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Just over a year ago, PS2 emulator AetherSX2 made a splash when it hit the Play Store as a surprisingly capable ARM-based PS2 emulator that could get solid performance Android devices, even some mid-range phones (depending on the game). The project left early access in July 2022, and development has continued steadily since then. However, today, the emulator's website was taken down and replaced with a post from the project's sole developer, Tahlreth, explaining that development has been "indefinitely suspended," blaming this decision on "neverending impersonating, complaints, demands, and now death threats."

"AetherSX2 was always meant to be a fun hobby for me, not profit driven," writes Tahlreth. "It doesn't make sense to continue working on a hobby which isn't fun anymore." They also warn of a number of "scammers" and imposters on social media who claim to represent AetherSX2, but do not.

The AetherSX2 Discord is also currently locked and not accepting new members, though it's unclear if this is a temporary measure.

It appears as though these frustrations with community complaints have been building for some time. In a developer update blog posted in July, Tahlreth discusses some new "micro-optimizations," before addressing complaints that the emulator cannot run on certain underpowered devices, explaining that these small optimization measures emphasize how little there is to do in terms of improving performance. They goes on to write, "Sorry, but your little Cortex-A53 is never going to cut it, so please stop saying 'AetherSX2 is unoptimized, give them time/devs need to work harder', there's never going to be a 5-10x improvement in performance in these scenarios, which is what you'd need. Instead, we'd like to point out the competition, and let you draw your own conclusions as to which implementations are 'optimized' and not."

Downloads are still available at https://www.aethersx2.com/archive/ and the Google Play Store, but no more builds will be developed in the foreseeable future, if ever.

Source

 

[Guacaholey]

This definitely needs a source. The internet is a wild place, so I am not saying this isn’t true, partly true, or whatever but a source should really be provided. I am not gonna lie, I do tend to believe someone when they claim to get at least one death threat. I’ve gotten death threats for all kinds of shit, people are unhinged.

Definitely happens but it sounds like he's suggesting they're constant, but he's also locked the Discord so nobody can call him out on it.

 

[urbanman2004]

D@mn, and this emulator had so much promise as well, smfh. I really wish this dev would reconsider, but of course, the internet has no chill. Sucks that we can't have such nice things w/o someone else ruining it for the rest of us.

Curious to know why the dev wouldn't just release the source code and make it open source like Cemu?

 

[sailr]

fck you damon Emulator

 

[MetoMeto]

Well, some people in communities can be dicks, that's nothing new, every group has it, whatever...
But i hope for Emulation sake that this is open source and that someone else will pick it up.

By the way, its the first time i hear about this emulator. Can my Samsung A22 run it smoothly?
Id love to try Ape Escape 2 and 3 on it!

 

[ganons]

Lmao people winging saying he's making it up. He doesn't benefit by ceasing development. Heck he could have made a killing by having a paid version.

The emulator as it is, works fantastic unless you have a potato phone and way ahead of anything out there.

 

[lismati]

This is incredibly sad news. I was shocked at how well aether ran PS2 games on M1 Macs. Yeah, I know - games on a Mac. Moreover, games on an ARM-based Mac without a dedicated graphics card. And yet, here am I, playing burnout 3 with a rock solid 4K60 performance on an M1 Pro.
Couldn’t recommend Aether enough, truly an amazing piece of software

 

[unilock]

god, remember what happened to near? what people do online is fucking disgusting

 

[zekro94]

Well, some people in communities can be dicks, that's nothing new, every group has it, whatever...
But i hope for Emulation sake that this is open source and that someone else will pick it up.

By the way, its the first time i hear about this emulator. Can my Samsung A22 run it smoothly?
Id love to try Ape Escape 2 and 3 on it!

I have it on my A22 and it does run some games pretty damn well considering it's a midrange phone. I get full speed in Naruto ultimate ninja 5, Kingdom Hearts 2 and DBZ Tenkaichi 3. You can also use a controler with it(even the switch joycons)

 

[Guacaholey]

god, remember what happened to near? what people do online is fucking disgusting

You mean what allegedly happened. An internet friend and somebody claiming to be their employer saying they killed themself is no substitute for a death certificate or verifiable obituary.

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

This definitely needs a source. The internet is a wild place, so I am not saying this isn’t true, partly true, or whatever but a source should really be provided. I am not gonna lie, I do tend to believe someone when they claim to get at least one death threat. I’ve gotten death threats for all kinds of shit, people are unhinged.

A source is definitely important, actually for both claims. I get what you're saying about it being believable but I also do know that someone who already knows that might use it in bad faith so as to get less flack for a controversial decision we won't know for sure unless Tahlreth comes out and says it (or his emails are leaked) which unfortunately I don't really think he would, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to come clean.

 

[alhrad]

Definitely happens but it sounds like he's suggesting they're constant, but he's also locked the Discord so nobody can call him out on it.

Why the hell would someone "call him out" on it? As this thread makes clear, obviously there's lots of weirdos being absurdly mad at him without conceivable reason--nothing more is really needed for people to get threatened.

I'm happy for him that he decided to shut it down, the "community" around this piece of software is clearly horrible.

Post automatically merged: Jan 9, 2023

A source is definitely important, actually for both claims. I get what you're saying about it being believable but I also do know that someone who already knows that might use it in bad faith so as to get less flack for a controversial decision we won't know for sure unless Tahlreth comes out and says it (or his emails are leaked) which unfortunately I don't really think he would, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to come clean.

Why would this decision be controversial? It's his project, obviously he's perfectly justified to shut it down if it's no longer fun to work on.

 

[kcajjones]

Seriously, these people have major issues and need help. I'm in no way condoning Internet trolls (policing the Internet is another topic) but if you can't just hit the block button and move on, I'm not sure the Internet is for you.

Look what happened to the bsnes/hogan developer. A sad tale, clearly made worse by trolls, but it was obviously a mental health issue.

 

[WeAreVenom]

every time come across fairly decent, some bs always happens and it goes belly up lol

 

[The Catboy]

A source is definitely important, actually for both claims. I get what you're saying about it being believable but I also do know that someone who already knows that might use it in bad faith so as to get less flack for a controversial decision we won't know for sure unless Tahlreth comes out and says it (or his emails are leaked) which unfortunately I don't really think he would, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to come clean.

I am very bias when I say that I lean towards trusting dev’s claims over a random person on the forums. This is because of my years working along side devs and seeing the shit they deal with and even experience a lot of it myself. There was a time when I was seeing a regular amount of hate messages literally due to my association with people. I am still occasionally getting creepy, hateful, and even death threats from time to time. If you are lucky, you might catch them on my Twitter. People are unhinged and no one is prepared deal with that shit.
That being said, I do agree that all claims should be followed up with evidence. Even if I am inclined to be more simplistic towards one side, I am still always looking to see the proof.

 

[Guacaholey]

Why the hell would someone "call him out" on it? As this thread makes clear, obviously there's lots of weirdos being absurdly mad at him without conceivable reason--nothing more is really needed for people to get threatened.

I'm happy for him that he decided to shut it down, the "community" around this piece of software is clearly horrible.

Post automatically merged: Jan 9, 2023

Why would this decision be controversial? It's his project, obviously he's perfectly justified to shut it down if it's no longer fun to work on.

Because it's something that could easily be made up for brownie points and give him an excuse to stop working on a project he doesn't enjoy anymore.

 

[smf]

Because it's something that could easily be made up for brownie points and give him an excuse to stop working on a project he doesn't enjoy anymore.

Nobody needs an excuse.

 

[unilock]

You mean what allegedly happened. An internet friend and somebody claiming to be their employer saying they killed themself is no substitute for a death certificate or verifiable obituary.

i never said they killed themselves. the fact of the matter is, they cut ties with everyone they knew and dropped off the face of the earth after a hate campaign by Kiwi Farms, of which was undoubtedly joined with other repulsive corners of the internet. you could say the two events were entirely unrelated, but even if that were true, what the aforementioned community was doing was simply appalling.

 

[Kioku]

Because it's something that could easily be made up for brownie points and give him an excuse to stop working on a project he doesn't enjoy anymore.

...or maybe this is an all-too-common occurrence? Where the devs receive an absurd amount of hate flung their way and entitled twats come out of the woodworks demanding features and functions or blindly ridiculing the project due to unrealistic expectations? What about the devs who receive death threats, slander, and hate speech because of personal identifiers? ...but sure, we'll just say they're making it up though...

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

Nobody needs an excuse.

No but considering that he might get backlash, plus the fact that he's already very disliked by the open source community for his controversial decisions and behavior the brownie points are very plausible. He could've also quit the project and then made the claims afterwards and have much of the same result.

 

[alhrad]

No but considering that he might get backlash, plus the fact that he's already very disliked by the open source community for his controversial decisions and behavior the brownie points are very plausible. He could've also quit the project and then made the claims afterwards and have much of the same result.

Interested in what you mean by him being disliked by the open source community, got a source for that?