Chrono Cross on psx 1.13

[Shori]

hello, im getting a slowdown in epsxe version and im having a hard time config. the setting on that emu. i want to try Chrono cross using psx 1.13, what problem i might enounter using this emu(e.g. missing screen or something like that) ^_^

[hushypushy]

Why don't you try it and find out?

Actually, I think you won't encounter any problems at all. pSX is pretty stable and easy to use.

[Shori]

i was able to try it, i just want to ask why do i got a super slowdown framerate hers my spec:
p4 1.8ghz
512 mb ram
geforce fx 5200 128 mb, pls help guys

[Kuronosu]

I don't know if you still want to use ePSXe, but I noticed you posting in another thread at the section concerning the same problem.

So, have you tried Kane's configuration for ePSXe?
Chrono Cross

[Gamesoul Master]

@Shori: Did you make sure to turn off frame skipping? Having it on with any decent specs will cause problems. IIRC, all the slowdown problems in Chrono Cross were corrected a few versions ago, so I'm not sure what's going on if it's not a problem of having frame skipping on. Make sure you're not running too many processes... I suppose that could be a problem too, though not a big one with your specs.

[Shori]

@kuronosu>yup i post at the other thread cause i also try to use that emulator, yup i already try kanes configuration.

[Kuronosu]

GameSoul Master probably hit the nail on this one, I remember how Chrono Cross' low framerates would be somewhat lower than the actual game, thus adjusting the frame skipping to a particular number helped. Anyway, I've always had frame skipping off even then, but with that certain FPS limit.

[Shori]

im also disable the frame skipping, but still ive got the slowdown, and pls help me fix the frame rate

[patrickp]

Chrono Cross has always run excellently for me in pSX, Shori. It was one of the first games I ever tried in pSX, and even in the earliest versions of the emulator, I was impressed by how well it ran compared with its performance in ePSXe.

There have been a few glitches with it over the versions - the graphics glitch in the ground floor of Fort Dragonia springs to mind, and the more recent slowdown in menus and some shops. But in the last few versions of the game, it's been running perfectly, and on an Athlon XP 3200+ with 1GB RAM I can't see any slowdowns at all - if I enable the status display, fps stays solidly locked on 60. Admittedly, that's a bit more powerful than your machine, but not by much - you shouldn't be getting more than very marginal slowdowns, if that - certainly nothing to worry about.

What changes have you made to your Graphics/Sound tabs from the default? As GM says, and as you have done, frame skipping should be off. Try setting the correct aspect ratio for your monitor, and play in full screen. If you're playing in Windows, whatever resolution you have set, try setting 60Hz with it, and enable VSync.

One thing that can make a difference is your sound card - one with high latency may slow the emulator down. If this is the case, you need to increase the values for the latency sliders on the Sound tab - but remember, the more you increase them, the more the sound may go out of sync. So, if increasing them does help, don't increase them any more than you have to.

How do other games run in pSX? Is it just Chrono Cross that slows down? Most games should be running consistently at full speed in pSX: if they're not, you probably need to look at your system. As GM also said, you don't want more processes than you really need running - in Windows, virus scanners can be a real nuisance in this respect. Not a problem in Linux, of course - if you are running in Windows, try disconnecting from the internet and disabling your virus and adware scanners.

[Shori]

thank you so much for your info, yup everything runs fine in psx except for chrono cross

[patrickp]

So what changes have you made to your sound and graphics configuration, Shori? And what operating system and sound card are you using?

How are you playing the game, from the original CDs or images - and, if images, what format?

[etking]

I once played through the whole game using vgs since epsxe was too slow and buggy that time on a comparable system GF 5200 128 MB AMD 2500+.
Using epsxe i reommend using petesogl2 plugin allowing to set a higher internal resolution which looks just awsome. The only tricky thing is to configure the eternal sound plugin, you will have to experiment with the auto frame skip / spu thread / timer / async modes a bit.

[patrickp]

ePSXe may look very pretty with an appropriate graphics plugin, but the rendering will also contain artifacts and errors - Chrono Cross was the game that originally won me over to pSX, because it showed me how inaccurately ePSXe was rendering the game.

Since I live in the UK, I'd never been able to play Chrono Cross on my PAL Playstation - Chrono Cross was never issued as a PAL version. One error that stood out was at the end of the 'flashforward' in the prologue: where you teleport up to the top of the place, go through a big door and go into the FMV before you start the game proper. With every version of every graphics plugin I'd ever used in ePSXe - this is over a period of 5 or 6 years or more, on several different machines and versions of ePSXe - the panels on the door were crooked. I thought this must be the way the game was made. Then, when I started Chrono Cross in the then brand-new pSX, the panels on the door were straight!

It's a game that you'll also get slowdowns with in ePSXe except on the fastest machines. On my decidedly mid-range machine (Athlon 3200+ XP, ATI 9800 XT and 1GB memory) I get slowdowns; in pSX it plays exactly as on the Playstation.

And that's what I like about pSX - it's like playing games on the Playstation: you can get into the game and not be continually annoyed by slowdowns, inaccurate rendering etc. I call this transparency, because the emulator doesn't come between you and the game.

@Shori: doesn't look like you'll respond at this late date, but I think your problem is probably either applications running in the background and using up resources or you have a faulty image. You didn't say what OS you're using but if it's a Windows OS, and you're running stuff in the background, 512MB RAM may not be a lot for that. If you're running Linux (and I think pSX is now one of the applications that's running better in Gutsy, for instance, than in Windows), you've usually got less resource use from the OS, but you can still overwhelm 512MB with lots of stuff in the background.

Or, you have a faulty image: since you didn't respond with how you're playing the game, we don't know. If, as is quite likely, you've ripped the game to .bin/.cue images and are playing from that, .ccd/.img/.sub or .mdf/.mds formats are better. I noticed even back when I was using ePSXe that .img images worked better, and they certainly do in pSX. Or try playing from the original CDs - ePSXe doesn't always work as well at this, but pSX does, particularly if you have a drive that reads subcode well.

Leave the frame skipping off in pSX, certainly for RPGs; even if it speeds the game up, it makes it jerky; on slow machines, I prefer the sometimes slower but smoother play with frame skipping off. You can't select a frame rate in pSX, probably because it inherently runs at the correct game rate anyway. I don't know why Kuronosu suggested that, unless he's confusing this section with the ePSXe one.