I've been following this emulator for a while and took a break from it to give the development some time to mature. It's amazing how much progress has been made in 2017. Games like Tekken 6 are now almost fully playable in 4k resolutions and above! I've always enjoyed helping out with these projects in some way shape or form. So I decided to make this guide to help people out. I'm hoping to clear up a lot of the questions that get asked countless times in the forums. I will try and keep this updated as much as I can!

This emulator is in ALPHA stages! This essentially means that this piece of software is not finished and has only matured enough to be used for experimental purposes. However, don't let this stop you from having some fun with it . Some games are fairly stable now  .

I know many of you have questions regarding whether or not a game works. This can be checked on their compatibility page located HERE.

Also, if you don't own the games you download, it is considered PIRACY. I do not condone this. Dump your own games if you can.

These are the main questions I receive and see all the time when it comes to emulators like these. I know so many of you come from all walks of life. Some may have computers that are slow as molasses or some may have some pretty powerful PC's. I've experienced having a very slow computer and having a very fast one. For RPCS3, I would recommend at least having a desktop Intel Core I5, I7 Series processor because of their fast single core performance. Alternatively, the core i5/i7 HQ or MQ series are great if you're going to be running this on a laptop.  In an emulator, the individual CPU core performance is going to be way more important than having a processor with many slower CPU cores. So don't skimp out on your CPU if you plan on running this program frequently.

My ideal minimum recommended CPU for overall playability and decent speed would be an Intel Core I5 2500k. It's a quad core CPU that is great because you can overclock them very hard and they have excellent performance for the price. For a graphics card, I would recommend a minimum of a GTX 550ti.

Remember, these are recommendations for overall playability and value. You need to just test your hardware out to see where you stand. Then you can make your own decisions on whether or not an upgrade is right for you.

1. Xaudio2 Error Within Windows 7 / 8

When starting games in RPCS3 users have stated they were getting no audio and an error that say “Failed to create XAudio2 engine”, “Could not find XAudio2", and No supported XAudio2 library found". To solve this, run windows update and install all pending updates you have not done. This should clear up this issue and your xaudio2 will begin working.

2. Games not starting when you select them

One common mistake that is made, is right away trying to open games the moment you boot the emulator. Remember you must install the PS3 Firmware PUP file. You can get it HERE. Once you download it, Run RPCS3 and Go the top bar and click File > Install Firmware. Once that's done, you can run games.

3. Installing HDD type games (.pkg files)

These cannot be started using the traditional way of finding the game folder and proceeding to run it. An example of a .pkg file game would be Tekken: Dark Resurrection Online or any game that is downloaded from the PSN store. You must go to File > Install Pkg. Find the .pkg file, select it, and the game will install then appear in your list of games to run. You can then proceed to play it.

4. Controller incompatibility and disconnection issues.

Some games may have dialogs that will not let you through or wont let you start unless you have a controller connected. Unfortunately, the only way people have been passing these is to use a Dualshock 4 controller (a.k.a Playstation 4 controller). This error can happen in No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise / Red Zone.

5. Games displaying in Japanese language

Games will display in Japanese language by default because of emulator settings. To change this, simply go into the emulator settings and change the system language from Japanese to English.

6. What Intel Processors support TSX? and why can't I enable TSX?

 

Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX-NI) is an instruction set that helps speed up the performance of RPCS3 and is available for most Intel Processors in the 6th generation Skylake series (6xxx) and newer. Some 4th generation Haswell series (4xxx) have been reported to have this feature but it's best to look up your CPU on the Intel website and see if Intel TSX-NI has a yes or no next to it. Enabling this feature can improve performance significantly in some games. 

If you can't enable it even though you have a compatible processor, check with some of the online forums regarding this issue. There have been fixes to this issue, sometimes as simple as enabling a feature in your BIOS. 


7.  Why are my games showing a black screen during 3D scenes?

Some games will require the "Enable Scrict Rendering" mode to be enabled. Try enabling that and restart your game. Also be aware it could be compatibility related, not all games are playable.

Making your games run faster

1. Close out of as many programs you aren't using as possible. This emulator is very cpu heavy and you'll need all the head room you can get. It's not uncommon to see your CPU pinned at 100% usage. Please do not go complaining to the developers that the program is not working right. Emulating a PlayStation 3 console is no easy task on any consumer CPU right now. Their main focus is emulating the system accurately, speed optimizations will usually come second.

2. Overclock your CPU

If you have the capable motherboard and your processor is overclockable, this is one of the best ways to make your games run quicker. There are many guides out there on forums to help you overclock your CPU. Just look up your CPU model with overclock on google and definitely give it a try! 

3. Enable TSX instructions.

I explained this in an earlier section of this post. (6.)

I'll keep this updated as much as possible!