FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects.

^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 12:23

Tried everything, including but not limited to everything:

All 4 Pete's GPU plugins (OpenGL, Software, D3D, D3D DX6), mixed and matched every major and minor setting including changing resolution, game fixes which don't even apply to FF9, etc, etc, etc, etc. Spent over 6 hours this weekend troubleshooting it but nothing yet so I'm asking here as a last resort.

The battle effects in FF9 (Specifically the stuff that fills the whole screen or large scale effects like the really big casts and such) slow the game down to below 10 fps but it still always shows 60fps in the display. I've tried frame skipping of course too but it doesnt change anything. I have a fast PC but it might be that bothersome Radeon frame buffer crap screwing with me:

XP2100+
1gb PC2700
Radeon 9700 Pro

Using espxe 1.5.2 with Pete's newest plugins. Apart from this bug the game runs -beyond- perfectly, not one single glitch of any kind, and the backgrounds look perfect with optimal settings.

I have also tried to troubleshoot this problem on a Athlon 1.4ghz, 512mb PC133, Radeon 9500 pro system, but exact same results.

Both systems are using Catalyst 3.5, changing drivers is not an option, as any Radeon card owner will tell you. :/

^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 12:38

I know someone is going to ask so here are the settings that run the game perfectly apart from this bug. Please note, I have changed EVERY single setting in troubleshooting it, so please assume I'm not a newbie. I been using epsxe for a good year or 2 and played all the other FF games on it perfectly. (Just got done playing VII actually, what a great game.)

Specs:

Plugin: Pete's D3D Driver 1.1.72
Author: Pete Bernert
GFX card: RADEON 9500

Resolution/Color:
- 640x480 Fullscreen - [32 Bit]

Textures:
- R8G8A8A8
- Filtering: 4
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- VRam size: 128 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limit: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 3
- Framebuffer texture: 2
- Framebuffer access: 3
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: on
- Advanced blending: hardware

Misc:
- Scanlines: off [0]
- Unfiltered FB: on
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Full vram: off
- Game fixes: on [00004200]

Incidentally, I use unfiltered framebuffer updates to fix the movies, it removes a nasty vertical line during the FMVs of nearly all FF games.

**Kane** · July 14th, 2003, 12:44

You tried the 'Mixed software FB access' special gmae fix?
Failing that, try setting framebuffer textures/access to 0/4 and try reducing your off screen drawing by a notch.

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^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 13:02

Of course I tried those 2 things, and i have your old epsxe config page bookmarked, btw, but your settings don't work good on my system.

I've tried pretty much everything, including turning everything to max speed settings and res at 320x240, and the effect is always the same.

REi_FoX · July 14th, 2003, 13:19

im just wondering why does epsxe recognize your card as radeon 9500

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^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 13:26

Don't worry about that, i can't think of a way to explain this without typing out a huge paragraph so here it goes:

In the beginning, ATI made all 9500 non pro and 9700 pro cards the same spec, they have the same board, GPU, transistors, etc, everything is the same. Some 3rd party manufacturers can opt to change things but most didn't. ATI had a little switch on the GPU to tell the 9500 non pro it was, in fact, a 9500 instead of a 9700. I simply did what thousands of other people did: Bought a 9500 non pro and used a software hack to make windows identify it "properly" as a 9700 pro.

I score better on 3dmark03 than some 9800 pro cards, even tho 3dmark03 is crap, just saying for comparison.

Like I said, I get about 450fps in the emulator if I turn off frame limiter with the settings that i want to play with. (Thats with 4x AA on, as well heh)

**Kane** · July 14th, 2003, 15:05

You tried forcing a limit (say 60 FPS) or trying PC FPS calc?

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>Site Live<
Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators.
Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible
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Kimiko: (Craptop) HP Mini 210

^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 15:15

Yes, forcing a limit doesnt matter, as I stated earlier the FPS CLAIM to never drop, it says 60 even tho it looks like 5-10, and PC FPS calc makes the game run far too fast (150fps or more)

**Kane** · July 14th, 2003, 15:25

Maybe it's how it is on the PSX itself.....

__________________

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Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators.
Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible
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Erika: (MCPC) Revo3610, Windows 7 Home Premium
Kimiko: (Craptop) HP Mini 210

^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 15:26

No way dude, its jerky. Not natural slow motion, jerky nasty low FPS slow motion. I refuse to believe this is how it really is.

F-3582 · July 14th, 2003, 17:22

Have you tried setting SPU Eternal to SPUAsync->Wait and disabling the frame limiter in your gpu plugin? Unless you notice any stuttering, the game is running perfectly as it is supposed to...

P.S.: Have you ever seen the really impresive highly texturized and highly polygonized effects used in FFIX (e.g. when summoning Leviathan)? The PSX doesn't have the power to display them at steady >24FPS! Therefore Square lowered the frame rate a bit to get more polygons into one frame.

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^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 17:35

F-3582: This is sub 10 fps tho I cant believe square did that. I have tried the SPU Eternal SPU-Async-Wait thing, in fact I had it activated in prep for this game because it specifically mentions FFIX.

**I-Chan** · July 14th, 2003, 17:53

then disable it and use smooth instead of wait, and enable gpu frame limiter. I had slowdowns in ffix as well and i got rid of them with that config. Might want to try?

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F-3582 · July 14th, 2003, 18:03

It is reality. Everybody knows it and everybody accepts it. If the sound doesn't lag, you'll have to accept it, too (believe me, after some hours of playing, you won't even notice it anymore).

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^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 19:29

Its a video problem, even with sound disabled it does the exact same thing. Good idea to try tho, thanks I-Chan.

Anyone else? Still working on it here.

**fivefeet8** · July 14th, 2003, 20:33

First, check if it's natural for the slowdown. Listen to the sound during the slowdown. If the sound slows down with the game, then it's you. If the sound stays constant even when the video slows, then it's how the game is.

You could try different Drivers for your card.

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**I-Chan** · July 14th, 2003, 21:03

is it a possibility to try it on the real hardware? That will wipe your doubts out. Since ps1 and ps2 are the most sold consoles ever, you will probably have a friend that has it.

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^Requiem^ · July 14th, 2003, 21:43

Sound slows down too, but how the hell can it be my machine? I've tried it on 3 completely different machines now and every single one behaves the same.

XP2100+/9700 Pro/1gb RAM
1.4ghz/9500 pro/512mb RAM
1.1ghz/Geforce2/512mb RAM

ALL RUN IT EXACTLY THE SAME. Hell, the geforce 2 is -CAPABLE- of running FF9 at over 250fps on my main PC, thats how fast it goes with frame limiter off.

**Kane** · July 15th, 2003, 00:14

...You tried running from an ISO?

__________________

>Site Live<
Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators.
Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible
Celes: (Desktop) Phenom II X4, 4Gb DDR2, GeForce 8800 GTS 320Mb, 32Gb OCZ Vertex SSD, 500Gb RAID HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium
Erika: (MCPC) Revo3610, Windows 7 Home Premium
Kimiko: (Craptop) HP Mini 210

**Yeloazndevil** · July 15th, 2003, 00:22

do u have the latest catalyst drivers for your 9700?

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July 14th, 2003, 12:23	#1
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. Tried everything, including but not limited to everything: All 4 Pete's GPU plugins (OpenGL, Software, D3D, D3D DX6), mixed and matched every major and minor setting including changing resolution, game fixes which don't even apply to FF9, etc, etc, etc, etc. Spent over 6 hours this weekend troubleshooting it but nothing yet so I'm asking here as a last resort. The battle effects in FF9 (Specifically the stuff that fills the whole screen or large scale effects like the really big casts and such) slow the game down to below 10 fps but it still always shows 60fps in the display. I've tried frame skipping of course too but it doesnt change anything. I have a fast PC but it might be that bothersome Radeon frame buffer crap screwing with me: XP2100+ 1gb PC2700 Radeon 9700 Pro Using espxe 1.5.2 with Pete's newest plugins. Apart from this bug the game runs -beyond- perfectly, not one single glitch of any kind, and the backgrounds look perfect with optimal settings. I have also tried to troubleshoot this problem on a Athlon 1.4ghz, 512mb PC133, Radeon 9500 pro system, but exact same results. Both systems are using Catalyst 3.5, changing drivers is not an option, as any Radeon card owner will tell you. :/

July 14th, 2003, 12:38	#2
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. I know someone is going to ask so here are the settings that run the game perfectly apart from this bug. Please note, I have changed EVERY single setting in troubleshooting it, so please assume I'm not a newbie. I been using epsxe for a good year or 2 and played all the other FF games on it perfectly. (Just got done playing VII actually, what a great game.) Specs: Plugin: Pete's D3D Driver 1.1.72 Author: Pete Bernert GFX card: RADEON 9500 Resolution/Color: - 640x480 Fullscreen - [32 Bit] Textures: - R8G8A8A8 - Filtering: 4 - Hi-Res textures: 0 - VRam size: 128 MBytes Framerate: - FPS limit: on - Frame skipping: off - FPS limit: Auto Compatibility: - Offscreen drawing: 3 - Framebuffer texture: 2 - Framebuffer access: 3 - Alpha multipass: on - Mask bit: on - Advanced blending: hardware Misc: - Scanlines: off [0] - Unfiltered FB: on - Dithering: off - Screen smoothing: off - Full vram: off - Game fixes: on [00004200] Incidentally, I use unfiltered framebuffer updates to fix the movies, it removes a nasty vertical line during the FMVs of nearly all FF games.

July 14th, 2003, 12:44	#3
Kane 邪魔ゎ指せない Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Gosport, England Posts: 26,303	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. You tried the 'Mixed software FB access' special gmae fix? Failing that, try setting framebuffer textures/access to 0/4 and try reducing your off screen drawing by a notch. __________________ >Site Live< Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators. Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible Celes: (Desktop) Phenom II X4, 4Gb DDR2, GeForce 8800 GTS 320Mb, 32Gb OCZ Vertex SSD, 500Gb RAID HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium Erika: (MCPC) Revo3610, Windows 7 Home Premium Kimiko: (Craptop) HP Mini 210

July 14th, 2003, 13:19	#5
REi_FoX ¡¾¡¾¡¾¡ Fantasy ¡¾¡¾¡¾¡ Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Manila, Philippines Posts: 3,649	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. im just wondering why does epsxe recognize your card as radeon 9500 __________________ FoR PiNoYs WhO WanTs To BuY CheAp ParTs CliCk Here also Here Processor - Intel Quad 2 Quad q6600 G0 Stepping [Stock Settings] Memory - 2GB Team Elite 800mhz Graphics Card - Palit Daytone Geforce 8800 GT 512 MB Mobo - Abit IP-35-E OS - Dual Boot Windows XP Professional SP3 and Ubuntu Linux Pad - PS1 and PS2 > USB Adapter 3DMark05 Score - 35082

July 14th, 2003, 15:05	#7
Kane 邪魔ゎ指せない Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Gosport, England Posts: 26,303	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. You tried forcing a limit (say 60 FPS) or trying PC FPS calc? __________________ >Site Live< Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators. Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible Celes: (Desktop) Phenom II X4, 4Gb DDR2, GeForce 8800 GTS 320Mb, 32Gb OCZ Vertex SSD, 500Gb RAID HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium Erika: (MCPC) Revo3610, Windows 7 Home Premium Kimiko: (Craptop) HP Mini 210

July 14th, 2003, 13:02	#4
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	Of course I tried those 2 things, and i have your old epsxe config page bookmarked, btw, but your settings don't work good on my system. I've tried pretty much everything, including turning everything to max speed settings and res at 320x240, and the effect is always the same.

July 14th, 2003, 13:26	#6
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	Don't worry about that, i can't think of a way to explain this without typing out a huge paragraph so here it goes: In the beginning, ATI made all 9500 non pro and 9700 pro cards the same spec, they have the same board, GPU, transistors, etc, everything is the same. Some 3rd party manufacturers can opt to change things but most didn't. ATI had a little switch on the GPU to tell the 9500 non pro it was, in fact, a 9500 instead of a 9700. I simply did what thousands of other people did: Bought a 9500 non pro and used a software hack to make windows identify it "properly" as a 9700 pro. I score better on 3dmark03 than some 9800 pro cards, even tho 3dmark03 is crap, just saying for comparison. Like I said, I get about 450fps in the emulator if I turn off frame limiter with the settings that i want to play with. (Thats with 4x AA on, as well heh)

July 14th, 2003, 15:15	#8
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	Yes, forcing a limit doesnt matter, as I stated earlier the FPS CLAIM to never drop, it says 60 even tho it looks like 5-10, and PC FPS calc makes the game run far too fast (150fps or more)

July 14th, 2003, 15:25	#9
Kane 邪魔ゎ指せない Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Gosport, England Posts: 26,303	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. Maybe it's how it is on the PSX itself..... __________________ >Site Live< Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators. Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible Celes: (Desktop) Phenom II X4, 4Gb DDR2, GeForce 8800 GTS 320Mb, 32Gb OCZ Vertex SSD, 500Gb RAID HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium Erika: (MCPC) Revo3610, Windows 7 Home Premium Kimiko: (Craptop) HP Mini 210

July 14th, 2003, 15:26	#10
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	No way dude, its jerky. Not natural slow motion, jerky nasty low FPS slow motion. I refuse to believe this is how it really is.

July 14th, 2003, 17:22	#11
F-3582 Back to regular business Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: in Sachsen Posts: 3,258	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. Have you tried setting SPU Eternal to SPUAsync->Wait and disabling the frame limiter in your gpu plugin? Unless you notice any stuttering, the game is running perfectly as it is supposed to... P.S.: Have you ever seen the really impresive highly texturized and highly polygonized effects used in FFIX (e.g. when summoning Leviathan)? The PSX doesn't have the power to display them at steady >24FPS! Therefore Square lowered the frame rate a bit to get more polygons into one frame. __________________ In a world without walls and fences - who needs Windows and Gates?

July 14th, 2003, 17:35	#12
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. F-3582: This is sub 10 fps tho I cant believe square did that. I have tried the SPU Eternal SPU-Async-Wait thing, in fact I had it activated in prep for this game because it specifically mentions FFIX.

July 14th, 2003, 17:53	#13
I-Chan Ex Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Spain Posts: 3,093	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. then disable it and use smooth instead of wait, and enable gpu frame limiter. I had slowdowns in ffix as well and i got rid of them with that config. Might want to try? __________________ "I'm living in a dream I can't wake from" Core i5 2500K 3.3Ghz \| 8192 MB DDR3 1333 MHZ \| AMD Radeon HD 6950 2048 MB \| Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB SATAIII+WD Caviar 250GB SATAII \| Dell 3007WFP-HC 30"

July 14th, 2003, 18:03	#14
F-3582 Back to regular business Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: in Sachsen Posts: 3,258	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. It is reality. Everybody knows it and everybody accepts it. If the sound doesn't lag, you'll have to accept it, too (believe me, after some hours of playing, you won't even notice it anymore). __________________ In a world without walls and fences - who needs Windows and Gates?

July 14th, 2003, 19:29	#15
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. Its a video problem, even with sound disabled it does the exact same thing. Good idea to try tho, thanks I-Chan. Anyone else? Still working on it here.

July 14th, 2003, 20:33	#16
fivefeet8 &-)---\|--< Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Smallville Posts: 8,058	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. First, check if it's natural for the slowdown. Listen to the sound during the slowdown. If the sound slows down with the game, then it's you. If the sound stays constant even when the video slows, then it's how the game is. You could try different Drivers for your card. __________________ Play emulated games online Main Rig\|\|Intel i7 2600k @4.4 ghz\|2x4 gb DDR3 1600\|Asrock Extreme7 Gen3\|EVGA GTX670 2GB\|EVGA GTX460 PhysX\|2x Seagate 160gb SATA150 Raid0\|250 gb Samsung SATA2 HD\| OCZ 240GB SSD SATA3 \|NEC 3520 4x/8x DVD+R/RW DL burner\|Rosewill 1000 Watt\|40" Sony Bravia 1080p\|Logitec 5.1 Speaker System w/10" Sub\|Windows 7 64bit Ultimate\|\| SimplyBuyIt - Health&Nutrition

July 14th, 2003, 21:03	#17
I-Chan Ex Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Spain Posts: 3,093	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. is it a possibility to try it on the real hardware? That will wipe your doubts out. Since ps1 and ps2 are the most sold consoles ever, you will probably have a friend that has it. __________________ "I'm living in a dream I can't wake from" Core i5 2500K 3.3Ghz \| 8192 MB DDR3 1333 MHZ \| AMD Radeon HD 6950 2048 MB \| Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB SATAIII+WD Caviar 250GB SATAII \| Dell 3007WFP-HC 30"

July 14th, 2003, 21:43	#18
^Requiem^ Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 15	Sound slows down too, but how the hell can it be my machine? I've tried it on 3 completely different machines now and every single one behaves the same. XP2100+/9700 Pro/1gb RAM 1.4ghz/9500 pro/512mb RAM 1.1ghz/Geforce2/512mb RAM ALL RUN IT EXACTLY THE SAME. Hell, the geforce 2 is -CAPABLE- of running FF9 at over 250fps on my main PC, thats how fast it goes with frame limiter off.

July 15th, 2003, 00:14	#19
Kane 邪魔ゎ指せない Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Gosport, England Posts: 26,303	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. ...You tried running from an ISO? __________________ >Site Live< Pop over to my site for help with setting up PSX emulators. Help for the Final Fantasies and other RPGs avalaible Celes: (Desktop) Phenom II X4, 4Gb DDR2, GeForce 8800 GTS 320Mb, 32Gb OCZ Vertex SSD, 500Gb RAID HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium Erika: (MCPC) Revo3610, Windows 7 Home Premium Kimiko: (Craptop) HP Mini 210

July 15th, 2003, 00:22	#20
Yeloazndevil Touka <3 Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 11,870	Re: FF9 - Fast PC, but slow battle effects. do u have the latest catalyst drivers for your 9700? __________________ Nintendo Network ID: Yeloazndevil

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