Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[Bahamut]

I got like 35-40-50fps on default settings on latest emu rev, running on a laptop

Still the game can be bit choppy even on PS2 and its one of worse game to emulate because its inbuild frameskipper

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

I assume you checked the wiki for performance tips?
http://wiki.pcsx2.net/index.php/Shadow_of_the_Colossus

Yeap, was useless for me.

I finally managed to gain additional fpses up to even +40. What helped was lowering resolution, anything under 768x512 made game unable to run but now it's at least playable.

 

[ghostdog]

Here are my settings for Shadow of The Colossus, it run smoothly on my 3,2Ghz core2duo. The basic performance boost comes from the speedhacks. For better performance obviously reduce PS2 resolution in GSdx9 settings to native. The GSdx9 hacks settings are to correct certain graphical glitches that can appear sometimes.

Spoiler

 

[A user named cat]

I decided to give the PSX emulation in mednafen a spin and it works rather good. I was happily surprised that my crappy laptop can handle it decently with the output set to SDL; OpenGL will have to wait for when/if I get a decent computer here.

Mednafen is a great all-around emu but not exactly for PSX. I understand though if your system is holding your back but once you get a better rig, try this out.

Best PSX setup I've begun to use:
Emu: ePSXe 1.80 - Shark Enhanced
Input: Pokopom
Video (place configs folder in ePSXe root): gpuBladeSoft
Sound: PEOPS Dsound

 

[Gragt]

Ugh, ePSXe, please! What is this? 1992?

 

[A user named cat]

Ignorance. I didn't say to use regular ePSXe, an old version or lame plugins from a decade ago. Try clicking on the links and see what everything does. That setup is basically Xebra-quality but with vastly better sound and xinput for controllers. gpuBladeSoft requires a hefty CPU though but is incredibly accurate.

http://www.ngemu.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144037

Mednafen's PSX emulation is far from complete, still lots of bugs and compatibility issues. That emu is best used for NES, TurboGrafx systems and maybe SNES if RetroArch didn't exist. ePSXe Shark enhanced is close to perfect for PS1 and I've yet to encounter any problems.

 

[Gragt]

Thanks but no thanks. This is a dead-end anyway. I'd rather use PCSX-R as basis than ePSXe, even the Shark version.

As for RetroArch, it takes its cores from other system and I'd rather those directly. Same for Mednafen actually where only the original cores are really the ones worth using, like the PSX one.

 

[laclongquan]

What does pcsxr do better than epsxe? i hear you badmouth it about age, but nothing specific.

 

[dunno lah]

I'm trying out Kings Field 1 now and am having some kind of hang/lag going on when I interact with signs/people. Anyone who doesn't have this problem, please do tell which plugin to use for this game. Thanks.

 

[Gragt]

What does pcsxr do better than epsxe? i hear you badmouth it about age, but nothing specific.

It isn't just about something as trite as "doing better than" but the whole intent behind the emulator. One of the key features of emulators nowadays is being open source because that guarantees a certain development frequency as well as longevity for the project; as proof of this you can look at how the venerable Nestopia, abandonned by its original author, got picked up by someone else and given a new (un)life. Now ePSXe is pretty much outdated at this point—it got a couple of releases over the last few years but really nothing major or in any way significant, and compatibility with some games even broke so that users were encouraged to use an older version—and its closed source state means that it is stuck into a technological dead-end and nothing is likely to change. In fact the biggest news of the last few years on the ePSXe front is the Android port, which is of course not free. And yes, I know about the Shark patch for ePSXe. Ironically, as if to confirm my claim, it is aimed at the previous version of the software and doesn't look to be receiving many updates with the last entry being January of this year. Plus it looks more like a band-aid than an actual attempt to solve the flaws from the very ground.

My favourite emulator, for good and ill, was pSX but I dropped it for the reasons I cited: closed source and no more updates from the original author. Unlike Nestopia, this means that there won't be any updates unless the author decides to release a new version, which is not only unlikely at this point and even then there is the risk to run into exactly the same problem again.

As for PCSX-R, I'm not fond of it but I'd rather use it instead of ePSXe because it is still being worked on and improved. As for the actual "doing better than", you can probably find it yourself: fewer glitches, better compatibility, better plugin support, better screen support, etc. Still it is an enhancement emulator and I'm more interested in accuracy, so … I'd rather run Mednafen, which also has the advantage of not requiring the user to fumble with plugins, but that will likely have to wait until I get a decent PC here.

 

[deuxhero]

The PS1 and N64 are bigger pains in the ass to emulate than their successors. It's really annoying.

 

[Excidium]

What is the name of that PS1 emulator by some jap dude? I'm trying to remember the name, it was the only one that ran Blood Omen without issues.

 

[SCO]

zebra xebra

 

[AngryEddy]

The PS1 and N64 are bigger pains in the ass to emulate than their successors. It's really annoying.

I've NEVER had any problems with either emulated systems, and the one time I couldn't get Final Fantasy 8 to emulate, was because of a corrupted disc 4, which was the disc's fault, not the emulator. I've also never had a problem with N64 emulation, whatsoever. Maybe it's the roms and iso's you're downloading.

 

[deuxhero]

I'm not sure what games you are playing if you have never had a problem with n64 emulation...

 

[laclongquan]

I am sorry that I made it not clear enough.

As an user, exactly what does pcsxr does better than epsxe? Which game that is being played on epsxe that is worse than played on pcsxr. which feature, for player, that make it attractive to users to prefer one over other?

Because fuck open/closed source. I am not a code monkey that like messing around with codes MORE than playing game. I mess with a few ini so that the game play better, not because messing is a game.

Contrary to you may believe, once an application achieve the peak of (close to) perfection, it's bad idea to monkey around with it. Just because more people mess around with pcsxr recently doesnt mean pcsxr is better than the close-to-abandon epsxe. If you say pcsxr is better, I expect more details than some vague handwaving.

 

[deuxhero]

The most important feature in an emulator: compatibility.

My biggest problem with PCSXR is the way it handles turbo (it's a menu toggle instead of a keypress, unlike every single other god damn emulator in the history of emulation, and PS1 games have such much crap to hide load times that you need the turbo to be at your fingertips), but at least games work on it (though there are games where you will need a seperate emulator. Last time I tried SaGa Frontier didn't work on it. Such is PS1 emulation).


As for why supported closed source is bad for an emulator, it's one of the problems behind how bad PS1 and N64 emulation are, you have situations where this one game won't work on emulator X, but will work on emulator Y on PS1/N64 emulation (which is a mess), but when everything starts open source, the branches will eventually be merged and the single emulator will work for everything and these fixes together will probably makes some games that will not work on any of them work.

 

[SCO]

Fuck you too dude, keep your uninformed opinions about things you know nothing about to yourself kthxbye.

 

[ghostdog]

I've never had any emulation problems with epsxe and also epsxe+pete's plugin provide the "Keep pixel ratio" and Shader options, which I like to use. When I tried pcsx the plugins didn't have those options.

 

[spekkio]

The PS1 and N64 are bigger pains in the ass to emulate than their successors.

Mainly cuz there's only one working emu for PS2 & NGC. Plus these emus are relatively new.
For PS1 and N64 you have different emus dating back to 3dfx era (some GFX plugins have Gilde wrappers included).

Personally I recently switched from epsxe 1.6.0 to 1.9.0 and I'm enjoying all the awesome new features.

Spoiler

And about open source: the fact that the code is available is certainly nice (new dudes can join in and fix things), but:
a) it encourages people who want (are only able) to add some retarded / unnecessary stuff (Prosper syndrome),
b) groundbreaking changes are often possible only due to 2-3 coders (see PCSX2 case - everybody waits till Gabest actually finds some time to fix the most important bugs in GFX plugs).

 

[A user named cat]

Seriously PS1 emulation is perfectly fine at this point, hardly any major issues (if any at all) remain as opposed to N64. Hell, even SSF and Dolphin have less problems than Project 64 at this point. Hopefully Cen64 comes to fruition and gets optimized. Forums are here in case anyone wants to keep track of it. Check the Open Discussion subforum, seems a frontend was released so it can already be tested.

 

[spekkio]

AFAIR N64 suffered from being one of the 1st platforms to get emus using HLE. It was cool back in the day to run Mario / Zelda on 166 Mhz CPU and VooDoo1, but now it's 2013 and we still don't have proper LLE / software GFX plugins.

In before SCO telling me I'm wrong.

 

[deuxhero]

Seriously PS1 emulation is perfectly fine at this point, hardly any major issues (if any at all) remain as opposed to N64.

Only with n64 as your metric. otherwise "perfectly fine" is

Mednafen, which has no GUI and some other inanities. Not rare to find non-working games.
Retroarch!Mednafen, which has a STUPID GUI, stupid file handling system, a single error code for any error whatsoever, and more Fun (did you know while any PS1 bios of the same region works, it has to be named scph550x.bin, with x being the region, for retroarch to find it?). It's also doesn't obey turning off the "skip bios" setting (and you can't adjust core settings unless you are in a game) whiile Mednafen standalone actually disabled turning that option ON because it broke so many games. (Seriously, Retroarch breaks EVERY interface design standard for no god damn reason).
PCSX-R, which has even less compatibility than the others and requires plugins be found manually, even on the latest SVN the included plugins are YEARS out of date (the most important of which, a control configuration tool that actually works, requires you to download an entirely separate emulator to get) and again, terrible fast-forward handling.
Xebra, which hates x-input controllers (that is, nearly every modern one). Also has stuff it won't run and dead on updates.

 

[A user named cat]

Mednafen has a third-party GUI actually, though I never bothered with it. Binds can be easily configured onscreen and everything else is easily laid out in its config file. Notepad++ is your friend.

Why are you even mentioning Mednafen when I already pointed out its PS1 emulation is poor and far from complete? I don't get it. Neither you nor Gragt have even named any specific problems with ePSXe other than, "It's not open source. Ow, my vagina! Old, it's old!" What games can't it play? Show me first-hand proof of these supposed issues especially using Shark Enhanced, not some shit you may have read on a forum. I linked a set up that has given me zero problems so far. Pokopom plugin provides xinput and even enables rumble on newer controllers.

Honestly don't use the latest RetroArch. The new built-in GUI does indeed blow and seems aimed at mobile users. Stick with the previous build that used the Phoenix GUI. If anyone needs it, I can stick it on my Dropbox. The only reason to grab a new build is to snatch the latest libretro cores or if you really need gpu hard sync.

You shouldn't be using it for PS1 anyway, I don't think the Mednafen core even supports save states. Does it? The best thing you'll get from RA is the Genesis Plus GX core which puts Kega Fusion to shame unless you want to play some horrible 32x games. I also use it for bsnes libretros because byuu is a giant faggot and Higan can suck a grandma tit.

As for PCSX-R - not even worth discussing. It's always been a piece of shit and if it were updated daily for the next decade, it'd still be a piece of shit.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

So the guy who made No$gba also made playstation and snes emulators. Anybody tried them? No$gba seemed to run GBA and DS games pretty good, the last time I tried it. I just never really played with it because I was already used to Visualboy Advance and Desmume.

http://nocash.emubase.de/gba.htm

(links halfway down the page)