Mednafen

Sony PlayStation Documentation

Last updated January 13, 2013
Valid as of 0.9.28-WIP

Table of Contents:


Introduction

PlayStation 1 emulation is currently in a buggy alpha state and not all hardware and features are emulated.

A dual-core Phenom II or Athlon II at 3GHz or higher, or rough equivalent(in terms of single-core IPC), is recommended for running Mednafen's PlayStation 1 emulation on. For better performance, the binary should be compiled for a 64-bit target(for example, x86_64) rather than 32-bit, if available.

PSF1 playback is supported.


Multitap Usage

By default, no multitap is enabled. Be aware that if you enable multitap on PSX port 1, game view mapping will be inconsistent between games that support multitap and those that do not.

Port Index to Emulated Port Mappings
Port Index:Emulated PSX Port:Emulated Multitap Port:
111A
222A
3-1B
4-1C
5-1D
6-2B
7-2C
8-2D

Port Index to Game View Mappings for Multitap only on PSX Port 1
Port Index:Multitap-Compatible-Game:Multitap-Incompatible-Game:
111
252
32-
43-
54-
6--
7--
8--

Port Index to Game View Mappings for Multitap only on PSX Port 2
Port Index:Multitap-Compatible-Game:Multitap-Incompatible-Game:
111
222
3--
4--
5--
63-
74-
85-

Port Index to Game View Mappings for Multitap on both PSX Ports
Port Index:Multitap-Compatible-Game:Multitap-Incompatible-Game:
111
252
32-
43-
54-
66-
77-
88-


Settings Reference

Caution: Any settings that change emulation behavior as seen from the emulated game are shown with the setting name bolded in the table. One should be conscious of these settings if one has changed them from the default values when using network play or movies, as they can cause desychronizations if not set the same among hosts(or between the recording emulator and the playing emulator).

Setting:Value Type:Possible Values:Default Value:Description:
psx.bios_eustring scph5502.binPath to the Europe SCPH-5502 ROM BIOS

 
psx.bios_jpstring scph5500.binPath to the Japan SCPH-5500 ROM BIOS

 
psx.bios_nastring scph5501.binPath to the North America SCPH-5501 ROM BIOS

SHA1 0555c6fae8906f3f09baf5988f00e55f88e9f30b

 
psx.input.analog_mode_ctboolean0
1
0Enable analog mode combo-button alternate toggle.

When enabled, instead of the configured Analog mode toggle button for the emulated DualShock, use a combination of buttons to toggle it instead. When Select, Start, and all four shoulder buttons are held down for about 1 second, the mode will toggle.

 
psx.input.mouse_sensitivityreal through 1.00Emulated mouse sensitivity.

 
psx.input.port1enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 1/1A

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port1.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000xFF0000Crosshairs color for lightgun on port 1/1A.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port1.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 1/1A.

 
psx.input.port1.multitapboolean0
1
0Enable multitap on PSX port 1.

Makes ports 1B-1D available.

 
psx.input.port2enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 2/2A

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port2.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000x00FF00Crosshairs color for lightgun on port 2/2A.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port2.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 2/2A.

 
psx.input.port2.multitapboolean0
1
0Enable multitap on PSX port 2.

Makes ports 2B-2D available.

 
psx.input.port3enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 1B

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port3.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000xFF00FFCrosshairs color for lightgun on port 1B.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port3.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 1B.

 
psx.input.port4enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 1C

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port4.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000xFF8000Crosshairs color for lightgun on port 1C.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port4.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 1C.

 
psx.input.port5enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 1D

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port5.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000xFFFF00Crosshairs color for lightgun on port 1D.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port5.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 1D.

 
psx.input.port6enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 2B

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port6.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000x00FFFFCrosshairs color for lightgun on port 2B.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port6.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 2B.

 
psx.input.port7enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 2C

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port7.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000x0080FFCrosshairs color for lightgun on port 2C.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port7.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 2C.

 
psx.input.port8enumnone
gamepad
dualshock
dualanalog
analogjoy
mouse
negcon
guncon
justifier
dancepad
gamepadInput device for Port 2D

  • none - none

  • gamepad - Digital Gamepad
    PlayStation digital gamepad; SCPH-1080.

  • dualshock - DualShock
    DualShock gamepad; SCPH-1200. Emulation in Mednafen includes the analog mode toggle button. Rumble is emulated, but currently only supported on Linux, and MS Windows via the XInput API and XInput-compatible gamepads/joysticks. If you're having trouble getting rumble to work on Linux, see if Mednafen is printing out error messages during startup regarding /dev/input/event*, and resolve the issue(s) as necessary.

  • dualanalog - Dual Analog
    Dual Analog gamepad; SCPH-1180. It is the predecessor/prototype to the more advanced DualShock. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode, and without rumble.

  • analogjoy - Analog Joystick
    Flight-game-oriented dual-joystick controller; SCPH-1110. Emulated in Mednafen as forced to analog mode.

  • mouse - Mouse

  • negcon - neGcon
    Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.

  • guncon - GunCon
    Namco's light gun; NPC-103.

  • justifier - Konami Justifier
    Konami's light gun; SLUH-00017. Rumored to be wrought of the coagulated rage of all who tried to shoot The Dog. If the game you want to play supports the "GunCon", you should use that instead. NOTE: Currently does not work properly when on any of ports 1B-1D and 2B-2D.

  • dancepad - Dance Pad
    Dingo Dingo Rodeo!
 
psx.input.port8.gun_chairsinteger0x000000 through 0x10000000x8000FFCrosshairs color for lightgun on port 2D.

A value of 0x1000000 disables crosshair drawing.

 
psx.input.port8.memcardboolean0
1
1Emulate memcard on port 2D.

 
psx.region_autodetectboolean0
1
1Attempt to auto-detect region of game.

 
psx.region_defaultenumjp
na
eu
jpDefault region to use.

Used if region autodetection fails or is disabled.

  • jp - Japan

  • na - North America

  • eu - Europe
 
psx.spu.resamp_qualityinteger0 through 105SPU output resampler quality.

0 is lowest quality and CPU usage, 10 is highest quality and CPU usage. The resampler that this setting refers to is used for converting from 44.1KHz to the sampling rate of the host audio device Mednafen is using. Changing Mednafen's output rate, via the "sound.rate" setting, to "44100" will bypass the resampler, which will decrease CPU usage by Mednafen, and can increase or decrease audio quality, depending on various operating system and hardware factors.

 

Setting:Value Type:Possible Values:Default Value:Description:
psx.debugger.disfontsizeenumxsmall
small
medium
large
smallDisassembly font size.

Note: Setting the font size to larger than the default may cause text overlap in the debugger.

  • xsmall - 4x5

  • small - 5x7

  • medium - 6x13

  • large - 9x18
 
psx.debugger.memcharencstring shift_jisCharacter encoding for the debugger's memory editor.

 
psx.enableboolean0
1
1Enable (automatic) usage of this module.

 
psx.forcemonoboolean0
1
0Force monophonic sound output.

 
psx.pixshaderenumnone
autoip
autoipsharper
scale2x
sabr
ipsharper
ipxnoty
ipynotx
ipxnotysharper
ipynotxsharper
noneEnable specified OpenGL pixel shader.

Obviously, this will only work with the OpenGL "video.driver" setting, and only on cards and OpenGL implementations that support pixel shaders, otherwise you will get a black screen, or Mednafen may display an error message when starting up. Bilinear interpolation is disabled with pixel shaders, and any interpolation, if present, will be noted in the description of each pixel shader.

Note: Mednafen's pixel shaders do not work properly on some AMD graphics cards(there is a diagonal line of distortion) for an unknown reason, possibly a hardware bug.

  • none - None/Disabled

  • autoip - Auto Interpolation
    Will automatically interpolate on each axis if the corresponding effective scaling factor is not an integer.

  • autoipsharper - Sharper Auto Interpolation
    Same as "autoip", but when interpolation is done, it is done in a manner that will reduce blurriness if possible.

  • scale2x - Scale2x

  • sabr - SABR v3.0
    GPU-intensive.

  • ipsharper - Sharper bilinear interpolation.

  • ipxnoty - Linear interpolation on X axis only.

  • ipynotx - Linear interpolation on Y axis only.

  • ipxnotysharper - Sharper version of "ipxnoty".

  • ipynotxsharper - Sharper version of "ipynotx".
 
psx.scanlinesinteger0 through 1000Enable scanlines with specified opacity.

Opacity is specified in %; IE a value of "100" will give entirely black scanlines.

 
psx.specialenumnone
hq2x
hq3x
hq4x
scale2x
scale3x
scale4x
2xsai
super2xsai
supereagle
nn2x
nn3x
nn4x
nny2x
nny3x
nny4x
noneEnable specified special video scaler.

The destination rectangle is NOT altered by this setting, so if you have xscale and yscale set to "2", and try to use a 3x scaling filter like hq3x, the image is not going to look that great. The nearest-neighbor scalers are intended for use with bilinear interpolation enabled, at high resolutions(such as 1280x1024; nn2x(or nny2x) + bilinear interpolation + fullscreen stretching at this resolution looks quite nice).

  • none - None/Disabled

  • hq2x - hq2x

  • hq3x - hq3x

  • hq4x - hq4x

  • scale2x - scale2x

  • scale3x - scale3x

  • scale4x - scale4x

  • 2xsai - 2xSaI

  • super2xsai - Super 2xSaI

  • supereagle - Super Eagle

  • nn2x - Nearest-neighbor 2x

  • nn3x - Nearest-neighbor 3x

  • nn4x - Nearest-neighbor 4x

  • nny2x - Nearest-neighbor 2x, y axis only

  • nny3x - Nearest-neighbor 3x, y axis only

  • nny4x - Nearest-neighbor 4x, y axis only
 
psx.stretchenum0
full
aspect
aspect_int
aspect_mult2
aspect_mult2Stretch to fill screen.

  • 0 - Disabled

  • full - Full
    Full-screen stretch, disregarding aspect ratio.

  • aspect - Aspect Preserve
    Full-screen stretch as far as the aspect ratio(in this sense, the equivalent xscalefs == yscalefs) can be maintained.

  • aspect_int - Aspect Preserve + Integer Scale
    Full-screen stretch, same as "aspect" except that the equivalent xscalefs and yscalefs are rounded down to the nearest integer.

  • aspect_mult2 - Aspect Preserve + Integer Multiple-of-2 Scale
    Full-screen stretch, same as "aspect_int", but rounds down to the nearest multiple of 2.
 
psx.tblurboolean0
1
0Enable video temporal blur(50/50 previous/current frame by default).

 
psx.tblur.accumboolean0
1
0Accumulate color data rather than discarding it.

 
psx.tblur.accum.amountreal0 through 10050Blur amount in accumulation mode, specified in percentage of accumulation buffer to mix with the current frame.

 
psx.videoipenum0
1
x
y
1Enable (bi)linear interpolation.

  • 0 - Disabled

  • 1 - Bilinear

  • x - Linear (X)
    Interpolation only on the X axis.

  • y - Linear (Y)
    Interpolation only on the Y axis.
 
psx.xresinteger0 through 655360Full-screen horizontal resolution.

A value of "0" will cause the desktop horizontal resolution to be used.

 
psx.xscalereal0.01 through 2563.000000Scaling factor for the X axis in windowed mode.

 
psx.xscalefsreal0.01 through 2561.000000Scaling factor for the X axis in fullscreen mode.

For this settings to have any effect, the ".stretch" setting must be set to "0".

 
psx.yresinteger0 through 655360Full-screen vertical resolution.

A value of "0" will cause the desktop vertical resolution to be used.

 
psx.yscalereal0.01 through 2563.000000Scaling factor for the Y axis in windowed mode.

 
psx.yscalefsreal0.01 through 2561.000000Scaling factor for the Y axis in fullscreen mode.

For this settings to have any effect, the ".stretch" setting must be set to "0".