Framerate issue with FF7 and Lewpy's . . .

[Mako Eyes]

I tried FF7 with ePSXe, and I was really amazed at how well it worked. You would swear I was playing the PC version . . . except with faster MDECs, filtered MDECs, less-annoying music, vocals to The One Winged Angel, bad Z-Buffer . . . ok, so it's better than the PC version (except the Z-buffer part)

But, now to the point: the game runs at a fine smooth 60fps on the field, but in battle the framerate drops. Although I haven't checked the actual value, the slowdown is obvious.

I know there is a lot more polygons in a battle screen than there is on the field, but I was supprised with the perfect 60 I get during the Motorcycle Chase and on the world map, which also contain many polygons.

Anybody know what I can do to help it speed up a little?

-thanks

BTW: Framebuffer access and off-sscreen drawing are both set to basic, so I know that isn't the problem.

[Cyberman]

Some things that might help would be:

System and System Specs.

Plugin and plugin settings.

OS stuff.

I really don't think that you are likely to get any great improvement in speed however, but maybe.

Cyb

[Kazuya Mishima]

well, since framebuffer access is used to display the mdecs you can try turning off the offscreen drawing because you are not getting any use of it if its set to basic. The used of offscreen drawing for that game is to set it to extra-fbr or full but it slowdowns things a lot. So if you are not using that settings try disabling it.
Also try frameskipping and disabled it when you are not in a battle.
If you post your specs we can help you a lot better

[fivefeet8]

Upgrade to the newest version of lewpys glide plugin as that seems like an old bug that was in an older version of the plugin..

[Mako Eyes]

I have the latest version of his plugin . . . and I tried disabling off-screen drawing, It didn't help.

Here's my specs:

    Lewpy's Glide³ Plugin Configuration Information v1.40
    -----------------------------------------------------

Computer Information
  OS        : Microsoft Windows ME (v4.90 Build 3000)
  DirectX   : DirectX 8.1 installed
  Processor : Intel Pentium III, 501Mhz (1 off) (00/0673)
              16kb L1-I, 16kb L1-D, 512kb L2 (on-chip)
  Memory    : 192Mb

Core Emulator
  ePSXe     : C:\EMULATORS\SONY PLAYSTATION\EPSXE\EPSXE.EXE
            : 05/05/2002 21:32, 162304 bytes - v1.5.2(r)

*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*
| Type |     Plugin Name      | Version |       Date       |
*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*
| BIOS | SCPH7502.BIN         |         | 17/07/2000 23:28 |
| CDR  | cdrmooby2.dll        |  2.5    | 03/03/2003 00:11 |
| GPU  | gpuLewGlide.dll      |  1.40   | 13/07/2002 21:39 |
| SPU  | spuEternal.dll       |  1.30   | 06/05/2002 00:01 |
| NET  | DISABLED             |  0.0    | Plugin Not Found |
*------*----------------------*---------*------------------*

*-----------------------------*---------------------*
|  ePSXe Configuration Item   |   Current Setting   |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Auto Load PPF Files         | Yes                 |
| Country                     | NTSC                |
| SPU Sound Enabled           | Yes                 |
| SPU CDDA Enabled            | Yes                 |
| SPU XA Enabled              | Yes                 |
| SPU XA Read Enabled         | No                  |
| SPU IRQ Hack                | No                  |
| CDR Drive Letter            | E                   |
| CDR Accurate Timing         | No                  |
| CDR Status Disabled         | No                  |
| CDR W9x Subchan. Reading    | No                  |
| CDR W9x Subchan. Caching    | No                  |
| CDR W9x Subchan. CachingLG  | No                  |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*
|   Note: Some settings may be from old versions    |
*---------------------------------------------------*

Glide³
  Board     : Voodoo3 (tm)
  Total UMA : 16Mb
  Version   : 3.10.00.0658
  File      : C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\glide3x.dll
            : 02/11/2000 12:32, 329728 bytes

*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Plugin Configuration Item   |   Current Setting   |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*
| Active Configuration        | 1                   |
| Active 3dfx Card            | 1                   |
| Enable HotKeys              | No                  |
| Resolution                  | 640x480x16x0        |
| Refresh Rate                | 60Hz                |
| Texture Depth               | 16Bit               |
| Emulate MASK Bit            | Yes                 |
| Dynamic Texture Caching     | Yes                 |
| Custom FrameCap             | 60Hz                |
| On-Screen Display           | Off                 |
| Frame Skip                  | Disabled            |
| FrameRate Limit             | Auto                |
| System Type                 | NTSC                |
| FrameCap Method             | New                 |
| Draw Method                 | Bright              |
| Alpha Blending Mode         | Advanced            |
| Bilinear Filtering          | Enabled w/o Sprites |
| Alpha Testing               | Normal              |
| FrameBuffer Access          | Write               |
| Off-Screen Drawing          | Basic               |
| Polygon Mode                | Textured            |
| Texture Windows             | Enabled             |
| VSync                       | Enabled             |
| Banshee Code                | Disabled            |
| MDEC Format                 | Texture             |
| Experimental Flipping       | On                  |
| True Screen Sizing          | Off                 |
| FrontBuffer Rendering Fix   | Off                 |
| FF7 TextureWindow Fix       | On                  |
| Extreme Coord Fix           | Enabled             |
| Force Screen Clear          | Enabled             |
| Odd-Even Update             | Disabled            |
| Pure Software               | Disabled            |
| Dithering                   | PSX Controlled      |
*-----------------------------*---------------------*

[Kazuya Mishima]

Try disabling mask bit (its not used in this game) and set the frame rate limit to something like 62 (sometimes it helps a lot like in chrono cross). Also disable vertical sync, it should give you a little boost and disable extreme coord fix and force screen clear.
Also (and iin a desperate situation) try enabling the hotkeys and assign buttons the them, this way you change the configs in game and try other things.

[Mako Eyes]

I'll try everything, except disabling force screen clear. Without that, I get white bars on the top of the screen when choosing a sub-menu in battle (magic, item, summon, etc.) and I get garbage on the top and bottom of the screen when going from the world map to a town or something. I know it's not hindering performance, as I was far into the game before enabling it.

I'm also not disabling Vsync. Call me picky, but I very much dislike playing a game without vsync. I'd put up with the low framerate any day.

the others I would try . . .

[Mako Eyes]

Wow, disabling MASK Bit makes it way faster . . . no matter how many, or how large enemies are.

Thanks a million Kazuya Mishima!

Now, I have a few questions about this MASK Bit.
1 - Is there anywhere I can find a list of games that require it? if there's not, then there should be a post about it here somewhere.
2 - How would I know if a game requires MASK Bit emulation? what I mean is, what would happen if I disabled it when it sould be enabled?

[fivefeet8]

Originally posted by Mako Eyes

Now, I have a few questions about this MASK Bit.
1 - Is there anywhere I can find a list of games that require it? if there's not, then there should be a post about it here somewhere.
2 - How would I know if a game requires MASK Bit emulation? what I mean is, what would happen if I disabled it when it sould be enabled?

1. There isn't a list per se, but most games that require mask bit will show graphic errors with it off..
2. FF9 uses the mask bit with some of it's magic effects.. Disabling it causes the graphics to be messed up on them..

[Mako Eyes]

okay, Thanks that's all I needed to know

[Kazuya Mishima]

Just two games use mask bit as far as i know. Silent hill and final fantasy 9, rarely in ff9 i didn't note a difference with or without mask bit.