How to Play Neopets: The Darkest Faerie in the year of our Lord 2023:
Step 1: Download PCSX2. I use the latest nightly build (1.7) but this isn't required (If youre using a Steam Deck, you'll need to go into Desktop mode and find PCSX2 in the discovery browser.) Before you launch it, download a PS2 BIOS and extract the zip. While you're there, you can also go ahead and get the Neopets ROM, and any other roms that strike your fancy by searching "PS2 Roms." Note that while these are available on other sites, I personally find archive.org to be the safest and most comprehensive place to get roms. Extract the zips into wherever you want.
Step 2: Launch the exe for PCSX2. During set up it will ask you for a PS2 BIOS. Click the option to open the folder in question, and move your extracted BIOS there. Refresh the list, and you should see it there. Next it will ask for the directory where you keep your games, so just show it to the folder you extracted your roms into. (If you're using a Steam Deck, while in Desktop mode, go to Steam, tab over to Games, click to add a non-Steam game, and select PCSX2 from the list. This will allow you to launch the emulator without having to go to desktop mode every time.)
Step 3: It should now be ready and showing you a list of your games! Before you click, though, there's some last-minute set up you'll want to do, especially if you're working from a Steam Deck. Go into Controller Settings. From here you can either manually set up your controller or test your luck with Automatic Mapping. (If you're using a Steam Deck, from here you'll want to activate Big Picture Mode, move to Hotkey Settings, and set up buttons for "Toggle Pause," "Toggle Fullscreen," and whatever other emulation features you want to be able to access. Make absolute sure to set up buttons/button combos that you won't normally press during gameplay. You may also want to go to Interface Settings, scroll down to Game Display, and enable "Hide Cursor in Fullscreen.")
You can now play the game! But, if you'd also like to up the graphical fidelity a little bit, I have some extra steps to enhance your experience! Just keep in mind that these may cause emulation issues depending on the game.
Step 4: Move to Graphics Settings, scroll down, and match these settings:
- Bilinear Upscaling: Bilinear (Sharp)
- Integer Upscaling: Enabled
- Internal Resolution: 2x Native (~720p)
- Mipmapping: Full (PS2 Mipmaps)
- Bilinear Filtering: Bilinear (PS2)
- Trilinear Filtering: Trilinear (PS2)
- Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
With that, you should be able to play Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, and with upscaled graphics! Hope this helps!
izzy806
gummygunk
jbbartram-illu
snowghoul
