They had been with the Nightly version for so long, and I had only seen that in Linux for so long, that I thought they had never released a stable version. But I was wrong: PCSX2 2.0 has arrived, and among the information they provide they tell us that four years have passed since the previous stable version. During all this time, more than 6000 changes have been made, more than 100 million downloads have been exceeded, and the 20th anniversary has been celebrated.
One of the first changes we will notice is that the interface has changed. Until now they used wxWidgets, which at the interface development level can be one of the best choices, since what it shows depends on the operating system on which a software is running. The bad thing is that its development has slowed down a lot, and have decided to move to Qt. The framework that is also present in distributions with KDE or LXQt desktops is the best, and the change is positive.
As they tell us, «But now, wxWidgets is gone. Gone is the desktop experience reminiscent of how Windows desktop apps looked in 2006. Qt brings with it a sleek look, a more efficient UI backend, and provided the perfect opportunity to redo all of our menus and widgets. Adding themes allows you to customize your PCSX2 to your liking. The result is by far our best user experience to date. Big thanks to Stenzek for bringing his Qt expertise from DuckStation and leading the new Qt design for PCSX2«.
PCSX2 2.0 says goodbye to plugins
In previous versions, the use of accessories to make some adjustments. If we didn't like the design of one, we could use another. If one broke something, one could stop using that one and switch to another one that worked. But times change, and the priority now is precision and user experience, and one way to do this is by avoiding those small touch-ups that can lead us to experience problems.
PCSX2 2.0 has also advanced automation. When we release a game, we often make several tweaks to make it work as well as possible. As part of the work on the new version, Now the database of information about different games is used so that we can apply the settings that best suit you, without having to delve into the configuration and make manual changes. In this way, it is expected that enjoying any title means starting and enjoying.
Per-game adjustments
Another big change is that from now on you can save settings by title. It's something I've used a lot in PPSSPP, where a game like "The Legend of Aang" works perfectly with the default settings, but F1 2009 needs at least some frame jumps so it doesn't stumble. The solution is to create a configuration for the game, and this does not affect the rest of the titles.
Game compatibility improvements
PCSX2 2.0 has improved support for more games. Currently, the number of titles that did not work well in the emulator was low, and they were usually due to problems with servers that were already turned off or something similar. Removing that, it can be said that compatibility is now "total."
The last of the most notable developments is the “Big Picture” mode with which we can move through the software interface with a controller. This is perfect, for example, when we want to move through the emulator from the Steam Deck, or if we have launched IT IS and we don't want to grab the keyboard to move around the interface.
PCSX2 2.0, of which the two should not be confused - the first is part of the name and the second is the second version -, is a great release that also FPS delivery has greatly improved, so, in theory, the experience will be even more fluid. It can now be downloaded in different types of packages from your download web page.