF adapter thing).
Darn. I’m having issues with the Bios files. I watched a lot of videos and I’m concerned about going to these sketchy websites to download sketchy files for a bios. I don’t have a psx to physically extract a bios, so do you guys recommend a website that has bios downloads?
Not legally, no. The BIOS is still covered by all normally applicable anti-piracy laws (as are the games themselves).
Blizzard also has rules about posting links to illegal content.
Google DS4Windows and just plug your PS4 controller into a USB port.
Don’t even need software normally for ps4 controllers on Windows 10 I don’t think. I have one and don’t remember installing anything. Was just plugged in via USB.
The article I read about PS4 controller for PC might have been a few years old.
Like I mentioned initially, it doesn’t require software. It’s fully HID compatible, which means Windows treats it like any other gamepad from any other manufacturer. The DS3 is the same, but it doesn’t have any USB communication protocols so you have to connect it via Bluetooth.
The reason you use DS4Windows (or Inputmapper, or similar) is because it doesn’t natively support XInput (the standard established with the XBox 360). Since pretty much everything these days which uses joystick input is looking for an XInput device, it’s a matter of convenience to have it talking the same language. Generally anything will still work without the wrapper, but it can result in some of the controls being moved around (plus the HID input doesn’t have analogue triggers).
I know the Windows API has functions for handling XBox controller input. Is that what XInput is?
Basically it’s a more streamlined version of DirectInput. It’s pretty much designed only to handle XB360 controllers and nothing more, right down to a limit of 4 devices. But it also does so by speaking a different “language”, similar to how Direct3D and OpenGL are separate yet accomplish the same basic task.
I just got my PS4 controller a couple of days ago. Don’t bother with DS4Windows. Get SCPToolkit.