Table of Contents
The below guide is for both AetherSX2 & NetherSX2
AetherSX2 Download Link (outdated – suggest using NetherSX2): https://github.com/AetherSX2-backup/AetherSX2-builds/blob/master/alpha-3191-3668/13930-v1.5-3668.apk
NetherSX2 Download Link: https://joeysretrohandhelds.com/guides/nethersx2-install-guide/
Every step on this page is the same for both AetherSX2 and NetherSX2, but I would suggest installing NetherSX2 going forward.
Download the APK onto your Android device. Open it.
Allow any popups, you may get one about unknown sources.
Click Next, Next and Next again and now you need to import your PS2 BIOS file. I can’t provide this file, but I can tell you the file name is: ps2-0230a-20080220.bin.
After you import the file, select it and click next. Now we need to select our PS2 ROM directory. Basically, navigate to the folder that has all your PS2 ROMS. For obvious legal reasons, I can’t point you towards where ROMS are, but a good start would be Reddit and the ROMS subreddit.
Click next and finish.
Let it scan your PS2 games, it’ll take some time if you have a large library.
Once it’s done, head to Settings top left, then App settings and scroll down. You can enable Framerate and other monitoring here if you’d like.
Next head to the Graphics tab, depending on your device, you’ll want to experiment with what works better for OpenGL or Vulkan. If you’re new to this, you can leave it as default.
You can also adjust the resolution here as well, if you want to upscale the games to the resolution of your display.
Retro Achievements
If you head to the Retro Achievements tab, you can login with your Retro Achievements information to start earning them.
Controller Settings
Head back to the main screen, and this time click Settings top left and controller settings.
In the Touchscreen tab, change Controller View to None to remove on-screen controls. Scroll down, and you can enable Game Vibration here if you’d like.
Now head to the Controller Port 1 tab, and map your controls to match a PlayStation 2 controller.
When you’re done, head to the Hotkeys tab and I would map Fast Forward here. Can usually get away with L3 for most games.
Jump into any game from the main screen and if you use Android’s back button, or the back button on your device (if it has one), it’ll open the in-game menu.
You can Load State, Save State and more. This is also where you can Change Disc if you have a second disc game series.
Per-app Settings
If you select the circled (I) in the top right, you can change settings for this specific game and only this game.
If you select the settings cog top right, you can change settings for all games.
Advanced
So with devices like the AYN Odin 2 and other new Android handhelds that have the power of the sun in your hand, we can now do some really cool things with PlayStation 2 emulation and AetherSX2 or NetherSX2, either or.
In this guide, I’m going to go over how you can enable 60FPS patches for some supported PS2 games, upgrade some games with HD Texture packs, enable Widescreen Patches, enable Ultrawide patches for some other games and also use cheats. I wouldn’t call this a beginner’s tutorial by any stretch of the imagination, and you’ll need to have some familiarity with Android, AetherSX2/NetherSX2 and computers, but I’ll do my best to make this easy for you.
Keep in mind, any of these things could break your game and your save. I take no responsibility for your game or saves breaking, you’ve been warned.
60FPS Patches
First up is 60FPS patches. There’s an awesome posting on the PCSX2 forums with a bunch of 60FPS codes that we’re going to use (https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-60-fps-codes). You’re also going to need a PC for this, as we do need a program to convert those codes, I’ll be using a Windows 11 PC – I have no idea if this works on other operating systems.
Find the game that you want to apply a 60FPS code to in the list, and you want to match the serial code of the game you have to the game on the list. If you open AetherSX2/NetherSX2 and open the game, then open the AetherSX2/NetherSX2 menu by hitting the back button on your device or with the navigation bar, click the I button top right and in the Summary tab, you will see the Serial and CRC there. As long as that serial matches the games on the list of codes, you’re set.
Install PCSX2CE (https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2CE-PCSX2-Cheat-Converter-Patch-File-Editor) on your PC. It’s just right down there on the bottom as a .zip file. Unzip it and open the .jar file inside. Now, clicking the link for the game you want the code for in the 60FPS forum post, it should take you to a post with some codes on it. You want to copy all of those and paste them into the left side of the PCSX2CE program. Then click convert at the bottom. You should see a new code on the right and that’s our .pnach code that we’ll be using in AetherSX2/NetherSX2.
Start the game in AetherSX2/NetherSX2, and enter the AetherSX2/NetherSX2 menu again, scroll to Patch codes, then add Patch, you can name it anything you want, 60FPS might be the best. Then in the code body, just write out the code from the PCSX2CE program. Exit and restart the game.
Head back to the Patch codes menu, and select Enable Patches. You can confirm that the patch is applied by checking the framerate top right. To show FPS, it’s in App Settings, General tab, scroll to Show FPS.
HD Texture Packs
Next up is HD texture packs. One again, we’re going to be using an awesome website for this (https://sites.google.com/view/pcsx2-hd-textures-project/home). Find the game you want using the navigation menu and then you want to click the link that’s in the thread column for the game you want. Once again you want to confirm the serial number matches, same way we did in the 60FPS patch section. Each game is different, some will have a Download link right there in the first post, and all you have to do is download that 7-zip file. Some will have a YouTube video in the post where you need to go to that video and check the description or comments for the link, but in all cases, you should find a Download link somewhere. It’s like Where’s Waldo. Most of them will be in a .7z file format, which means you need to download 7-Zip from 7-Zip.org to extract it.
Once you do, inside you should see a folder with a serial number label and inside that, a folder that says replacements and maybe another folder. You want to copy the serial numbered folder, over to your device somehow. There’s a few ways you can do this, but easiest is obviously to connect it using a USB cable to your PC, making sure the device screen stays on during transfer or it’ll cut out, and just transfer the folder over to your Internal Storage, Downloads folder on your device for now.
Keep in mind this transfer could take a long while, it took me 30 minutes for these files. If you don’t have screen timeout set to 30 minutes before starting, you’ll want to do so, or sit there tapping the screen every few minutes to avoid it turning off.
Then, on your device, we’re going to copy and paste that folder or move that folder, whatever you prefer, to the Internal Storage, Android, Data, xyz.aethersx2.android, files, textures folder. I recommend using the app Solid Explorer File Manager from the Google Play Store for this, as you might have permission issues using other apps, plus with a dual screen layout, the app makes transferring files super easy.
Once you’ve moved the folder over, open AetherSX2/NetherSX2, head to Settings, Graphics and turn on Load Texture Replacements and Asynchronous Texture Replacement Loading.
That’s it, you’re done!
Widescreen Patches
Then we have Widescreen Patches. Go into AetherSX2/NetherSX2’s Settings, Graphics, and change the aspect ratio to 16:9, then in the same area, Enable Widescreen Patches to on. If there’s a community patch for widescreen, it’ll work, but not for every game. Also, if you do it this way, it’ll apply to every single game, so not what we want.
You can test this out though, if you open a game, and click the (I) in the top right, which means per-game settings, and then for that specific game, make those two setting changes and see if a community widescreen patch is applied. It’ll tell you top left. If you’re happy with that, you’re basically done.
Ultrawide Patches
For Ultrawide Patches, so for a lot of phones that are 20:9 or 21:9, head here (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14tgvoezBtLYN9FH-idzaxubl8UgUFsHK), and there’s a repository of ultrawide patches here. Head to the region that your games is in, so likely NTSC-U, and then find the game folder for the game you want, and inside of it you’ll see a number with a .pnach file type. That number is the CRC number of your game, so remember how we checked the serial number earlier? Right below that is CRC, so match that to the game you have.
Download that .pnach file to your device, then open the game in AetherSX2/NetherSX2, click the (I) icon top right for per-game settings. Head to Graphics, and set your Aspect Ratio to Stretch, and then disable Widescreen Patches as well.
Head back to the in-game menu, and scroll down to Patch Codes, add Patch and import the file you downloaded. Then head back into the menu and enable patches.
And you should be set!
Cheats
Last item on our fantastic make PS2 awesome menu is Cheats. The easiest of all of these to implement. We’re going to use the awesome website of GameHacking.org, and you’re going to search the game you want cheats for. Of course, make sure the region of the game matches what you have and you can double check the serial once again if you like. In the Download section, change format to PCSX2 .pnach, and then click Download. You’re going to get a .pnach file. Now, open the game you want to use cheats in AetherSX2/NetherSX2, then open the in-game menu and head to patch codes, then add patch and import that .pnach file. Head back in and Enable Patches.
You used to be able to click a checkbox next to the patch codes you wanted enabled, but that seems to be gone. An alternative way to disable any cheats you don’t want, since Enabling Patches enables all the lines, is to add two forward slashes in front of any codes you don’t want. You can do this in the Edit Patches menu in AetherSX2/NetherSX2.
That’s going to be it for this, the ultimate, best, most fantastic guide to making PS2 awesome on your Android device.
