a question about 2D games with Pete's OGL/OGL2 plugin

[Samor]

I just want to know if there's a solution for the following (if not, I'd still like to know why it happens):

When using pete's hw-accelerated plugins in some 2D games you'll occasionally see a sprite being slightly changed from position during an animation (
Examples:
- in Megaman 8 when Megaman blinks with his eye his head slightly deforms, but only when he's facing right
- in Gradius Gaiden, the powerups deform a little

Simply using PEOPS will solve this, but if there's a way to fix this in the ogl plugins, I'd be interested. Changing the resolution or turning on psx aspect ratio doesn't seem to fix it.

[hushypushy]

im not exactly sure what you're talking about...but i think you're describing the PSX's lack of subpixel accuracy. with Peops soft it kind of blurs that so you dont really see the jumping pixels.

[Samor]

I think blur wouldn't be able to hide it, it's more obvious; it's still visible with the full screen filter on the ogl2 plugin.

I don't know in how many games it actually happens either (at least, in such a visible way); I know that Gradius Gaiden's powerups and Megaman himself in Megaman 8 have this issue at least.

It'd be great if it could be fixed anyway, as the results I have with PEOPS were never as good as the HW plugins (whatever refresh rate I choose, PEOPS won't be as smooth as the d3d and ogl plugins)

I'll try making a few animated gifs of the problem, they might make it more clear.

[hushypushy]

well, i find it strange that your Peops isnt as smooth...when i use peops it's buttery smooth. what are your settings?

[Samor]

right... that was eternal spu's fault, because I didn't have "wait for xa buffer is free" turned off.

Peops is smooth now. But now I'm starting to remember things (its been a while for me to fiddle with the psx plugins) and how I used to have problems with changing eternal's settings before without messing up the sound, which is probably why I never used peops much either.

That brings me to another question - what are your favourite settings for the eternal spu anyway (I'm using PSXeven) ?

note, still want to know more about the initial (hw plugins in 2D) problem too: here's a nice animated gif of what it actually does (no, I didn't edit it poorly; it does that in-game)

[hushypushy]

well, as for your main question about the sprites...honestly i have no idea. you'd hav eto ask Pete himself.

for Eternal, i use default most of the time, with a lowered buffer. i keep the buffer at around 30-40 most of the time unless i have problems. i used to have it at thread mode, now i keep it at SPUasync and Smooth mode. and of course, special game fixes as the situation desires. with those settings, i never have sound problems. a lot of the time, sound problems are related to the GPU anyway. i had sooooo many problems with MGS and its gameplay and sound until i realized all you had to do was enable PC FPS calc

[Samor]

well, I'm not sure about it now, but with my previous PC (that's a while ago though) it was always quite a hassle to get everything working right (and afaik some of the Ridge Racer games also "magically" start to work right when you enable pc fps calculation).
It seems peops does work nicely now together with eternal... that'll do, but I guess I'll ask pete about the sprite "deforming" in hw mode, I'm still curious

[hushypushy]

hey, if you do ask him, come back and post it in this thread. im curious, and im sure others are too.

and yeah, i got the idea to use PC FPS calc after playing Rage Racer. i discovered that Rage Racer needs PC FPS calc...i think Ridge Racer does too. but i tried it and it worked! :O i should make a "perfect MGS config" thread...

[Dark Watcher]

Indeed! Let Pete know...we have never seen that before (funny stuff). Oh..real quick on Eternal for us..

Buffer size will vary from PC to PC but we usually go SPUAsync / Smooth. If we experience issues with timing and frame rate we change to SPUAsync / Wait, and turn Frame Limit off on the GPU plugins...Eternal will then control the frame limitation..nice lil trick

[hushypushy]

yep, that works too. ive never had FPS problems that werent solved by PC FPS calc, so im ok. but man. i emailed and PMed Pete and he hasnt responded. i asked him why PC FPS calc isnt in OGL2...im dying to know

anyway, here's my current Eternal setup. pretty straightforward.