The History of PSX Emulators - Part 2

FPse (Free/Final PlayStation Emulator) (1999)

FPse

FPse, Free PlayStation Emulator, was created by Japanese developer Bero in 1999. It was first released in May 1999 for Windows. It did not have its own GUI, so it was run via the command line. Bero released six versions, the last one in December 1999. The emulator never ran commercial games in image or CD-ROM, but it partially ran the BIOS, ran demos and executable files from the CD-ROM (which contained clips, for example). The CPU was emulated, but the GPU had slow emulation and the GTE (console coprocessor) was partially implemented. The emulator was ported to Linux by Iceh around February/March 2000 and to Amiga by AmiDog in August 2000 (the latter on top of version 4.0). The BeOS version, announced in November 2000 by lu_zero, was never released. Also around February/March 2000, Bero formed a partnership with Italian LDChen, who had already participated in the world of emulation by trying to emulate the Commodore 64. In 1998, LD learned about the PSEmu project, which he tried to join without success. After some time away due to military service, he returned and the project was already dead. It was then that he learned about Bero's project, which was open source, and helped him write the emulator, learning from him how the console's coding worked. His initial intention of emulating the PSX was always due to the fact that there were games for the console with full motion video, much better than games released for a PC. Knowing the hidden potential of computers, he thought it was possible to run these same PSX games on the PC. In June 2000, they released their first version together, 0.7, as a continuation of Bero's solo project. This version brought initial SPU emulation, providing sound support to the emulator, new GPU software, more support for GTE, a BIOS that runs demos, screenshots, frameskip, full support for gamepads (including dual-shock) and memory cards, and the long-awaited CD-ROM support. The emulator only supported games via CD-ROM. Version 0.8 was released in July 2000. This version included bug fixes and general changes to GTE, reading and loading console memory, and fixes to plug-in functionality. We do not know in which version it started supporting plug-ins, but in 0.8 it started supporting the Psemu Pro CD and GPU plug-ins. Later on, several third-party plug-ins were loaded into the emulator, such as Eternal SPU for sound from late 2001 and Harakiri for joypad from February 2002, as well as plug-ins specifically for the emulator, such as Darko Matesic's Joydemo from June 2001 and Alex7's Burutter from November 2001, both for joypad, SaPu CD-ROM Plug-in for SaPu from March 2002 (later used in other emulators), as well as plug-ins developed by LDChen himself. Version 0.8 received a port for the Pocket PC, Motorola-E680 models I and G in April 2007. In September 2000 the project ended, and in 2001, LDChen took it up again alone, releasing a version of the emulator in June of that year, 0.9.being the last of the emulator for Windows. This version of LDChen was ported to several different systems, such as BeOS in November 2000, Amiga (by AmiDog) in October 2001 (which had already made four ports of the project) and Pocket PC's such as IPAQ, called FPse ARM (by Schtruck) and Linux (by lu_zero) both in June 2002.

FPSEce (Interface/Menus/Settings)

In 2001, LDChen created the FPSEce project. Led by Ludovic Olivencia, Schtruck, who was the programmer of the project together with LDChen, the aim was to develop the emulator only for the Windows CE system, a system developed in 1996 to run on old cell phones, Pocket PCs, as well as on microcomputers, Windows Mobile and the Dreamcast console. Schtruck became known for helping Duddie in the PSEmu Pro project in 1998 for PC, when he used the pseudonym Kovax. In addition, in January 2003, he released CastCE, a port for PocketPC of the Castaway PC emulator for Atari ST. It was with CastCE that he had his first experience in coding emulators. The first version of FPSEce was released for the Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 systems in October 2003, being a port of version 0.9 of FPse. In its first version, it already supported CD images in .ISO, .IMG, .BIN formats, and images generated by a tool called PocketISO. It also ran PSX executables, such as homebrews, demos, intros and clips in PSX format. The first version did not have the FPse core. This core was only added in the second version. In the second version of February 2004, it began to run executables in .EXE, .ELF and .CPE formats, in addition to the possibility of loading save states from other emulators such as PSEmu, Bleem! and VGS, as well as other formats, such as .RAW, .GME and .DDF.

FPSEce (Settings)

It also fixes bugs in games, GTE, GPU and GUI, frame skips for 3D graphics processes and frameskip. In the third version of ..., the emulator becomes compatible with IPAQ 38 Series Pocket PCs. Only in the fourth version of ..., sound is implemented, but not 100%. The fifth version has some fixes and the sixth has many optimizations for Pocket PCs, a major modification in frameskip and improvement in sound quality, making it smoother. Its last version was released in December 2006, being the seventh version released, 0.09.6, and also the first beta of the project. After a hiatus of almost five years, the project returns and releases two more versions, 0.10 in July 2009 and 0.11 in September 2010. Version 0.10 brought the possibility of running most games without bios, thanks to the HLE technology that simulated this in the emulator. However, some games still require the BIOS and others conflict with this BIOS simulation, and end up not being able to save the games. It was also a version rewritten almost entirely from scratch, bringing greater speed, as well as greater compatibility. The possibility of changing plug-ins without having to restart the emulator was also considered, but it is not known if this was actually implemented.

FPse (Android)

After these releases, the project changed its name to FPse, releasing versions for Windows Phone and Android in February 2011. When it was launched, it was sold for €10, the equivalent of 64 reais. In January 2015, it began to be released only for Android. In July 2020, the 64-bit version, called FPse64 for Android, was released. This version was completely remodeled, with greater speed, smoothness, better design and compatibility. Despite this release, the common version continues to be released. Some curiosities about these versions for Android. They support games in .IMG, .ISO, .BIN, .CUE, .NRG, .MDF, .PBP and .Z extensions, as well as games compressed in .ZIP, .RAR, .7Z, .ECM and .APE. One of the biggest curiosities is the LAN mode, which allows games between two people and the multiplayer mode, which allows up to 4 devices to be used as controls to run on the device.

FPse64 (Android)

And speaking of controls, it supports PS4 and XBOX One controls and all Android-compatible controls, and those with vibration mode also work. Finally, it provides preliminary support for VR headsets and uses OpenGL 2.0 for game graphics. In late 2022, FPse64 changed its name to FPseNG, due to misunderstandings relating the PSX emulator to the N64 emulator. The latest versions of both emulators came out in September 2023, for $2.99 ​​each, around 17 reais. Other important people were also part of this project, such as AmiDog, with his versions for Amiga, from the Bero versions to the FPSEce ones, with ports created in the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2015. Lu_zero, also since the Bero era, with his unfinished BeOS version in 2000, his Linux version in 2002 and as a tester of the FPSEce project. MrFog also as a tester of FPse, FPSEce and collaborator in the emulator and webmaster of FPse. And SaPu, who helped in the FPSEce core and also created a CD plug-in for FPSEce.

Bleem! (1999)

Bleem!

The Bleem emulator, one of the most sought-after emulators at the time, was started in 1998 by the Bleem Company, led by David Herpolsheimer, the company's president, and Randy Linden, the emulator's programmer. In October 1998, registration for a free beta test of the first version of the emulator was opened. I'm not sure if this actually happened, but the first version of the emulator was released in March 1999 for Windows and was sold for around $30. Over time, other members joined the development team, such as Will Kempe, Scott Karol, Sean Kauppinen, Bryan Stokes, James Sinclair, Paul Chen, and later Rovio Entertainment. The emulator was the first to be released commercially, and had its own characteristics. Among them was the emulator's coding in assembly language, a simple programming that allowed it to run on simple computers, but with the full speed of the console's hardware.

Bleem! (Vangrant Story)

Another of its features was the requirement for 3D video hardware to run games with enhanced resolution and filtered textures, which was not possible on common hardware, as used by its competitor, the Virtual Game Station emulator. All of this allowed for good game execution and a graphical leap in relation to other Playstation emulators. In addition, the emulator has full music and effects loading, as well as stereo sound, 16-bit and 44,100 Hz, support for memory cards, processors enhanced with MMX and 3DNow! technologies and configuration for two joypads. A Pentium 166MHz or higher processor, DirectX 6 and 32MB of RAM were recommended to run it. Most people had access to Bleem! through its demo, but its full version was never able to be copied and made available for free download, thanks to the protection that the CD that came with this version had against copies.

Bleem! (Menus)

Some say that two weeks after the release of Bleem! full version on CD, some hackers managed to copy it, but for me, who was alive at the time, this never actually happened. Another milestone for Bleem! was the creation of Bleemcast! to run PSX on Dreamcast consoles. All of this was possible thanks to a flaw in the device's bios. Initially, they wanted to release Bleempak, an emulation disk compatible with 100 PSX games in each version released. The project didn't go ahead, and they only managed to release support for three games, Gran Turismo 2, Metal Gear Solid and Tekken 3, each with its own boot disk. The first game was released in May 2001 and the last two in October 2001. In addition to the games being compatible with most Dreamcast controls and steering wheels, there was also a project to adapt a Playstation control to the console, due to the lack of buttons on the Dreamcast control.

Bleem! (About/CD-ROM)

This project was never completed. Some interesting features of this version of Bleem! for Dreamcast were that the resolution was 640x480, different from the original resolution of the PS1, which was 320x240, and the anti-aliasing and bilinear filtering that helped enormously with the graphics, but also brought some graphical imperfections that were originally hidden in the lower resolution of the games. But not everything was rosy for Bleem! Two days after its release, it was sued by Sony, the company that created the Playstation, for running games from the console on hardware not produced by the company. They also filed a lawsuit against the screenshots of games from the console on the emulator's sales packaging. All lawsuits were lost, and Bleem! managed to continue its development. However, due to the high costs of the lawsuits, the company ended up closing.

Bleem! (Bomberman Wars)

Its last version was released in November 2001. At the end of the project, the company's website illustrated the page with an image of Sonic crying while holding a flower in front of a tombstone with the emulator's image. In order to avoid a new lawsuit, possibly from Sega, which owns the rights to the character, the company removed Sonic from the image. It would be quite ironic to end a project due to lawsuit issues and then be sued for the closing image, wouldn't it? Despite all the problems with Sony, some members went to work for the company after it ended, such as Randy Linden, who in 2005 went to work on the port of titles for the console at SCEA, or Sony Computer Entertainment of America, and Sean Kauppinen, who helped promote the games EverQuest II and Star Wars Galaxies for Sony Online Entertainment, an online game producer.