Why is framerate so different to plugin based emus?

[Pontiac]

Hi people,

I have a question, hoping the PSX author himself could answer it:


PSX seems to maintain a constant 60fps rocksolid in ALL PSX games for NTSC, and 50 fps for PAL, with vysnc turned on. This is great and means scrolling is smooth in everything. FRAPS reports the exact same rates as the internal fps reading.

However, EPSXE or ALL other plugin based emus, including project 64 for n64 games, all of them seem unable to display things at full framerate. According to their internal fps counters they are, but my well trained eyes and FRAPS both tell a different story. FRaps generally reports 30 fps for ingame movement sections, and weirdly 60 for still 2D images like menu screens ingame, but as soon as I go out of the menu, 30 fps returns and the scrolling is terrible... I can tell i really am getting half framerate.

People before have told me that some games dont display framerate at full 60 in certain areas etc, but I know this isn't the case as PSX displays full framerate in ALL games.

Can someone tell me why it seems only the plugin emus have these issues, and PSX doesnt, if this the games arent designed for full framerate?

[StriderVM]

Well, it's because PSX is simply designed as such, extract and play.

In reality though, all PS1 emulators do have the capability to run with 60FPS. However, it differs much with the plugins and settings as well.

I have tried all of the PS1 emus (Even Bleem and VGS) and all of them can run full speed given a powerful PC. My hunch is that it is only caused by incorrect plugin settings or a slow PC.

..... Short answer, you just need to try another plugin and/or reconfigure it correctly.

[Dark Watcher]

another short answer...
Because plugin based emulators offer more features and capabilities then the original device it attempts to emulate.

Graphic plugins offer higher resolutions, shading, and other features not originally available in the PSX for example

[Clements]

Can't speak for PSX, but I know for sure that not all N64 titles were designed to run at 60FPS at all times. The console is simply not powerful enough to do this with all games. NTSC Ocarina of Time runs at 20FPS in-game for example. A few games such as F-Zero X had severe graphical and sound trade-offs/optimisations to maintain 60FPS in-game. The Perfect Dark and Goldeneye engines are designed with a variable frame rate rather than a fixed one.

There is nothing you can do to improve emulated framerate beyond the abilities of the target system.

[JJXB]

Originally Posted by Pontiac

FRaps generally reports 30 fps for ingame movement sections, and weirdly 60 for still 2D images like menu screens ingame, but as soon as I go out of the menu, 30 fps returns and the scrolling is terrible... I can tell i really am getting half framerate.

fraps is a good program but it has flaws. like reporting games running at half framerate (e.g. Project 64 it always reports it's running at half-speed or lower when it's actually running full fps according to PJ64)