What specific files do a PSX emu (e.g. ePSXe) require to run a game?

I've been mowing around these forums and cannot find a direct answer. It would be helpful if this FAQ could directly tell us the filetypes needed for a PSX emulator to run a game. I've weeded through so many posts, and have managed to rack up questions faster than answers.

I'm trying to play the games below on Android using an app called RetroArch; a free emulator w/multiple emulators from various consoles, or "cores" as they call it. I need to know which files to dump on Android in order for the "ePSXe" emulator/core to run the game(s).

The ROMs I've downloaded/unzipped from EmuParadise include various files, and I'm not certain which games are 100% ready to play and which ones are not. It seems I've got an assortment of flavors here, does it really got to be this complicated?

MediEvil 2
1) CCD
2) IMG (disc image file)
3) SUB

Castlevania Symphony Of The Night
1) 7z
---1) BIN.ECM
2) APE

Castlevania Symphony Of The Night (a different version)
1) BIN
2) CUE

Twisted Metal 4
1) CCD
2) IMG.ECM
3) SUB

Also, can someone give an explanation of each filetype, including the difference(s) between an ISO and a ROM?

Always run a game via it's descriptor file

either the cue file or the ccd file from the examples you gave, these files are required

ECM and APE file need converting though first, see the ECM And APE Guide in the Sony system guides stuck thread for more info on that

MediEvil 2 is ready to run as is, so is the alt version of Castlevania

Thanks Zorlon :) If the CUE and CCD are what the emulator needs to start the game, what is the purpose of the BIN/IMG/SUB files? Are those files game data too, or can they be left aside?

you just load via those as descriptor files just tell the software what tracks are inside the bin or img file, the bin & img files have the actual data inside them, but if loaded without a cue or ccd they are just read as a data track so any cdda tracks are not read

Sub files are for sub data, mostly poinless as most CD burners and readers can't even read that data, but may be needed by some CD mounting software if it is a ccd+img file

There are tons of other formats but most are the much the same a descriptor file and a data file
Descriptor files are always tiny in size but are important to telling whatever software is reading them what tracks are contained in the data file
Data files are always the largest files and can contain data tracks and cdda tracks

Note *.iso files can not store cdda tracks and would store those individually (they are no good for emulation with and would need to be converted first)

ECM tools, is that potential malware? I watched a youtube video on its use.. and looks unsafe with its use of the command prompt, one user also mentioned something about a virus...?

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Originally Posted by Double44

ECM tools, is that potential malware? I watched a youtube video on its use.. and looks unsafe with its use of the command prompt, one user also mentioned something about a virus...?

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There's a GUI version.

http://www.epforums.org/showthread.p...-ECM-Tools-GUI

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Originally Posted by Double44

ECM tools, is that potential malware? I watched a youtube video on its use.. and looks unsafe with its use of the command prompt, one user also mentioned something about a virus...?

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No it's not a virus

You don't even need to use the command line

You can either drop the ecm on top of unecm or...

You can even double click on an ecm file, you will get an error message saying "Windows can't open this file", just check "O Select a program from a list of installed programs" then tap OK, on the next screen tap the Browse.. button and find that unecm.exe and hit OPEN then hit OK. (The next time you double click on an ecm file it will automatically unecm it, the is much quicker than using any gui based software)

Most windows software is command line based just most has a GUI wrapped round it, ePSXe itself is command line based and can still be ran that way, most emulators are, this does not make them unsafe if anything it just gives the users more options.

Thanks you guys very much for your help.. I've played NES/SNES/GBA roms, but PS1 is new ground. However I think i can finally take the plunge thanks to this forum :D

Well, all you need is ePSXe and the Bios files, you can get both of them from this site, oh and the ISO files

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Originally Posted by Michael Daraghy

Well, all you need is ePSXe and the Bios files, you can get both of them from this site, oh and the ISO files

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Please read a thread before trying to help :)

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Originally Posted by Michael Daraghy

Well, all you need is ePSXe and the Bios files, you can get both of them from this site, oh and the ISO files

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...i actually wish i had read your comment sooner, I completely overlooked the BIOS files.. i just downloaded the BIOS pack with the 15 different images.

EmuParadise do not mention the need for BIOS anywhere on the Download pages, perhaps it's one of the few reasons these PS1 ROMs are available on the site. When i started up MediEvil 2, my emulator (RetroArch) suggested that it couldn't find a BIOS file and that there might be bugs, in which there definitely were.

Do any other consoles/emulators (N64, etc) require similar files to the BIOS? With the PS1, some Youtube videos have suggested GUI files and memory card files... I'm not sure if any of these are needed, at least not for those playing on something other than a PC.

Playstation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD and 32X require bios images a few have a bios option as optional

Most CD/DVD/GD systems require a bios image though

SNES N64 Genesis and most older cart based systems don't require a bios

GUI files???

Memcard images are auto generated most the time

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Originally Posted by Zorlon

Playstation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD and 32X require bios images a few have a bios option as optional
GUI files???

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..oops i meant GPU haha. There was also something about a 'SPU' and 'zlib1.dll' ? Apparently zlib1.dll "eliminates any errors that might happen".. I've been watching too many videos XD

At this point I'm pretty sure all i need are ISO/ROMs, the BIOS and emulator.

I'm seeing a lot of [U], [E], (F), (J), (G), (I), and (S) in the titles of some of these ISOs... what do these mean? Are they trying to indicate the language? Some appear as (Japan) and (USA), I'm not understanding the differences between these and the abbreviated ones?

U would be US.
F is French.
G is German.
I is Italian.
S would be Spanish (sometimes forum shares might have ESP).
E is Europe, but people have been known to use it for English shares.
J, JAP, JP or JPN are Japanese.

J U E is as above regional codes (Others are language codes) these ones are actually used in the headers of games, to indicate not the language but to what region consoles they work on

E/EU/EUR games usually have English in them but can have others languages also or may not contain english but would normally be marked with the languages it has in it
U/US/USA games all have English in them but occasionally have others
J/JP/JPN/JAP games can be English also but most are Japanese only
AS Asian, Chinese ect...

The rest are indeed Languages and they do vary

PAL-E [PAL][E] (because PAL is a European display type anyway you may find some as PAL-G that would be German ect)
NTSC-U [NTSC][U] (NTSC is just the display type U is just USA)
NTSC-J [NTSC][J] (as above but Japan)

Retail consoles and games are marked in such a way also

zlib1.dll is needed by ePSXe 1.9.0 I think it is and is not included, there is also a shark enhanced version or ePSXe 1.8.0 (It's not a cheats version as such but it is a fixed up version eliminating some of the bugs and generally improving it)

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Originally Posted by Double44

..oops i meant GPU haha. There was also something about a 'SPU' and 'zlib1.dll' ? Apparently zlib1.dll "eliminates any errors that might happen".. I've been watching too many videos XD

At this point I'm pretty sure all i need are ISO/ROMs, the BIOS and emulator.

I'm seeing a lot of [U], [E], (F), (J), (G), (I), and (S) in the titles of some of these ISOs... what do these mean? Are they trying to indicate the language? Some appear as (Japan) and (USA), I'm not understanding the differences between these and the abbreviated ones?

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Worth noting that some of these different regions work properly with a specific BIOS. SCPH-1001 is good for USA versions, which run at different frame rates than European versions.

This package contains a large variety of BIOS files and should be compatible with your PS emulator. You will need 7zip to extract it, then copy the BIOS folder or contents to the appropriate directory in your Android.

I managed to get my PS1 games to playing thanks to you guys! :D

At first, RetroArch had problems finding my BIOS.. even though the files were on my Android. I then learned that the BIOS files were case sensitive, all the files needed to be in lowercase, including the .bin extension. After i fixed that, everything worked!