Playstation Classic announced

[Dogg Thang]

From what I've seen of AutoBleem! it would seem so, but I don't have any first hand experience of it yet.

If the performance can be improved, it’s a very good price and could be worth a punt right now.

[importaku]

For 2d stuff the performance is fine I have run a whole pile of 2d shooting games through it and all of them have been pretty solid in frame rate even with a crapload of sprites on screen. Might have to check the hack progress as I haven’t been keeping up to date as things started splitting off with various hacks been released now. It’s a lot messier than the hakchi situation.

[MartyG]

Do the hacks improve performance?

After having used the retroarch cores now, it struggles a bit with Dreamcast, but PS1 seems to run at a steady 60 FPS with the games I've tried. MAME and FBA for NeoGeo, CPS1 & 2 work great along with NES, MD, SNES and Atari 2600. I haven't tried N64. I'm not massively sensitive to input lag if it's minor, but I've not tried any rhythm action games and I'm unlikely be able to tell if I'm a couple of frames out on fighting games these days - well past my prime gaming years

I did need to modify the unit to remove the current limit on the 2nd USB port as otherwise the classic seems to struggle to power a lot of USB memory sticks (it's not the easiest given the size of the resistors, I had to use my digital microscope to see what was going on, but he mod itself is a simple bridging of two resistors).

Then it's just a matter of copying the right files to the USB stick and plugging it in to the 2nd controller port - a powered hub would probably work too as then it's not the classic providing the power to the memory stick, but I didn't have one lying about to try.

Overall, for £30, it's a good purchase - I would definitely have felt cheated if I'd had paid the launch price of £90.

[J0e Musashi]

What’s the current deal with hacking this?

I only want to play PS1 games on it, but from what I read AutoBleem doesn’t recognise the majority of NTSC-J titles. With that in mind, I’m thinking that BleemSync would be better as it’s more of a manual process?

Do I still need to pier mod it if I’m using OTG?

Also, I want it to look stock, just with more games. I read that there is a better emulator than the included one now, but will it allow me to keep the stock UI look?

Mine is a Japanese unit. Will the hack keep O as go and X as no?

[MartyG]

You don't need to do anything other than download a couple of files to a memory stick named SONY.

This explains everything https://retronauts.com/article/1131/...with-bleemsync

The additional emulators are loaded through RetroArch, so you don't get the original UI unless you're using BleemSync to add additional PS1 titles and that launches the original PS1 emu.

As I mentioned above, the only issue I had was that the USB ports are power limited, so only work with certain USB sticks. I hard modded the Classic bridging two surface mount resistors on the 2nd port which removes the limit, but you can use an OTG splitter on the rear port now with a bit more work, which removes the need worry about current limits on the controller ports.

[Digfox]

Spent some time with mine today, and was more frustrating experience than I thought it would be.

Tried 3 memory sticks and only an old 8GB Kingston DT101 G2 stick will work. So looks like I need either to do the Bleemsync payload process to get OTG support enabled (as well as buy a cable) or bridge the USB ports raise their power limits. As [MENTION=42]MartyG[/MENTION] mentioned. I was hoping it was just straight up add Autobleem to the USB stick and I wouldn't have to mod the PS Classic at all.

That said lovely build quality and packaging, although the unit in it's base form is very underwhelming emulation machine.

[J0e Musashi]

I have a USB key that works, I just can’t find any ROMs to utilise it. LOL

[Digfox]

I have a USB key that works, I just can’t find any ROMs to utilise it. LOL

What is the USB stick?

I even tried a Anker powered USB hub and it didn't make any difference either. And for some reason one of USB sticks I tried decided to die (a very old Bytestor 2.0 USB stick I got for Xbox 360!).

[J0e Musashi]

What is the USB stick?

I even tried a Anker powered USB hub and it didn't make any difference either. And for some reason one of USB sticks I tried decided to die (a very old Bytestor 2.0 USB stick I got for Xbox 360!).

SanDisk Cruzer my friend.

[Atticus]

I just can’t find any ROMs to utilise it. LOL

You know you'd never play them anyway

[Digfox]

SanDisk Cruzer my friend.

Ta, I've seen the Sandisk Cruzer Fit (USB 2.0) mentioned in a number of comments/YouTube videos as working for the PS Classic but unfortunately doesn't come in 128GB although you could probably make 64GB work.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Cruzer-64GB-Flash-Drive/dp/B07MDXBTL1/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=sandisk+cruzer&qid=1560633616&s=gateway&sr=8-14

I've also see the newer SanDisk Ultra Fit 128 GB USB 3.1 (SDCZ430-128G-G46) mentioned as working but with a few comments that suggest otherwise.

[importaku]

It's the most frustrating thing about the hack is finding a damn stick that will work, it's a minefield of misinformation out there.

[Digfox]

^ Yep! Even if I do go ahead with loading Bleemsync 1.1 for OTG support I'm going to need something bigger than this 8GB Kingston stick (although Bleemsync makes no mention of size required that I can see).

EDIT - Just ordered this Cruzer Fit 32 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (SDCZ33-032G-B35) - Black: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Seems the model number ending B35 (2018 model) is the one which keeps getting recommended. Where as the newer G35 is a bit more hit and miss. So fed up with looking at memory sticks now.

[Team Andromeda]

Spent some time with mine today, and was more frustrating experience than I thought it would be.
.

Sorry to hear that, I used this brilliant guide and it worked with my old Scan Disk Pen drive

[Digfox]

Sorry to hear that, I used this brilliant guide and it worked with my old Scan Disk Pen drive

No worries, the process is super easy - it is similar for both AutoBleem and BleemSync. It's nowhere near as bad as the time my new AMD CPU was faulty, or installing TVHeadend when I knew nothing about Linux (lost whole weekends to that!).

You might have noticed in that video but ETA Prime is using an old Sandisk USB 2.0 stick. As [MENTION=39]importaku[/MENTION] mentioned the most frustrating thing about this process is finding a working USB stick. I didn't realise it was such a problem. And also as mentioned there is tons of misinformation and contradiction about which sticks work. Assuming my new incoming Sandisk works I can then go down the enabling OTG support with BleemSync 1.1 if I want to.

Does also make me think I should pick up some more cheap USB 2.0 sticks in the next Amazon sales because I often use them for projects like RetroPie, PiHole or Linux distros. And was moving to using newer USB 3.0 sticks but having some different flavours around might be wise.