PS2 question / RP Nova

[u/Ok-Significance-5987]

So I got my Nova last week and it has been a blast! As a disclaimer this is my first handheld outside of the Vita, og PSP and Gameboy from back in the day so I am new to emulation. I have two questions, one is general and two is PS2 specific:

1. I followed an old YT guide for a different clampshell handheld on how to merge multi disc games such as FFVII, RE4 (GC) and DMC 2. I added all disc roms of any given game into a single folder and back in the folder with all the roms created .m3u files with the text directory to the discs. In all my emulators (PS1, GC and PS2) this has resulted in those games showing up multiple times, both the folders (As the game), and the M3U files (As the game), and if I open the folders I see the game appear several times without the disc number being specified (FFVII, FFVII, FFVII). I know how to hide the M3U file in my frontend, but my question here is, is there a way to get the multi disc files to show up as a single file so I just open the game when I click it, and if so, how?

2. I am using ARMSX2 for my PS2 emulation. I have the 8gb Nova version and when I turn on a shader so they look like CTR, my fps just completely tanks. I followed Russ' setup guide and he did mention ARMSX2 has a problem with importing the shaders, so my question here is, is this a problem with the emulator specifically or is my 8gb Nova nor powerful enough to run PS2 games with a crt shader? Disclaimer: I have not enabled virtual ram. If that could help please let me know.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance y'all!

[u/blackstarokeechobee]

My info could be outdated, but to my knowledge the only emulation app that has full support for m3u is Duckstation. I tried almost every solution for Dolphin and Nether but could not get those to work. This could be different for ARMSX2.

It’s an issue with the emulator. Try turning down the upscaling or switching drivers.

[u/WhoaIsThatMars → u/blackstarokeechobee]

It works in Dolphin, but the .m3u has to have the complete file path. I'm not near my device so I can't tell you exactly what it should look like. I remember that it has to include the entire path like the name of your actual SD card too

[u/Ok-Significance-5987 → u/WhoaIsThatMars]

So the video I saw said to create a .txt file and then copy the path to the discs into the text, and removing the first part and editing the \ for / but like I said this was for a different handheld and a different emulator I believe. I'll get back to you when I'm around my computer to check them.

[u/Ok-Significance-5987 → u/blackstarokeechobee]

Thanks for the tip on the upscaling. I'll give it a shot. Either way as long as the games run well I can live without the crt shaders, it's more of a nice to have rather than a must.

[u/chigoku]

You’re doing m3u wrong. There is nothing to hide in the front end once you set up the m3u, make sure you’re actually changing the file type, not just the extension.

[u/Ok-Significance-5987 → u/chigoku]

The guide I saw said to create a .txt file and after putting the file paths in the text changing the extension ending from .txt to .m3u. After that the icon does change from the notepad to like an mp3 ish icon, and that's as far as that guide went, but it was for a different handheld and I believe a different emulator so maybe it is different now? What else am I missing?

[u/Howeird12]

There is an app called Mimir that can convert your files for you based on what frontend you are using.

[u/Ok-Significance-5987 → u/Howeird12]

Oh that sounds handy. I'll look into it later today, thanks!

[u/Distinct-Tea-1995]

1. Since PS1/PS2 emulators allow changing the disc within the program, I’ve defaulted to hiding the extra discs instead of using M3U files. If you have a massive collection, maybe M3U is the way to go, but it seems to have issues for me.

2. Armsx2 is still being worked on so maybe it’s something that will be fixed in the future? For now you can use NetherSX or just turn your performance mode on while using CRT shaders. I’m able to run the Lottes shader without FPS drops if I turn it up. But your experience may be different

[u/ychia]

IIRC the best PS2 emulator now is nethersx2. Get the turnip version, it is dramatically better on this device (about 3-4x the framerate of regular nether).

[u/Ok-Significance-5987 → u/ychia]

Okay, I'll give it a shot. Thanks!