As said in the title, would an emulator such as PCSX2 be available for running Individual Levels? I get why it wouldn't be for full game runs, as the loading screens are much faster than the console hardware.

However, I noticed when comparing a single level run I completed on my PS2 and on PCSX2, both the speed, performance, and the times at the end of the level were the same. To make the game more available, splitscreen to be much easier to do, and to record in much better quality, would this method be alrighty?

I'm in the camp of "prefer real platform" even though the argument is that emulator is easier and more accessible. The reason I say this is even in a lot of other communities there are heavy restrictions on emulator, even if they are mostly similar. Things like framerates, AI behavior and calculations, normal console lag, etc. are usually compared in-depth before a larger community allows emulators. Plus, this game is easily accessible on PC because of Steam now.

However, I'd love to hear other's opinions and experiences in other speedrunning communities.

While the PC version is accessible, as Dark_Phantom has said in one of the forums:

"Hard is extremely hard on PC. The AI for version 1.2 (PC only) was greatly improved, and it is noticeable in comparison (see my 5 hour hard run in which I get totally destroyed at the end). The bad part about this is that there isn't a good way to go back to the 1.0 version without the original 3-disk set. In addition to that, the soldier is a little underpowered on PC because no Aim Assist, and the pilot's ability to heal (along with the shotgun being nice) is good to have."

And also Boston Brew putting it nicely in the same forum~ "Oh I also should mention the PC version is harder"

So, If I wanted to run on Hard Mode, I would need to play one of the console ports. In order to play the PS2 version, I would need a Capture Card, A Console, and a Copy of Battlefront. The console would be around $50, a good capture card $70, and Battlefront $8, coming out to $138+Shipping. An emulator would allow play for only the cost of Battlefront, have much higher quality video/audio, and have next to no differences between the two versions in the Individual Levels Category.

Emulators are banned for now

As for the barrier/cost of entry... For $20 use a Dazzle DVC100 to record, it is easy to setup, and the quality is perfectly fine. You can find Xbox/PS2 for less than $30. Battlefront is less than $10. While $138 will net you all those items for sure, if you do a little shopping $100 is an over-payment.

The reason of...? o̷t̷h̷e̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷n̷ ̷a̷ ̷l̷o̷t̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷r̷ ̷r̷u̷n̷s̷ ̷a̷r̷e̷ ̷o̷n̷ ̷h̷a̷r̷d̷ ̷m̷o̷d̷e̷~̷ ̷:̷3̷

I do not have enough information to work with this and overturn. I need more evidence. From my experience Ps2 and Xbox emulators are sketchy and have compatibility issues. This game is hard to cheat. This opens a whole new avenue of potential cheating.

Now that ya said why~

And while yes you CAN buy those cheap, they would be bad quality consoles and footage (And yes $8 is less than $10 for the game~). And also, $20 DOES make the recording quality extremely poor, all the decent recording software's $60+. So if ya wanna be cheap and make your footage look like it's from 2004 when the game came out, then yeah, you could go for that. But new peeps are just gonna shy away and play something else instead, or find a game that allows for emulation

Okie, I can get ya that~ PS1 and 2 emulation is wayyyyy farther ahead than Xbox emulation~ Especially in 2019. Soooo many games are done correctly on it... Like Gran Turismo 4... Sly Cooper... Resident Evil 4... GTA Vice City... Jack and Dexter 2... Whole list here~: https://pcsx2.net/compatibility-list.html

Having spent hundreds on capture equipment the difference between the expensive Blackmagic Intensity Pro and the very affordable Dazzle DVC100 is negligible. We are talking about a 480p 30fps game, capturing this is no problem. You PC runs look insanly well detailed compared to capturing analog. Xbox One DVR recordings are also really high quality but obviously not cheap.

More information https://wiki.pcsx2.net/index.php/Star_Wars:_Battlefront

Of course~ The test done in that PCSX2 Wiki was on windows 8.1 and on the 1.2 version of the emulator, as stated below, all the problems were fixed in 1.5~

We are dealing with so many more variables now though. It is not consistent like console play yet in my humble opinion.

I feel that emulator usage is a double-edged sword, so there are some points to consider.

• Mapping all possible variables regarding emulation and gameplay aspects in emulator usage is very important and definitely required for fair competition in speedrunning and gaming in general. However, considering that console/game's availabilities are highly variable throughout the world, sometimes emulators are the only way for people to have access to specific games in certain regions. Right-out banning emulators in some cases might hinder someone's only way to actually speedrun the game and consequently the interest in it, being the classic example a game that's only available for a single console (like GBA's SM: Zero Mission some time ago).

• In Battlefront's case specifically, the game is available in 3 platforms that I'm aware of - XBOX, PS2 and PC. Even though most people agree that there are clear differences between the console and the PC versions, the core gameplay concept is still the same. Given the reasons for the emulator's usage being the difficulty of recording PS2 gameplay while there's a steam version of the game that is cheap and offers all kinds of streaming possibilities that a PC can offer, I think keeping emulators out of the loop for now (and as long as possible) is best.

The games that I've seen that do allow emulators have very seriously vetted it out. They're more than welcome and encouraged to practice on emulator, but in the end there's too many unknowns for a complex game like this. "Correctly" is subjective - I'm suspecting nobody tested BF1 with an extremely fine comb with a lot of programming and assembly knowledge. It may seem unnecessary, but if there's something breaking (like a slightly different frame rate or different RNG pace) then it breaks some of the integrity of the run. Dema has proven that hitting a good time on Hard setting over a whole run on PC is viable though. That's less of a concern for me after viewing parts of his runs.

OBS is free - if you've put in any money in a PC in the last 10 years, you can spend $10 and be running BF1 in no time. BostonBrew has much more experience with capture equipment than I do, but I bought an Elgato CC for about $100 (I know, more than what a lot of people want) and a converter ($10-$20) to do console runs with my old GC and it works great and I plan to try a couple of PS2 runs of BF1 if my disc will hold up.

Also, of the games you listed - GT3 (didn't see 4) - Must be run with the original disk/dvd GTA:VC - Only one person has ever run on JPN emulator and they've never talked about it in the forums. JaD:PCL - No emulator runs RE4:Console - All emulator runs are banned (forum) SCandtheTR - All emulator runs are banned (forum)

I feel like kind of a jerk, but I needed to show that until there is greater evidence emulators aren't really going to be accepted. Even though there is an argument to be made about more people speedrunning this game, there's always some controversy down the road about emulators that I'd love to avoid.

I’m in favor of not allowing emulators. PS2 emulation is hot garbage. The community for the emulator work harder on making the games look pretty and run better than they do actually trying to accurately emulate the games. The emulator loads faster than a console ever would by default, but it also loads inconsistently, even on the same machine. Ive had loads vary by up to multiple seconds on my computer depending on how it feels that day. So while games may function correctly, the emulator itself doesn’t behave like a console should. It’s why many PS2 games either ban emulator or give it its own category. It’s also got input lag out the wazoo fwiw.

I can’t speak for XBox emulation, so what I said is just for PS2.

(By that I meant games are being emulated correctly~ I feel as though many people are never gonna accept them until the consoles are literally rotting away from the plastic falling apart~)

Now we have reached the pay to win ending~ Where I have three runs on hard mode that all have knocked off around a minute each, and can't be done on PC cause of the fancy AI. Because my console and copy of battlefront are busted, and I have to get a capture card, I have to pay up and do all of them again, and the only difference (Because its an IL run, load times don't matter because it's not fullgame~) being one is of lesser quality video and audio

1. I'm not very familiar with emulators so I'm going to stay out of this one.

2. Galactic conquest scenarios have been added as ILs, so get in there and submit some runs.

3. As a reminder, timing for ILs (not GC) begins on the first frame after loading has completed, in other words the first frame in which player can make input on the faction select screen. Timing ends on the first frame with Green 'Victory' text. Times can be recorded in hours:minutes:seconds or in hours:minutes:seconds:frames in the video/description, but for speedrun.com input, times should be rounded to the nearest whole second. That means a 3:30.533 inputs as 3:31 here on the site. You can note the milliseconds/frames in the title/desc of the video or in the notes of the submission.

Happy running!

Can't really do that if I can't even play on an emulator~

I'm sorry that you feel bothered with the emulator situation Spinda, but this sort of stuff will always be a complicated matter in speedrunning communities. I experienced something similar before and after that I always checked for all official ports and the position of the community regarding emulators before getting into speedrunning so I wouldn't get surprised later. At least, if the problem is not being able to stream/record the gameplay, this game has an official PC port with active players, so you'll always have competition and people to share strats with. Still, saving some money and getting a capture card and stuff will always be a good investment since it'll work for any other games from similar consoles you have.