FFVII - Battle lag (at start/end)

[CloudTifa]

3ghz, 2gb RAM, Windows XP Pro, ATI Radeon x800 256mb.

Using Pete's DX6 D3D Driver 1.76 - since the other one gave me black triangles after update to ATI's 8.3 drivers.

This one works okay, but I've still got "battle lag". It is, of course, only happening upon entering or leaving battle mode. On loading, the screen FPS goes noticeably slower, until my characters fade into the battle screen. On leaving battle mode, it goes slow on the text screens until I've got all my Gil and the counters stop.

I'm making this a new thread because I think I have something that will help with troubleshooting this - and I didn't see one specifically for this issue (although this issue has been mentioned before).

If I change my FPS limits off, and let it go at full speed, then I don't notice any extra lag going on at these times. However, turn the FPS limits back on, and suddenly the game is noticeably lagging at these times again.

I think this proves that it isn't a problem specifically with my computer, but in the way the plugin/emulator are working with it. So far I can't find any setting that fixes it which still works for the menus etc.

Hope that helps at least somewhat, and hope someone here can help me.

[jonc2006]

i suggest using psx or a software plugin in this case, you really are not going to be missing out on much. if you want to give it a shot, rollback to catalyst drivers around the 7.3 or 7.4 range, thats close to when this OGL issue started showing up and that might fix the OGL2 issue for you but i cant say for sure. and the lag you are getting is somewhat common when using that plugin and there is not much you can do about it really. if i use the d3d plugin i get some slight lag at the battle spoils screen, with the OGL2 it doesnt do this for me.. can you post a screenshot of your settings?

[Mynemisbat-Zul]

I'm using Pete's D3D Driver 1.76 plugin with no any lagging in battle.It works fine for me.Download all the video plugins and try each of them to see which one runs well on your machine.That's what I do.

[CSMR]

In version 1.6: I have tried all the settings on pete's d3d and ogl and mostly get very slow battle transitions (over a minute sometimes). With some low settings it doesn't happen but there are lots of glitches and everything looks awful.

Solution: version 1.5.2 works much better, sometimes lag but only slight.

[jonc2006]

post the settings you use the majority of the time.

[Grzeslav]

Yeah, I remember that lag, just use 1.5.2 instead. I believe it's not plugin settings' fault at all...

[Squall-Leonhart]

I think this proves that it isn't a problem specifically with my computer, but in the way the plugin/emulator are working with it. So far I can't find any setting that fixes it which still works for the menus etc.

Its a problem with all hardware, as the battle swirl is a frame buffer effect. the slow down is less noticeble on the 8800's due to the faster membus

[CloudTifa]

I tried OpenGL (v1.76 and 2.8), but those were too buggy to use.

Eventually, I just downloaded another emulator, and I found that I could get my save games across using the memory card feature, so I'm playing using it now. It has no performance issues, but the graphics are much worse.

(pSX v1.13 - pSX emulator)

I would prefer the better graphics, but it just runs so slow...


Here's my settings:
==============


Plugin: Pete's D3D Driver 1.1.76
Author: Pete Bernert
GFX card: RADEON X800 PRO/GTO

Resolution/Color:
- 1280x1024 Fullscreen - [32 Bit]

Textures:
- R8G8A8A8
- Filtering: 0
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- VRam size: 256 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limit: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: 60.0

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 3
- Framebuffer texture: 1
- Framebuffer access: 0
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: on
- Advanced blending: hardware

Misc:
- Scanlines: off [0]
- Unfiltered FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Full vram: off
- Game fixes: on [00004000]

[jonc2006]

psx was made with the look of a real psx in mind, so you wont see it trying to go past what a real psx was capable of in regards to enhancements.

[CloudTifa]

Originally Posted by Squall-Leonhart

Its a problem with all hardware, as the battle swirl is a frame buffer effect. the slow down is less noticeble on the 8800's due to the faster membus

I am quite certain that it slows down in the same places even when the frame buffer effects are turned off.

[Squall-Leonhart]

no, actually when they are turned off, the entire emulator appears to freeze, and then continues where these effects should be rendered.

[Phil]

I dont get it. Why is he having slowdowns with a comp like that? on epsxe 1.6 (im working on 1.7 using FF8 and FF9 squall) i get perfect speeds using my laptop with these specs 1.6 ghz dual core 2 gigs or ram 80 gb hdd and intergrated video. the only slowdown i get is entering Wutai....and only 2-3 fps at most....the rest of the game runs 60-120 (with frame limiter off)

[lagunareturns]

Originally Posted by CloudTifa

I tried OpenGL (v1.76 and 2.8), but those were too buggy to use.

Eventually, I just downloaded another emulator, and I found that I could get my save games across using the memory card feature, so I'm playing using it now. It has no performance issues, but the graphics are much worse.

(pSX v1.13 - pSX emulator)

I would prefer the better graphics, but it just runs so slow...
[00004000]

Use ssspsx latest version and all the same plugins of epsxe plus go to petes plugins homepage and go to forums on custom arb shaders for ff7 high qualtiy beta shader for opengl 2 plugin

ssspsx eliminates the lag (i had it too)but it allows for the epsxe plugins to work but the only plugin that doesn't work is pec (playstation emulation cheater)although people blindly say it does just because it uses plugins.

If you want quality graphics use that shader, it makes a huge difference

[Squall-Leonhart]

Originally Posted by Phil

I dont get it. Why is he having slowdowns with a comp like that? on epsxe 1.6 (im working on 1.7 using FF8 and FF9 squall) i get perfect speeds using my laptop with these specs 1.6 ghz dual core 2 gigs or ram 80 gb hdd and intergrated video. the only slowdown i get is entering Wutai....and only 2-3 fps at most....the rest of the game runs 60-120 (with frame limiter off)

its an odd problem, higher video memory speeds counteract it.

ssspsx eliminates the lag (i had it too)but it allows for the epsxe plugins to work but the only plugin that doesn't work is pec (playstation emulation cheater)although people blindly say it does just because it uses plugins.

PEC works fine, on ssspsx.

[lagunareturns]

[quote=PEC works fine, on ssspsx.[/QUOTE]

how so I got the pec plugin in the correct dir, i choose the plugin as vid but when i load the app to put cheats in, i have 1 out 15 chance (either before or while running a game) that the cheats work but then the cheats eventually stops working or makes the emulator crash.... Also note that I don't these probs with epsxe

[Squall-Leonhart]

i just loaded FF7, opened the pec manager. selected the cheats i wanted and sent them to the game while it was loaded.

not much more to it then that.

i also don't find ssspsx to be any faster then 1.7 so its possible its fixed.

[CloudTifa]

Well, I beat FFVII for the first time. That was fun. I used pSX for the rest so it didn't look as clean, but it had more of an old-school feel and I liked having the fast-forward button available for the longer summons and such.