[Emulation] WipEout on Android (Other platforms too)

[Darkdrium777]

You can now play WipEout PurE on Android, and the DLCs load as well.
Pulse can apparently load too, but is more demanding performance wise according to certain comments I read, and I cannot confirm for the DLCs there. If they did it would finally mean it is possible to play them without the appropriate license that locks them to Europe accounts. Something to investigate for you guys across the pond with access to those DLCs.

I personally cannot play it on my Android devices, as you will see they are quite slow.
However in the case of WipEout PurE everything gameplay related appears to work fine. There is no music though even if sound emulation is enabled.
You can set it up to render at twice the display resolution, with the display resolution already being larger than the PSP this means increased graphical fidelity (well, there are still graphics glitches but those will probably get ironed out eventually).

You will need PPSSPP, available on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ppsspp.ppsspp) and F-Droid (http://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.ppsspp.ppsspp). Bookmark F-Droid, I am unsure of the lifetime of emulators on Google Play (They could be removed). F-Droid is also an alternative Android market I recommend you install for FOSS software.
The main website (http://www.ppsspp.org) also hosts versions of PPSSPP for practically any OS you like, though of course development and performance progress may vary between.
I can confirm that the Windows version appears to work as well as Android on Windows 7, if that's what you fancy more (Though it is less portable obviously). Windows controls are not configurable right now, but an XBox 360 controller apparently works with it (I cannot confirm this).

You will also need the game dumped in ISO or CSO format. CSO can be used to save some space, IIRC the full game ISO dump is somewhere around 200-300MB, and the CSO is 154MB. You can convert ISO to CSO with YACC (http://yacc.pspgen.com/). This utility worked well for me in the PSP CFW days, and still does today.

If you want the DLCs, the emulator will create a PSP folder at the root of your storage device (It may be inside a folder called memstick). This is the same folder as if it were on your PSP memory stick, so the installation procedure for the DLCs is the exact same as for the PSP. You can get the WipEout PurE DLC here (http://www.mediafire.com/?r0cty7z2p65m1), as always.

Have some Android screenshots, and a Windows.

Android screenshot 1 (http://i.imgur.com/BBYwM5S.png) 2 (http://i.imgur.com/dRZHR2l.png)
Windows (http://i.imgur.com/7xyQsN2.jpg)

Also: load times are instantaneous, even on my old Android tablet. The emulator is region agnostic, I played NTSC on Android and PAL on Windows.

So, if your PSP dies, fret not. As long as you have access to a mobile or PC device (more powerful than my mobile ones it seems) you should be able to play this game without missing anything like DLCs. The emulator development continues of course and should bring more control customizations in the future, perhaps playing with a bluetooth gamepad on mobile for example instead of onscreen controls.

Last thing: you need to disable Buffered Rendering in the options of the emulator at the time of this posting, otherwise the game is all whited out.

[Temet]

Interesting!
I think it's possible to pair a Dualshock on Android devices ... but it needs to be rooted.

[Darkdrium777]

Yes, that is indeed possible. I do not know if this particular emulator supports it though. There does not appear to be options to define controls on the Android app. However I may be wrong in understanding how it works, so maybe there doesn't need to be an option for the emulator app as it could be a system wide sort of thing.
Regardless, you can check your device compatibility with Sixaxis using this app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dancingpixelstudios.sixaxiscompatib ilitychecker) before purchasing the main one (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dancingpixelstudios.sixaxiscontroll er). It does need root as you said.

[stin]

If my timing is right, depending on my phone contract (Due renewal next month), if the money is right, then possibly I might get these version for apps cos I am interested.

I will find that out eventually.

stevie:)

[Argroh Valdios]

Y'know, honestly, I'm speachless.

If that thing could replicate the PSP's ad-hoc signal, then this could lead to a whole slew of crazy shenanigens that can occur, adding to that, I posses the PSP game and can state, that screenshot is a load more clearer then just the PSP screen... not if only there was a way for me to display my PSP on a larger screen without CFW-ing it.

[camlet]

can the phone version play the eu dlc

[Darkdrium777]

If you are playing the EU version of the game you can install the EU DLC and play it just like if it was a PSP.

[Darkdrium777]

Relevant: Using Dualshock 3 with XPeria smartphones (www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Z3QnXWZm8).

[amplificated]

This works really well on Windows. My basic Logitech gamepad works flawlessly and has good response times from what I've seen in the short time I've spent with the application.

Few issues:
Although it works fairly quickly, it feels like a few frames are dropped which breaks the smoothness of gameplay that should be there, IMO. EDIT: I'm pretty sure it's the lack of frame buffering, and it's not frames lost, but torn frames. Frame buffering currently needs to be disabled otherwise there's an overwhelming light bloom permeating the entire screen, making the game virtually unplayable.
Videos aren't played (but can be skipped)
Music doesn't work
Sometimes there are minor sound effect distortions
Controls are not changeable - I'd really prefer L2/R2 as the airbrakes :(

Given it's not yet complete and seems to be gaining traction as an open source project, the level of development indicates that these issues are not too far away from being corrected - hopefully, anyway.

I loaded up Pure since I own it with Hellfire's 100% save data (thanks :P) and had a few tries of some tracks, and could upload a vid if anyone's interested.


EDIT: Gave it a try on my Samsung Galaxy S3, and it's unplayable. Performance is roughly 5fps. Probably comes down to 2 factors: that the devs need to fine tune the app more, and that common mobile hardware is not powerful enough to handle it at full speed.