..:: PCSX2 Forums ::..

Full Version: Question about Speed Hacks (and SotC)
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Hi people!

After succesfull games beaten on pcsx2 (FFX, X-2, XII, Xenosaga 1, KH 1 and 2 and more) now I'm gonna try to play SotC (with my spec's laptop).

So far at native res it seems to run just fine (i don't get that gloom i've been reading on the forums) but I wanted to know, since this game is so robust when coming to speed hacks.. what is the general rule as to wich speed hacks to enable on this particular game? (not involving microVU, I think that compiler is just no so ready yet and probably won't be using it until I get my hands on a quad core laptop).

Also, and leaving SotC on a side... wich general rules apply to speed hacks? I've read a lot about that you shouldn't mix EE hacks with VU hacks and stuff like that because the game gets slower. Since I played all FF and KH with mostly no speed hacks I never really gave much of a try. But SotC should get a few extra FPS in my specs =D and so other games. So any tips about speed hacks would be nice!!

Thanks a lot!!
What I do when using speedhacks is I enable them all (except the min/max microVU one), then if a particular game is causing trouble i disable them all and see if any in particular is giving me a problem. I use x1.5 cycle rate and slight "VU cycle rate" which seems to be just good enough and not cause major trouble. Even like this most of my games run at good speed and almost trouble-free, i've only got 2 games that actually needed me to disable a specific speedhack.

About the EE sync hacks and VU stealing cycle, yeah it is true they sometimes can just increase the FPS but not the actual game speed and if you are using frame limiter this can cause the game to move even slower than they should and they cause audio sync issues in some others which is why I dont turn them much high. Problem is games react different to this 2 hacks so a game could run great with x2 cycle rate and no VU stealing other work great with no EE but good with VU stealing others can run fine with both enabled so only way to find out is trying really Tongue

Shadow of the Colossus works gets a big boost from "VU cycle stealing" set to moderate, any higher I didnt see any advantage and didnt seem to have problem with x1.5 cycle rate but I didnt try it long.
Thanks so much shadow lady!! I didn't knew about that frame limiter thing (that's why it's good to ask. I've always played mostly w/o speed hacks and with frame limiter). Now I'm gonna try, it seems VU cycle stealing really helps in SotC!

Thanks again!
yep, frame skipping is an evil speed hack, for a smooth gameplay experience you should prefer ee sync hack and vu cycle stealing. shadow of the colossus seems to get along greatly even with rather agressive speed hack settings, but the game's own frame skipping makes it hard to tell how good it really runs, so expect some slowdowns/choppy gameplay during gameplay although pcsx2 tells you it's running at 60+ fps Wink

some users reported that it runs way better with progressive scan enabled in the ingame options, but i was unable to verify that in my own tests with this game.