pSX in Parallels Desktop 3 (Mac)

[Labrat]

Whenever I go fullscreen, the menu bar (File etc) is still there. Is it supposed to be like that?

Also, what about stretching the image to fill up the screen? Whenever I change the resolution to anything but the default, the games become way to slow. I keep reading that this emulator should run fine on a modern CPU, so shouldn't it be able to handle resolutions besides the native PSX one on my current gen iMac?

[Gamesoul Master]

Eww... well, I'll resist saying anything about the iMac... maybe it just doesn't like it.

Though to be serious for a moment, we'll need some more information. Like what OS you're running, CPU speed, RAM, etc. And what game(s) have you tried playing?

When you're going fullscreen, are you actually hitting Alt+Enter/Return, and not simply maximizing it? If you're running some MacOS with Wine or something similar, I haven't heard of compatibility being that good.

You might want to update your graphics drivers, though I highly doubt the problem would be with them. And the picture will take up however much space the game being played tells it to take. There will almost always be side bars or top/bottom bars though. Stretching it to fill the whole screen isn't an option at this point, at least not in fullscreen.

[Labrat]

Forgot to mention that the guest OS is Windows.

Current gen iMac means I have at least 1 GB memory and a fast Intel Dual Core 2 processor.

The slowdown is there for alll the games that I've tried (FF7, FFT, Vagrant Story).

Fullscreen means fullscreen (Alt+Enter) (had to modify the fullscreen combo in Parallels since it kept interfering).

The drivers are supplied by Parallels, so updating them is not an option.

As for stretching the image, I'm not talking about filling up the entire screen. Just having a higher resolution than the default which looks patheticly small on my 20" screen.

[Gamesoul Master]

Sorry... I had to ask the questions, as there are many times the answers aren't what you'd expect.

I assume you mean Windows XP, since anybody using Vista or an older system would definitely specify. I honestly am not sure what the problem could be. The logical next question would be... Does this happen with any other program (the slowdowns I mean)?

I should've mentioned in my last post... no, the menu bar should not still be there. The fact that it is is very confusing, as I've never heard of that happening before in true fullscreen. That's the main reason I asked if you were really in fullscreen or not.

The fact that it looks small, I'd say, would be a problem with your computer. No matter what resolution is selected in pSX, the display always fills up the whole screen in pSX. The resolution doesn't really affect the actual screen size in fullscreen... it only affects the size of the display in windowed mode, which is also the only time the menu bar would be visible. Hence... I can only guess that for some reason, your computer isn't properly entering fullscreen mode.

Hopefully either it resolves itself, or somebody else can possibly shed some more light on this problem. Though I honestly suspect it's either a compatibility issue with the hardware, or your computer is just plain not working properly with the emulator.

[Labrat]

I've had no problem with fullscreen mode in other emulators. It's safe to say that this is happening because of Parallels, but I still find it a bit odd.

And just to clarify, the games run fine when using the native PSX resolution. It's only after increasing it that the games start to crawl. I find that kinda odd as well, considering my processor.

[Gamesoul Master]

That is odd, regardless of the resolution. With your processor, no resolution should cause any lagging, especially with a program that should run fine at *half* your processor's capabilities. Whatever the problem may be, I might venture a guess that it relates to your computer's inability to properly enter fullscreen in pSX. Fixing one problem will probably fix all three of them. I'm just hoping somebody comes along with more knowledge than me in this area, as I know almost nothing about Macs.

My best answer to you would be to go to the official forums and ask there. If you're lucky, pSX Author himself may see your problem and possibly have an answer. And if not, there are many regulars besides myself, and many of them would probably be more helpful than me...

[patrickp]

Have you tried running Linux under your Parallels Desktop, Labrat, and running the Linux version of pSX? It seems to me that pSX may even be running better in Linux now than in Windows.

It will run fine in a vanilla Ubuntu Gutsy install, except that you need to install libgtkglext1 (in the repositories), and you may need to increase the values for the Latency sliders on the Sound tab slightly if you get sound problems.

[Brightside]

or just use bootcamp

[Labrat]

I've tried pSX in Parallels Desktop 3 and VMware Fusion, in both Windows and Linux.

VMware (Windows XP): Won't run at all without enabling DirectX (experimental) in VMware. Completely unplayable, and fullscreen does not work.

VMware (Ubuntu 7.10): Extremely slow. I keep getting sound buffer underruns. Fullscreen seem to work though (albeit so slow it's unplayable).

Parallels (Windows XP): Normal resolution works. Fullscreen does not, and any other resolutions are very slow.

Parallels (Ubuntu 7.10): Same as VMware. Sound underruns.

[patrickp]

AFAIK VMWare doesn't support 3D anyway, unless it's different in Mac OSs, Labrat - I'm surprised you can get an application that requires 3D to run at all.

I don't really know anything about Parallels Desktop, but if it acts as a virtual machine, again, I'm suprised pSX runs at all. If it acts as an OS emulator, then slow running is about what I'd expect to see. It's only if it acts as a layer, like Wine in Linux, that you're even going to have a chance of performance comparable to what it should be.

BTW - what are the specs of the machine you're doing this on?

[Labrat]

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.15 GHz
Ati Radeon X1600
512 MB memory (in guest OS)

Parallels does have decent OpenGL support in both Windows and Linux, as well as DirectX in Windows. In fact, ePSXe runs quite well in both Windows and Linux in Parallels. I only stopped using it because the framerate would drop to 30 whenever entering any menus in FF7 and there were certain general slowdowns that I couldn't fix. pSX runs okay at native PSX resolution in Parallels (Windows), but fullscreen is borked and changing the window size slows everything down to a crawl.

Any news on a Mac port of pSX by the way?

[patrickp]

I believe a friend of pSX Author is developing a Mac version, but I have no idea how this is going, Labrat - this news is about a year old, I think.

As Brightside suggests, since you have an Intel based machine, have you tried Bootcamp? As I understand it, Bootcamp is effectively running another OS independently rather than inside your Mac OS. I don't know whether Bootcamp runs Windows only, or can run Linux instead, but it's got to be worth a try?

[Labrat]

It will probably work fine in Bootcamp, but I don't really feel like rebooting constantly just to play a game.

I just tried pSX in Darwine, and it complains about the cdrom or something. And I'm not quite sure if my Darwine version was compiled with proper OpenGL support. I'm officially giving up.

[patrickp]

Pity. pSX is far and away the best Playstation emulator around...