A Question of the legality of ROMS

[bugman]

I have a PSX (since I'm old like that) and it's been my baby for years with some of my favouritest gaes of all time on it. Unfortunately, little children don't understand how special my PSX was and now it is broke. "No problem" you yell. Yes the PS2 has backwards compatability but some of the wires have gone walkies.

Long story short. I have an urge to play a PS1 game that I own but no available console to play on. Would it be illegal to find an emulator and a ROM for the game?

Sorry if this is too close to piracy talk.

 

[Rujasu]

You need to dump the BIOS from your own PSX for it to be legal. Here.
If your broken PSX can't boot disks anymore, I'm afraid emulation is not a legal option.

EDIT: The forum needs a better server. These SMF errors are seriously irritating.

 

[Suspect-Device]

You would be better off buying either a new PS1 or the wires that are missing for your PS2.

Of course you could go the full hog and buy a PS3, which is backwards compatible with PS1 games If I am not mistaken.

 

[fisheye]

Long story short. I have an urge to play a PS1 game that I own but no available console to play on. Would it be illegal to find an emulator and a ROM for the game?

Why do you give a **** if it's illegal?

 

[bugman]

Long story short. I have an urge to play a PS1 game that I own but no available console to play on. Would it be illegal to find an emulator and a ROM for the game?

Why do you give a **** if it's illegal?

Cus I don't really fancy geting banned off here if I decided to stick a screenshot in the Screeshot thread.

 

[El Perro Finlandese]

Damn kids have no respect for history. Like my idiot cousin misplaced three, three of my Super Nintendo games. That was the last time I borrow anything to anyone.

But ontopic. Why don't you by a new PS X/1?

 

[bugman]

Damn kids have no respect for history. Like my idiot cousin misplaced three, three of my Super Nintendo games. That was the last time I borrow anything to anyone.

But ontopic. Why don't you by a new PS X/1?

You can't do that! It's my baby. She can't be replaced

 

[Taimat396]

Dump the BIOS, and you can just put your PS1 disks in the computer and play them straight off that. Nothing illegal there. Make sure you get an emu without an emulated BIOS, though - I'm not sure about those. Epsxe is fine, that much I'm sure of. Unless you get a dodgy version with a BIOS, but there you go.

 

[Adviser]

Cus I don't really fancy geting banned off here if I decided to stick a screenshot in the Screeshot thread.

You could post a pic of yourself while holding the original copy. A friend of my cousin did it on an official gaming site and he wasn't banned.

 

[arbites_augmented]

Cus I don't really fancy geting banned off here if I decided to stick a screenshot in the Screeshot thread.

You could post a pic of yourself while holding the original copy. A friend of my cousin did it on an official gaming site and he wasn't banned.

Yeah, but then we'd have to look at a picture of Bugman.

 

[Adviser]

I believe it's not as bad as watching a picture of me.

 

[Shatari]

Hey Buggy, I have a PS1 laying around that I fished out of a dumpster back in college. (Is it sad that most of my Christmas gifts I got as a child were fished out of dumpsters?) It looks to be in great shape, though I've never tried it out. Assuming I can find the box it's in, I can let you have it for the cost of shipping. ^.^

 

[Mondos]

I don't think you can be banned for posting screenshots in the screenshot thread for a ps1 game, considering there is no evidence to suggest that you don't have the legal requirements to use an emulator unless you say you don't. I don't think anyone else who posts shots of PC games in there have to prove that they're not using a pirated version so I don't see why it would be a problem for you.

 

[Archonsod]

The bigger question would have been how the hell we knew it was a screenshot from a PC emulator rather than the PSX itself.

The only tricky part regarding the law would be if you were downloading the ROM image itself. Assuming you dump the bios and use the existing disks to make your own image you're not doing anything illegal. They cannot force you to use specific hardware when they license you software, much as Microsoft and Sony probably wish otherwise.

 

[fisheye]

The bigger question would have been how the hell we knew it was a screenshot from a PC emulator rather than the PSX itself.

Precisely. Buggy, you're making up an issue where one doesn't exist, as usual. Of course now that you've yelled from the mountaintops that you're using an emulator, you're obliged to ask for a ban if you ever do post a screenshot.

 

[del_diablo]

Getting an emulator:
*Legal
Using said emulator to play your games:
*Legal
Downloading ROM copies of your games to avoid hassle(not an issue with the PSX i think):
*Legal
Downloading yet another bunch of games for the emulator that you do not own:
*Nobody really cares, EVER

 

[bugman]

The bigger question would have been how the hell we knew it was a screenshot from a PC emulator rather than the PSX itself.

Precisely. Buggy, you're making up an issue where one doesn't exist, as usual. Of course now that you've yelled from the mountaintops that you're using an emulator, you're obliged to ask for a ban if you ever do post a screenshot.

How many times have I made an issue?
I'll be honest. I'm not entirely savvy on computer related piracy. I generally work on the "If it's free, don't touch it" philosophy

 

[Kleidophoros]

Downloading the BIOS and the image files is illegal, emulators are not. Emulators don't come with a BIOS or image files anyway.

Getting an emulator:
*Legal
Using said emulator to play your games:
*Legal
Downloading ROM copies of your games to avoid hassle(not an issue with the PSX i think):
*Illegal, copyrights last for some 75 years
Downloading yet another bunch of games for the emulator that you do not own:
*Illegal again, see above

 

[Seff]

God that's retarded. "If it's free, don't touch it"? Are you using a non-free antivirus program too?

You make issues out of nothing about girls all the time, first of all.

 

[bugman]

Well ok "if it's free and it shouldn't be" Happy now?

Girls are different. Fisheye doesn't have to sit there while I moan and complain.