ArcStation Tested – Plug & Play PS1 ODE

The ArcStation optical drive emulator is now shipping to customers and I just did a livestream installing the one I purchased. It’s compatible with all models of the PlayStation 1 and I used a PSOne console to test. Installation was incredibly easy: Unbolt the console, remove the existing drive, plug this one in it’s place. And SD card “Setup” was simply “Format via exFAT and copy your .iso, bin/cue games”. While there’s a few things to note I’ll go over below, that’s really it – This is as “plug and play” gets. ArcStation’s will be back in stock next month (November) and will ship immediately, with no pre-orders. More info below the links:

Main Page: https://arcstation.net/
Installation Instructions: https://arcstation.net/guides/installation/pm-41/#choose-model

While I want to talk about the ArcStation, the first thing I should mention is the price. The one I ordered was about $167 after shipping, which is about $40 more than an XStation. And while I truly wish there was a way to make it cheaper so more people can have access, it’s important to consider total cost: If you need to hire someone to install your XStation, you’re at about the same price anyway. And since this is such an easy install, if something ever happens to your PS1, you can swap it to another one with just a screwdriver. Plus, this is compatible with every revision.

…and let’s not forget how the ArcStation works: It emulates the RF signal from the CDROM assembly itself. That’s why you can just “plug this in” – The PS1 sees a signal identical to what would have come out of the original drive. That should mean 100% compatibility with all discs that would have played on the original console, assuming they were ripped properly. As a note, ArcStation supports both .iso and bin/cue files, however I tested compressed .chd’s and they aren’t supported. This is common and bin/cue are what most people use anyway.

I tested a handful of games on this otherwise unmodded PSOne that were known for copy protection / compatibility issues and they worked fine. Also, PAL games worked on this NTSC console and switched to 288p/576i, 50Hz mode when launched. It still ran at 60Hz of course, as you’d need to replace the crystal oscillator (which is locked to the speed of the console’s region) with a dual-frequency oscillator (DFO) that can switch between 50 and 60Hz. That would be true with any ODE or modchip though. I made a mistake in this paragraph and wanted to correct it: If you reference the livestream at 57:13, you’ll see the RetroTINK 4K is showing 50.22Hz. I apologize for missing this, but that actually means the game was running as close to 50Hz as possible without a DFO mod. Apparently this comes down to software and many games will play close enough to their original speed, assuming your display is compatible. While you’d still need a DFO mod for true 50Hz (or 60Hz with NTSC on PAL), most people wouldn’t notice the difference.

Multi-Disc games worked too and this is actually auto-detected using its built-in database and game serial number matching, after you press start and “Refresh Games List”. Each bin/cue would need to have its own folder like always, but you shouldn’t need to do anything special. That said, it’s a good idea to at least number each folder with the same name sequentially just for your own sanity. And I always prefer to go a step further and use subfolders. For example, Final Fantasy XIII was placed like this: SDCard\Final Fantasy XIII\Final Fantasy XIII Disc 1, with each disc getting its own subfolder. Regardless of how you store the games, after booting the ArcStation’s LED would show the number of the disc selected. And switching discs was as easy as opening the lid, pressing the button to select the disc you’d like, then closing it lid. It all just worked.

Regular subfolder support worked too, if you’re the type to organize your games by region, type, letter, etc. And each folder containing bin/cue files showed up in the menu as if they were .iso’s, so you don’t have to click inside a folder to launch a game. It all just flowed really nicely.

One thing to note, is the Virtual Memory Card and In-Game Reset features are plug and play with phat PS1’s, but requires extra parts and soldering for the PSOne model. It’s important to note, if you enable the VMC, but also insert a Memory Card (original or 3rd party), you risk corrupting your saves. I don’t really use IGR at all and prefer to use a MemCard Pro, so I’d have left it disabled even on a phat PS1. Just to clarify: There is NO SOLDERING REQUIRED for the ODE to function on the PSOne, only if you want VMC and IGR support.

Here’s the livestream I did, walking through the whole process in real time. Below that is a video that Tito from Macho Nacho Productions did about it, which is a shorter, nicer-looking way of demoing the same thing 🙂

Liked it? Take a second to support Bob on Patreon!