How well does Xenogears run on Epsxe

[mecharmor233]

Now before I chuck cash into this game, and being rare and expensive Xenogears is, I have a question about compatibility.

1) Can this game run straight through, flawlessly without crashing or freezing?? I played many square games so far and have experienced no crashes or freezes btw.

2)I heard something about the voices being unbearable in the past due to a plugin error. Has this been fixed? What sound plugin should I use?

Hear is my computer info:

AMD Athlon 800MHZ
256 RAM
50X CDROM
Geforce 2 MMX 32meg
Creative Sound Blaster Live

Emulator info:

using: EPSXE
plugin: Pete's latest video plugin
sound: Iori, sometimes Internal.

What is your epsxe setting for Xenogears?

[Ninjaa]

1) There are a couple of freezes, but there are workarounds. I played throught the entire game on ePSXe, without any cheats of any kind, and so have many others.

2) Voices only appear in FMVs, and like 1 or 2 places in the game. They played perfectly for me regardless.

Your computer is a little weak, but you should be able to run the majority of the game without incident. For the parts that run slow, you might want to use a software plugin. The game runs at full speed on my PC though. (see profile for specs)

Here are my configurations, but I would recommend throttling things back a little for your computer.

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL Driver 1.1.68
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
GFX card: GeForce3/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!

Resolution/Color:
- 800x600 Fullscreen - Desktop changing [32 Bit]
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off

Textures:
- R8G8A8A8
- Filtering: 0
- Hi-Res textures: on
- Palettized tex windows: on
- Garbage collection: on
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 3
- Framebuffer texture: 2
- Framebuffer access: 4
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: on
- Advanced blending: on

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Line mode: off
- Unfiltered FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Screen cushion: off
- Game fixes: on [00000400]

And I use Eternal SPU.

[Yeloazndevil]

go here for help configuring Xenogears http://www.lordkane.gametribe.net/em.../Xenogears.htm

the onlt problem i had was at the dream sequence where it would crash u would have to press F7 before it starts and after its over press F7 again

also make a ISO of the game for faster loading and smoother FMV's.

[liquid]

Ninja's almost got it right, but as he said to run his settings (without frameskipping) you'll need something well over 1Ghz.
but If you do choose to use the same exact settigns as ninja, I highly recommend that you use the new frameskipping option...it actually works wonders with his settings...gotta love 2xSai!

Here is a slightly modified version, it will get you 60fps most of the time except in just a few parts, which the fps will drop down to around 35~40fps. Furthermore, make sure you disable FSAA with these settings

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL Driver 1.1.68
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
GFX card: GeForce3/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!

Resolution/Color:
- 640x480 Fullscreen - Desktop changing [32 Bit]
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off

Textures:
- R8G8A8A8
- Filtering: 6 <- Ninja prefer's filtering 0 with 2xSai but it's costly
- Hi-Res textures: off <-turning this on will kill your performance
- Palettized tex windows: on
- Garbage collection: on
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 1
- Framebuffer texture: 2 <-gfx card buffer
- Framebuffer access: 3 <- gfx buffer reads & moves
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: off <- Xenogears does not need this
- Advanced blending: on

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Line mode: off
- Unfiltered FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: on <- you can leave this off if you like
- Screen cushion: off
- Game fixes: off <-even if you are using FSAA there is no need for the fix with this game.

[mecharmor233]

Ninja said something about several crashes or freezes in the game.
Can anyone give me an exact number. Crashes that are common and will happen regardless of what hardware you are using. Perhaps it is just the "dream sequence"?

Eh what does this F7 do again? I forgot.

[Ninjaa]

Alright... my turn to give some real comment...

- Filtering: 6 <- Ninja prefer's filtering 0 with 2xSai but it's costly
(I actually used 0 before the 2XSAI option was available as well. I just don't like how it looks)

- Hi-Res textures: off <-turning this on will kill your performance
(Yes it will on a 32MB card, but I don't even feel a hit on my computer. )

- Framebuffer texture: 2 <-gfx card buffer
(Sorry... my mistake. Setting this to 1 (black, no effects) will not affect the graphics in any way, but give you a HUGE speedup in the game. I highly suggest turning it off)

- Framebuffer access: 3 <- gfx buffer reads & moves
(I found that full software worked faster on my computer. I suggest experimenting to find the one that works for you.)

- Mask bit: off <- Xenogears does not need this
(True, but it doesn't really hurt anything. I like to leave it on for Silent Hill.)

- Screen smoothing: on <- you can leave this off if you like
(I usually dislike how it looks, so I leave it off, but whenever I turned it on, I took a HUGE performance hit. I would advise against it.)

- Game fixes: off <-even if you are using FSAA there is no need for the fix with this game.
(True enough. I accidently left it on when I took down my settings.)

[Ninjaa]

Originally posted by mecharmor233
Ninja said something about several crashes or freezes in the game.
Can anyone give me an exact number. Crashes that are common and will happen regardless of what hardware you are using. Perhaps it is just the "dream sequence"?

Eh what does this F7 do again? I forgot.

There are three freezes I encountered.

1) The F7 trick is specially for that part in the game. Using it will allow you to get by without incident after it freezes on you the first time. Don't worry, it's nothing big.

2) The second freeze is ia boss that you fight late in the game. If you attack from the right or left, the game will freeze. He's a pretty easy boss though, and there is a really cheap, but really effective way of killing him that I found. It's very possible to kill him in one hit. (It is his counterattack that freezes the game, so....)

3) The third freeze I found was in the last fight. The rules are similar to the one above, but again, it's a pretty easy fight, and a slight modification in your fighting style will waste him.

[Yeloazndevil]

Originally posted by mecharmor233
Eh what does this F7 do again? I forgot.

to get past the dream sequence so the game won't crash

[arnoct]

For some reason, I played past the Dreams sequence with no problems... When exactly does it freeze in that sequence? I played almost to the end of it until I realized I was in the sequence, so I pressed F7, not knowing what it did...

Heh, as for playing it... I have probably the crappiest computer for playing psx games, especially xenogears, considering it's so 3d-heavy...

Specs:

Celeron 600
96mb ram
4mb video card (Onboard )
4x CD-Rom ()
SB16

The EMU itself:

GPU:
P.E.o.Ps Software 1.1
320x240x16, 1:1
All 'extra' settings disabled

SPU:
PEoPS DSound 1.2 (Not exact replication of PSX sound, but eternal slows my computer down like you wouldn't believe...)
XA Enabled
SPUasync
Additional Reverb Effects

CD:
Internal W2k CD-Rom plugin

As for FPS, I get anywhere between a steady 60 during non-graphic intensive scenes to 10 (!) when there's a lot of particle animation... Strangely enough, with sound turned off I can push 60fps constantly

[psicomaniaco]

I know this is boring, but do u have VGS? Xenogears is just perfect with it, and since your computer is not all that great, u should try it. But about the freezing parts, its impossible to give you exact informations where the game will freeze without giving some spoilers. But I finished once using EPSXE, so its possible. (Its better in vgs though)

[Kane]

ePSXe ran the dream sequences perfectly for me too. It seems to be luck of the draw in all honesty.

[rych]

i dunno,i have like 200++ ps titles lying around(oh u just love piracy),and xenogears work fine all the way through disc 2 for me.

[arnoct]

Originally posted by psicomaniaco
I know this is boring, but do u have VGS? Xenogears is just perfect with it, and since your computer is not all that great, u should try it. But about the freezing parts, its impossible to give you exact informations where the game will freeze without giving some spoilers. But I finished once using EPSXE, so its possible. (Its better in vgs though)

I tried VGS, and yes, it ran fine... The sound was a bit crapped, though. I'm using epsxe because I can savestate in it, which is a godsend, considering the incredibly long sequences xenogears tends to have...

[edit] I have a suggestion to the people with crash problems... I used to get random crashes with xenogears when I used the US SCPH1001 bios... I switched to PAL 7502 (I didn't know it was PAL until I downloaded it,) and I haven't had these problems since. Perhaps it's the bios?

[Betamax]

*ahem*


>1. Discussions and Links to any kind of illegal material such as warez, ISO images, ROMs or BIOS images, are not permitted.

Rych, I advise that you read the rules before posting any further.

[liquid]

Originally posted by arnoct


[edit] I have a suggestion to the people with crash problems... I used to get random crashes with xenogears when I used the US SCPH1001 bios... I switched to PAL 7502 (I didn't know it was PAL until I downloaded it,) and I haven't had these problems since. Perhaps it's the bios?

No, it's an internal timing problem with epsxe's root counter which causes the freeze up. Sometimes you can get past this part without having to use f7, but usually you wont

[arnoct]

Ah, I see... Well, I was still getting some crashes at certain parts (Such as at the end of the sewer horror chapter) where the game would boot me out completley... Coulda been a plugin problem, though, but I don't know. All I know is the crashes seemed to lessen when I used the different bios.

[Ninjaa]

I finished the game with the 1001 BIOS. Other than the 3 freezes I mentioned, I had no problems.

[liquid]

arnoct, the sewer horror crash was something I recall happening in a much older version of epsxe (1.2.0?), unless you'er using PEC to cheat, then you shouldn't have any crashes at that point.

[arnoct]

I did have the [pec] plugin on, but I wasn't using the cheats themselves... I had used it previously for G, and I had left it on because I was too lazy to turn it off :P. Changing to the 7501 BIOS fixed it, though, so maybe I just got lucky...

[Raziel]

Once again, moved to problems with games