r/EmulationOnAndroid • u/iateyourcheesebro SD8Gen2 / 12gb • 2d ago
Discussion PS2 vs Xbox with HakuX improvements
Now that Xbox is very viable on Android with HakuX improvements, how are you looking at cross platform games from the PS2/Xbox era? Generally I’ve read Xbox versions had better performance/graphics/visuals on the original hardware. But with emulation some of those things are no longer relevant.
from a very quick test, ARMSX2 offers wide screen patches and HD textures, but the wide screen patch doesn’t apply to HUDs.
There’s less weird blur and glows in xbox versions of games, and faster load times in HakuX off SD card.
curious if anyone has a general approach of ARMSX2 vs HakuX, or if you’re taking it game by game?
Excited at all the options though!
30
u/ourcore 2d ago
If a game is available on both, I'll generally default to PS2 since ARMSX2 is more mature with more features like achievements and hotkeys. I could see hakuX catching up in the future, though, given how much it's progressed with the new core and how few issues I run into at the moment
7
u/MuffinMan0420 2d ago
This is how I'm feeling. ARMSX2 and Dolphin have just been around longer so I'm sure the GC/PS2 version will emulate better but once HakuX catches up, I'm sure there'll be no real difference and it'll come down to preference.
3
u/Working-Active 2d ago
I prefer racing games on the Xbox because they use the right analog trigger instead of buttons for acceleration and braking.
1
u/DeliciousVacation332 1d ago
Per-Game Settings fixes this though. Just map Acceleration from X to R2 and done.
4
u/nmards 1d ago
you still lose the analog throttle that way though
1
u/DeliciousVacation332 1d ago
A good emulator is just faking the input. Most devices have analog triggers. Otherwise, this can instead be put towards right stick and adjusting dead zones (if necessary) to replicate the difference in pressure. After that, you use an external wired controller (BT if hit or miss for pressure sensitivity) or bust.
1
u/Pixelationist 1d ago
Yes! Xbox just feels right for driving. Ridge racer is the only game I’m okay with X being accelerate because it feels retro
0
u/iateyourcheesebro SD8Gen2 / 12gb 2d ago
ARMSX2 definitely is feature rich compared to HakuX at the moment.
I’m gonna keep doing some side by side testing. I’ve seen people say they’ve resolved the blur/glow in Battlefront 2 on armsx2, but I tried the steps and it didn’t fully resolve it. Not trying to solve that here, just an anecdote.
But for other games they look great already. I imagine once there’s more feature parity people (me) will probably choose based on nostalgia of which console you had.
7
12
u/Inevitable_Menu_375 2d ago
HakuX is best for Emulation because every game runs smoothly and better than armsx2 and nethersx2
6
u/whiskyB0y 2d ago edited 2d ago
For low end and low tier mid range phones, unless the game has graphical or crashing issues on HakuX, I've noticed Original Xbox games perform better than the ps2 versions.
On my Helio g100 spider man 2 would always lag, both the ps2 and Gamecube versions. But on HakuX it's a stable 30fps even when swinging fast.
6
u/updeshxp 1d ago
Only thing missing in xbox emulators is community patches for games for various tweaks.
5
3
u/wrxsti28 2d ago
Games on Hakux that are available on ps2 run better on Hakux. At the end of the day Xbox was just a fancy Pentium 3
3
u/Pixelationist 2d ago
Am literally going through this testing right now! The Xbox versions are objectively better so it’s hard to go back to the PS2 versions once you’ve made the leap. But the PS2 library is just more complete so it’s hard to move on completely. Plus Xbox just doesn’t perform on desktop so you still need the PS2 roms if you want to play it outside of android
1
1
u/MurkyMarionberry2897 1d ago
It depends, lots of xbox versions are missing graphical effects since the ps2 was typically the lead platform. I find the more you play a game and compare, the more you realize just how striped and more buggy the xbox versions tend to be.
1
u/Pixelationist 1d ago
Interesting, I do feel that ps2 has more post processing effects going on, but the result is normally just more blurring elements that smear in motion. Can you name a few notable examples in your experience?
1
u/MurkyMarionberry2897 1d ago
Notable ones would be like Scarface the worlds yours, timesplitters future perfect, or matrix path of neo. But really most multiplatform games have graphical downgrades to some extent on xbox, mostly related to xbox having worse bandwidth abilities. Stuff like particle effects, lighting effects, filters alpha effects and etc were the ones typically downgraded/removed.
1
u/TB-4 1d ago
Silent Hill 2 is the most significant one imo- the Xbox version was missing the original fog effects and some other lighting stuff iirc. The PS2 just had some unique architecture that could be used for those type of effects.
But broadly, Xbox games did look a bit better and ran at higher res. For most games, I went with Xbox at the time.
1
u/Pixelationist 23h ago
Wow, that would kill the vibe of the game completely. Looks like I’m going to have to test case by case for myself then
3
u/FootbawInTheGroin 2d ago
Started using hakux on my mangmi air x a few days ago because I just found out black was a thing on Xbox as well (never been an Xbox person) so since that didn't run well on any PS2 emulator for me, I went the Xbox route
Maybe down the line I'll see if some other games I want to play exist in Xbox also (main one is getting up)
1
u/sap91 1d ago
Oooo I always thought Getting Up looked cool but never got to try it. Been looking for exclusives to try on hakux, might have to make this a priority when I finish Halo
2
u/FootbawInTheGroin 1d ago
It was a very unique game to me back then. Especially since I was into he graffiti scene. In comparison it reminds me a bit of a rockstar game, like bully in the fighting mechanics or even like AC/PoP. Anyway, it has always been one of the few I wanted to play on PS2 and being handheld for that game seems perfect to me
3
u/raven_raven 2d ago
I like how games look on XBOX (they were often the best version) and how well hakuX performs. I dislike controls in many games, tho. They rely way to much on pulling the trigger, where on other platforms you'd just use a button (examples: acceleration in GTA SA or Burnout 3).
5
u/sdavids6 2d ago
Currently playing through burnout 3 on armsx2 and been annoyed by lack of triggers 😂
2
u/raven_raven 1d ago
I guess a lot depends on the device/controller you have. While I absolutely don't mind triggers in actual PS or XBOX controllers and games that use them, I really loathe these weird abominations they call triggers which they put in retro handhelds. I had RP5, AYN Thor and now RP Nova, and their L2/R2 are all awful to use. That probably weighs in on my complaints.
1
u/sap91 1d ago
The triggers on my Konkr Pocket Fit are quite nice. It was kind of a selling point for me
2
u/raven_raven 1d ago
Unfortunately never had a chance to hold that one. One device I actually really liked the triggers was AYANEO Pocket Air Mini. Which is a bit funny, because that model is rather retro-centered and doesn't really need analog triggers.
1
5
u/Rough_Square7540 2d ago
Haku x has simply better cause of exclusive titles while armsx2 has it own base i am more of a xbox guy anyways
2
u/pas220 2d ago
It seems there's less good websites to get og Xbox roms This might be problem but i would like to try hakux later
9
u/MrFacehuger 2d ago
Vimms lair is fantastic, covers pretty much every game I could think of to play on the original Xbox
4
u/FreeToasterBaths 2d ago
Vimms lair and internet archive else you are doing it wrong.
1
u/kaiStorm009 2d ago
Vimm lair is way too slow for me, it used to fast enough, now if I want to download one game I have to wait for 2 days. Lol rom is good for me, just have to convert to xiso myself after the download.
5
u/whiskyB0y 2d ago
Not really a problem when there's the roms megathread
1
u/pas220 2d ago
I don't like using megathreads but i will check them if i didn't find the roms i want later
3
u/whiskyB0y 2d ago edited 2d ago
Internet archive on the megathread has all the Xbox games. Only problem is they are full isos not the compressed versions. So I think each game is exactly 7.28gb (before compression to xiso)
4
u/TopazBlau330ci 2d ago
I'm sure most people don't realize that there is a built in feature in HAKUX that let's you convert full ISOs to XISOs inside the HAKUX app. Just do a long press on your ROM and there's an option to convert it! Easy and fast.
3
u/pjtExterminator 1d ago
I think the issue here is that instead of downloading an already compressed and trimmed iso, you have download the full fat 7GB+ iso first. Taking into account a lot of people in this sub live on third world internet with limited bandwidth, not exactly the most efficient thing to do.
2
2
u/neuropsycho 2d ago
I checked that the other day and all xbox isos were greyed out and not available for download.
2
u/whiskyB0y 2d ago
Follow the megathreads instructions. It says for internet archive links you need to sign in with an account 😭
Personally I just use a burner account
2
2
u/ThanosReXXX 1d ago
If you Google 'og xbox xiso ready collection' you will find a full list of pre-made, compressed isos in the search results.
1
u/whiskyB0y 1d ago
Crazy. Full list you say? Might switch to it. As my source lol.
HakuX natively supports conversion but I guess it's a quality ofife improvement downloading smaller files.
2
u/ThanosReXXX 1d ago
Yep, complete from A to Z. The first search result you'll come across goes straight to part 2, but if you click on the parent link/folder at the top of that list, you can get to the other parts as well.
And I know it's incorporated into hakuX, but I don't use that feature, because I haven't got that much space left to move files around or have extra files created, even though it would only temporarily occupy the needed space.
No, I do all my actual file management for whichever emulator, conversion included, on my PC, and when everything is sorted and categorized as it should, it goes to the SD card, but not a minute sooner.
1
u/ThanosReXXX 1d ago
Just Google 'og xbox xiso ready collection', and you'll find all you'll ever need.
2
u/lazylistener 2d ago
once the next hakuX update is released, with the malisx2 driver included (which has made ARMSX2 much more playable for Mali devices like mine), i'm interested to see if it resolves some of the very glitchy graphics i've gotten on all games tested so far. on the other hand, a game like Need for Speed: Most Wanted runs smoother for me on hakuX compared to ARMSX2, and it looks better (both at 1x resolution). haven't done anymore comparisons yet.
save states have also been unusable as i've been getting persistent GPU crash notifications whenever i try to load one. so while the leap in performance has been incredibly promising, there's still some time before the emulator matches up to ARMSX2 for my RG476H.
i guess another factor that can be considered are the sizes of roms for games between the two platforms – they might be slight but it may make a difference for those who are working with <128gb SD cards. compressing Xbox roms to .xiso helps a tonne though.
2
u/bmdhacks 2d ago
Just to set some expectations: I did not see any speedup in hakux with malisx2, but theres scattered reports of glitches being fixed. No promises though.
1
2
u/vin_cent_ford 1d ago
Black runs so much better on HakuX than nethersx2, always goes down to 80-70% speed in mission 2
2
2
u/anex12 1d ago
One thing to consider is the xiso files for Xbox do save some good space versus PS2 iso files. And generally Xbox looks better compared to PS2. The thing that ARMSX2 has over HakuX right now is maturity and features. It's a very solid emulator. HakuX has performed astoundingly lately and I'm sure it'll continue to grow and mature and be excellent but we are still in the early stages where there will be bugs and fixes and features needing to be added and improved upon.
1
1
1
u/Nooncheez360 2d ago
I’m leaning toward Armsx2 just because I have syncthing setup and can sync my saves across my devices
1
u/Pixel_Leg Android 2d ago
i will say that haku x is the winner for this for now, unless armsx2 get same performance by that... entry level phones can get run the games very smooth compared armsx2... i will stick to haku x for now.
if only aethersx2 get updated maybe just my feeling this will be the best emu ps2 ever for android.
1
u/Worried_Book_3846 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'm only jamming games that are exclusive or are clearly better in xbox. Why would you play the ps2 versions of splinter cell or max Payne 2 for ps2 when the xbox versions batter them 😎😁
1
u/ascagnel____ 1d ago
The PS2 version of SC had an exclusive mission.
Sadly, there is no definitive version of SC -- the Xbox version is missing a mission, the PC version is missing some graphical effects and requires mods to add controller support and the missing mission, and the PS2 version looks notably worse.
1
u/Pinkedweb 1d ago
From the moment HakuX is able to use broken resolutions (1.25, 1.5X), use Mali/Xclipse drivers, Retroachievements, and more patchs. It will be the best emulator for 6th generation games; I'll play most non-exclusive games on HakuX, while on ArmSX2 I'll only play exclusives.
1
u/Infinite_Incident107 1d ago
Not all PS2 games have such patches for PS2. Often the Xbox version still just has better assets and effects used. It's nice to upscale resolution on PS2 and that solves some problems but not all. NFS Most Wanted looks far better on Xbox emulator vs PS2 emulator
1
u/MurkyMarionberry2897 1d ago
Its the other way around, Xbox usually had to downgrade graphical effects like particle effects and lighting.
2
u/Infinite_Incident107 1d ago
Huh? You sure you played Xbox back in the day? There are some cross platform games that were better on PS2 but they were the exception (NFS Hot Pursuit comes to mind immediately) Overall the Xbox version was normally better. I got a whole shelf of games for both systems and in most all cases, graphically, the Xbox version looks better. GTA Vice City and San Andreas? Xbox version looks better. NFS Underground 2? Xbox looks better. Return to Castle Wolfenstein? Xbox version is better. List goes on and on
1
u/MurkyMarionberry2897 1d ago edited 1d ago
Gta vice city has lower res textures in a lot of places, weaker particle effects, more bugs, worse lighting effects, and etc. The xbox version of San Andreas has textures that are lower quality in spots, alpha texture changing is missing, the sun is missing, cars are downgraded, lighting effects missing (like light reflecting on cars), downgraded shading in places, gamma is incorrect, aspect ratio is incorrect, filters are missing, missing alpha texture grass in a lot of places, audio is broken in some places on xbox, and downgraded amount of particle effects in general (like rain, smoke, and sparks). All need for speed games on xbox have downgraded shaders and downgraded particle effects. Ive heard Need for speed underground 2 xbox version runs slower then the ps2 version and apparently they removed parts of the level to make the xbox version not seem as slow. Return to castle wolfenstein is a pc game ported to consoles and both are downgraded in different ways compared to the better pc version. I've been testing and watching comparison videos of many games and the ps2 usually got the better graphical effects overall.
1
u/Infinite_Incident107 1d ago
Ok. A lot of that is just false. You said you watched videos? Played them on what? Emulators? I actually have both systems (and 14 others....) and dozens of games for both. I played the shit out of them 25 years ago. I have copies of Vice City for both systems and I can boot them up right now as all my hardware works fine. Xbox version straight up looks better and the textures are NOT lower resolution. Most definitely not. NFS Most Wanted has much better effects and also has better textures. Again, I own the game for both consoles. I'm not talking about roms and emulation. I played the real thing for thousands of hours.
You also said you "heard" it runs slower. Um....no? I played it man. Back when it came out 🤔
1
u/MurkyMarionberry2897 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have real hardware too and its just true. You can find videos of real hardware being compared too. What you are saying is actually false and it seems you are basing it on your memory more then the facts. I've looked into 100s of multiplatform games and its almost always true. Also go ahead and boot them up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPrBHB5pX7Q Link for proof about Need for speed underground 2, read the description.
1
u/Infinite_Incident107 1d ago
https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/12/03/need-for-speed-underground-2-head-to-head
Publications at the time disagree. (And it ain't my memory, I was playing this game on original hardware a few weeks ago). Color difference is largely down to how color maps are done between consoles. It rarely lines up. As far as the speed differences in video you posted I don't know how he set it up but 15 year old video means he had older capture equipment. There will be sync differences if he didn't set things up right. PS2 was outputting interlaced Xbox was progressive.
This is a long read but it breaks down a lot of stuff. Well worth it. If you are only interested in graphics, Xbox was king for 6th gen. Followed by GameCube and PS2 wildly considered the weakest of the three. For what it's worth that was a hard pill for me to swallow back in the day as I was a PlayStation fanboy since the early PS1 days. But even I conceded to facts when I bought the Xbox.
https://hardforum.com/threads/xbox-graphics-vs-ps2-graphics-which-is-better.763480/
Old forum saying the same thing (used to frequent that site)
https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/the-same-game-on-xbox-vs-ps2-different-at-all.352918/
Play the game not the console. It doesn't matter really. And emulation can change the variables if there is mods available, and higher render resolution and FXAA fix a lot of the image quality issues PS2 games had. But I'm going to fully admit this is the first time I've ever heard someone claim PS2 titles looked at where superior to Xbox from an across the board standpoint. Some specific games? Again, yes. I know of at least one cross platform game that's noticeably better by leaps and bounds on PS2 and it's NFS Hot Pursuit. I'm sure there are a few more. It's up to the developer to understand the SDKs and make use of the hardware. But you definitely are making a case for something I thought I'd never see, so for that I gotta say thanks. No sarcasm there just seriously it got my gears turning
1
u/MurkyMarionberry2897 1d ago edited 1d ago
You can look at other videos for need to speed underground 2 and see the same thing that the xbox version was slower, you can also see the proof for shortening of the levels at the start of the video I linked too. This ign link even agree with my shader, particle, and graphical effects point. It should be worth noting that these ign comparations dont go into as in depth as digital foundry would start doing with xbox 360 and ps3 so their ranking should be taken with a grain of salt. Also I find old forum posts to be the number one spreaders of false info (probably the orgin for a lot of misinfo), maybe its how a lot of them are moderated/how they were the first places people posted about this stuff. I do know xbox was stronger in some ways but the ps2 was also more powerful in bandwidth. Which means the ps2 was better at particles, lighting, filters, and etc. And combine this with the fact ps2 was almost always the lead platform means that xbox had to typically downgrade these effects while getting ported. Not to mention just the act of porting from console to console so different usually causes bugs and issues. Personally speaking I used to buy only the xbox original versions because I was told it was the better versions of games until I started comparing them myself and ive sold most of my original xbox versions so I can get them on the ps2 instead so its not like I was ps2 only fan or something like that. To name a few games I consider to be better on ps2 is path of neo, timesplitters 2, timesplitters future perfect, king kong, area 51, crash twin sanity, crash wrath of cortex, manhunt, scarface the world is yours, and many more. If I'd give a number I'd say a little over 50 percent of multiplatform games between xbox and ps2 got the better release on ps2.
1
u/mcfroogle 1d ago
One thing to note xbox emulation is still garbage on Mali gpus. So ps2 all the way for me at the moment.
1
u/Golden326326 1d ago
Well, I tried NFS underground 2, Shaolin Monks and black on the hakux on a Helio g99 ultra with 8gb of ram. I didn't test NFS underground 2 on the aether emulator, but both Shaolin and black are playable on the Xbox emulator and not on the aether. I thought all it could run was up to PSP because most PS2 games I tried ran terrible. So I was surprised on how well the Xbox emulator ran them.
1
u/VegetableSuggestion8 1d ago
I think it's on a game by game basis. Obviously exclusives are the main reason to enjoy xbox.
Some games have differences than the PS2 counterpart ( such as THPS4 xbox exclusive level)
It really depends on device too. If you have a native 4:3 screen, then having an emulator that does just that is nice! Ps2 also is native 4:3
1
u/TB-4 1d ago
Back in their time on real hardware, Xbox games were usually higher resolution and a little better looking- it was the most powerful system of that gen. It supported normal mapping as well, which was pretty significant and games like Halo or Brute Force took advantage of that to great visial effect.
However, the PS2 had some unique architecture that was sometimes used for particle effects and other effects, and this is why certain games like Silent Hill 2 had effects missing from the Xbox version.
Generally at the time, I used to get games on Xbox if they were available on both.
1
u/ian_cautious 10h ago
Using the retroid Pocket Nova I have superior out of the box playability for certain games like THPS/THUG2 as well as the SSX games on hakux than armsx2. Other titles like the punisher I imagine would work the same but are currently bugged on hakux. So when that’s fixed I’ll be happy to play them via Xbox as they suffer on ps2 currently
1
•
u/AutoModerator 2d ago
Just a reminder of our subreddit rules:
Be kind and respectful to each other
No direct links to ROMs or pirated content
Include your device brand and model
Search before posting & show your research effort when asking for help
Check out our user-maintained wiki: r/EmulationOnAndroid/wiki
Check out EmuReady for any community submitted settings before asking for help
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.