Making software mode more palatable
#1
I love this emulator and I'm astounded by how many games it can play at full speed, but as you know, there are frequently minor to severe graphical & hardware-mode issues with a lot of classic games, especially platformers like the Ratchet & Clank series because of a lack of support in the Direct3D mipmapping and whatever, so I'm wondering what's the most that can be done to make games running in software mode not be such a butterface? Not asking for eye candy here just something that looks a little better than old VGA 320x200 DukeNukeEm jaggies. Is it possible to run software mode in anything close to higher resolution (not HD obviously) or just make it look somewhat decent?

Thanks.

Intel Core i5-3570K CPU, GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB video, Asus P8Z77-V Pro MB, Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) RAM
Reply

Sponsored links

#2
Enable AA1 in the soft settings (only works if the the games used it)
Enable FXAA and the shader, in the shader settings ini set the fxaa to 4 (ultra high quality) if you experience slow downs, turn off this last setting.

It's the best you can do, it doesn't do anywhere near as much as HW mode, But it's better then nothing
Intel Core i7-8700k @5ghz
G.Skill 16GB DDR4 @3600mhz
GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
Windows 10 x64
Reply
#3
It is possible to increase the rendering resolution of software mode but it is not implemented. As I know increasing the internal resolution would lead to a dramatic increase of the requirements. It is estimated that if you would increase the resolution there won't be many cpu's that provide full speed.

Also software mode was always intended as the compatible fork. And you can probably achieve the highest compatibility if you don't introduce stuff like upscaling.
Reply
#4
The issue is if you double they resolution you increase CPU load by a factor of 4.

So my CPU could MAYBE play FFX at full speed. the more demanding games that can only be run into software mode wouldn't be playable. I think thats why it hasn't been done yet. a dev can chime in of course.
Intel Core i7-8700k @5ghz
G.Skill 16GB DDR4 @3600mhz
GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
Windows 10 x64
Reply
#5
I don't see any issues if it's optional.
Reply
#6
I agree with that, Future proofing. I'm not a coder so i have no idea how hard it is to implement, But if it's challenging then i can see why it hasn't been done, Though i admit. I'm going to be getting devils canyon, So I'd like to test how well it works with double resolution software mode haha. But thats not going to be until the end of this year. Assuming broadwell doesn't crush it and have better clocks Tongue
Intel Core i7-8700k @5ghz
G.Skill 16GB DDR4 @3600mhz
GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
Windows 10 x64
Reply
#7
(09-27-2014, 06:01 PM)xemnas99 Wrote: I don't see any issues if it's optional.

The issue is to find motivation to program this even if it might not be needed or is not usable at all.
And it might introduce new problems. The software renderer is designed as stable ps2-look-alike. So maybe some devs will not even like the idea of implementing funny stuff.
Reply
#8
(09-27-2014, 02:01 AM)hellbringer616 Wrote: Enable AA1 in the soft settings (only works if the the games used it)
Enable FXAA and the shader, in the shader settings ini set the fxaa to 4 (ultra high quality) if you experience slow downs, turn off this last setting.

It's the best you can do, it doesn't do anywhere near as much as HW mode, But it's better then nothing

Oh, I learned something new here, that the "Enable FXAA" feature is global and works with software mode too? . I tried the 4X FXAA setting (in GSdx.ini, correct?) and since it didn't seem to make things any prettier to my eyes, I decided to just go back to the default to help prevent any unnecessary performance hit. Thanks for the info

I agree with what others here have said, that it might be an interesting experimental feature in future builds to allow higher software mode resolutions to be enabled. Maybe those with 8 cores can use those extra rendering threads effectively Cool
Intel i9-10850K CPU
Asus ROG STRIX z490-E Motherboard
EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU
G.Skill Ripjaws VF4-4000C18D-32GVK DDR4-4000MHz Memory
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit (Version 21H2) OS
Reply
#9
No in the GSdx_FX_Settings.ini though i don't think that is in the stable, So you'd have to upgrade to the latest GIT release, good news is i don't think there are any regressions. If anything i think it may be faster.

They changed the setting type on me, now it's just an off-on (0-1) you want to find this line and make sure it reads the same "#define UHQ_FXAA 1" it's the first setting in there so its easy to find.
Intel Core i7-8700k @5ghz
G.Skill 16GB DDR4 @3600mhz
GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
Windows 10 x64
Reply
#10
(09-27-2014, 06:36 PM)hellbringer616 Wrote: No in the GSdx_FX_Settings.ini though i don't think that is in the stable, So you'd have to upgrade to the latest GIT release, good news is i don't think there are any regressions. If anything i think it may be faster.

They changed the setting type on me, now it's just an off-on (0-1) you want to find this line and make sure it reads the same "#define UHQ_FXAA 1" it's the first setting in there so its easy to find.

I'm a little new to the PCSX2 scene, having only flirted with it in the past and only recently coming back to it with a good deal more interest since getting my system upgraded to to a semi-decent gaming rig. Where can I find the GIT builds? When you enable it, do you notice a difference? I realize that only so much can be done for software mode but every little bit helps Biggrin
Intel i9-10850K CPU
Asus ROG STRIX z490-E Motherboard
EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU
G.Skill Ripjaws VF4-4000C18D-32GVK DDR4-4000MHz Memory
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit (Version 21H2) OS
Reply




Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)